Swarm

“	The Primordian threat has pushed civilization to the brink. Their prime directive: extinguish humanity. Now, Anima Squad, Final City’s elite task force of superpowered warriors is ready to lead the dawn of a new human resistance.

Swarm | Operation: Anima Squad was a bullet heaven, 1–4 player PvE game available within League of Legends that entirely re-imagines the core gameplay experience. Set in the futuristic  Anima Squad universe, players team up to defend humanity and Final City from waves of alien Primordians while improving their firepower and gaining access to unique combat capabilities. Four different maps mark four increasingly difficult levels, each one culminating in a boss fight of epic proportions that allows players to progress the story as well as unlock new playable champions. Champions are called fighters for the purposes of this article.

Swarm launched on July 17th, 2024 (patch 14.14) as part of the  Anima Squad 2024 event, and ran until August 19th, 2024.

Many traditional elements of League of Legends do not apply to Swarm. The player moves their fighter by using the WASD keys as an arrow pad, and can toggle between manual aim direction with the cursor and automatic aim direction, by tapping the C key. The Fog of War does not exist. Fighters are given an entirely different set of statistics, which includes new ones. Fighters also have access to an innate and only two player-controlled abilities, which are similar but not identical to the main game and do not improve through skill points; however, fighters gain a multitude of powerups and equipment that they can warp their combat with in imaginative ways. Mastery is not available, as fighters' gameplay is vastly different from regular champions' gameplay.

Lore

^{Edit • Image • Reference}

Game

Swarm (Story)

By Ty Sheedlo, River Jaffe, Elyse Lemoine

Blast-and-juke your way through countless enemies, hopefully gaining enough power along the way to slay the big baddie who awaits you at the end of each map. And if you don't succeed, just dust yourself off, rethink your strategy, power up, and try again.

Starring: Aatrox, Aurora, Bel'Veth, Briar, Illaoi, Jinx, Leona, Miss Fortune, Rek'Sai, Riven, Seraphine, Xayah, Yasuo, Yuumi

Mentioned: Sylas, Vayne

Playable characters

Select a character

Jinx

Seraphine

Leona

Illaoi

Briar

Yasuo

Riven

Aurora

Xayah

Characters are unlocked by progressing through the game.

• Jinx and Seraphine: available by default.
• Leona: obtain Searing Shortbow level 2.
• Illaoi: obtain Radiant Field level 4.
• Briar: complete The Outskirts in Story mode.
• Yasuo: complete Subterranean Lab in Story mode.
• Riven: complete The Outskirts in Hard mode (OR purchase the Anima Squad 2024 Event Pass).
• Aurora: defeat 25 Elite monsters on Hard mode.
• Xayah: complete 20 Bel'Veth Trials on Hard mode.

Queuing

Swarm is unlocked for all players who have finished the League of Legends Tutorial.

• Map: Final City, 4 levels
• Draft Type: Free pick, limited selection pool
• Win Condition: Survive until 15:00 (game time), and then defeat the mighty Boss
• Average Game Length: 20–25 (real time) minutes

Swarm has two queue types:

1. Co-Op (XvE): The player creates a lobby for their party. They can enter a game by themselves (Solo Run) or in a pre-made party of 2–4.
2. Matchmade (4vE): Players enter a matchmade queue as any party size and on a random map. Completing all maps on Story mode is required to unlock.

Within the lobby, players choose their fighter. Multiple players can play the same fighter. The mode and map can only be assigned by the party leader.

Progression

Campaign & Modes

The entire campaign of Swarm constitutes a single throughline, as all unlocks and rewards persist through modes. The game can be played in three different modes, each unlocking new progression boards and escalating the difficulty.

Anima Squad: Story → Hard → Extreme

Difficulty parameters include:

• Various enemy mechanics such as ability rates and speeds
• Enemy health: 1x → 3x → 7x
• Enemy attack damage: 1x → 2x → 3x
• Enemy spell damage: 1x → 1.5x → 2x
• Ally Gold income: 1x → 1.5x → 2.25x

In addition, the number of enemies spawned in the current map's waves and their number of attacks increases with more players in the game.

Maps

The Final City (Map view)

There exist four different levels, or maps, each being a different part of the large Final City. Completing a map is required to unlock the next one.

Warehouse District → The Outskirts → Subterranean Lab → The Beachhead

Upon finishing all maps in the Story mode, the Matchmade queue becomes available, termed the "Matchmaking Island". In the Matchmade queue, players can enter a public game as a party of 1–3, on a random level. The matchmade queue is played exclusively on Hard difficulty.

Warehouse District

The Outskirts

Subterranean Lab

The Beachhead

Objectives

Complete Objectives in order to progress the mode. Rewards include:

• Advancing to the next map, by killing each Boss
• Recruiting new fighters to play as
• New Upgrades
• Additional in-game missions
• New Passives
• Additional Passive slots
• New Weapons
• Champion Permanent shards

Upon finishing all Objectives in a mode, the next mode is unlocked. Finishing Story mode additionally unlocks fighter-specific Objectives that award extra items beyond the regular modes.

Defeating Primordian Aatrox on Extreme difficulty with every single fighter awards the permanent profile title "Swarm Conqueror".

Upgrades

Some Objectives rewards include unlocking Upgrades, which grant the player's fighter extra stats from the beginning of the level. The player can purchase them from the menu of the same name in the main lobby. Upgrades start at level zero and are purchased by spending Gold, a currency used exclusively for this purpose.

Gold earned during a round is kept regardless of victory or defeat.

The entire team earns the same amount of Gold any teammate picks up. Players can earn Gold by picking it up within their Pickup Radius and from the following sources:

• By destroying Pods scattered around the map
• By killing elite and mini-boss monsters
• By completing a Primordian Bel'Veth trial
• By completing certain Objectives

An asterisk * means the Upgrade is available by default.

List of Upgrades

Upgrade	Increment	Max Level	Cost
Damage	+10%	8
Armor	+5	5
Max Health	+10%	5
Health Regen	+3	5
Movement Speed	+5%	4
Pickup Radius	+25%	3
Area Size	+5%	4
Duration	+5%	4
Critical Chance	+5%	4
Ability Haste	+5	5
EXP	+5%	5
Projectiles	+1	2
Gold Multiplier	+15%	3
Battle Bunny Boon Duration	+25%	2
Anima Power	See below	100	3000 per level

Anima Power is an attribute that grants the following stats combined for each level: +1 Ability Haste, +1% Damage, +1% Movement Speed, +1% Pickup Radius.

HUD

Teammate portraits feature the regular information: level, current health, resource (if applicable), cooldown of their Ultimate Ability, and respawn timer. A small bar in the top right corner of the screen displays Creep Score (CS) and Gold earned during the current round.

The rest of the Swarm HUD features exclusive elements.

At the very top of the screen, the Game tab will show the current game time and mission timers. This is replaced by the boss' health during a boss fight, or the selection countdown during a selection screen.

The Player menu shows the fighter's Weapons alongside their abilities in the middle, Augments at the top left and Passives at the top right. EXP is displayed in a long line bar at the very bottom of the screen.

The Scoreboard (default: ↹ TAB) is entirely replaced by an overlay that includes: a table next to the Player menu that lists fighter stats; a quick legend at the top left that assists players in assembling the proper Weapon evolutions; and a drawer next to teammates' portraits that displays their own selected Passives, Weapons and their respective levels.

Various messages sent to the fighters relevant for major events, missions, or general flavor are displayed at the opposite side of the minimap (depending on the player's settings). Combat announcements are displayed at the top center of the screen.

Environment

Final City is a highly advanced and industrial city built on a highly isolated island that is surrounded by Primordian ocean and enclosed almost entirely within thick walls. Its city landscape has been kept in pristine condition and features trees and bushes, roads and skyscrapers, storage locations, elevated platforms and plazas as well as utilities such as posts, benches, lights and railings. Outside of city premises, the ground is grassy in some places, arid in others, large boulders are scattered throughout, and a small amount of wild flora remain. In the ground below, the Anima Squad's lab of operations is hidden from the rest of the world.

Terrain

Three terrain types exist in Final City:

Structural

The most common type, projectiles will penetrate through it and dashes can cross through it.

Gate

Denies passage entirely. NPCs can also temporarily form such terrain during certain events such as Primordial trials or Boss fights.

Border

Edge of map.

Pods

Pods are destructible objects that may exist at random spots around any map. They have 100 health, and drop one of the following objects at random:

• A small amount of Gold.
• A  healing pack that restores 20% maximum heath to all teammates.
• A vacuum orb that grants a vacuum effect which picks up every EXP Orb and Gold dropped on the map for the next 6 ( × ) seconds.
• A Sea Mine that detonates upon being picked up, dealing massive damage to enemies over the surrounding 600-unit radius.

Megastructures

Each map features a large area-structure that is conducive to winning the level. A megastructure and its status are denoted in the map by their respective symbols.

Warehouse District

The Healing Fountain: A gigantic charging station is situated at the map's most central location. One teammate can activate it by standing on its platform, which will start charging it; the charging speed increases with the number of fighters on the platform. Upon activation, it will heal all teammates by 50% of their maximum health. It has a long recharge time.

The Outskirts

Ion Cannon: An inactive cannon can be loaded with fuel cells which occasionally drop around the map. One teammate can pick up a Fuel Cell and has to carry it up to the cannon's loading area (marked on the ground). Upon being loaded, cannon fires potent laser blasts at enemies for the next 30 seconds, dealing damage over a large area. Fuel Cell deployment takes a moderate amount of time.

Subterranean Lab

Freeze Bomb: Two icy cores sit at opposite ends of the map. They can be activated by standing in their platform's radius. Upon activating, a freeze bomb will stun all enemies in a large radius. It has a moderate recharge time.

The Beachhead

Primordian Ocean: The ocean next to Final City is controlled by Primordian Aatrox, who uses it to flood the map. When the first phase of his boss fight ends, the ocean will start moving westward, prompting players to relocate away from the coastline. The flooding stops when half the map is underwater. Coming into contact with the flood causes fighters to take 50 damage every 0.165 seconds.

BB01 Helper

Commander Fortune exists as an NPC, roaming around the map. She will occasionally stop to attack a random enemy in her radius and occasionally unleashes a bullet storm in her aiming direction.

Structure

Waves of monsters start spawning outside the spawning location from the very start of the game, and inch toward the fighters in order to attack them.

As the level progresses, the spawns in these waves become higher in number and tier. The goal is to survive enough time until the Boss appears, and then successfully take them down.

Revival

In non-Solo Runs, upon dying fighters enter a downed state. While downed, the downed timer around the fighter's circle displays a countdown until they can be revived by a teammate, by them stepping inside the circle. The revived teammate gains 4 seconds of invulnerability upon revival.

If the fighter is not revived during this time, they must wait for the respawn timer to elapse until they automatically respawn. Fighters revive with 50% of their maximum health.

The downed timer is 10 seconds. The base respawn timer is 15 seconds; for every death, this increases by 9 seconds, up to 60 seconds for the fifth and onward deaths.

If all teammates are downed, the game ends in a defeat.

Access Cards

Slaying an elite or mini-boss monster drops an Access Card on the ground at the spot where they die. A fighter can pick it up by walking over it.

Upon picking up an Access Card, an additional selection screen is granted to all teammates for free. This selection screen includes a single offering instead of three, but additionally has a chance to offer a Weapon evolution (once the conditions for it have been met).

If there are no more Passives or Weapons to improve, the selection screen will instead include two offerings: (A) restore 25% maximum health to all allies or (B) grant 25 Gold to all allies.

Spires

At random game times, a featured character announces an optional mission for the fighters, and creates a spire somewhere on the map. At least one teammate can interact with the spire by standing within a marked radius, in order to "capture" that spire. The more teammates capturing, the quicker the capturing can take place. Completing missions transforms the level's development in a particular way, and allows the squad to earn combat bonuses.

There exist three different types of spires.

Commander Fortune Boosts

• Mission: Upon the spire's appearance, the team must simply find and capture that spire.
• Success: The commaner grants a temporary but massive combat boost called a Battle Bunny Boon to the entire team, normally lasting for 15 seconds (increased with the Battle Bunny Boon Duration Upgrade).

Assistant Yuumi Quests

• Mission: Upon capturing, the Assistant assigns the fighters to complete various mini-games in order to entertain her; being a cat, the tasks are meant to be playful and meaningless.
• Success: Completing the assigned mission will grant a permanent combat modifier called an Augment to the entire team. Most feature both an advantage and a drawback.

Primordian Bel'Veth Trials

• Mission: Upon capturing, the Primordian causes a cataclysmic event, applying various negative effects to all fighters in the battlefield or summoning a large wave of enemies to flock into the area surrounding the spire and assigning a combat-related mission.
• Success: Completing the assigned mission will grant a massive EXP Orb and Gold reward as well as offers multiple Access Cards.

List of Battle Bunny Boons

All Battle Bunny Boons are available by default.

Type		Effect
	Anima Super Car	Become invulnerable, but you are unable to use your Abilities and Signature Weapon.
	Battle Feline Gun Improver	Gain a tremendous amount of Area Size and Projectile Count.
	Cruise Control	Gain a tremendous amount of Move Speed.
	Fired Up	Shoot strong fireballs toward the closest enemy around you, each dealing damage on impact.
	Health Back Healthpack	Heal for every enemy you kill.
	Primordian Pickpocketing	Every number of enemies slain drops Gold.
	Squad Shield	Gain a massive shield.
	Stopwaves	Emit shockwaves in an area around you that freeze enemies for a few seconds.
	Ultra Rapid Fire-r	Gain a tremendous amount of Ability Haste.

List of Augments

An asterisk * means the Augment is available by default.

Type		Effect
	Armor Up	Gain +5 armor for 7 seconds upon being dealt one instance of damage, stacking up to 10 times for a maximum of +40 armor, and refreshing on subsequent triggers. Stacks are removed at once when the duration ends.
	Bite Sized *	Lose 30% size and 20% total health, but gain +20% Move Speed and +36 Ability Haste.
	Bullet-Mania	Reduce your Damage by 15%. For every 6 level ups after equipping this augment, gain +1 Projectile Count.
	Card Collector *	For every Access Card picked up after equipping this Augment, gain +5% Damage.
	Celebration!	For 8 seconds after leveling up, gain +50% Damage, +50% Move Speed, +60% Area Size, and +50 Ability Haste.
	Circle of Stats	Every 8 seconds, gain the following stats, cycling in this order: 1. +30% Move Speed 2. +40 Ability Haste 3. +60% Area Size 4. +3 Projectile Count 5. +40 Health Regen
	Critical Expansion	Gain +1% Area Size for 5 seconds after dealing an instance of damage that critically strikes, stacking up to 100 times.
	Cross Country	For every 20,000 units traveled, gain +3% Damage, +3% Max Health, and +3% Area Size.
	Death and Taxes *	Every enemy you kill has a 2% chance to explode in a 200-radius, dealing damage to enemies in the area, and drop several Gold.
	Ebb And Flow *	Cycles between -50 and +125 Ability Haste at a rate of  ± 22 Ability Haste every 2 seconds.
	Elite Bomber	Gain +30% Damage against Elite monsters. Upon killing an Elite, it drops a bomb on the ground that explodes after a delay for massive area damage.
	Emotional Support Pet	Your summoned pets benefit from +50% Damage.
	Experienced Fighter	Gain +10% EXP Modifier. For every EXP Orb you pick up, gain +2% Damage and +2% Move Speed for 4 seconds, stacking indefinitely within the duration. Stacks fall off at once when the duration expires.
	Gathering Speed *	Lose 15% total Move Speed, but gain +3% Move Speed for every level up after equipping this Augment.
	Glass Cannon *	Gain +40% Damage, but lose 30% Max Health.
	Heavy Hitter *	Gain +50% Damage, but lose 30 Ability Haste.
	Hoarder *	For every 1 Gold you pick up, heal for 0.5% Max Health.
	Immobile Immolation	For every 0.5 seconds you stand still, your health incurs a cost of 60 (+ 1 for every trigger) to grant you 20 Ability Haste. Lose this bonus when you start moving again.
	Juggernaut	Gain +10 Armor. For every 1 Armor you have, gain +0.5% Damage
	Larger Than Life *	Gain 30% size, +30 Health Regen, and +30% Max Health, but lose 15% total Move Speed.
	Long Range *	Deal 0% − 30% extra Damage based on distance to the enemy (grants higher damage with higher distance to the enemy hit).
	Metabolic Overdrive *	Heal every second equal to 20% of your Max Health, but lose 60% Max Health.
	Mission Critical	Gain +10% Critical Chance and  +25% critical damage, but your non-critical strikes deal 20% reduced Damage.
	Pescatarian *	Each enemy you kill has a 25% chance to drop a  healing pack.
	Pick-Me-Up *	Lose all pickup radius, but gain +15% EXP Modifier. Every 60 seconds, automatically vacuum all EXP Orbs and Gold drops on the map.
	Point Blank *	Deal 0% − 20% extra Damage based on your distance to the enemy (grants higher damage with lower distance to the enemy hit).
	Ramming Runner *	Gain +10% Move Speed. Gain or lose 0.5% Damage for every 1% bonus Move Speed you acquire or lose, respectively, after equipping this augment.
	Regenerative Tissue	Picking up a  healing pack additionally grants +5 Health Regen.
	Size Scrambler	On-cast grant Abilities or Weapons fired a random amount of Area Size between -20% and +60%.Cycles between -20% and +60% Area Size at a rate of  ± 10.125% Area Size every 2 seconds.
	Spray and Pray	Gain +4 Projectile Count, but deal 35% reduced damage.
	Ultimate Speed-Up *	Your Ultimate Ability benefits from +100 Ability Haste.
	Uptime Upgrade *	Gain +60% Duration.
	With Haste *	For every 2 Ability Haste you have, gain +1% Move Speed.

Boss Fight

At 15:00 game time, the map's boss arrives. The fight lasts until either the  Anima Squad team is defeated or the boss is slain, the latter awarding a victory.

After 5 minutes of game time from their spawning, bosses become enraged, increasing their damage by 20% for the next 30 seconds of game time, during which they gain a prominent glow. If not taken down before the end of this duration, they will unleash a lethal nova which invariably kills all fighters alive on the map. For Primordian Aatrox's fight specifically, this 5-minute timer restarts upon commencing his second phase.

Combat

Every fighter has access to Abilities and Weapons. Abilities generally require the player's active input, while Weapons take place completely independently of user input.

Leveling Up

Fighters are given the following statistics by the game rules. Stats that do not include a value below, initialize at a default of 0 (for flat stats) or 1.000 (for modifiers). Most stats from different sources of the same stat type, stack multiplicatively with each other. Identical sources of the same stat, and all sources of flat stat types (, , , ) stack additively.

Fighters have access to the following set of stat types:

• A default gameplay radius of 65 units for all fighters
• Generic Damage Modifier, which affects the damage of all Weapons and Abilities.
• Ability Haste, which affects the cooldown of all Weapons and Abilities
• Max Health, base amount varies by fighter
• Armor, base amount varies by fighter
• Health Regen
• 350 base Movement Speed
• Projectile Count (for projectile-based attacks)
• 5% base Critical Chance
• 100 base Pickup Radius
• EXP Modifier
• Gold Modifier
• Area Size Modifier (for area-based attacks)
• Duration Modifier
• The default critical damage is 200% (double).
• Lastly, certain fighters additionally use a resource bar for the purposes of their Abilities.

Slain enemies drop EXP Orbs that fighters collect within their Pickup Radius; when the fighter moves within valid range, the Orbs become "attracted" to them, start moving toward them, and can eventually be picked up upon reaching them. Collecting orbs increases all teammates' EXP simultaneously, and at certain thresholds of EXP, fighters gain a level.

Upon leveling up, the game and its timer pauses and a selection menu opens that presents three offerings at most, varying by player and determined randomly. Offerings consist of Passives and Weapons that grant the fighter stats and equipment, respectively. Players have up to 30 seconds to confirm their selection by using MB1/Left Mouse Button, and a bubble next to each teammate's portrait will indicate whether they have made their selection and are ready to continue. Once all players have made their selection, the menu closes and the game slowly resumes over the following 1 (real-time) second.

Levels are capped at 99, and each level requires more EXP than the previous. Each level-up awards 10 Gold.

Passives

A Passive grants a stat bonus. By default, the fighter has access to three slots for Passives. The Passive slot limit can be increased up to six, and new types of Passives can be unlocked by progressing the game. Slots specifically are unlocked by completing each of the following Objectives:

1. In Story mode, select 3 Passives in one game.
2. In Hard mode, select 4 Passives in one game.
3. In Hard mode, defeat Bel'Veth on Subterranean Lab.

Each Passive can be stacked by selecting them again, leveling them up to grant a higher stat bonus. If all Passive slots have been filled, new Passives are not offered.

Lastly, Passives allow for obtaining Weapon evolutions, differing by Weapon.

List of Passives

An asterisk * means the Passive is available by default.

Type	Amount per level
Ability Haste	+10
Area Size	+11%
Armor *	+8
Critical Chance	+8%
Damage *	+10%
Duration	+12%
EXP	+10%
Health Regen	+4
Max Health *	+150
Move Speed	+9%
Pickup Radius	+35%
Projectile Count	1 / 1 / 2 / 2 / 3
Gain 25 Gold *	At full build
Heal 25% HP *	At full build

Weapons

A Weapon is equipment that will activate entirely automatically, and which can be granted and improved via selections. Only five Weapon types are available by default; new ones can be unlocked through the game's campaign, by completing Objectives. In the game, new Weapons are presented to the player at random until a full set has been assembled.

Fighters begin the level with their Signature Weapon, which represents their primary combat equipment. The player can choose between manually controlling its aiming direction with cursor, or letting the game automatically aim at the nearest target in range, by using the C key.

Up to four additional Weapons can be obtained from selections.

Each Weapon can be leveled up by selecting them again, which improves various attributes. Weapons can additionally be improved beyond levels through certain stats that scale their power.

Evolutions

In addition to the above improvements, a Weapon can be super-improved through Access Cards, provided both of the following conditions are met:

1. The maximum level of the Weapon has been reached (5), and
2. At least one level of the Weapon's evolution stat has been acquired via a Passive

At that point, the free selection screen has a chance to offer the Weapon's evolution. Evolving a Weapon grants it a new, permanent and highly powerful effect. The types of stats, including the evolution stat, which improve a Weapon are listed in its tooltip (by hovering the cursor over its icon) as well as the quick legend (TAB). The types of stats that scale a Weapon's power depend on its attributes.

List of Weapons

Click on a Weapon's icon to navigate to its details.

Fighters' Signature Weapons are not included; see Playable characters instead. An asterisk * means the Weapon is available by default.

Weapon		Function	Evolve
	Ani-Mines Jinx's Tri-Namite	Deploys timed explosives on the ground in a ring.	Area Size The initial explosions release additional explosions.	❌
	Anti-Shark Sea Mine Neverending Mobstomper	Launches a mine that bounces between enemies.	Damage The mine bounces endlessly so long as a new target is found.	❌
	Battle Bunny Crossbow Bunny Prime Ballista	Fires a cone of arrows in a random direction. Arrows pierce their target upon critically striking.	Critical Chance Fires a fan of many, many knives instead.	✔️
	Blade-o-rang Quad-o-rang	Fires returning blades at the nearest enemy.	Move Speed Blades explode into smaller ones.	✔️
	Bunny Mega-Blast Rapid Rabbit Raindown	Launches orbital strikes at random enemies.	Critical Chance Launches a barrage of orbital strikes at random enemies, ending with a massive one.	✔️
	Cyclonic Slicers * Unceasing Cyclone	Orbiting razors damage and knock back enemies.	Health Regen Razors now permanently orbit.	❌
	Echoing Batblades Vayne's Chromablades	Fires piercing spikes that bounce off terrain.	Projectile Count Damage increases with each bounce.	✔️
	Final City Transit FC Limited Express	Pet trains occasionally appear and drive through enemies.	Damage Trains now generate explosions in their wake and knock up enemies. Enemies slain by the train have a chance to drop Gold.	✔️
	Gatling Bunny-Guns * Double Bun-Bun Barrage	Deals area damage over time in a cone.	Duration Enemies hit are slowed and eventually stunned.	❌
	Iceblast Armor Deep Freeze	Grants an icy armor that blocks the next damage then freezes surrounding enemies.	Armor Grants an icy armor that blocks the next damage then grants a shield. When gaining the shield and when it destroyed or expires, freezes surrounding enemies.	❌
	Lioness's Lament * Enveloping Light	Fires crescent-shaped projectiles horizontally in two opposite directions.	Ability Haste Fires beams of light horizontally in the two opposite directions.	✔️
	Paw Print Poisoner Bearfoot Chem-Dispenser	Leaves a damaging poison cloud behind while moving.	Move Speed Leaves a damaging poison cloud behind while moving which grants stacking bonus Move Speed a stacking shield based on the damage dealt.	❌
	Radiant Field Explosive Embrace	A solar field damages nearby enemies.	Max Health Enemies that die within the field erupt, dealing damage in an area around them.	❌
	Searing Shortbow * Evolved Embershot	Shoots blazing arrows that sear random zones on the ground.	Area Size Seared zones' size and damage grows over their lifespan.	❌
	Statikk Sword Prumbis's Electrocarver	Fires a lightning shock that bounces between high-health enemies.	Max Health A lightning storm is created in an area around shocked enemies for a short duration.	✔️
	T.I.B.B.E.R.S T.I.B.B.E.R.S (B.E.E.G Edition)	Summons a pet Robo-Tibbers. Robo-Tibbers swipes, dealing damage in an area. Robo-Tibbers focuses on enemies with the highest absolute current health.	Duration The improved model of Robo-Tibbers: larger, faster, and deals more damage.	❌
	The Annihilator Animapocalypse	Clears the area. Long cooldown.	EXP All enemies slain by the strike drop bigger EXP Orbs and have a chance to drop several Gold.	❌
	UwU Blaster * OwO Blaster	Rapidly fires laser shots at the nearest enemy, dealing damage to the first enemy hit.	Ability Haste Fires twice as fast.	✔️
	Vortex Glove Tempest's Gauntlet	Fires a stream of orbs which hit all enemies in their path. The stream constantly rotates clockwise.	Health Regen Fires an additional stream of orbs that constantly rotates counter-clockwise.	✔️
	YuumiBot YuumiBot_Final_FINAL	Summons a pet Yuum.AI drone. Yuum.AI damages and knocks up enemies, and also gathers EXP Orbs.	Pickup Radius The drone now drops a  healing pack after attaining a certain amount of damage to enemies.	❌

Abilities

An Ability is part of the fighter's unique set of moves. Abilities automatically improve by leveling up, and some of their attributes can be improved through various stat types (may vary for each).

• Innate Ability - The fighter has an innate attribute or capability.
• Active Ability - The fighter performs their special move, as ordered by the player. Active abilities have a short or moderate  cooldown. Unlocks at fighter level 3.
• Ultimate Ability - The fighter performs their momentous move, as ordered by the player. Ultimate abilities have a long  cooldown. Unlocks at fighter level 6.

Enemies

From as soon as the game begins, small and large Primordian monsters will start continuously spawning in a large radius around each fighter and in waves. Upon spawning, enemies will start running toward and targeting the nearest fighter immediately and regardless of range.

All monsters have an attack by default. Higher-tier monsters may also have spells. Attacks are launched toward fighters whenever they are in the monster's  range, and cannot miss unless it is affected by a disable or the fighter being targeted is downed. Spells are launched toward fighters' current location and vary in size, but they have generally long windups and can be dodged by running out of their area of effect; indicators will appear on the ground for an incoming spell, and when they fill or blink, the monster launches it, hitting fighters in the spell's marked area.

Normals

These are the most common enemy. They have a small size and health pool and deal low to moderate damage, but they are nimble.

Elites

These are special versions of normal enemies that have exceptionally large health pools. Elite monsters are distinguished by a prominent glow.

Certain Abilities or Weapons that fighters have or are able to acquire may interact with elites specifically.

Mini-bosses

These are slow but tough and large enemies that have powerful single-target and/or area abilities to crush or explode targets with.

Mini-bosses have a health bar as a gauge above their model which is segmented every 1000 points, and their exact health is displayed above it. They have a distinct icon on the minimap (Primordian shark).

Bosses

Bosses are the largest, most dangerous enemy and slaying them is the main goal of each level.

Warehouse District

Primordian Rek'Sai

The Outskirts

Primordian Briar

Subterranean Lab

Primordian Bel'Veth

The Beachhead

Primordian Aatrox, two phases

Trivia

• Swarm is heavily inspired by Vampire Survivors (2022). Riot Sirhaian, who prototyped the game within League of Legends, has mentioned it as far back as March 2023. Riot have hinted at this inspiration multiple times, especially at the time of its reveal ("bullet heaven survivor"). More insight around Swarm's production by the entire team of developers was granted after its launch in an Q&A / outlook video.
• Swarm's codename in-development was Strawberry.
  • There are hidden strawberries on every map in reference to this.
• Each map features various  Anima Squad members that provide communications to the fighters; these messages are either game-state-aware or exist for flavor purposes.
• Battle Bat Xayah's Evolved Winged Dagger grants a new combat and visual effect that closely resembles Rakan's Fey Feathers and Gleaming Quill.
• YuumiBot_Final_FINAL uses Prestige Cyber Cat Yuumi instead of her base skin.
• Upgrading Anima Power to the maximum level permanently grants the player a special glow SFX on their fighter, an  Anima Squad icon next to their health bar, and an acknowledgement in chat at the beginning of the game. These are visible to all players in the game.
• The Bel'Veth Trial "Darkness Has Come" references Swarm designer Sirhaian's indie game, When the darkness comes.

Media

• Music
• Video
• Summoner Icons
• Emotes

Main Theme Music

Against All Odds - Anima Squad 2024 Official Theme - League of Legends

Lobby Music

In-Game Music

Swarm - Operation- Anima Squad (Original Game Soundtrack) - League of Legends - Riot Games Music

Fight for Final City - Anima Squad 2024 Cinematic - League of Legends

Development of Swarm

By Sirhaian, Swarm's creator and lead developer

Related Videos

Anima Squad 2024 - Official Event Teaser - League of Legends

Swarm - Operation- Anima Squad - Cinematic Event Trailer - League of Legends

Swarm - Operation- Anima Squad - Cinematic Event Trailer Part 2 - League of Legends

Main article: Summoner icon

Swarm: Battle Bunny Aurora

Swarm: Battle Bunny Miss Fortune

Swarm: Battle Dove Seraphine

Swarm: Battle Bat Xayah

Swarm: Battle Wolf Yasuo

Swarm: Cyber Cat Yuumi

Swarm: Primordian Aatrox

Swarm: Primordian Bel'Veth

Swarm: Primordian Briar

Swarm: Primordian Rek'Sai

Main article: Emotes

Cyber Cat

References

Game Modes