A new League of Legends leak has revealed possibly the most significant change in the title’s history, and the community is in shambles. Players are divided over a potential WASD movement system, which could affect Champions in all ranks. Here’s everything we know about the situation, what netizens are saying and how it could impact the game.
Traditionally, League of Legends players use their mouse to move in-game. This means the player’s physical movements directly translate to their Champions’ and adds another element of skill to the title. Pro players must train to hit micro-movements that can make or break their duels consistently, and it is incredibly difficult to dodge effective skill shots. However, a new movement method could soon arrive that would shake things up.
WASD will be coming as an new official input method
Flash has 3 settings, “Cursor”, “WASD with Cursor Enhanced”, “WASD with Cursor Fallback”. Unsure what they do
Can still click to move under WASD
Has a toggle to smart cast to shoot in the direction your character is facing pic.twitter.com/lHceFXmI1A
— SkinSpotlights (@SkinSpotlights) May 14, 2025
On May 14 2025, League of Legends leak account @SkinSpotlights posted on X.com, alleging the title would soon add a new movement option. The account stated, “WASD will be coming as an [sic] new official input method.” Alongside the post, SkinSpotlights included three watermarked leaked in-game images showing players could set unique keybinds within the keyboard movement restrictions.
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I think I speak for majority when I say WE DO NOT WANT THIS IN SUMMONERS RIFT
— Sykko (@Sykko_xo) May 14, 2025
@SkinSpotlight’s post quickly went viral, with over 1.3 million views and over 7,000 likes as of 12 PM ET. The announcement was also shared on the official r/leagueoflegends subreddit, where it received 2,000 upvotes.
Players are having extremely divided reactions to the leak. Some community members are excited to refresh their gameplay with a new control format. Reddit user u/spearmintflower offers a positive yet nuanced take:
“Wow. I think this would be the biggest change in league’s history tbh. Completely alters how new players will interact with the game. Personally think it’s a cool idea, even with the risk of it falling flat this will help new players onboarding so much. It’s just so late for a change like this in a game like LoL’s lifecycle, where you have an established base that has spent 10+ years with the old system.”
Others are upset, saying the method will be difficult to learn and give some Champions unfair advantages. u/Grochen says, “Holy sh–. Honey! New Riven fastcombo tricks just dropped,” while u/IyIonaghan simply comments, “I kinda hate this.”
One X.com user, @Sykko_xo, writes: “I think I speak for majority [sic] when I say WE DO NOT WANT THIS IN SUMMONER’S RIFT.” The post has since received over 425 likes, indicating a large amount of the playerbase agrees.
OWhile watching a League of Legends match, viewers can expect a symphony of rapid clicks and fast mouse movements. The game’s click-based controls are a core feature and have spawned many memes, including countless videos of star player Faker multitasking on Fortnite and Geometry Dash while in tournaments. If the leaks are legitimate, offering WASD settings will be one of the most major changes in the game’s history.
WASD movement will attract a larger audience to the game, since most other genres utilize the WASD format. Riot Games includes one such FPS, VALORANT, in its immediate launcher ecosystem. League of Legends is traditionally known for having a difficult learning curve, and users must invest time into learning its builds and Champion mechanics. Adapting to WASD will eliminate one major step from this learning process, making it easier for new players to succeed. However, many in the League of Legends community take pride in their learning efforts, and an influx of confused players in low ranks could be a major frustration.
In addition, WASD settings will fundamentally alter how certain Champions function. Since the leaks went live, Riven has become a concern because she relies on combos to perform and will benefit from keyboard controls. Meanwhile, skill-shot champions will suffer as it will be far easier for keyboard players to dodge their attacks. WASD may also affect the tournament circuit’s skill ceiling, since low-level players could make microadjustments previously only possible for pros.
Riot Games has not yet commented on the leaks. Further information will likely emerge in the following few days.
