Legends of Runeterra vs. Hearthstone – Main Differences

Hearthstone is one of the leading cards games known by every gamer. That was only a matter of time when other big gaming companies will do their own titles to the genre. Today we will highlight the main differences between Hearthstone and Legends of Runeterra.

We have already written an article about Riot Games card game Legends of Runeterra, which you can read here. There you will learn about game mechanics and main advantages a such. In our post Hearthstone vs. Runeterra, we will tell you about the main differences between these two games.

Free-to-play and Monetization System

Both games are free to play, but there are significant differences between HS and LoR. As Hearthstone has been on market for years they picked the old-fashion free-to-play style. It means that you have access to all the content but if you don’t buy boosters your progression will be slower and not so fun. It doesn’t mean that you ought to buy boosters to win, but it means that you will collect the desired deck way longer then those who frequently buy boosters. Especially when a new expansion releases.

As for Legends of Runeterra, Riot Games picked a more flexible way of earning money. You are not forced to buy any boosters and can play pretty comfortable even after a long break. Moreover, you can collect 4 different decks after completing prologue and then get boosters and in-game currency for crafting new cards just for visiting the game everyday.

We are sure that you have seen such things in other mobile games before. Also, you will see a lot of cosmetics to customize your deck, board or any other thing if you like to. That doesn’t influence the playing process at all.

Art and Style

Both games look great. Moreover, in both of them, you can recognize your favourite characters from the original games. I mean World of Warcraft heroes fin Hearthstone and League of Legends heroes in Legends of Runeterra. But the art style is a bit different.

LoR is lighter and cleaner, which is good in its way, you don’t have useless items on the board that distract you from the game. But Hearsthine is more epic with a spirit of all Blizzard games.

Game Modes

Both games have different modes. We will write all of them in the lists below.

Hearthstone Game Modes

First of all, there are single-player and multiplayer modes. In single-player you play vs. AI and in multiplayer vs. other players.

Single-player (PvE)	Tutorial	A simple mode where you learn the basics of the game.
Single-player (PvE)	Solo Adventures	The general PvE component of HS.
Single-player (PvE)	Practice mode	This one is a tutorial for playing solo adventures in Hearthstone.
Single-player (PvE)	Adventures	These are expansions of HS and a part of Solo Adventures mode.
Single-player (PvE)	Missions	Missions come along with an Adventure. You will see specific conditions and bosses as well.
Multiplayer (PvP)	Play mode	The main mode of the game. Here you play againts other player in Casual or Ranked modes.
Multiplayer (PvP)	Arena	A specific game mode, where you collect a random deck for a random class.
Multiplayer (PvP)	Battlegrounds	Battlegrounds is a game mode where eight players face off in 1v1 rounds, with the goal to be the last player standing. This is an equivalent of auto battler.
Multiplayer (PvP)	Tavern Brawl	Tavern Brawl is a weekly game mode featuring special matches with unique rules, with new Tavern Brawls available every week.
Multiplayer (PvP)	Friendly Challenge	Players can choose to issue a Friendly Challenge, inviting players on their friends list to a duel. Friendly Challenges can be regular Standard or Wild format matches, or take place in the latest Tavern Brawl.

We will write a separate post where we will explain all the game modes in Hearthstone later.

Legends of Runeterra Game Modes

Even though Legends of Runeterra has released not long ago it has many interesting modes to play. Check them out below.

Multiplayer (PvP)	VS Player	The main game mode in Legends of Runeterra.
Single-player (PvE)	VS AI	The same as VS Player, but you play against computer opperated opponent.
Multiplayer (PvP)	Expeditions	A mode whre you play with generated deck out oif random options.
Single-player (PvE)	Challenges	You pick a scenario. You will play with a pre-generated locked deck against a spicific opponent.
Multiplayer (PvP)	Gauntlet	An event where conditions change from time to time. Your task is to win a sequence of games, for example, with a standard deck.
Single-player (PvE)	Labs	A mode where you can help Riot test new content and balance it.

Also, we will continue writing guides for Runeterra as well and the next one is going to be about Expeditions mode!

We’d like to add the HS and LoR have different ranking systems. Hearthstone is one of eSports games and that is why the ranking system is very important. As for Legends of Runeterra, it has a long ranked list but for now it is more for fun.

Gameplay and Mechanics

Hearthstone has the simplest mechanics and gameplay ever existed. It take several minutes to understand the main principle of the game and how it works. But Legends of Runeterra seems a bit confusing at first glance. That is why LoR has an unsinkable tutorial, which is called Prologue. You can enter other modes only after finishing prologue. There you will learn all the basics of the game. And to tell you the truth you will need to learn much.

Hearthstone Board Overview

The whole system of gameplay is different from Hearthstone. In Runeterra you will need to understand the difference between match phases and learn their sequence. Also, there are more attributes on cards that act differently and can skip some phases. The mana and action points are different as well. All the match you will switch between attacking and defending phases spending different types of mana on spells and unites.

All of it sounds complicated, but if you finish prologue you will be able to play VS Players and continue learning. Just don’t forget that if you don’t have any possible moves the game will skip your turn automatically, so you will understand the flow of the game faster.