League of Legends will introduce WASD movement controls in a future patch, with the intent of revitalizing the game’s core mechanics and making it more accessible for traditional PC gamers who want to transition to the MOBA genre.
While League players will have to wait a bit longer to try it themselves when it hits the PBE, several esports pros and popular streamers, including Caedrel, tested the feature during MSI 2025 in Canada.
“You can kite very easily as an AD carry. If you play on WASD, you’ve already got Master to Grandmaster-level spacing,” Caedrel said during a livestream, explaining that players can hold the A and S movement keys while right-clicking enemies to maintain optimal distance. He also revealed that he had bound his Q ability to the left mouse button, giving players more context on how ability keybindings might work with the new control scheme.
While AD carries felt “powerful” to play thanks to how easy skillshots were to land, the streamer said there also seemed to be a level of aim assist tied to player movement. He pointed to Ezreal’s EQ combo as an example, where the Prodigal Explorer blinks forward to close the gap and hits the target, which felt somewhat choreographed.
The developer mentioned in its WASD controls blog that it will be monitoring the feature closely to ensure it remains balanced and that neither control scheme offers a competitive advantage over the other. There’s a chance it might even be removed before it hits the PBE server.
Of course, WASD controls come with a few downsides as well. Caedrel said that since WASD movement only allows players to move in eight directions, jungle clearings can be slower than usual. Jungle clears are all about speed and maximizing time to level up and help the team secure an early advantage, so in its current form, WASD might not be the preferred choice for junglers. It is also difficult to check the map, especially while using the F keys, forcing the player to lock their camera, decreasing their map awareness.
He also suggested that “foot pedals” could be an option for players who want to bind a specific button or summoner spell, freeing up more keys on the keyboard. Another idea he proposed was for the developer to adapt WASD controls to work more naturally with the mouse for skill-based champions like Kalista, adding greater directional movement and potentially solving the slow jungle clear issue to make the system more effective.
Caedrel is the owner of the Los Ratones team, a squad filled with veterans from the League esports scene, who are competing in the NLC and EUM tournaments.
