Is Pokémon Unite Better Than League of Legends?

Pokemon unite vs league of legends
Which game is better? | © The Pokémon Company/Riot Games

Pokémon Unite has been released and with a few days of being able to try it out, we’ve compiled some differences between Pokémon Unite and League of Legends. The question is: Is Pokémon Unite better than League of Legends?

Pokémon Unite is a MOBA like any other, but often compared to League of Legends. We get that: the lanes, the abilities, the skins… everything can be compared to LoL and that’s exactly what we’re doing today.

Pokémon Unite vs. League of Legends

Pokémon Unite is Easier than League of Legends

League of Legends is hard. You can be a natural at it, but getting into it for the first time is horrible, and I’m sure many have tried LoL and then ultimately given up because the mechanics just seemed way too complicated. The amount of items, champions, skills, combos and what not make it seem like it can’t be learned. A big issue here is that LoL is so old and has so many OG players, that newcomers will feel like they can never improve.

Pokémon Unite is much simpler and straight to the point. You still have items, but not nearly as many as in League, and only have to take care of that in the very beginning of the game anyway. No need to buy new items every time you go back to base. Also, because of how new the game is, there is only a limited amount of Pokémon, so combos and counters aren’t as tricky to learn. No OG players here either. New game, so everyone has to learn the ropes first.

Pokémon Unite is just a lot more beginner-friendly than League of Legends, and that’s a fact.

Survey EarlyGame May
Shape EarlyGame!

Pokémon Unite is More Chill than League of Legends

I think everyone that has ever played League competitively knows just how toxic it can get. The community can be horrible and mean and if you make even just the tiniest mistake, you will get flamed and will have to endure constant pings. In Pokémon Unite, you don’t have that issue. Maybe it’s because it’s designed for the Switch, so possible aimed at a younger audience, or maybe it’s just because the Pokémon community is not nearly as toxic as the League community. Whatever the case, we’re glad to finally play a MOBA this chill.

Pokémon Unite Takes up Less Time than League of Legends

Whereas a League of Legend match takes up to 40 minutes (sometimes even an hour), a Pokémon Unite match is always only 10 minutes, sometimes even shorter, depending on the mode you play. That means that if you just want to play a quick round, you actually can. Competitively or not. That’s not possible in League. Even ARAM can take 30 minutes or longer.

Doesn’t matter whether it’s a horrible game or not, you will “only” lose ten minutes when playing Pokémon Unite. If you play a bad League match with teammates that simply don’t want to surrender, you will often lose an hour. And that’s just a horrible feeling.

There are probably a hundred more reasons, maybe there are even some that are in favor of League of Legends, but looking at this from an outside perspective, I really think that Pokémon Unite is the better option if someone is looking for a MOBA to start playing and has absolutely no experience in it.

Maybe start with Pokémon Unite and then go over to League… or just stay with Pokémon Unite, for your mental health, you know?

In case you do want to try out LoL, check out the video above and our LoL videos in general, we always have a bunch of guides, like this Jhin guide!

Michelle Stummreiter

Michelle was the Head of Content at EarlyGame. Her favorite games are League of Legends and the Dragon Age series....