18 Best MOBA Games You Should Play in 2021

Multiplayer online battle arena or MOBA is a hugely popular genre. The origin of which hearkens back to the old Frozen Throne mod Defense of the Ancients (DotA) way back in the early 2000s. Ever since then, MOBA games just snowballed into prominence and made their way into the mobile space. Hence, we’re here to show you the top 20 MOBA games that you can enjoy on mobile.

Top 18 MOBA Games Of All Time

1. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is one of the oldest MOBAs on mobile. In terms of sheer download numbers, it’s also the most popular. The game features five-vs-five battles, simple controls, ten-minute match lengths, and more. It also boasts 10-second matchmaking wait times, though that’s a bit exaggerated. Everything else is top-notch, though. Players who are disconnected can rejoin the same battle. That and more puts it right up there among the best MOBAs.

One of the bigger complaints, however, is that most of the heroes are a bit expensive to buy, especially the newer ones that come out every once in a while. Other than that, the game’s very polished, especially with the latest Android smartphones having 6 GB RAM at most. The over 14 million downloads it currently has on Google Play speaks for itself and lends credence to how popular the game got over the years.

Download on Android

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2. League of Legends: Wild Rift

A long-awaited MOBA for mobile, Wild Rift is an instant hit when it arrived at the Google Play Store and App Store in 2020. It has all the elements that people love in the original League of Legends: a map similar to Summoner’s Rift, almost the same set of champions, and equally challenging ranking mechanics. With all the things reminiscent of the original, Wild Rift also doesn’t fail to give players a new experience.

The game is designed to be fast-paced and chaotic. It removes the Nexus that protects the base turret, so the game is expected to only last around 15-20 minutes, or even 10. Its graphics are eye candy, with its visually entertaining, bright, and crisp images that have been optimized for mobile.

If you are wondering, League of Legends: Wild Rift is not cross-play compatible with its PC counterpart, and we don’t see it ever happening. League of Legends for PC has a very competitive player base and it won’t be fair that mobile players be pitted against them given mobile phone’s limiting capacity.

Our Wild Rift review lays out our thoughts about League of Legends’ foray into mobile.

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3. Arena of Valor

Arena of Valor is one of the newer MOBAs relatively. There is a lot to like about it. It features five vs. five, three vs. three, and one vs. one game modes. Additionally, there are over three dozen heroes, ten-minute matches, co-op multiplayer, and more.

This MOBA game launched alongside the Razer Phone and grew in popularity rather quickly. Its art design is also one of the best on the list, and there’s a lot of good art design here. Due to this, it can be pretty slow on middling to lower-end smartphones.

If there’s one thing that may convince people to play, it’s that Batman is one of the heroes in this game.

Download on Android

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4. Vainglory

Vainglory exploded onto the mobile scene in 2015, and it’s easily among the most popular mobile MOBAs. It boasts a roster of over 25 heroes; that’s a fairly decent selection. Matches can be set for seven minutes for quick plays. There is also an option for 25-minute matches for all-day slugfests. In terms of mechanics and gameplay, Vainglory boasts 60 fps gameplay and 30ms control responsiveness. That caters to the hardcore MOBA fans quite well.

It’s one of the most popular MOBAs on Android for a reason. Its popularity also makes match wait times pretty low. For those people who want to play on their PC and Mac, the game unveiled its cross-platform capabilities in 2018.

Download on Android

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5. Marvel Super War

Marvel Super War (MSW) is serving players with action and fun. With comic-accurate skills and powers, this MOBA game gives you a taste of what it is like to be your favorite heroes or villains. MSW has over 50 playable characters including the mainline heroes like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor, and Captain America. Of course, it also has the most hated villains like Thanos and Loki, only they work alongside the good guys.

MSW’s gameplay doesn’t differ from most MOBA games. It is a 5v5 match on a wide map with three paths protected by turrets. In between lanes are massive jungles with creeps to enhance your heroes’ abilities. Your goal is to destroy your opponent’s base turret on the other end of the map.

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6. Brawl Stars

Made by the same people who made Clash of Clans, Brawl Stars is a game that’s a bit lighter on the MOBA part on the surface. However, the core of it is still on the MOBA genre, which will appeal to the more casual gamers out there. The lighter tone lends an easy air to the game itself that nearly anyone will enjoy.

The game has two game modes: 3v3 and Battle Royale. 3v3 behaves like a traditional MOBA: A team of three brawlers fights another team of three. There’s only a single lane reminiscent of the Howling Abyss map on League of Legends, which makes for less strategic play and more brawling and fighting. The Battle Royale mode works the same as any battle royale, but crammed in a small area, no loot, and only shooting is required in order to kill off your enemies.

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7. Legend of Ace

Legend of Ace is another MOBA game that offers a twist in the usual formula here. One is the fact that there is instead a timer that’s counting down. And the other is the replacement of items for cards. The cards allow players to go immediately for the effects that they’re looking for in order to make their heroes stronger, enabling them to immediately fight to the death in a pretty unique MOBA setting. All in all, Legend of Ace is a niche pick here, but it’s decent. 

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8. Onmyoji Arena

Onmyoji Arena is NetEase’s MOBA with the Onymoji series serving as a character base. It works a lot like other MOBAs but with a couple of unique differences. This one has a 3 vs 3 vs 3 triple battle royale mode that is surprisingly fun and chaotic.

The game has a history of problems with AFK players and the occasional loading issue, but by and large, the gameplay is a positive experience. With over 55 unique heroes or shikigami based on Japanese folklore (Shuten and Ibaraki Doji being the more obvious examples) as well as two crossover shikigamis in Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, the game promises to be one of the more exciting MOBA’s on mobile.

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9. Planet of Heroes

Planet of Heroes is an up-and-coming MOBA. In terms of features, it’s fairly decent. The game includes three difficulty modes for AI combat, RPG elements, three vs three combat, and seven-minute match lengths.

It’s probably not good enough for eSports. It leans a bit too casual for that. However, there is a lot of potential for it to be that hardcore. You can play as often as you want and the developers boast as fair of an experience as any. It’s also one of the few MOBAs with a single-player campaign mode, which is cool for those who crave a single-player experience.

Download on Android

10. Extraordinary Ones

At first glance, the game might be just another MOBA to occupy the market but that’s where you’re wrong. The game has a loyal player base and a lot of neat little events to occupy your time playing it. They recently had a My Hero Academia collaboration that allowed players to use All Might, Izuku Midoriya, and Katsuki Bakugou as heroes, and that’s just one collab that they have. They had another one with Mob from Mob Psycho as well. That said, Extraordinary Ones is a pretty cool game all in all and is worth taking a look at or two.

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11. Survival Heroes

Brawl Stars with Mobile Legends graphics—that’s how we can describe Survival Heroes. Survival Heroes is a free-to-play mobile MOBA game developed by Snail Games. Elements from both MOBA and battle royale games are merged together in a way that’s surprisingly fluid, which makes it a very easy game to pick up and play for those who are already familiar with the two genres. If you’re a fan of both MOBA and battle royale genres, then this game’s a must-have.

Download on Android

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12. Heroes Evolved

Heroes Evolved is one of the most popular MOBA games out there. It also has some of the most unique features. The basic experience is pretty good, too. It features over 40 heroes, a clan system, short match options, and more. It also includes a Chaotic Strike game mode. You have no mana to manage and can enjoy faster cooldowns. There aren’t a ton of MOBA games like this one; it might even be good for eSports someday.

Download on Android

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13. ShellFire

Another interesting MOBA on mobile is ShellFire from Dunia Games. Basically, it’s an FPS MOBA, with all that it entails. Hero abilities, unique play styles—basically Overwatch on mobile. But we make that comparison on a positive note.

The game runs pretty smoothly and the gameplay is crisp and tight, which is perfect for an FPS game. All in all, the game’s a pretty cool way to play the MOBA genre. The game demands a pretty hefty 1.5 GB of memory, though, so if you want to download it, you better have enough memory in your phone to do so.

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14. Heroes Arena

Somewhat of a surprise is Heroes Arena. Its gentle learning curve allows people to immediately play, which favors both hardcore and casual players alike. The roster of characters to choose from in Heroes Arena is quite massive so it’s likely that you’ll find a bunch of different characters that fit your play style and preferences.  One of the best things about this game is the fact that it balances the characters nicely so they’re all almost equally as strong and you’ll never feel that you lost a game due to one character being overpowered in terms of its stats or abilities. All in all, the game’s one of the few MOBA games that people can readily enjoy.

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15. Awakening of Heroes

A MOBA with Clash of Clans graphics, Awakening of Heroes is a cool mobile MOBA that combines serious play and copious hilarity. There was already a lot of content in this game since it first released on Early Access. And although there’s still some room for improvement, overall there’s huge potential for this MOBA.

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16. Heroes of Order and Chaos

Heroes of Order and Chaos is one of the newer MOBA games on this list. It’s also surprisingly good considering it’s a Gameloft game. It has a massive collection of 57 playable heroes. In addition, it includes no energy system. That means you can play as often as you want. Other features include three vs. three and five vs. five matches, upgradeable heroes, a Fun Mode, and even features for eSports commentary. There really isn’t a lot to complain about with this one. It’s a rock-solid MOBA game on mobile.

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17. Heroes of SoulCraft

Heroes of SoulCraft’s got a good thing going for it. Cross-platform and controller support plus a pretty cool mechanic of always having a player on a game even on AFK is a novel mechanic. They also have a Heroes of the Storm mechanic of allowing their heroes to choose their own ultimate. There are still a few problems in the game such as the lack of tutorial and semi-frequent crashes, but the game’s pretty solid all in all.

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18. Heroes Unleashed

Another MOBA that takes inspiration from OverWatch. With many game modes, nice graphics, and support from the developers, Heroes Unleashed is poised to be one of the best FPS MOBAs that came out in recent years and is still going strong to this day.

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