RAID: Shadow Legends review

This RAID: Shadow Legends review is based on official sources and player reviews, not on our own play time. Plarium's turn-based dark fantasy RPG has you collect Champions, which its site counts at more than 900, and build teams for PvE and PvP. It is free on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, with one Plarium ID account across devices. Money buys Gems, Shard packs and Raid Card subscriptions; as of October 30, 2026, US App Store packs cost $0.99 to $99.99.

What is RAID: Shadow Legends?

RAID: Shadow Legends is a turn-based collection RPG from Plarium, set in the dark fantasy world of Teleria. You summon Champions from 16 factions, equip them with Gear and Artifacts, and build them up with Masteries and Blessings. Battles run on a Turn Meter, and Auto mode, Skill Instructions and Multi-Battle let a team replay a stage without input; the support site gives every player 30 free Multi-Battle attempts per day in Dungeons and the Campaign.

The store pages list a voiced story campaign, 13 Dungeon bosses, Faction Wars, the Doom Tower and Clan Bosses such as the Demon Lord and the Hydra. PvP has three Arena modes: Classic Arena, where your team of up to four attacks AI-controlled defenses; Tag Team Arena, a best-of-three series with three teams; and Live Arena, real-time 4v4 battles with a pick and ban phase. Clans also fight each other in Siege.

Plarium says the game has been downloaded more than 100 million times. Version 11.85.5 reached the App Store on October 20, 2026, adding Relic objectives to Clan vs Clan Tournaments and rebalancing Faction Wars Hard stages.

Is RAID: Shadow Legends free to play?

Yes. Plarium's game page calls RAID free to play, Steam lists it as Free To Play, and the App Store and Google Play list it as free with in-app purchases.

Most Champions come from Shards, and Plarium's Champions page lists where free Shards drop: Mystery Shards in the Campaign, Mystery and Ancient Shards in Dungeons, and Ancient, Void and Sacred Shards from PvP Chests, Demon Lord Chests and Quests. Shards also appear as daily login rewards, as one-time progression rewards and in the Market, the Clan Shop and the Tag Team Bazaar.

The Mercy system raises your odds after a dry streak. According to the support site, after 20 Void Shards without an Epic Champion, the Epic chance rises by 2% with each further Shard until one appears. Treasure Tickets give every player a Free Draw every 72 hours, and Live Arena hands out five free tokens a day.

Is RAID: Shadow Legends pay to win? What money buys

As of October 30, 2026, the US App Store's top in-app purchases are packs from $0.99 (Rookie Pack) to $99.99 (Ultimate Savings Pack), and Google Play shows $0.59 to $199.99 per item. The App Store also lists Raid Card subscriptions: Silver at $9.99 a month, Gold at $49.99 for six months, Platinum at $14.99 a month and Diamond at $29.99 a month. Per the support site, they add Campaign XP and Silver and extra Multi-Battle attempts. Paid Forge Passes and Gems that refill Energy are further shortcuts.

Plarium says Mystery, Ancient, Void and Sacred Shards are also sold in Shop offers and bundles, Primal Shards joined the Shop in 2023, and Apple shows a Loot Boxes notice. Its Champions page publishes default odds for four Shard types, for example a 0.5% Legendary chance from Ancient Shards and 6% from Sacred Shards. It does not cover Primal Shards, the only source of Mythical Champions, or Artifact Chests. Champions from paid Shards also fight in the Arenas and Siege, and higher Arena tiers add stat bonuses of up to 25%.

Based on what the official stores sell, we rate it as strongly pay to win; we will check this again when we play it ourselves.

RAID: Shadow Legends on PC, Mac and mobile

On Windows, Plarium's FAQ names four ways to get RAID: its own Plarium Play launcher, Steam, the Epic Games Store and the Microsoft Store. Steam lists a release date of January 9, 2024 and marks the game as Windows-only. On a Mac, RAID runs through Plarium Play; the official requirements list macOS Monterey 12 with Apple Silicon or an x64 processor.

Progress is shared. The support site explains how to link a Steam account to Plarium Play, add an email and password to create a Plarium ID, and then log in with that Plarium ID on a phone. Steam also tags the game with Cross-Platform Multiplayer.

Purchases differ by store. Plarium's Microsoft Store FAQ says Raid Cards cannot be bought there, but a card bought on Android or iOS also activates on PC. Purchases through the RAID Web Store, Plarium Play or the APK version earn Plarium Points, which unlock extra rewards. There is no console version, and the iPhone and iPad app needs iOS or iPadOS 15.0 or later.

RAID: Shadow Legends system requirements

Steam and Plarium's game page list the same PC specs, and both are modest.

Minimum: 64-bit Windows 10 version 21H1 or Windows 11 21H2, an x86 or x64 processor with SSE2 support or an Arm64 chip, 8 GB of RAM, a DirectX 11 or Vulkan-capable graphics card, DirectX 11 and 5 GB of storage.

Recommended: the same Windows versions or newer, 8 GB of RAM, a DirectX 11 or newer or Vulkan-capable graphics card and 8 GB of storage.

On macOS, Plarium asks for Monterey 12 or newer, Apple Silicon or an x64 processor with SSE2, a Metal-capable Intel or AMD GPU and 8 GB of RAM. The App Store version needs iOS 15.0 or later and is listed at 277 MB.

For older devices, Plarium's support site suggests setting Graphic Quality to Medium or Low and limiting the frame rate to 30 FPS.

Games like RAID: Shadow Legends

If you want another free collection RPG built around team building and PvP, these games from our catalog are the closest matches:

Summoners War: Sky Arena: Com2uS's turn-based monster-collecting RPG with Arena and real-time PvP, free on iOS, Android and, through Steam, Windows.

MARVEL Strike Force: Scopely's turn-based squad RPG with Marvel heroes and villains, on iOS and Android, plus a web version for existing players.

AFK Journey: Farlight Games' storybook fantasy RPG with card-based battles on a tile board, free on Windows through Steam or its own launcher, on iOS and Android, and on Apple Silicon Macs through the App Store.

All three sell random hero or monster summons, like RAID's paid Shards.

• Summoners War: Sky Arena
• MARVEL Strike Force
• AFK Journey

Our ranked list: Games like RAID: Shadow Legends