Raid: Shadow Legends has gone full Wizard of Oz. Echoes of Oz, a themed event running a full three months, is Plarium's biggest crossover-style content drop in a while, and it's structured to keep players logging in well past its launch week — the five Legendary champions tied to it aren't all available at once.
Five champions, staggered over months
The event's roster reimagines Oz's core cast as Legendary champions: Dorothy Gale, Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion, Ozilda the Wicked, and The Scarecrow. Rather than dumping all five into shards simultaneously, Plarium is staggering availability. The Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Ozilda the Wicked are already summonable from shards. The Cowardly Lion, a Skinwalker champion, was initially available only through a dedicated Fusion Event running August 19 through September 3 — but becomes directly summonable from shards starting September 4. Ozilda the Wicked and Dorothy Gale won't be summonable from shards until November 10, keeping the event's back half meaningfully different from its opening weeks.
That kind of staggered rollout is a deliberate retention play: it gives players a reason to keep checking in through September and October rather than front-loading everything into a single pull window.
Why the fusion event matters
Fusion events in Raid ask players to farm and combine specific lower-rarity champions to build up to the featured Legendary, rather than relying purely on shard luck. The Cowardly Lion's fusion window closing September 3 — right before his shard availability opens the next day — gives free-to-play and low-spend players a defined path to the champion before he becomes part of the general (much less reliable) shard pool.
Echoes of Oz at a glance
- The Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, Ozilda the Wicked — summonable from shards now
- Cowardly Lion — Fusion Event through September 3, summonable from shards starting September 4
- Dorothy Gale, Ozilda the Wicked — summonable from shards beginning November 10
- Event runs roughly three months total
For a seven-year-old game, Raid: Shadow Legends keeps leaning on exactly this formula: a recognizable IP-adjacent theme, a staggered champion drop, and enough separate acquisition paths (fusion, shards, event currency) to keep both spenders and grinders engaged. Echoes of Oz doesn't change the underlying gameplay, but it's a reminder that Plarium's event design is still doing a lot of the heavy lifting for long-term retention.
