Where is Champion Select headed – the ever-growing discussion expanded by Riot Socrates, Ward Tracking, RoA and Tear reworked for Dominion, buffs to Madred’s Razors and Wriggle’s Lantern, buffs for Ashe’s Focus, free limited transfers to Brazilian Servers and much more!

Pick Order vs Call Order

Transfer to Brazilian Servers

Item Changes in Dominion

Ward Tracking

Issues with PvP Client

Achievements?

Madred’s/Wriggle’s rework

Buffs to Ashe’s Passive

Pick Order vs Call Order

Let’s start off with an update of Lyte‘s work on player interaction in Champion Select, featuring Riot Socrates who tells us why the current format of Ranked Matchmaking is frustrating for the last picks.

 Riot Socrates: Summoners,

As you all know, we value communication and collaboration above all when it comes to choosing roles in ranked games. According to the Player Behavior team’s studies, teams that cooperate together have a greater chance to win. Naturally, cooperation and communication is something we want to encourage within all games of League of Legends.

That said, we do know that there have been some problems with coming to an agreement at champion select, and many players have defaulted to one of two systems: Pick Order – where players higher on the pick list have first choice of their role – and Call Order – where players believe whoever “calls” a role first gets the right to it. For a while, we’ve been asked what our own official stance is on Pick Order versus Call Order and, after much consideration,we’ve ultimately decided to endorse Pick Order over Call Order as an underlying system. There are many reasons why Pick Order works better to encourage communication and cooperation in teams:

• Players with faster load times shouldn’t have an unfair advantage in Call Order
• Pick Order occurs naturally in the current design, so it’s more intuitive
• Over time, players get an equal number of opportunities to be each pick slot
• Players shouldn’t have to race to type a position at the start of each match

At this point we would like to stress, once again, that Pick Order should not be the first thing players turn to in determining who plays what role in ranked games. Pick Order is meant to be a last resort when settling discussions – this is why we are endorsing it and not mandating it. Communication and collaboration are still the most important things when it comes to playing ranked games, and we hope players will continue to uphold the Summoner’s Code in all of their matches. If you refuse to communicate with your team and rely only on Pick Order to determine your role selection, you are still being a toxic player and this will reflect negatively upon you. By officially endorsing Pick Order, however, we are hoping this will give more structure to players and may help settle some disputes. And, of course, this isn’t the only thing we’re doing to address champion select as a process. For more information on our long-term plans, turn to this discussion with Lyte, status kwoh, and davin. We’ve also included a mini-FAQ for players who have further questions on our endorsement of this philosophy.

Important!

Please, please please, everyone pay attention to the parts I bolded. Riot is not saying “Pick order is king” they are saying it is a way to settle arguments. Please still communicate with your team and respect others.

 Riot Pwyff: Just wanted to re-quote this given its importance. Socrates mentions this several times in his post, but reiteration is always good!

Isn’t Pick Order inconsiderate toward the last picks?

 Lyte: The philosophy here isn’t that pick order defines everything and is king. You should still communicate with your teammates and can see if they’d be willing let you play top–in many cases, players will be happy to still swap roles with you even if they have a higher pick order.

Communication > Pick Order > Calling

 Riot Socrates: That’s a pretty good TL DR version of our stance on this. Well said. =)

You’ve made your opinion public, will that effect communication in Champ Select?

 Lyte: Most of the player behavior team is currently working on potential solutions to Champion Select. Socrates and I were discussing our design philosophies on Champion Select in its current form and whether we felt Pick Order or Call Order was the better choice–we just felt like we should share our thoughts on the issue and generate some discussion to see what the community thought as well.

This isn’t necessarily how Champion Select will always be, we’re working hard on the future solutions everyday.

EDIT ::: We do believe Pick Order is the best answer of the current available options in Champion Select. More importantly, we believe communication and cooperation trumps every strategy in Champion Select.

We’re providing our reasons for why we believe Pick Order is the best. The question is, do players agree?

Do you think the First pick needs to communicate with his team?

The problem is does it really work that way?
Say I want mid. I tell everyone that. Well so does someone else. I’m first pick so I don’t need to communicate. I already said I wanted mid. They have no more reason to get it than I do. I have even less of a reason to communicate now, cause if I’m first, I get what I want. Not saying Call order is better, its just as stupid, but honestly, both systems dont work, and promoting one will only hurt communication within teams. Staying impartial to both made it so nether side had a real say, and were forced to work together. seems to me that now, who ever is first doesnt have to bother to communicate. It would be the same really if you did call order. Supporting an idea that takes away from communication will…well…take away from communication.

Also another thing im wounder. If its pick order, what about the trade option. im first, so I can get what ever i want? But I can trade with anyone on my team…so why does me being first mean anything?

Seems to me like staying impartial to ether side was a better option. Personally I dislike both call and pick order. Both take away from the fact that you need to communicate. The games where my team communicates are usually the games where I have the most fun. Wouldn’t supporting an idea that does not require communication only result in less communication?

 Riot Socrates: Our stance isn’t that the player who has first pick should ignore his team and auto lock. It’s that players should try to collaborate to form a team. If for whatever reason players come to an impasse and disputes arise, we want players to have some generally agreed upon set of rules to resolve the dispute in a civil way.

Got any questions? You can refer to the FAQ below or ask me in the comments!

FAQ:

• Q: How will Riot be able to enforce this?

A: The short answer is it won’t be strictly enforced. We want to create an environment that encourages collaboration when creating team comps. Strict enforcement here could potentially obstruct that. However, in the event that somebody is breaking the Summoner’s Code in champ select, players can use the existing reporting tools like the tribunal.

• Q: I’m last pick and I have no idea how to play the role left to me – so I get reported either way. What do I do?

A: It’s best to go into ranked with at least a basic grasp of how to play every role. Having said that, behavioral and game skill reporting is handled differently. Receiving an ‘unskilled player’ report can’t result in a ban.

• Q: I ALWAYS end up last pick so this will have a significantly negative impact on me – how does pick order even get decided?

A: On average players should be seated in each pick order roughly the same number of times over a large enough set of games.

• Q: So if I play with a friend who’s significantly higher ranked than me, I will never have a choice in my role?

A: In this specific case, you could ask your friend to make a pick for you and then trade. More generally it’s pretty rare to find a team who all insist on playing specific positions. It’s worth communicating your strongest and weakest positions to your team since usually a compromise can be found.

Where to next?

So as you see, higher rating is not perfect in determining who gets to pick first. As always, collective team effort will trump any system that artificially determines a player’s skill level. It’s the best forced order in Champion Select, according to Riot, but is in no way the number one determining factor when it comes to champion picks.

I would really like a nonobligatory option introduced, one that encourages team communication. It seems this is the direction Riot wants to head, but, unfortunately, I feel the current community isn’t quite ready for something of that nature. As it stands, most players use third-party websites to get an insight on the skill level of their allies (LoLking, for example). This makes a voting system an intriguing possibility, where players vote who gets which pick and role. This is again highly restrictive and may encourage bullying, but it’s a solution, if a crude one at that.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Transfer to Brazilian Servers!

As the title states, you can now transfer to Brazilian Servers! The offer is available for free until May 31st.

 RiotLuqi: Starting today, players’ll be able transfer to the Brazil server. This transfer is free for 2 weeks from Friday May 17th to Friday May 31st at 8:00pm PST. Use your free transfer token by heading to the in-game store and click on the Other tab. Secure your summoner name on the Brazil server by transferring today!

For the full scoop on the Portuguese-language server, transfer options and more, check out this FAQ.

Red Post Collection

Read below for a discussion on the future changes to Rod of Ages and the Tear of the Goddess (consequently to Archangel’s Staff and Manamune) in Dominion, the state of LoL’s PvP Client and the recently deceased Achievements tab.

Item changes in Dominion

Tear of the Goddess + Manamune: 8 mana per charge (SR: 4)
Archangel’s Staff: 10 mana per charge (SR: 6)
Rod of Ages: 40 seconds per charge (SR: 60)

 Super Nomegeta: Champions with persistent drain effects (Singed, Amumu, Swain, Karthus) will charge the new Tear extremely quickly, but it should still help other champs out a bit. Feedback is welcome!

Can’t the Tear upgrade quicker?

I’d rather have it take a smaller charge threshold to upgrade the item and keep the current gains in max mana.

So they’ll change to muramana/seraphs at 500 mana, but still have a 1000 mana possible gained and keeping current gains.

 Xelnath: I think the overall excitement of these items is the capability to trigger the upgraded item.

How realistic is it to trigger that upgrade with the new upgrade rates? I personally think you achieve the goal with both changes.

Ward tracking and more!

Are you that diligent support that never gets credit for warding the map? Xelnath is here to reward you for your efforts!

 Xelnath: Hey guys,

I’m coding up some stat tracking for wards now. I want to give support and solo lane players some more recognition for amazing warding. Specifically, following up on the rule to prevent people from spamming wards in their base to cheese warding stats.

I plan to add: “Placed a new ward” and “Killed a ward” as end of game stats.

Is there anything else obvious you guys feel is worth noting at the end of the game?

Disclaimer: Everything we intuitively “get” as players may not be as easy to detect procedurally for a computer.

Do both Sight and Vision wards count?

 Xelnath: I can separate Pink wards from Green wards, but I don’t want to encourage losing players to sell all of their items to buy wards.

Why not display a Damage Shielded counter on the Stats Screen?

 Xelnath: I’ll take a look, but no promises here. This could be a deep rabbit hole.

A complete list of things to display

Individual:
- Green Wards placed;
- Pink Wards placed;
- Wards destroyed;
- Time of effective warding (time that enemies spent under your wards’ vision);
- Item activations;
- Potions consumed;
- Damage shielded;
- Time spent cc’d;
- CC time inflicted.

Team:
- Total Wards placed;
- Total Wards killed;
- Total Baron Nashor kills;
- Total Dragon kills;
- Total Ancient Golem kills;
- Total Elder Lizard kills.

On another note, the Pickpocket buff in-game should show how much gold you have done by using that mastery. Oh, and make gp10 items count the gold you make from them only when you actually start getting gold from them (sry for the OCD).

 Xelnath: This is an awesome list. Concise, effective and actionable.
Time of effective warding is too vague to track to everyone’s satisfaction.

I’ll see how far I get through this list before I run out of time (or willpower).

But wait there’s more!

• Green wards purchased
• Pink wards purchased
• Total gold spent on wards (sightstone + total wards)
• Enemies Revealed
• Objectives warded (Baron/Dragon/Buff Camps)
• Wards destroyed

 Xelnath: K. Just finished tracking gold spent and recieved from wards and ward killing.

Might be able to do “enemies revealed when you dropped the ward” as a one-time pulse. Do the same thing for Clairvoyance. No promises on that one.

What would you guys like displayed after the end of the game? (minus Teemo kills)

Newsflash: Adobe Air Sucks!

If you despise Riot’s PvP Client and wish it were improved, this post is just for you!

 Damiya: I feel your pain on the crashes guys, I do. We’re always looking for ways to correct any errant crashes, and whenever we get something concrete that we can work with, it’s assigned the highest priority.

WhattayaBrian‘s explanation is far more eloquent than I could manage; there’s a lot of passionate people on the Riot team who are all committed to delivering the best player experience. Everyone plays the game on a daily basis, from Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill all the way down to that one QA dude who started last Friday. I can’t speak to long term strategy or the reason why decisions were made long before I got here but I can say that the process of improving the quality of our Front End is ongoing.

The Item Sets feature is on PBE, there’s a whole new replay system that has a bunch of Air client tech, and we recently replaced the Login screen (cleaning up a buncha messy things and getting rid of that ever-frustrating “The server is busy” dialog). In 3.7 the team has upgraded the Air SDK and moved away from the Adobe Debug Launcher; that should provide some gains in both stability and performance.

None of this makes up for the frustration of seeing “Adobe debug launcher has stopped responding” when you go to view the profile of your favorite Pro or Challenger Tier player. But you’re not alone in that frustration, and there’s a lot of really smart people doing their best to ease that pain in ways both big and small.

R.I.P Achievements Tab

You’re probably aware that as of Patch 3.7, the Achievements Tab has been replaced by the Custom Sets tab.

 Damiya: Keep in mind that the Achievements tab has been sitting there for a very, very long time without being touched. Item Sets are an excited new feature, and logically they fit best into the Profile alongside other customization processes like Runes/Masteries.

We’re still actively evaluating the benefits and risks of incorporating achievements into a team-based, competitive game like League and didn’t want to let that stop us from taking advantage of that tabular real estate.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you want Achievements in League of Legends? 

Madred’s/Wriggle’s Rework!

Remember Madred’s Razor and Wriggle’s Lantern? Of course not! That’s not the case with Game Designer Statikk, who recently put up a poll asking the community what they think will be good improvements.

 Statikk: Hey all,

Just wanted to ask those of you who use Madred’s Razors or Wriggle’s Lantern, what direction you would like us to take the Maim passive proc?

I’ve attached a poll here. Feel free to both vote and post below describing why you chose that option.

Note: the numbers used in the poll are not finalized and would be subject to iterative changes.

The results are in aaand…

Won’t the first option make last hitting too easy?

 Statikk: True, we might have to change it to only be monsters if we go this direction.

A review of all possible choices

 Statikk: I’ll post a little more in-depth about the variants to give some more explanations.

1) Every basic attack deals 125 bonus magic damage
This is very straighforward. This makes the mechanic very consistent and reliable, but does remove those big chunks of damage. It would also probably have to be nerfed / removed for minion use due to lane implications as pointed out earlier in the thread. It may also need to be nerfed for monsters slightly due to it doing much less useless overkill damage.

2) Every 4th basic attack deals 500 bonus magic damage
This removes the randomness of the proc and retains the big bursts of damage. This version allows players to optimize the proc through techniques such as “priming” where you can say build up stacks before a Baron steal and then use it with Smite when you go in. Due to the fact that the proc would be more controllable and have higher optimization patterns, we would likely have to nerf the proc damage to say 400.

3) Every 4th consecutive basic attack within the next 3 seconds deals 500 bonus magic damage
This has similar gameplay to #2 except it removes the optimization patterns described above. This means we would be much less likely to nerf the damage.

4) 25% chance to deal 500 bonus magic damage
This is just the current one on Live.

Why do you want to change these items?

 Statikk: Mainly we want to increase the consistency of the item. We don’t really like the idea of Dragon fight being extremely easy or impossible due to an insane lucky or unlucky streak. We like the idea that good junglers are able to gauge when they can and cannot accomplish objectives and use their knowledge to optimize their gameplay.

Focus on buffs!

Ashe is in a bit of slump, her Passive being about the worst thing that you could bring to a teamfight. Let’s see what gypsylord has proposed as a solution!

 gypsylord: IMO Ashe as a whole is in a pretty good spot. She sees decent play and maintains a decent win rate across all elos while also being a niche pick in the competitive environment. Her kit has clear strengths and weaknesses and offers Ashe players many opportunities for extreme high moments.

What is NOT in a good spot is Focus, Ashe’s passive. As far as the majority of Ashe players are concerned it provides one singular moment of play and power to Ashe over the duration of the entire game. This is during the level one team fight/lane engagement. For the rest of the game the Ashe player tends not to notice or care about Focus and if she does notice it she feels as though she has no way to be proactive and take advantage of the power it is providing. Not cool.

So what to do? CHANGE IT OF COURSE! Here’s something CertainlyT and I just put into testing:

Ashe gains 3/6/9/12/15/18 stacks of Focus for every 3 seconds spent not attacking. At 100 stacks her next attack is guaranteed to crit. Her Focus stacks will then reset to her current Crit Chance.

Note – Attacking no longer causes Ashe to lose focus.

The goal here isn’t to do a massive Focus overhaul but instead make a lighter change that turns Focus into a binary mechanic that you can plan and play around in lane. If you have full stacks of Focus you get a free crit on your next attack. If you have 90 stacks of Focus then go hide in a bush for 6 seconds, get Focus, and R+W+Crit the enemy Sona.

What does 3/6/9/12/15/18 stacks for every 3 seconds mean?

 gypsylord: To clarify, stacks per 3 seconds are a function of Ashe’s level. At level 1 she gains 3 stacks per 3 seconds. At level 18 she gains 18 stacks per 3 seconds.

Some examples of how the new Focus will work

So her focus stacks reset to her current crit chance, meaning if you have 30% Crit chance then Focus will only need 70 stacks to charge? Do the stacks function as basically 1% crit chance each?

 gypsylord:  The first part is correct. If you have 30% Crit chance Focus will start stacking at 30 and you will effectively only need to charge 70 stacks.

The second part is wrong. Focus stacks do not give crit chance like they used to. If you have 99 stacks of Focus you get +0% crit. If you have 100 stacks of Focus you get +100% crit.

The new Focus is still bad in teamfights as you have to stay idle to stack it

 gypsylord: Ashe doesn’t have to be “standing around doing nothing” to stack Focus. Only autoattacks cause it to stop stacking, using Volley and other spells does not. That said you are right that it is not the best passive out there for the teamfight scenario. I would respond that it really isn’t intended to be. She has 600 range, great base AS, R, and perma-slows for teamfights. Focus will however still give her the odd bonus crit in late-game Volley kiting situations.

Isn’t it better for her stacks to rise per second, rather than per three?

 gypsylord: Oops should have clarified that. It will almost work like you’re suggesting.

After 3 seconds of not attacking Ashe’s Focus stacks will update every second.

Timeline after not attacking looks like this at level 18:
1 Sec – 0 Stacks
2 Sec – 0 Stacks
3 Sec – 18 Stacks
4 Sec – 24 Stacks
5 Sec – 30 Stacks
6 Sec – 36 Stacks
etc…

If she has 55% Crit it will look like this assuming she starts @ zero stacks.
1 Sec – 0 Stacks
2 Sec – 0 Stacks
3 Sec – 73 Stacks (55 + 18)
4 Sec – 79 Stacks
5 Sec – 85 Stacks
6 Sec – 91 Stacks
7 Sec – 97 Stacks
8 Sec – 100 Stacks, Next attack will Crit and clear Stacks.

 If you have any questions, feel free to ask below!

Here is a compact, comprehensible excerpt from the recent Freljord AMA on Reddit, featuring Morello, IronStylus, Runaan, Brackhar, 3PEET, Meddler, Nome, Kitae and Entropy!

The Freljord
ARAM
The Howling Abyss
Poro
Lissandra
Champion Changes
Champion Lore
Skins
In closing

The Freljord

How long ago did you guys start developing Freljord?

 IronStylus: Around 9 months ago I’d say but nothing concrete was ever said, like, WE WILL MAKE A FRELJORD EVENT, until Lissandra evolved. That sparked the fire for Freljord.. or made the idea.. snowball. HEH!

 IronStylus: Not 100% sure on this, but because of how ambitious this event and patch were, it did take a lot of marination time!

 Kitae: What iron stylus said. We knew we wanted to do a faction themed patch that would be bigger and better than Shadow Isles. When Lissandra started to evolve, we all got really excited about making Freljord that event.

 What inspired you all to make the Freljord focus for this patch?

 IronStylus: It was a HUGE effort but one that occurred very organically in the teams across design, features, art, creative, etc. We all were inspired by each others work and it really fed itself. It was indeed a tough push, there were producers in charge of owning the project, but it was a very, very big collaborative effort.

What made you want to use Freljord as the new ARAM map?

 Brackhar: A bit of it was a result of timing – we were discussing the idea of a Freljord event back even while we were working on Twisted Treeline, and given that we wanted to upgrade Proving Grounds in general we saw a nice opportunity to tie it into a larger event as a whole. Additionally, a big icy bridge over an infinite abyss seemed like a pretty cool idea in general.

Will you show us more of your Freljord concept art?

 IronStylus: We have tons.. like.. TONS of concept art. Most of what you saw in the mini-doc was done for that component of our IP development. We’re deep in the process of fleshing our the world of Runterra. That process was expedited by the Freljord event and that created a wealth of very polished art that inspired everything from champions, skins, Howling Abyss, etc.

I’d love to see how we can make this art available, I’ll check with our art director to see if there are any plans!

How will you continue the story of the Freljord?

 Kitae: The Story of the Freljord will take a while to tell, it won’t be resolved in the next few months!

We’re not specifically setting out to consolidate factions, but we are looking to tell stories involving multiple champions, and we want to establish relationships between champions. We will shuffle things around occasionally to hit this goal.

Will the war between the three sisters and their tribes ever end?

 Kitae: We are definitely going to progress the Freljord story and big changes are totally possible. We could see champions switching tribes etc. In the end there will be only one Queen of the Freljord.

Would you have done this patch without the Howling Abyss?

 Kitae: We don’t think new maps are a requirement for faction lore events. We have more factions than maps by far! However, with the Howling Abyss we had a cool opportunity to upgrade the map and set it in the Freljord, so we took it.

We’re really open about how we will do further Freljord storytelling. For the patch we had: a video, multiple voiceovers, lore shopkeepers, Quinn’s journals. Nothing is off the table for future storytelling.

Is this event an attempt at exploring the world of League of Legends?

 IronStylus: I really want to see us expand upon the world and make it a living breathing place. I’m not really sure about integrating it into maps, that can be a big task. However, I really want to see us at least do this sort of thing where we do the website treatment, maybe something through the client, interactive maps, etc, that really show us a peak into the world.

Which of the three Freljord tribe icons is the most popular so far?

 IronStylus: It’s actually neck-and-neck.

We wanted all three tribes to be appealing in their own way. What we’re seeing is broad support for all three tribes. That’s awesome, it makes their conflict way more interesting!

What has Demacia learned from the journey of Quinn into the Freljord?

 RiotRunaan: Demacia has acknowledged that the Freljord could potentially become a threat in the future, but as the war there is just beginning to unravel, they’re not going to interfere just yet. So long as the Freljord is busy fighting itself, Demacia has no need to fear a united barbarian front crashing down on their borders. Jarvan will certainly be keeping an eye on the Freljord, though, and maybe Quinn will go on another scouting mission eventually.

Does the Freljord pose danger for Demacia and Noxus?

 Kitae: A united Freljord could be a danger to any of the factions of Runeterra. Their divided nature is the only thing that has stopped Freljord from rising to become a dangerous power.

If Ashe is victorious that would be the safest outcome, due to her diplomatic nature, but even then Freljord is a dangerous sleeping giant.

 ARAM

Balancing ARAM

Can you explain the rationale behind the following balance changes to ARAM?

• Shop buying range. On PG you could walk back to the shop and buy as long as you didn’t pass your inhibitor. This gave defenders a chance and made the map less one-sided. A lot of people are unhappy about this change.
• Warmogs removal. (Warmogs countered poke teams and gave melee a chance. Why would you remove it?)
• 5 pots limit. Did anyone ask for this? Was this an oversight? This also really seems like a buff to poke teams and to teams with healers.
• Poros showing you if bushes are occupied. Some people like this and some don’t.
• Fountain laser range is still not clearly shown.
• Perspective changes (the camera is zoomed out further and more straight vertical).
• Shop range visibility. The shop fails to clearly communicate that it is no longer usable. It can take a while for grandpa to walk away on purple side, and blue side shop is kind of confusing as well. PG immediately showed that the shop was closed when the blue walls came up.

Additional questions:

• Will ARAM matchmaking be improved? I would never join a custom ARAM game that didn’t kick all non-30s. Why am I forced to carry level 25s by this matchmaking system?
• Are we going to see ARAM-specific balance changes like you promised for TT and Dominion? Like map-specific nerfs to Janna, Jayce, Nid, Yi, Soraka, etc. and buffs to Shyvana and Trynd?
• ARAM ranked?
• Did you take into consideration how many champions each of the three factions has, for purposes of the icon contest? It’s a lot easier for someone to want to side with one of the five Avarosan or four Winter’s Claw champions than the two Frostguard champions (and one is brand new and the other has brand new lore – so basically people don’t know either of them). I ask because many players are assuming there will be some sort of “most picked faction” reward, like with Ionian Boots.
• Is there a solution in the pipeline for framerate issues on HA? Many people have much worse framerates on HA than they did on PG.

 RiotNome: I’ll try to answer as many of these as possible.

• We’ll be expanding the shop buying range in a future patch.
• Warmog’s didn’t counter poke teams; poke teams dominated early game, and used that advantage to snowball into late game. What Warmog’s did was counter ranged teams, and allows melee champions toeventually become useful, but among good players, almost always win. We added the Guardian’s Horn to fulfill the niche that a health/regen item should have filled early, but still remain useful mfrom mid-to-late game.
• They’re a gameplay mechanic now, and it’s intended
• The perspective is different from Summoner’s Rift, but should be identical to Proving Grounds. Regardless of its differences to other maps, it was a judgment call we made very early. It allows players to see more of the map art, but also gives a slight nerf to long-ranged poke champions.
• Shop visibility will be much better once the range is properly extended.

Additional answers… * It’s unlikely you’ll see any ARAM-specific balance changes immediately. We may decide to come back and do slight adjustments in the future based on data and how well the TT/CS changes are received.

• I believe the icon contest simply requires you to win 10 games wearing the icon. You don’t need to play a champion of the faction.
• We’re working on performance!

Banshee’s Veil in ARAM

In my experience the removal of Warmog’s has made all AP teams a lot more powerful in general than a team with such an obvious flaw of being stacked to one damage type should be.

Would you consider changing Banshee’s Veil to the dominion version - Odyn’s Veil on HA to give more options to counter these kinds of team compositions? The passive on Banshee’s Veil feels extremely underwhelming on this map and I think the way Odyn’s is designed for constant aggressive play would better fit the pace of HA games.

 RiotNome: That’s not a bad idea, actually. Now that Howling Abyss is done, we do plan on revisiting both TT and CS from a design standpoint. There’s a lot of work to be done, and large item overhauls are a big part of it. The HP/MR options are a bit sparse on Howling Abyss, so we’ll keep that in mind for future changes!

No Warmog’s in ARAM is a problem

 RiotNome: I agree; I think there’s still room for additional HP/MR options. Warmog’s won’t be one of them though; it was just too toxic in how required it was for victory.

Duplicating champions after a re-roll

 RiotNome: As far as I know, you can only have duplicate champions when someone re-rolls. We’re fixing this soon, last I heard.

Fog of War in ARAM

What about overall vision? Once your two towers are down you can’t see far down the lane at all.

 RiotNome: This likely won’t change, as there’s not much use for greater breadth of vision on the map. On the topic of vision though, I will say that we experimented with some additional gameplay mechanics very early on. One of them involved detaching allied vision during the high winds (think Nocturne’s ultimate). The idea here was that the periodic high winds would blind your character, creating a state of frenzy that would break up the monotony of long-range poking. It’d also allow melee characters a great chance to run in and capitalize on disorganization.

What happened to balance per game mode?

 RiotNome: That’s still going to happen; it’s just not going to happen for ARAM immediately. There’s a lot of reasons we’re not going to do it; unlike CS and TT, HA isn’t as far removed from Summoner’s Rift. We may come back and make small tweaks eventually.

Is the MMR for ARAM Matchmaking separate from the other game modes?

 Brackhar: Yeap, it is.

The Howling Abyss

Will you add tower damage to Summoner’s Rift?

 RiotNome: Summoner’s Rift is our most popular map, so it means we’ll have to do a lot of performance investigations and research before porting a change like this over. On Howling Abyss for example, there’s a fairly complex logic system that swaps out the current turret mesh with the appropriate destructible/destroyed mesh at the appropriate time. There’s performance considerations for every little bit of visual flair we do, and we’d want to make sure we do it right.

How about a visual overhaul of SR?

 3PEET: The goal of the Environment team is to bring the immersion and visual quality of League of Legends to the highest point possible while improving the clarity and gameplay experience.

The rework of Twisted Treeline was a good step in the right direction. We implemented a lot of new techniques and technology and worked with creative to push the Shadow Isles lore.

With Howling Abyss we tackled a lot of tough challenges such as pushing depth, destruction, weather, ambient creatures, unique shop keepers and many other aspects.

We will continue pushing the quality bar while answering as many tough questions for what we can and cant do in our game. I don’t have any specific details about Summoners Rift, but I can say we will eventually be overhauling everything that is not at the highest quality.

Why did you add so many sound effects to the shopkeeper on Howling Abyss?

 Kitae: Shopkeepers were an unobtrusive way for us reveal lore and backstory to players without interfering with the game. We’re always looking for ways to combine lore with gameplay, but never at the expense of gameplay.

The music of the Abyss

1. I’ve noticed that the music in the Howling Abyss has a lot of really cool stingers added in for different in game events, for example taking a tower brings in some massive drums and dying fades in some drones and creepy whispers. What else did you do to make the music in the Howling Abyss so fluid and seemingly endless?

2. In the Freljord theme, at the latter half of 00:06, there’s this low sort of war-like brass sound. What instrument/combination of instruments is that?

 RiotPraeco: 1. Basically, apart from the victory/defeat and the death-track, there are 5 different music tracks and phases with different intensity to support a conscious emotional development of the individual game. The music shouldn’t just feel the same throughout the whole game, but progress with it. We also added a few other ambiences to glue the whole sonic experience together, so the sound effects have a nice “cushion” to sit on.

2. That instrument actually had a very conscious concept, thanks for asking, I like talking about that one. Basically, I talked to Sam Estes, one of my good friends, and told him “Hey, can you develop me an instrument that sounds like an ice giant carved out a gigantic tree and then blew air through it, to create this huge and intimidating tone, that still sounds very organic and natural?” – And that he did. He’s a very talented instrument designer.

Poro =D

What is a Poro?

 RiotRunaan: Mysterious, ice-dwelling fuzz balls who have found a home near the Howling Abyss. They enjoy mocking and toying with those who cross the bridge.

How did you come up with the idea of Poro?

 3PEET: The environment art team had a meeting to discuss the overly aggressive feel of the map. We decided we needed some some whimsical elements to balance it out. We did some simple concepts and Poro came up.

Love that you can target them!

 RiotNome: Unintended! We weren’t entirely attached to the name “Poro” until it leaked on PBE because someone pinged it. We had no idea that was possible. I suppose, as someone who really loved that name, it worked out well.

Did the name Poro come from the Finnish word for Reindeer?

 RiotNome: We didn’t have any Finns on the Howling Abyss team as far as I know, but I do recall us realizing very early what it meant in Finnish. It’s a pleasant coincidence I suppose.

Was it intended to have Poro killed by the fountain laser?

 RiotNome: I don’t know. Was it!? >:D

 Why do the Poros explode when they are fed?

 RiotNome: Well, our animator CaptainLx made a death animation, and we wanted to find a way to use it, so naturally it turned into “how many awful ways can Poros die”. We threw around ideas like “what if the Poros got squished when the turrets crumbled over them” and “what if they ran really quickly, so if you actually caught them, you would step on them and they’d explode.” Brackhar vetoed them those ideas… blame him. Poros exploding after eating snacks ended up being a pretty innocuous way to use the animation.

But whyyyy? ;(

 RiotNome: Something so fat and puffy was meant to be blown up.

Can we have a Poro plushie?

 RiotNome: I’d rather have a Poro beanie bag myself. Or a beach ball. Or water balloons (filled with smaller Poro water balloons). Kick! Punch! Throw! >:O

Lissandra

What inspired Lissandra’s visuals?

 IronStylus: Lissandra had always been a topic of discussion. We had two Freljord sisters, where was the 3rd? Initially she was “The Ice Dervish” and was envisioned to be more of an assassin, with ice blades growing out of her. She was regal and almost “good” looking. She had some elemental aspects to her but she was very traditionally human.

Not much traction was gained with those particular concepts. It just wasn’t really striking a chord with anyone. One of our newest concept artists at the time, Trevor Claxton, tried to take a stab at her soon after he came in. He proceeded to create something truely unique, and almost alien. His image of an otherworldly type woman carried upon a trail of black ice was a spark. It was that concept that spurred new ideas of how super-natural and strange Lissandra could be.

What worked about this concept was that this person felt like a queen, but not in the standard crown wearing way. She was indeed regal, but she was terrifying. She was almost abstract in her anatomy and shapes. It was this real breath of fresh air that spurred something that everyone could get behind on. It created a lot of momentum in helping Lissandra turn out as amazing as her concept.

I’ll have to ask Trevor, but Elesh Norn might have been inspiration!

 RiotMeddler: Visually we wanted something with a somewhat alien, no longer human look, hence the unusual proportions, head dress etc. On the gameplay side we really wanted to capture some of Lissandra’s personality in her abilities – vicious, manipulative, dominating. We also wanted to explore a niche we haven’t used as much, a shorter range mage with strong initiation potential, whether in lane, team fights or ganks.

Can you tell us more about her ultimate?

 RiotMeddler: We were aiming for a few things with Lissandra’s ultimate. The first was to try and create an interesting choice between two different uses (self cast/enemy cast) to add some extra tension to fights as both the Lissandra player and as the enemy.

The second was to try and create a gameplay link to a key element of Lissandra’s lore, the desire to see the cold return and everything freeze. The final big reason was that we wanted to give her a high impact, short range ability, that, when needed, would allow her to survive in team fights, so that she could continue to build/play more like a mage than a tank, despite having both initiation capability and short range CC.

Why doesn’t Lissandra have an explicit reason for joining the League?

 Kitae: We used to put one liners in bios to describe why champions joined the League. These weren’t satisfying, and they weren’t good stories. Our focus now is on telling compelling stories that help players understand who a champion is. If you look at all of Lissandra’s story elements (bio, login screen VO, howling abyss easter egg, video, Quinn’s journals) you can build a complete understanding of her character and motivation.

Champion changes

Why did you change Ashe’s voice?

 RiotRunaan: As one of the oldest champions in League of Legends, Ashe had a very limited VO script. We wanted to bring her up to the amount of lines we give our new champions (similar to the way champions like Twisted Fate and Annie got updated scripts with their visual upgrades) as well as give her tie-ins with other champions for the Freljord event. Her voice actress is the same.

Did you also update Anivia’s voice?

 RiotRunaan: Yes, Anivia’s voice over was updated as well for many of the same reasons.

Everything about the new Sejuani

As an avid player of the old Sejuani I have a lot of questions involving the rework:

1. I have an interesting question regarding player perception. The Sejuani rework was actually a pretty decent nerf to her numbers wise, and slight changes to risk and reward. Yet everyone I’ve talked to that hasn’t played the old Sejuani too much thinks that the new Sejuani is way stronger. I think that this is very interesting that people’s opinion on Sejuani changed so much despite the main changes being visual. What is it that makes people see the new Sejuani as more powerful? Is it the new looks? Her new feel? (because in-game she has a very hefty feel to her) or is it that Sejuani was always pretty powerful and the rework just turned attention toward her?

1. The old Sejuani had a very nice kit in my opinion, everything had really good synergy with everything else in her kit. It feels like the new Sej doesn’t really have that, especially her new Q. The problem with the new Q is that it is now only single target, which feels off in many situations. What was the thought behind the decision to change the Q to a single target skill?

1. Piggybacking off my previous question about Sej’s kit, I’d like to ask about the removal of frost’s slow. The old passive on Sej was actually extremely useful, but it didn’t have too much of a visual effect in game. It allowed a Sej with only 350 movespeed to keep up with an enemy with 389 movement speed. This was a big deal in keeping on your enemy and making sure they kept taking your damage. With the new Sejuani, there is really nothing keeping them near you after the 2-3 seconds of E, and unless you burn ult they’re free to just walk away if they’re faster. What was the thought behind removing the slowing part of frost from Sej’s kit?

1. When Sejuani first came out there was a saying about her that said after 30 minutes she was just a walking ult. This later got proved wrong, but I actually feel as if this is true of the new Sejuani. I feel that the reason for this is the decent nerf to her w, which when calculated with 2000 extra health bought comes out to about 500 less damage, this includes the 50% extra damage on frosted targets old Sej had. Late game there really isn’t much reason to focus her in a teamfight, unlike a lot of other tanks in the game. What are your opinions on this subject?

1. Continuing off the previous question, I am pretty unhappy with the changes to her W. The old W felt very responsive and was simple in its application. In contrast, the new W feels very clunky and unnecessarily complex. My main gripe is with the second delay between activation and when the aoe damage starts, even if you decide to double tap the W. Beyond that I dislike that the modified auto attack doesn’t scale with health, unlike the rest of the skill. I feel like these are slight problems because there isn’t anything beyond the E and R if you decide to burn it that keeps them near you, so it feels like you need to pack all the damage you can into the 3 seconds that E is in effect. What was the decision making process in giving her a delay in her aoe, and making it also have a modified auto attack as part of it?

1. Her ult had a couple of changes involved with it, it got an extremely slight range buff, I’m not 100% on this but it feels like the aoe of the burst was shortened by a good amount, now everyone within the aoe is stunned for a full 2 seconds instead of 2 for the person hit and 1 for everyone else, and now if you miss hitting someone it applies a slow within the aoe. I feel like this change added on an extremely substantial risk, for only a small change in reward. What are your views and thoughts regarding this?

 RiotRunaan: 1. Our goal with the Sejuani rework was to shift power around, make it more visible and increase her risk reward on a couple of skills a bit, not to nerf or buff. I believe that the change in perception of Sejuani is a combination of some successes there (the addition of the knockup on the charge for example, in exchange for harder to perceive damage on the W) and all the extra attention she’s got due to the Freljord event/her visual rework.

2. Primary reason for making the charge single target was power. While testing the rework internally we had Sejuani consistently dominating games and removing a bit of AOE damage helped bring that under control. A secondary reason was consistency, having enemy champions take the damage but not the knock up felt odd and making the skill an AOE knockup wasn’t an option.

3. We’ve found permaslows to be really difficult to make both satisfying and balanced when they’re available throughout the game and not gated in some form (mana/CDs/something else). Something we wanted to do with Sejuani was increase her high moments but also give a few more options for counter play for the enemy in exchange, and the removal of the permaslow was a part of that trade off. Having said that Sejuani still has a knockup, one of the strongest multi target slows in the game and an AOE stun/slow, so she’s still pretty sticky compared to most champions.

4. Most tanks fall off late game to some degree and Sejuani does follow that pattern. Her damage is pretty solid/arguably a bit on the high side compared to other similar champions and she brings a lot of utility/disruption to a fight so we’re not currently concerned about her having a lack of late game impact. We are keeping a really close eye on both her and Trundle in terms of performance though and will be tweaking them as needed.

5. We wanted to involve Sejuani’s flail in her kit a bit more, give a small optimisation moment (correct use of auto attack reset) and give the enemy another small moment of counterplay (avoid the auto attack reset, take a bit less damage).

6. The burst radius on the ult hasn’t changed, though both it’s range and speed have been increased slightly. The full stun for everyone versus slow if you miss is a shift towards a higher risk/reward patten. The worst case scenario for the Sejuani player is definitely weaker, a 2 second AOE stun at long range though is incredibly powerful and a substantial increase in power compared to 2 second primary target/1 second others, so we’re happy with that change at present.

Champion Lore

Why did Udyr move from Ionia to the Freljord?

 RiotEntropy: Udyr’s primal nature and shaman-like abilities felt very at home in the Freljord, so we looked at ways to involve him in the upcoming event. In the end we decided to expand his open-ended origins to the Freljord and empower him as a guardian of the natural order on Runeterra. Lissandra and the Frozen Watcher give him an immediate motive to be involved in the events unfolding in the Freljord.

What about Gragas?

 RiotEntropy: Gragas needed a change. While his original motivation left us room to explore, his old story made him a hermit who did little other than pursue the art of brewing on his remote plot of land and occasionally wander into Noxus to make mischief. By taking away his crutch, the nexus on his land that gives his alcohol power, we could give him agency in the world and even agency into his own source of power.

Gragas is now someone who wanders the world searching to become the best brewmaster in history and he became powerful because he had the audacity to make concoctions no one else would dream of and possessed the constitution to stomach them.

What you see in the bio is one excerpt of Gragas’s life long quest, not the end all be all of his life’s work.

Brand was found in Lokfar. Does that mean an impending lore update?

 Kitae: Brand – Brand was never from Lokfar, the body he possessed was from Lokfar. While Brand definitely wants to burn the Freljord, that’s because the Freljord is part of the world and he wants the world to burn.

But Brand may know something about Lissandra and the Watchers.

What about the ice cage Brand was found in?

 Kitae: Yup! I wonder who made that cage….hmmmm.

Skins

Why Icedrake Shyvana? She’s not from Freljord.

 IronStylus: We sort of wanted to explore some “alternate reality” here, showing what champions might look like in an interaction with this event. Sometimes the theme just makes for a nice treatment for the champion!

What’s the story behind Blackfrost Anivia?

 Morello: Blackfrost Anivia is the vision of a possibility – what would happen if the Frostguard were successful. Specifically, we wanted to make this still be Anivia, but under the shackles of being warped and corrupted. She still wants to protect the land and the world, but her method is twisted…she sees freezing the world solid, so it can’t hurt itself anymore, as the only viable option. It’s a tragic glimpse into what would happen to such a noble character should the land become warped by Lissandra.

Why didn’t you include Freljord-themed ward skins?

 Morello: The actual answer was lack of time – this is something we really like as an idea.

In closing

Was the Freljord patch exhausting for you, Rioters?

 RiotRunaan: A little bit exhausting… but EXTREMELY rewarding. Everyone involved poured tons of love and extreme effort into this thing, and it’s amazing to see it finally get out to you guys.

 Are there future plans for patches this big?

 IronStylus: We have some stuff in the works As per usual we don’t have time tables because content and context is always evolving. I do feel as though we’ll break out other patches like this, at least if players feel Freljord in particular was valuable. So, thanks for your support! I do very much want us to flesh out areas which are ambiguous and less developed…. especially Mount Targon

Will you be taking into account the community’s opinion for future updates?

 Morello: We do a lot of user research on the scientific level (davin leads this up), and pay attention to the forums and feedback, but we factor all this in overall. Sometimes, we’ll do things that aren’t popular, but feedback is important on how to do it better or what pain points players feel when doing it.

Basically, we’re never going to move to a design-by-committee system or anything, but we’re never going to just ignore feedback and trudge ahead. We may disagree sometimes, or there may be a bigger picture that players aren’t able to see, but it doesn’t change that feedback matters and is important

What impact does Community Feedback have on Relaunches?

 IronStylus: I can answer part of this: I think we want to message Relaunches better. We want to explain goals and the direction we feel we want to go, like Morello did recently on the subject of Sion. I’ve done some digging myself and we also have research initiatives we can do with players who are passionate about these characters and how to retain what is special.

What did Riot learn from this experience?

 Morello: To me, I think the biggest takeaway is how to more smoothly apply changes. This is something we already have a bit of practice with in game balance, but I think talking a little earlier and getting people’s expectations set before we make changes (and understanding how to both meet our long-term goals and be less disruptive) is a big lesson. See my Sion thread on the forums to see what I mean.

Hopefully this article has answered all your questions regarding the Freljord;

if not, feel free to ask me in the comment section below!

Join Xypherous as he discusses the changes that are currently on the PBE server and lends his opinion on Galio, LeBlanc, Nunu, Nami, Warwick, Quinn, Caitlyn, Lux, Diana, Olaf, Rammus and more! Learn about the problems with balancing Melee Carries, the future of Rengar and the mysterious templar who’s been stalking on the forums!

> Xypherous on Patch 3.7
> Q&A Session
> Melee AD Discussed
> Rengar buffs soon!
> Potential champion concept leaked!>

Xypherous on Patch 3.7

Xypherous discusses the changes that will be coming in the next patch, some of which you’ve already seen in the latest PBE updates.

Catch up:

• PBE Champion Update
• PBE Zed & Item Update

Xypherous: Hey guys, I’m going to be talking a little bit about some of the more subtle things that are in Patch 3.07 that we’ve been tentatively working on – as well as hopefully stir some conversation up over the changes that should be in the PBE patch, depending on when that gets deployed.

Note that this isn’t a full list of changes, only ones I have sufficient context to talk to you about or are things that are hard to notice, and they reflect the content in the next PBE build, so certain things like the minion damage reduction isn’t currently on this version of the PBE patch – but will be in a few days.

Minion Damage Reduction?

Minion Damage Reduction

* Ranged Minion Damage goes from starting at 23 –> 22.

Spell dominated top-laners are currently problematic right now in top lane, forcing a wide variety of heavy sustain starts in order for proper play to exist against them on anyone but other spell dominated top-laners.

Rumble and Renekton, for example – are both problematic spell based top-laners. They both benefit from having a harassment pattern that frequently doesn’t draw minion aggression, leaving more traditional auto-attack centric harassers behind.

We’re well aware of the dominance of certain traditional AP or AD ability based bruisers but the disparity of performance between melee basic attack centric top-laners and spell based top-laners was becoming increasingly obvious that if we balanced around the current damage disparity, we’d have to significantly overshoot or undershoot the power level of the top-laners involved.

Akali

* Twilight Shroud now grants vision around the area of effect.
* Essence of Shadow charge time reduced to 30/22.5/15 seconds from 35/25/15

We hit Akali’s lane dominance in the last patch – but we’re still unhappy with how Akali feels like her defensive options are limited to basically overpowering her opponents.

With the following two changes in concert – this gives Akali the ability to perform some interesting jungle and lane jukes by first casting twilight shroud to gain vision of a jungle monster, and then using shadow dash as an escape tool. While we don’t think this will dramatically increase her power – it should be a new cool neat little trick that Akali can do.

Nunu

* Consume now heals for less (roughly 75%) – both base and AP ratio.
* Consume now deals more damage with a slightly longer cooldown
* Consume now gives bonuses depending on if he used Consume on a Monster for 2-4 minutes
* Lizard Type monsters (Red Lizard / Dragons / Nashor / Mini Lizard) grant Nunu’s attacks and spells bonus magic damage equal to 1% of his max health
* Golem Type monsters (Blue Golem / Golem / Mini Golem) grants Nunu increased size and 10% maximum Health
* Wolf and Wraith type monsters grant Nunu “After he kills a unit, he gains a 15% MS buff for 3 seconds”

This is undoubtedly a nerf to lane Nunu, whose effectiveness is questionable for the majority of our playerbase – in many ways Lane Nunu simply won his lane and lost the game, while being annoying and frustrating along the way. This wasn’t the greatest of patterns – especially while Jungle Nunu sits there on the sidelines where the cool objective control and gank patterns are being unused.

Above all, we want Consume to be a cool spell. Consume has traditionally languished as being kind of useless late game, for everything besides objective control and making Consume an attractive spell by adding this level, I feel, better fulfills the fun part of the spell (big Yeti running around eating tasty things) and gives Consume a strong rank-up incentive.

This is also a test to see if players would like to see more of these Jungle monster type interactions – if people find them cool, it opens up space for us in two ways: We’ve introduced this mechanic as a precedent and it allows us to play around in this design space.

Warwick

* Infinite Duress channel time reduced to 1.5 from 2.1 (total Suppression duration unchanged at 1.8)
* Infinite Duress now places Warwick in front of the target, rather than at a random spot around him

Just QoL stuff for Warwick. It’s a little silly given the current speed of the game for Warwick to be channeling longer than his opponent is suppressed. The positional change is mostly such that if Warwick is trying to stop a fleeing opponent, he directly bodyblocks his opponent but is in a riskier position – but if Warwick is trying to stop a charging opponent, he remains closer and out of risk of being interrupted by the enemy team.

Caitlyn / TF / Varus / Zed / Zac / Rumble

I’m not really qualified to talk about nerfs or buffs, other than – we’re kind of iterating on what we’d like these nerfs to be overall – but regardless these characters need to be tuned down as they are all slightly too dominant at the moment.

Diana / Lux

* Shield values generally nerfed across the board
* Shields stack now instead of refresh

We’ve been unhappy with the power level of these shields, mostly because their maximum effectiveness case is both swingy and out of the control of the user a large portion of the time.

We’re trying out a stacking system rather than a refreshing system to see whether or not these shields can still fulfill the multi-hit scenario without necessarily being randomly excessively powerful based on what/when they refreshed.

Cassieopeia

* Twin Fang is now classified as a single-target spell for the purposes of item effects

And I am terrified – but it should give Cassieopeia builds more flexibility, something that she has traditionally found hard to access and made worse by the fact that Cassieopeia play tends to be demanding and damage-focused.

What this allows her access to is Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, Muramana and Furor Boots – all of which actually kind of make sense in her arsenal.

Galio

* Changes reverted

First, let me get this out of the way, Galio is not intended to be an AP mage that simply destroys other AP mages because he scales off Magic Resistance.

As for the changes, we were experimenting with Galio to give him lower cooldowns for the later game – allowing him to more freely use his Resolute Smite ability as a consistent peeling / initiating ability for later game team fights. However, the net results of this change seemed weird in isolation – as the rest of his kit doesn’t feel quite right in the support tank role. While Bulwark and Wind Tunnel seem to work currently, they both seem to be lacking somewhat in the support tank role. We’re going to continue looking at Galio so that we can bring him more in line with his role / intent.

Items

Mana Manipualtor

* Recipe is now: Faerie Charm + 120 Gold = 300 Total Gold
* MP/5 Aura reduced to 5 from 6

* Shard of True Ice total cost reduced by 100 gold due to this change.

Third time’s the charm – Let’s see if Mana Manipulator can feel good as a starting item before we work on upgrades for it.

As an aside, I really wanted to improve Shard of True Ice – before realizing that no matter how good I make Shard of True Ice, getting Mana Manipulator always feels narrow and constraining at the moment.

Mikael’s Crucible

* Recipe is now: Philosopher’s Stone + Chalice of Harmony + 920 Gold = 2500 Total Gold
* 300 Mana –> 0 Mana
* 0 HP/5 –> 7 HP/5
* 9 MP/5 –> 18 MP/5

* Active now changed to heal 10% of the target’s maximum health instead of 15% of their missing health.
* Missile speed is now fixed at 0.2 seconds, from variable depending on distance to target.

Internally, Mikael’s Crucible was a very different item until the very last moment, when it got changed from healing the target based on your current mana to a combination heal and cleanse effect.

We’ve seen some players use it well – and it generally hasn’t been too toxic to the game to allow supports access to it, so we’re going to adjust it to be slightly more usable with more synergistic statistics (high MP/5 + Chalice passive) and slightly less target constrained (Not caring about missing health). We don’t want Mikael’s Crucible to be a mainstay to any build – but it should be a valid tool in the support arsenal.

Q&A Session

Champion Balance

Will Nunu be able to keep more than one buff up?

Xypherous: He will be able to have all 3 of them up at once.

They also persist through death – as it might be slightly annoying to recollect all the buffs every time you die.

What are the reasons behind the Galio changes?

Xypherous: As I said originally, the intent was so that Galio could have a spammy CC spell on a super short cooldown with higher CC uptime.

Galio has trouble peeling or initiating consistently a lot of the time, because he only has one true CC spell – the intent was to lower the cooldown of the spell considerably such that Galio could grab picks and targets much more frequently.

We’ve since reverted that change because it felt weird in isolation. His kit just doesn’t quite work as a support tank overall without some more changes.

Why are you shifting Galio to a support tank role?

Xypherous: An AP mage that destroys other AP mages because he’s immune to their damage is way more fun than most characters. It’s also something that can never be competitively viable, because on a strategic level – it just means that Galio shouldn’t exist.

A champion who auto-wins lane is obviously fun – it’s also not something that actually belongs in this game where we kind of assume players can do meaningful things against each other in lane.

What are your thoughts on Caitlyn?

Xypherous: The essential problem with Caitlyn is that for a large porportion of our audience, they can’t fully utilize Caitlyn’s ranged strength.

Range tends to be the most powerful statistic in the hands of competitive play – but using above average range to its maximum potential is always going to be something that it only going to be seen in the highest tiers of play.

Unfortunately, it’s just kind of a truism that when different champions have different strengths, they’re going to be vastly more powerful or less powerful for different audiences. That’s basically Caitlyn in a nutshell – vast power – but terribly hard to appreciate strengths.

Although to be fair, I believe the changes we’re doing now is making it so Headshot doesn’t stack on towers and adjustments to her attack speed scaling with items (I.E. slightly less base attack speed, slightly more attack speed per level) – essentially nerfing the super heavy push Caitlyn strategy that is seen in high level play.

Why did you give Quinn such poor range?

Xypherous: Range is a double edged sword. It’s the most powerful statistic in the game – but also one of the hardest to use well when it is above average, which makes it so that the character’s true strengths are only seen in competitive play a lot of the time.

As for Quinn specifically, I believe Volty’s design intent was to create the most melee centric ADC that still had a ranged autoattack in lane. And the strengths of the rest of her kit are pretty damn overpowering to make up for it.

Can you clarify on the Lux/Diana shield changes?

Xypherous: It is an intended nerf for these characters. The correct number was actually pretty hard to assess for Diana – because often in lane the shield is popped early without incoming damage from the opponent, simply due to the fact that Diana has dived in the enemy minion line – so the average case in lane has typically stayed the same or gone up except for her tower dive case, which is lower overall.

Do you consider Rammus a viable pick?

Xypherous: Overall, Rammus is very effective – but he’s not seen a lot. However, if you pick Rammus, you’ll win far more games than you’ll lose – right now I think of him as a sleeper, perhaps lacking in a bit of competitive viability due to the current push based meta – but very effective if people remember his strengths.

What are the problems with Warwick?

Xypherous: The issue right now with Warwick is that he’s still a sustain/safety jungler – but almost every other jungler duels better than he does early. It’s a tricky problem.

He’s billed as a jungler – but jungler strengths have increased around him such that his current kit, while effective, isn’t really what you want in a jungler. His power level is really high – but he doesn’t bring a whole lot of strategic utility that the other junglers do.

Why is Olaf being neglected?

Xypherous: Olaf’s strengths tends to be competitively oriented.

He’s also a simpler character archetype which, oddly enough, means you need a high degree of mastery over every other aspect of the game to take advantage of his strengths.

In short, yeah – we’d want to make Olaf better – but with his current kit design, he tends to be a very volatile force in high tier play. Essentially, Olaf’s power is too inacessible and often only good against players who are very skilled – and thus any changes to Olaf either has to be reorienting his power or making his power more relevant to a wider range of opponents.

Can you fix Leblanc’s powerlevel curve?

Xypherous: Right, Leblanc fits in the same profile of assassin who brute forces her way to effectiveness – rather than outplaying her opponent.

Roku actually really wants to take a step back and look at augmenting Leblanc so that you can have more clever plays – but thus far, none of the mimic experimentation seems to be doing that well, unfortunately.

What about making Nami’s passive scale with level?

Xypherous: Making Nami’s passive scale with character level might be a decent idea – I’ll pitch it to Statikk when I get a chance.

Minion damage & PBE Community Website

Why are you reducing minion damage?

Xypherous: In Season 2, top laners reduced minion damage by 4 through masteries – 2 from minion block, 2 from damage block. This made them effectively immune to minion damage a lot of the time, as it was post-mitigation.

While this probably isn’t going to make a huuge difference overall, it certainly helps us to not having to make bigger changes to characters than needed. Consider how many 6 second engagements there are in a typical lane scenario – and then think about us having to adjust someone’s health or damage by 18-20 per engagement. It adds up.

Will the minion damage reduction mastery return?

Xypherous: It might be a good idea to introduce this as a defensive mastery – but generally, it becomes a “must-pick” to survive in lane kind of mastery. It’s a hard rope to walk on.

Why doesn’t Riot post patch notes on the PBE?

Xypherous: Because our patches are often in a severe state of flux over the days. We push / test / pull / etc. extremely quickly in our environment.

Everything that we’re currently working on and playtesting, you are almost seeing the exact things on a day by day basis. We are actually incredibly transparent about what is our build and what is going out – it just makes the exact book-keeping of all these changes incredibly hard to manage.

For example, whenever I do a thread like this, it generally consumes 2 or 3 hours of my time. If I were to do that on a consistent basis, I would talk more about the patch than actually work on stuff in the patch.

There’s also things like translations / localization / etc – that we simply don’t have time to do on the schedule we operate on. Stack that on top of the fact that we ship the last known good build to PBE means that daily patch notes is actually incredibly time consuming. Apologies – but the gains here aren’t worth the significant time investment we’d have to sink in.

Melee AD Discussed

If you recall from a previous article I posted, Fiora, Master Yi and Tryndamere are currently being looked at for future improvements.

What’s the current state of Melee Carries and how will you change them?

Xypherous: The actual win rates for the vast majority of melee carries is actually hovers around 48 to 51% in the vast majority of solo games.

Does this mean they are competitively viable? Probably not.
Does this mean they are strategically viable? Probably not.

They’re hardly in the dust, however. They’re actually doing well in most games. If you play these characters, you will win roughly half your games.

The problem with Melee Carries is:

1. People expect to be able to build glass and accomplish what a Ranged AD carry does. This will simply never be true, due to the nature of the game.
2. People expect Melee Carries to be consistently performing, rather than wildly swingy. This is something that won’t be true, due to the nature of their kits (Fiora or Yi, for example.)
3. These characters do not have a proper strategic role to fulfill – therefore they are not viable in competitive games as they cannot be cornerstone strategic pieces.

These all point to these problems being kit-centric rather than item-centric – and the win rate data suggests that it’s not a effectiveness criterion that’s lacking either.

It’s something more intrinsic to how we’ve designed these characters from a base.

The question is: Are these characters worth protecting like a carry? Can these characters output significant team fight contribution if they are protected? Right now, the answer is ‘No’ to both of these.

However, silly changes like buffing their damage or their health doesn’t actually make them into better examples of the melee carry role. It just makes them more effective at whatever they’re doing now – but what the vast majority of them are now are either fighters or assassins.

Rengar buffs soon!

You’re probably aware of Morello‘s recent announcement to work on our forgotten Pridestalker. Well, now we finally have news and it’s from non other than designer Classick!

Classick: I may not be Morello, but figured I can provide some insight on the Rengar changes for you guys .

The main point to emphasize is that we’re not trying to change Rengar’s feel at all. What we do want to change is some of the not so appreciated components of Rengar that make him difficult to balance.

One of these problems is the fact that his Ferocity effects are more powerful based on the rank of the spell. As seen since Rengar’s release, builds that capitalize on double casting the ability you’re maxing has been problematic (early double Q all-in builds/Tank splitpush double W build). The current solution for this problem is scaling his Ferocity effects with his level across the board (like his heal currently does).

This will make the Ferocity effects equal in power regardless of what you are maxing, allowing you to choose the Ferocity effect that is best suited for the situation you are in instead of being obligated to use whatever spell you have the most points in. This will also allow us to put more power into his base stats and base abilities which should help with his jungle clear.

Another change we’re currently looking at is tweaking how his ultimate works. Currently Rengar jumps at you out of no where and it’s very hard to react to him because there’s not much information being conveyed to the opponent. Now when Rengar activates his ultimate all enemies that Rengar sees will be made aware that he’s in the area. What this does is gives the opponent more information so that they can react to the situation.

With this change it allows us to put a lot more power into the ultimate, increasing the duration and speed. While Rengar may lose the ability to jump on an unsuspecting enemy, it enables him to create really cool mind games and toy with his opponents which we’ve seen from internal testing. On top of that Rengar can get to a location much quicker and stay in stealth much longer retaining the feel of hunting down wounded opponents or scouting an area for priority targets.

Nothing here is set in stone but it’s currently the direction we’re going, hopefully that helps shed some light on the upcoming Rengar changes.

Edit: While Rengar may lose the ability to jump on an unsuspecting enemy is getting misinterpreted as his leap is being removed from his ultimate. Should have described this in another way , he still will keep his leap while the ultimate is active.

How do you plan on buffing Rengar?

Classick: The current idea is adjusting the values of the Ferocity effects to scale with his level, so similar to the heal on his W the damage for the Ferocity abilities will scale with his level. We can also use other tools such as AD scaling for Ferocity Q which scales with the game as you get more items, but leveling up Q will not affect the damage of your Ferocity Q. This will give the Ferocity effects a smoother curve throughout the game.

Will you change how Rengar feels?

Classick: From internal testing most of the feedback has actually been that his ultimate feels much better than what it currently is on live. We were able to put a lot more power into it which made it feel much more ultimate, and allowing new strategies now that he has the ability to play mind games and create a large presence in team fights.

What will his role be in the end?

Classick: The goal is to be able to choose which path you want to go based on what you rank / choose to use for Ferocity / items built. With these changes where we can achieve a better balance for Rengar we can make his assassin build more viable as it won’t create nearly as toxic of an experience.

What are you changing to Rengar’s taunt during ultimate?

Classick: It will now play for anyone who is within his vision range during the ultimate, including enemies in FOW.

Potential champion concept leaked!

Here is an interesting piece of art by Eoin Colgan, a fantasy artist who has previously worked for Riot.

He is referred to as Lucian, the Gun Templar. Note that this picture is a leak, meaning it’s unconfirmed. Buut, given how the industry works, leaks like this tend to be legitimate. =P

If you enjoy Eoin’s work, I urge you to visit his art blog.

The Hunt will soon be on!

North and South Latin America servers announced, Morello discusses balance, design and his work in a massive thread and new Champion and Skin sale has begun – from April 26th to 29th!

Server split for Latin America soon!

The League of Legends Facebook page for Latin America has been updated with some exciting news – alpha testing for the North and South Latin America servers has begun! Aside from separate servers, the client will feature a Spanish translation and full voice-overs, which have already been featured on LoL’s soundcloud.

For those anxious to get on the servers, fear not! According to the infographic below, closed alpha testing will be followed by an open beta test! (“inscripciones abiertas” meaning “open enrollment”)

Also, if you’ve ever wished to see Nika talk in Spanish, here’s a small teaser.

Reworks, balance and more!

Behold the Red Post legion, led by Morello. For easier readability I’ve split all of his posts into several sections – Champion Balance, General Balance Discussion, Game Design, Skins and Non-Related + Personal.

Champion Balance

Is Heimerdinger being reworked?

 Morello: He is!

Are you planning on reworking Poppy?

 Morello: Eventually. After Heimer, my prediction is Poppy is the “new Eve.”

Where do Ziggs and Skarner stand in Season 3, in your opinion?

 Morello: Ziggs, I think, has fantastic laning and little reason to be on a team late-game. I’d like to look at the second half of that.

Skarner represents a fighter with a lack of good counter-play. I want to fix that comprehensively before buffing.

Any plans on buffing Talon?

Seems Khaz and Zed have placed the bar for AD Assassins WAY higher than where Talon stands now.

 Morello: We’re taking a look. Not sure on the diagnosis the guys have on this yet though.

Warwick is struggling in Season 3

This guy has been needing help since the beginning of Season 2. Yes, you technically did help his speed but 30 seconds at the cost of half his total sustain wasn’t exactly a fair trade. He has the same problem as Shyvana where a lack of pre-6 CC making them a weak jungler and and bullied in lane.

 Morello: WW does need help – we’re investigating what direction to go.

Wukong is weak pls buff!

 Morello: I disagree – Wukong is really strong. His success rate is really high overall.

General Balance Discussion

How do you decide which champion to nerf?

How is that possible that champions after being barely touched (either nerfed/buffed) for years get nerfed quite hard and considered OP? How can you determine that it’s either just an outcry from people getting owned hard or it’s actually a considerable opinion?

The latest example for this is Lux.

Other can be the state of Morgana. I think she is not in a good spot at the moment. Can you tell us a little about your opinion on this?

 Morello: I answered this in sole of the original threads;

Champion balance is relative. As such, it fluctuates based on factors that are not directly the champion themselves. If we nerf X, it’s possible that previously balanced character Y becomes too strong as a result.

The other answer is that one for of power creep people often don’t notice is player skill. As players become better, they learn and expose new power ceilings on champions. This may mean the champion was always OP, though no one knew how to get that potential out.

Do you believe in perfect balance?

Do you believe that there is actually a point of true balance in the game (or somewhere close to it), where you think “yes, I am satisfied with how all the champions are, and relate to each other”? Or is it a never-ending void that continuously complicates itself as the game evolves.

And in determining which champion needs balancing, is it solely based on numbers, win-rates and other data you have access to? Or does the community’s view play a huge part in it? (because my opinion is that, player’s biases can further push the balance process into trouble)

I am not criticising your methods, I really applaud your work as each tweak you do to the game must have a reason behind it even if a lot of people complain.

 Morello: I don’t – I think that “perfect balance” doesn’t really exist in teamgames with the number of options in League, but I also think that’s OK. I prefer variety and how that fights against “staleness” as opposed to a perfect balanced state.

Community perception is an information point, but it rarely tells the whole story. It can cause us to question something under our radar, or approach the problems we fix with more information, but a million people asking for a nerf on a champion that’s balanced would not cause us to nerf it. Data trends and gameplay health analysis are bigger factors.

Will a new 6v6/10v10 map be released?

 Morello: If I have my way, it won’t. I have some massive threads discussing this very topic in-depth!

And here are some of the threads I’ve found on this matter:

@Xypherous/Morello – Response to New Maps Post

Morello: ‘no 10v10 map on my watch’

Morello is against the idea of a new map  (probably the biggest and most expansive)

Check ‘em out, both Morello and Xypherous present some clever arguments against creating a new map.

Late Game Magic Resist items are terrible!

It feels awful to buy Negatron Cloak upgrades at the moment. Sometimes I prefer to just sit on 2 Negatrons because Veil wastes stats on mana, and Catalyst is an awkward build path, the passive on SV feels wasted, QSS is pretty weak (MR-wise)for its slot if you can’t make use of the Scimitar, and Abyssal, well, it’s Abyssal. I dunno, maybe I’m not thinking about it right, but when I already get so much health out of buying armor items, and what I really need is MR, it feels like I’m being screwed by unnecessary stats. 

Randuin’s gives me 70 armor and 500 health as well as a very useful passive and active AND the build path feels great. Spirit Visage has a passive that can feel wasted, its build path is meh, and I get 50 MR and 200 in the slot from it. That feels really weak late game, when even as a tank I’m being torn apart like wet tissue due to what feels like low MR.

And Bulwark feels lackluster for personal MR because you also have to buy armor and health regen. And the jungler and support usually get it, so it doesn’t feel like an option for a top laner. 

 Morello: I think MR is pretty “good,” but agree we’re not making it feel very cool or good, especially compared to armor. I think this is a good thing to look at, agreed!

What do you think of the Double Golem advantage?

Do you think the game would be better if double golems spawned at 1:45 or 1:50 to remedy purple side bot lane disadvantage/ Super crazy level 2 cheeses from powerful purple side earlygame top laners?
Or, alternatively, why don’t we lower the power differential between levels 1 and 2? it seems like so much of gameplay revolves around hitting level 2 first and snowballing the advantage, which might be more of a problem than the double golems advantage

 Morello: I do. We’re experimenting on what that would mean if we did that.

Game Design

How do you feel towards linking champion sets with their lore?

 Morello: We’re very concerned, though this is a non-objective look, and instead a statement that you dislike the direction of the new Trundle (and especially is driven by attachment of the original concept). That’s fine, but don’t turn “a cop pulled me over for speeding” into “cops are abusive tyrants who hate people.” 

Just look to Vi, Thresh or the Sejuani rework with a more objective eye, and I think our commitment is clear.

What’s your opinion on skillshot indicators? Are they easy to read?

I know that old Karma thread has been beaten to death but user Daeron07 had a nice idea including skill shot indicator changes (http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/…86685&page=574)

This would add a lot of readability to users playing Karma, any thoughts?

Any thoughts on indicators in general; their usefulness, how to clean them up etc?

I am curious, from a design perspective what kept you from adding something like Urgots lock-on indicator much longer ago, or auto attack range indicators?

Is there ever a time when too much readability becomes a problem?

 Morello: I love this stuff – skillshot indicators are an idea we want to get our hooks into more. The problem is the people who can do this kind of thing are really busy with other important things.
Readability is massively important, and is not as good as I want it to be in LoL.

Skins

New Skin Prices and Champion Priority when releasing Skins

 Morello: I -think- it will allow for more skins as we don’t have to throw the kitchen sink at every skin now, but I’d have to check with the skins dudes specifically to be sure.

It’s a bit of black magic how we prioritize. We try to balance it out, but with things like events and differing difficulties/timelines on skins, this is really complex.

Non-related + Personal

Will future patches follow the Freljord example, i.e big on content, slow to release?

 Morello: No, most patches will not, but we like these types of events!

Why do I lose 10 LP for dodging a promotion match?

 Morello: Because we don’t want people dodging to prevent themselves from fighting powerful comps. Yegg and the team can speak more to this.

New Players are neglected on the forums!

Well I understand this isn’t exactly your department, I’m not sure Riot has anyone that’s responsible for my concern. Something thats been bugging me ever since I joined in July is the near total disregard of new players. While you guys have a excellent repertoire with the lvl 30 community, pre 30 Riot doesn’t acknowledge except once in a blue moon. Seriously I’m sure you can see how many Riots have posted in the New Player forums in the last year. Take a look.

This comes across almost as a hazing. On top of learning the basic game mechanics new players have to deal with toxic individuals who simply make new accounts and abuse actual newbies over and over. The new players have few options to voice concerns and there is no concrete proof that they are being heard.

Perhaps I’m seeing this as a larger issue then it is but how many accounts are abandoned pre 30? These are potential customers and I think having even 1 person spend a couple hours a week on the new player forums would prove to not only make new players feel they are being heard, but it could very easily translate to more paying customers and it would certainly be in line with Riots statement of being the “most customer orientated company in the industry” (I cant remember the exact phrase but you know what I mean.)

 Morello: Agreed. This is not my area of expertise, but I think it’s something we really could use to improve. Smurfs, especially, make this really painful. I wish I had more information for you 

Are you working on a champion who wields a whip?

 Morello: Not right now, but I do think we will visit this at somepoint.

How did you choose your online name?

 Morello: Like many 18 year olds, I chose “Morello” as a character name in FFTactics after the lead guitarist for one of my favorite bands, Rage Against the Machine. It stuck really well even alllllll these years later 

Are you satisfied with how Zyra turned out?

 Morello: I’m a little disappointed we weren’t bolder with her – some mistakes I made there. I love the character, but I think creatively especially, we could have been more “all-in” on the infestor concept than we were, and that flattened it out a bit.

How often do you get trolled by your coworkers?

 Morello: Not as often as I’d expect. I’m disappointed!

Do you like the extra emotes added to your latest champions?

With Vi you included a lot of auto-emotes such as her blocking Cait’s shot, or ult-ing Jayce. Would you consider those additions to be successful towards what you guys were hoping for, and if so, do you see your design team adding more of those sort of interactions to existing champions?

 Morello: I want to see more of these, yes. I think our fans love them, and they make our game more “alive.”

How have you changed during the course of working on League of Legends?

 Morello: I think my values haven’t changed radically, but my priorities have changed with the games’ (and I’ve also learned more about how to accomplish them). A healthy game is still very important, but I think we, as a company, are better at balancing Game Health and fun more effectively. 2.5 years of working on League will definitely teach you a few things too.

Champion & Skin sale (26 – 29th April)

Starting April 26th, the following skins and champions will be available at a discount, for a limited time (three days):

Champions:

• Ziggs - 6300 IP/487 RP
• Leona – 4800 IP/440 RP
• Wukong – 4800 IP/440 RP

Skins

• Earthrune Skarner - 260 RP
• Fiddle Me Timbers - 375 RP
• Shurima Desert Zilean – 487 RP

Don’t keep calm, go nuts! Victory is achieved with passion!

A new PBE Website has been released! Also, word of future buffs to Shyvana and the Melee Carry Team!

PBE Site Released!

 Riot Pwyff: Hey Summoners!

Today we’re going to be soft launching a replacement for the PBE forums with a more community-driven content system. With this new forum, we want to promote high quality comments and content while also raising visibility on popular topics. For the PBE community specifically, this also means more pressing feedback will rise to the top, allowing us to react quicker to make those changes. While functionality may be minimal right now (we want to make sure everything’s stable first!), there will be more features to come as we go down the line.

For a quick rundown on how to use the new forums: players and Rioters can submit new discussions to the forums, where anyone with a PBE account can “upvote” or “downvote” a post (or comment) to indicate the quality of the discussion. Higher voted posts and feedback will rise quicker (and will have more visibility) while lower rated posts deemed nonconstructive by the community will fall lower down the page. So… without further ado, we hope you get to posting and discussing on our new PBE community!

The new PBE website is more organized than the standard forums. Red posts in a thread are marked by Riot’s fist logo. Users can sort threads and comments by order of time posted or how well-received they are. Upvotes and downvotes are neatly handled- just press the corresponding arrow next to a comment or a topic! One great benefit from this new community website is that bug reports and feedback from players are much more easily sorted. If you have a PBE account and wish to join the new site, simply follow the link below:

PBE Community Website

Upcoming Shyvana buffs

Shyvana’s been having a rough time fitting into Season 3′s meta- the reason being she lacks the CC and damage mitigation needed to shine among other fighters. If you’re concerned with the dragon lady’s future, you’ll be pleased to know that Riot is actively working on improvements! Scarizard brings you the juicy details:

What changes are you considering for Shyvana?

 Scarizard: Shyvana is currently a very dominant early/mid-game jungler who’s having a hard time transitioning late-game. Without going deeply into details on the changes we’re discussing, a lot of our changes will be focused on Flame Breath and Dragon’s Descent being more iconic and functional.

We’ll talk more later on down the patch cycle – I won’t lock Live Design down for a release of these buffs (Based on testing, the scope of this could potentially increase and require more testing coverage) but it’s a priority. I’m confident we can get her to a good state without just ‘BUFF ALL THE NUMBERS!’ – she’s not the best, but she’s by no means in a terrible state.

tl;dr: Soon, not soonTM.

Early jungling is not the problem

 Scarizard: Running 9/21 or 2/7/21 with Lifesteal Quints, AD Reds, Armor Yellows and MR Blues i’m consistently returning to my wraiths for a 2nd pass by 3:15-3:20. While this slows me to hitting Level 4 by needing to run to Wolves (the only camp available at this point), i’m still able to at -least- get to another wraith clear due to Burnout’s insane wraith control and base/get Razor. It only gets sillier from there as you twin bite + razor proc the large monsters and burnout finishes the rest, making your jungling from that point forward a breeze. I’d say she’s still on the upper-end of clears.

When i say early/mid, i’m specifically referring to the pre-25m point in the game. While the changes i’m referring to are designed to smooth the transition into the later game, they still reinforce her strong jungling capacity. Shyvana’s identity is that of a potent mixed-damage fighter with a strength in farming the jungle – both hers and her opponents. Part of this identity is that she manages to do it without built-in sustain or CC, which actually means (compared to some of our other fighters) it’s much easier to toss in more damage/speed and make you feel like a speed-tanky-mega-punchin’ dragon-lady.

tl;dr: Jungle clear getting tangentally buffed, but changes targeted at late-game transitioning. I think you guys will like the change to her ult ;D

Summary & Thoughts

Judging from these posts, Shyvana won’t just be getting buffs to her stats, but rather improvements to her kit which will hopefully bring her in line with Season 3′s top-tier fighters. Though her jungling could use some tweaks, Riot agrees that’s not where the issues lie. These changes will impact mostly her late game, meaning we should expect better scaling on her abilities or even some crowd control added somewhere. Shyvana’s E and R are being given a more in-depth rework, so perhaps new mechanics will be added to fill the gaps in her skillset.

From my personal experience playing her, I’d say Shyvana is heavily dependent on her team in the late game. She’s a good follow-up to the initiator and can take some beating while in Dragon form. Shyvana needs to get a good farming edge and lots of items before she can go to town on the enemy carry and, even then, stuns and slows cripple her severely. I would love some Tenacity or a slow/immobilize thrown in somewhere so catching up to a kiting carry doesn’t feel so impossible. Flame Breath seems like the best ability to include additional mechanics – it’s a hard skillshot to land and it doesn’t feel nearly as rewarding as it should.

Why Melee Carries feel underwhelming

The next topic touches on the troublesome squishy trio (Fiora, Tryndamere, Yi). Obviously these champions are in need of help, and who better to discuss buffs than Morello!

Why are you not buffing melee carries?

 Morello: “We can’t just buff an ADC that is melee because they’re binary in their success/failure; either too strong or UP.”

Fixing these characters, including Fiora, is something we’re working on, but is longer-term, not just a numbers-fix.

Would buffing signature skills such as Riposte help?

Personal Opinion

I’m a huge fan of Fiora, which is why I dedicated an extensive guide to her. The primary issue with her and other melee carries (Yi, Tryndamere) is that they need to get in close, at which point they can easily be nuked and CC-ed by the enemy. If you think about it, these champions sacrifice range (an invaluable mechanic for a carry) to get better DPS, but in any serious match-up that extra damage never shines. I understand why the balance team is weary of buffing such cases, as they can easily dominate games if made too strong. However, there are currently so many ways to shut down an AD carry that the only way for said carry to do its job is to constantly stay at a safe distance, something that’s hard to pull off if a sword is your weapon of choice. Any peeling support or tank with Exhaust turns the melee carry’s job of decimating the enemy team into a nightmare.

I’ll point to DotA as an example of a MOBA game where melee carries thrive. Champions there are more than likely to win a prolonged matchup, despite being melee. This is due to a couple factors- DotA’s so called “hyper-carries” scale extremely hard, to the point they can take on multiple people at a time if properly farmed. They also get additional defense bonuses, such as Evasion (same as Dodge, which was removed) and Armor, both of which can be acquired without losing out on too much damage. Probably most important however, is the existence of the so-called Black King Bar, an item that grants temporary magic immunity, meaning that the wielder cannot be CC-ed or targeted by magical spells (with a few exceptions). Obviously an exact replica of this idea won’t work for LoL as mages in DotA turn into support characters in the late game and most of them cannot carry. A BKB would spell doom for most common mid-picks and would completely destroy their viability. However, some form of short invulnerability to CC should be introduced, as melee carries are completely shutdown by it, no matter how fed.

Currently we have Cleanse and Zephyr as our only saving graces should we choose the rough path of the melee carry. It’s a class that’s mostly forgotten in the League and is generally frowned upon. I really hope there comes a time when champions such as Fiora and Tryndamere rival ranged carries on the competitive scene. It seems an insurmountable challenge to bring these outcasts into the spotlight, but maybe Riot can pull it off!

Good luck on the Fields of Justice!

Behold a journey through lands unknown; delve into the reworked lore of Ashe, Gragas, Nunu, Olaf, Tryndamere and Udyr; check out what Rioters have to say about the growing story of Freljord and its new-found champions!

Ashe, the Frost Archer

With each arrow she fires from her ancient ice-enchanted bow, Ashe proves she is a master archer. She chooses each target carefully,waits for the right moment,and then strikes with power and precision. It is with this same vision and focus that she pursues her goal of uniting the tribes of the Freljord and forging them into a mighty nation.

As a child, Ashe was always a dreamer. She marveled at the colossal, abandoned fortresses of her ancestors,and spent hours by the fire listening to tales of the Freljord’s fabled champions. Most of all she loved the legend of Avarosan, the renowned Queen of the once magnificent and united Freljord. Though her mother chided her foolishness, Ashe swore one day she would join the scattered and warlike tribes of the tundra.She knew in her heart that if her people would stand together once more,they would reach greatness again.

When Ashe was only fifteen,her mother was killed while commanding the tribe on a brash raid  Suddenly thrust into the role of leader, Ashe made the difficult decision to follow her childhood vision instead of seeking the revenge she craved. She spoke passionately against her tribe’s demand for retribution,declaring the time had come to put blood feuds aside and broker a lasting peace.Some of her warriors questioned her fitness to rule and soon hatched a treasonous plot to kill the young leader. The assassins struck while Ashe was on a routine hunt,but their plan was interrupted by the warning cry of a great hawk. Ashe looked back to see her tribesmen approaching with swords drawn.

Outnumbered and overwhelmed, Ashe ran for hours. She found herself deep in uncharted territory, her weapon lost in the chase. When she heard another cry from the hawk, Ashe put her faith in the strange creature and followed it to a clearing.There she found the bird perched on a pile of stones – an ancient Freljord burial cairn.With a last glance at her,the hawk screeched and flew away.Approaching the mound, Ashe felt her breath turn to frost and an unnatural cold chill her to the bone. The stone at the top of the cairn was marked wit a single rune: Avarosa.

The assassins burst into the clearing. Ashe lifted the rune stone from the cairn to defend herself,revealing something hidden underneath: an ornate bow carved from ice.She grasped it, crying out in pain as frost formed on her fingers,and tore the bow from its resting place.Cold flowed from the enchanted weapon into Ashe, awakening a tremendous power that had always lived within her. Ashe turned to face the assassins.She drew the bow, and by sheer instinct,willed arrows of pure ice to form from the cold,crisp air.With a single frozen volley,she ended insurrection.Carefully replacing the cairn stone,she gave thanks to Avarosa for hergift,and returned home. Ashe’s tribe immediately recognized the legendary weapon in the archer’s hand as a blessing from the ancient Freljord queen herself. With Avarosa’s bow and her vision of peaceful unification, Ashe’s tribe soon swelled,becoming the largest in the Freljord. Now known as the Avarosan, they stand together with the belief that a united Freljord will once again become a great nation.

”One tribe, one people, one Freljord.” 

– Ashe

Short Version:

Ashe’s mother was killed during a raid, leaving her daughter in charge of the tribe. She chose duty above vengeance, following her childhood dream of uniting the people of those freezing lands under one banner. This decision spurred conflict among the tribesmen and soon several decided to end her life. Ashe was warned moments before the assassins would strike by a hawk’s cry.

Following the bird’s beckoning, she soon found herself standing next to a cairn (man-made pile of stones). Ashe lifted the runestone atop the burial grounds, revealing an ancient frost bow. She felt herself overflowing with power as she grasped the weapon and quickly dealt with her pursuers. Now with the mystic weapon and her vision of unity, Ashe wanders the frozen realm with her ever-growing tribe, confident that Freljord will rise to greatness once again.

Gragas, the Rabble Rouser

The only thing more important to Gragas than fighting is drinking.His unquenchable thirst for stronger ale has led him in search of the most potent and unconventional ingredients to toss in his still. Impulsive and unpredictable, this rowdy carouser loves cracking kegs as much as cracking heads.Thanks to his strange brews and temperamental nature, drinking with Gragas is always a risky proposition.

Gragas has an eternal love of good drink, but his massive constitution prevented him from reaching a divine state of intoxication. One night,when he had drained all the kegs and was left wanting, Gragas was struck by a thought rather than the usual barstool: why couldn’t he brew himself something that would finally get him truly drunk? It was then that he vowed to create the ultimate ale.

Gragas’ quest eventually brought him to the Freljord, where the promise of acquiring the purest arctic water for his recipe led him into uncharted glacial wastes.While lost in an unyielding blizzard, Gragas stumbled upon a great howling abyss. There he found it: a flawless shard of ice unlike anything he had ever seen. Not only did this unmelting shard imbue his lager with incredible properties,but it also had a handy side effect – it kept the mixture chilled at the perfect serving temperature.

Under the spell of his new concoction, Gragas headed for civilization,eager to share the fermented fruits of his labor.As fate would have it,the first gathering to catch Gragas’bleary eyes would shape the future of the Freljord. He blundered into a deteriorating negotiation between two tribes discussing an alliance with Ashe. Though Ashe welcomed a break in the tension, the other warriors bristled at the intrusion and hurled insults at the drunken oaf. True to his nature, Gragas replied with a diplomatic headbutt, setting off a brawl matched only in the legends of the Freljord.

When the fallen from that great melee finally awoke, Ashe proposed a friendly drink as an alternative to fighting.With their tempers doused in suds,the two tribes, formerly on the brink of war, bonded over a common love of Gragas’ brew. Although strife was averted and Gragas hailed a hero, he still had not achieved his dream of drunken blissfulness. So once more, he set off to wander the tundra in search of ingredients for Runeterra’s perfect pint.

”Now this’ll put hair on your chest!”
– Gragas

Short version:

Gragas likes his beer cold so he came to Freljord. (lol)

Nunu, The Yeti Rider

Sometimes bonds of friendship becomes stronger than even bonds of blood. When those bonds link a fearless boy to a fearsome Yeti, the bond becomes a force to be reckoned with. Given the responsibility of taming a terrifying beast, Nunu forged a friendship where others would have forged chains. Now Nunu and his burly pal Willump are an inseparable pair who combine youthful exuberance and brute strength with the mythical powers of the Yeti to overcome obstacles insurmountable to any ordinary duo.

Nunu had only the vaguest memories of his parents or the time before he was part of the reclusive Frostguard tribe. Never welcome among his caretakers, Nunu’s wanderlust and compassion often put him at odds with the tribe’s elders and the boy frequently dreamed of places far beyond the shadow of the Frostguard citadel.Sometimes he would do more than just dream, much to the frustration of his minders. This was never more apparent than when Nunu was apprenticed to the tribe’s beast master and charged with the care of the creatures under his yoke.

The Frostguard held a menagerie of the Freljord’s wildlife at their beck and call,but unique among their collection was the Yeti:an uncommon creature with mystical qualities and raw physical strength. The beastmaster taught Nunu that it was only a lean diet of plants and regular whippings that kept the vicious beast tame, but the more time Nunu spent caring for the creature, the more he learned that the Yeti was no feral monster.

As he saw his new friend Willump growing weaker and sicker, Nunu began to sneak the Yeti scraps of meat, hoping to restore his health. Day by day,Willump grew stronger and not the slightest bit savage contrary to the beastmaster’s claims. Nunu had hopes of convincing him that the Yeti possessed no danger, but it wasn’t meant to be.The next time Nunu came to deliver Willump a meal, he found the Yeti’s cage shattered,with only a crude drawing inside signaling the Yeti’s farewell. Without hesitation, Nunu rushed into the wilderness in search of his friend.

When Nunu finally caught up to Willump, he found the Yeti cornered by the beastmaster alongside a group of Frostguard warriors. Afraid that the men would hurt his friend, Nunu threw himself between the Yeti and the beastmasters lash,but the brutal man would not stay his hand. As the furious beastmaster raised his whip once more, the Yeti swelled up with uncharacteristic fury. Even after so much mistreatment, it wasn’t concern for himself but for the boy who’d shown him kindness that finally pushed Willump too far. The Yeti raged and left the man bloodied in the snow.

Terrified by Willump’s fury, the remaining Frostguard warriors fled. Nunu realized there was no going back. He yelled at Willump to run before the men returned to kill him, but the Yeti refused to leave the young boy. Faced with the choice of abandoning his sole friend or living his own life of captivity with the Frostguard, Nunu chose the only path that made sense. Leaping onto the back of the mighty Yeti, Nunu joined Willump in his great escape. The pair took their first steps into the wide world from which they had been kept for so long.

”Willump and I have a whole world to explore. Don’t get in our way!”
– Nunu

Short Version:

Nunu had a rough time fitting with his tribe and felt unwelcome, always dreaming of places beyond the Frostguard citadel. He was appointed to apprentice the beastmaster and that was when he discovered Willump, the peaceful and sadly mistreated Yeti. He was given only plants to eat and was getting weaker by the day. Nunu began sneaking meat for his new-found friend and was hoping he could show the beastmaster that Willump was harmless.

One day, however, he found the cage shattered and ran in the wilderness to find the creature. He found Willump surrounded by several of his tribe, including the beastmaster who had raised his whip. He took the lash for his furry friend, who raged and murdered the man who had dared harm Nunu. Left without choice, as he would be condemned to a life of captivity, he leaped onto Willum’s back and the two took on a journey to explore the world that had been hidden from them for so long.

Olaf, the Berserker

Most men would say that death is a thing to be feared; none of those men would be Olaf. The Berserker lives only for the roar of a battle cry and the clash of steel.Spurred on by his hunger for glory and the looming curse of a forgettable death,Olaf throws himself into every fight with reckless abandon.Surrendering to the bloodlust deep within his being,Olaf is only truly alive when grappling with the jaws of death.

The coastal peninsula of Lokfar is among the most brutal places in the Freljord. There,rage is the only fire to warm frozen bones,blood is the only liquid that flows freely,and there is no worse fate than to grow old,frail,and forgotten.Olaf was a warrior of Lokfar with no shortage of glories and no hesitation to share them.While boasting one evening with his clansmen over the burning embers of a razed village,one of the elder warriors grew tired of Olaf’s bluster.The old fighter goaded Olaf to read the omens and see if Olaf’s fortunes matched his gloating.Emboldened by the challenge,Olaf mocked the aged raider’s envy and tossed the knuckle bones of a long-dead beast to predict the heights of glory he’d achieve in death.All mirth left the gathering as the clansmen read the portents: the bones spoke of a long life and a quiet passing.

Infuriated,Olaf stormed into the night determined to prove the prediction false by finding and slaughtering Lokfar’s feared frost serpent.The monster had consumed thousands,man and ship alike,in its long lifetime and to die in battle with it would be a fitting end for any warrior.As Olaf hurled himself into the blackness of its maw,he fell deeper into the blackness of his mind.When the shock of freezing water roused him from the dark,there was only the butchered carcass of the beast afloat beside him.Thwarted but not defeated,Olaf set out to hunt down every legendary creature with claws and fangs,hoping that the next battle would be his last.Each time he charged headlong toward his coveted death,only to be spared by the frenzy that washed over him while on its brink.

Olaf concluded that no mere beast could grant him a warrior’s death.His solution was to take on the most fearsome tribe in the Freljord: the Winter’s Claw.Sejuani appeared amused by Olaf’s challenge to her warband,but his audacity would earn him no mercy.She ordered the charge and sent scores of her warriors to overwhelm Olaf.One by one,they fell until he lost himself in the bloodlust once again,effortlessly cutting a path to the leader of the Winter’s Claw.The clash between Olaf and Sejuani rocked the glaciers with its force,and though he seemed unstoppable,Sejuani battled the berserker to a standstill.As they stood deadlocked,Sejuani’s glare penetrated Olaf’s berserker haze in a way no weapon ever could.His frenzy abated long enough for her to make him an offer: Sejuani swore that she would find Olaf his glorious death if he would lend his axe to her campaign of conquest.In that moment,Olaf vowed he would carve his legacy into the Freljord itself.

“When you meet your ancestors, tell them Olaf sent you.”
–Olaf

Short Version:

Olaf, a blood- thirsty warrior from the land of Lokfar, was challenged one night by a member of his clan to prove his tales of bravery matched his fate foretold. The signs whispered a long life and a quiet passing, much to Olaf’s infuriation. The berserker set out to slay a legendary frost serpent, thinking he would find glorious death in the void of its maw. But his frenzy took hold of him and he emerged victorious.

Every monster he fought shared the same fate, until Olaf realized no beast could slay him and went to seek The Winter’s Claw, Sejuani’s tribe. He decimated her warriors and the two found themselves caught in an epic clash that seemed to be going in no-one’s favor. Then, suddenly, Sejuani’s gaze overwhelmed Olaf long enough for her to propose a bargain: his services in exchange for the opportunity to die in the glory he craved.

Tryndamere, the Barbarian King

Fueled by his unbridled fury and rage, Tryndamere cuts his way through the tundra,mastering the art of battle by challenging the Freljord’s greatest warriors. The wrathful barbarian seeks revenge on the one who decimated his clan and strikes down all those who stand between him and his final retribution.

Struggling to survive in the harsh, frostbitten Freljord,the young Tryndamere and his people warred with other tribes over the scarce resources of the land.One such battle changed his life forever.Raiders ambushed Tryndamere’s clan in the dead of night, and though his warriors were able to push the first wave of attackers back, they weren’t prepared for the dark figure that next stepped forth. He wielded a cruel, living sword, and inspired an unhinged bloodlust in the invaders with his unearthly magic. Tryndamere’s tribe was overrun within moments. With no hope of defeating the enigmatic being, Tryndamere threw himself at certain death.The dark figure swatted him aside, mortally wounding the young barbarian.

Tryndamere saw death and destruction engulf his home as his life slipped away. No one was left standing – only the screams of the dying remained. Unable to surrender to death, Tryndamere gave in fully to his wrath. His blood boiled and his anger consumed him, banishing his mortality. He staggered to his feet – barely able to take hold of his sword- steeling himself for the decisive confrontation with the shadowy being. But the dark figure did not even lift his blade, and instead gave Tryndamere a knowing smile as he withdrew into the shadows. That was the last time the barbarian ever saw his nemesis.

A man robbed of his home and his people, Tryndamere wandered across the Freljord for years, vowing to forge himself into a brutal instrument of revenge. He visited all the tribes in the frozen wastes, besting each of their warriors until there were none left to challenge. In doing so, he mastered the barbarian ways of war and harnessed his anger as a force to be reckoned with. With sword in hand and rage in his heart,he is now on an undying quest for vengeance against the one who destroyed the life he once knew.

”Rage is my weapon.”
– Tryndamere

Short Version:

Tryndamere, leader of a tribe in the Freljord, found himself ambushed at night by a group of raiders. He fought fiercely alongside his people, repelling the first wave of attackers. But a dark figure stepped from the refuge of shadows and together with the rest of his allies, he slaughtered the barbarian’s tribe. Tryndamere was mortally wounded and could only watch his home and family perish in flames. With nothing else to lose, he broke free from the clutches of death and thrust himself into battle once more. But his nemesis refused to fight.

From that moment on, Tryndamere began his quest, besting every warrior he came across in the Freljord until there was none left who could challenge him, hoping he could one day face the one who had deprived him of everything.

Udyr, the Animal Spirit

Udyr is more than a man; he is a vessel for the untamed power of four primal animal spirits. When tapping into the spirits’ bestial natures, Udyr can harness their unique strengths: the tiger grants him speed and ferocity, the turtle resilience, the bear might, and the phoenix its eternal flame. With their combined power, Udyr can turn back all those who would attempt to harm the natural order.

In the Freljord, there is a unique caste that lives outside the society of those savage lands. They are the custodians of the natural world: the Spirit Walkers. Once a generation, a child is born under a blood red moon, a child said to live between the two worlds of spirit and man. This child is brought to the Spirit Walker to continue the shamanic line. Udyr was such a child, and knew the howl of the tundra wolves even before he learned the language of his ancestors. Through the Spirit Walker, Udyr would one day learn the meaning of the spirits’ calls and tend to the balance of nature. The Spirit Walker often told Udyr he would be tested more than those who had come before him, for the spirits of the Freljord were growing ever more restless, though the reason remained clouded.

The answer arrived in the dead of winter, as Udyr and the Spirit Walker were descended upon by a fearsome figure known only through frightened whispers: the Ice Witch. Knowing the boy would fall easy prey to her vile magic, the Spirit Walker shielded the child from her assault at the cost of his own life. Wracked by grief, Udyr howled with fury, and he felt the Freljord itself howl with him. In that moment, the child embraced the spirits’ primal nature and became a beast himself. Coursing with their untamed power, Udyr’s angry roar shook the mountaintops and brought down a torrential avalanche. Once Udyr had finally clawed his way out of the frost, the Ice Witch was nowhere to be found.

For years, the tribes of the north learned to avoid the wildman and his domain. Then one day, Udyr caught the scent of a fearless trespasser. Determined to chase the intruder from his territory, he attacked, only to be deflected with ease. The wildman launched himself at the stranger again and again, only to be effortlessly cast aside each time. Exhausted and defeated, Udyr felt his animosity ebb and croaked a clumsy “who” to the stranger. Lee Sin had come seeking the Spirit Walker’s guidance and instead found a man who had also lost his way. The monk promised he would right Udyr’s path and guided him to a monastery said to be protected by four eternal spirits of great power and wisdom. There, Udyr would find harmony.

Lee Sin brought Udyr to a land that was a stark contrast to his birthplace. Survival was not the only law that governed the lives of Ionians or creatures of the land. For the first time, Udyr felt at peace with the spirits surrounding him and found comfort in human companionship. His time among the monks taught him to temper his instincts, while his meditations with the ancient temple spirits taught him wisdom. Through them both, Udyr learned to truly embrace his life as the next Spirit Walker.

Udyr owed much to the Ionians. It was a debt he was never asked to honor, but one he would ultimately repay many times over. When the armies of Noxus invaded, Udyr did not stand idle as the brutal soldiers oppressed the peaceful Ionians – he had not forgotten how to bare his teeth. Udyr leapt at their armies with all the ferocity of a cornered beast and gave the invaders good reason to fear the wilderness. From the trees, his claws tore the Noxians down in scores; on the river banks, he threw them back with the falling tides, and in the fields, he consumed them with searing wildfire. Only when the Noxians fled with their tails between their legs did Udyr quell his rage.

Peace returned to Ionia, but still Udyr felt something stirring him from his rest. The spirits of the Freljord called out to him, warning of an unnatural evil emerging from the ice. Udyr understood the true threat that the Ice Witch posed to his homeland: she was the herald of a greater darkness that would soon envelop the land. Armed with the potent spirits of the temple, Udyr returned to the Freljord, seeking to defend the natural world from all who would threaten its balance.

“Through me, nature’s will is done.”

– Udyr

This lore was made and remade by community request and the end result is pretty satisfying. I won’t summarize it – you’ll have to check it out for yourselves. Trust me, it’s a good read

Rioters discuss the Freljord Lore

Here is a healthy batch of Red Posts, sorted in the following topics: Lore Issues, Future Lore and Teasers and Udyr’s Lore questions.

Lore issues

Ashe should lead with vision, not magic!

Here I have some larger problems. I really don’t like how she’s effectively been changed from a strong visionary leader to someone who effectively rules via divine providence.

Her people didn’t believe in her vision of a united Freljord, some of them tried to rebel and kill her, but she found a magic bow at the last second and used it to kill everyone who disagreed with her. Really? That’s her story? That’s how she came to power? And we’re just supposed to accept it because she’s a designated “good guy?”

I think this rewrite is a huge blow to Ashe’s integrity as a character.

 RiotRunaan: Is Ashe is supposed to be a designated “good guy”?

Actually, that is how she came off before, I think. Most of Freljord united behind her. Sejuani, on the other hand, was the designated “villain.”

Now, Ashe’s bio isn’t saying that all of her people didn’t believe in her vision, nor was everyone questioning her right to rule via her bloodline. It was an uncomfortable, scary change for her tribe. They were so used to battle and bloodshed, Ashe’s vision of a united Freljord isn’t something everyone believes is even possible. That’s the mindset the assassins came from. Even finding Avarosa’s bow hasn’t settled everyone’s fears–Quinn’s journal detailed this a little bit, too. The barbarians of Freljord are warriors, not farmers.

The new lore for Gragas is preposterous!

This is one of the worst in my eyes. Tying Gragas into Freljord (at least in the manner it’s been done here) feels completely hackneyed and pointless. Almost every event in his new bio is a nonsequiter.

He finds a shard of magic ice that keeps his beer cold – okay, great? This artifact doesn’t tie into his character or his in-game abilities in any way whatsoever. I’m willing to bet it’s never mentioned again. It seems that other than “imbuing his lager with incredible properties” (which aren’t explained or elaborated upon in any way) it serves no purpose.

Next, he just barges into a diplomatic negotiation between Ashe and some other tribe, starts a massive fight, gets everybody drunk and hey, hooray! A positive diplomatic outcome for Ashe, and Gragas is hailed as a hero. Just because. The whole event is completely unbelievable.

Next he “sets off to wander the tundra in search of ingredients for Runeterra’s perfect pint.” What useful ingredients for brew does he expect to find in the frozen wastes? It was previously established that the whole reason he was in the Freljord to begin with was to find the purest water in existence. Now he’s got his magic ice and he’s continuing to just “wander the tundra” (in naught but a loincloth, mind you) in search of… what, exactly?

More than anything else I have spoken about or will speak about in this post, this Gragas lore rewrite needs to be revisted, badly. It doesn’t read well and the tie-in to Freljord feels totally irrelevant.

 RiotRunaan: You raise a lot of thoughtful points. To clarify our goals, we wanted to hold onto Gragas’ personality, but we wanted to give him the a story where his rabble-rousing and beer-brewing could have a real impact instead of having him feel like a one-off drunk guy “over there.”

Can we backtrack a little? Can you guys talk to me about what you found compelling about Gragas’ original story vs. his new one? To be completely honest, I always found Gragas’ old story a little lacking, but he isn’t my kind of character. What are Gragas players looking for here?

Gragas has lost his charm in the new lore

In Gragas’s case, the issue is that he doesn’t actually feel like he’s connected to Freljord in any way, shape, or form. He found (yet another) magical macguffin there, but his new lore doesn’t actually specify that he was from there before finding it, nor does it give him any association with any side of the building conflict. He helped Ashe, but it doesn’t give the impression he did so out of any desire to help her, he just wanted to share his booze, and then after that he was gone. He could just as easily go to Sejuani next and do the same. It feels like a lucky break for Ashe, but that Gragas still remains unassociated with her, or anyone but himself. Without that one throw-away line at the end about going off to search the Tundra, there wouldn’t even be any implication that he stayed in Freljord afterwards, and actually, it would be good if there wasn’t!

The truth is that Gragas is, well… He’s a joke. Completely irrelevant to anyone or anything, existing only to tell joke stories. But you know what? That’s totally okay! Not every character needs to be a part of some huge overarching plot. With over 100+ champions, plus some characters that aren’t champions, it’s virtually impossible to give every single one of them equal time and attention. If you do, you risk either diluting the story by not being able to flesh out any of them to a large enough degree (especially with how slow the lore moves), or you risk making things far too complicated to keep track of.

Even big, serious stories often have a a jokey comic relief character that don’t get fleshed out as well as other characters do. I mean, just look at Gragas! He’s a big, burly fat man who does nothing but drink booze and start bar brawls. Even post rewrite, he has no goal but to make the perfect ale. He even fights with a keg of beer. He is completely one note, and there is absolutely nothing serious about this character, and there doesn’t need to be. Instead of making him go off to search the Tundra to weakly connect him to Freljord, make him go off to search all of Valoran. He doesn’t need to be a part of Freljord’s plot, and doesn’t really feel like he fits. Have him go everywhere, interact with anyone/everyone who comes in contact with him on his quest for the ideal brew. Use him to tell smaller, more comedic stories, because let’s face it, not everyone likes the same types of stories, and you can appeal to more people by telling a wider variety of tales. Have some champions set aside specifically not to have huge story arcs, and keep them for telling smaller stories that fulfill different needs. This is where Gragas feels like he’d be best put to use. The types of stories he’d fit in best aren’t ones where he’s stuck in one location for a prolonged period of time, but rather, where he’s free to travel and interact with as many different factions and characters as possible, to showcase what kind of comedic reactions you’d get out of Gragas interfering in a variety of events and more serious champions’ business.

 RiotRunaan: A common theme I’m getting from you guys is that Gragas no longer feels powerful and special as a result of the magical brew he drinks, and this is pretty fair. This is something I can bring up with the rest of the team.

Aside from that, I don’t really feel that the issues being brought up are actually limited by Gragas’ new story. You’re right, he helped Ashe, but it was almost an accident–he could have easily helped Sejuani, too, but he didn’t stumble into her conflict. There’s something funny about that particular circumstance which fits with the humor of the character like you’re saying in this post. We didn’t intend to make Gragas into a super-serious, conflict-defining character by giving him an opportunity to play a role in the Freljord–like you said, even big serious stories need some comic relief. Gragas can offer that here.

And again, none of this says that Gragas is stuck in the Freljord forever. I agree that Gragas could play a very fun role in a variety of stories, most of them humor-focused. He could go everywhere (like I said, Bilgewater could be particularly funny–imagine Gragas and Miss Fortune in a drinking contest, for example), he could be a part of smaller, more comedic stories in the future. Putting him in the Freljord hasn’t made him a huge, die-hard patriot of the place, but it’s given him some storytelling potential there at this point in Runeterra’s development.

Trundle’s story seems tacked on and inconsistent

I know this particular rework has been a point of major contention for a lot of people, but honestly… I’m okay with it. I like the new Trundle design and story enough to let the poor justification for it (“we completed one arc; it’s impossible to continue from here!”) slide.

One complaint on consistency, however: Trundle bullsh!ts a story about magic weapons signifying a right to rulership so that he can become the leader of his tribe, goes and gets himself a magic weapon, and then… uses it to kill the old chieftan. What on earth was the point of the story and the right to rule stuff if he’s just going to give himself a Klingon promotion anyway? It feels like that whole bit was shoehorned in just so that you could go “look guys, he’s still a trickster!” (even though that was never part of his character to begin with).

Also, a non-lore issue – seriously, you need to make the Traditional Trundle skin actually look like old Trundle. Right now, it just looks like you slapped his old texture on his new and proportionately very different model. It’s not at all up to par with the quality of the other Traditional skins we’ve seen so far.

 RiotRunaan: I could have definitely clarified a lot of this better in Trundle’s bio, you’re right. Trundle killing the old chieftain wasn’t the exact way in which he was promoted by his own warband, his kin essentially rallied behind him the moment he showed up with the weapon. Trundle killing him was more an act of show and revenge for the humiliation he’d suffered at the chieftain’s hands. Following that, Trundle proclaimed his further goals–to unite the rest of the scattered trolls and lead them as King.

As for the last point, I really hesitate to speak on art issues as it’s not my discipline, but I know there’s issues with readability in terms of model size across skins. Trundle has to be recognizable as the same champion no matter what skin he’s wearing–I think that’s where the discrepancy is coming from. If he’s much smaller or much different, he might be misread as a completely different champion. Again, this is a tough issue and I’m not an artist by any means, so I’m sorry for how limited this answer feels.’

Tryndamere’s story has lost all roots with his previous lore

But with Tryndamere’s story so much has been cut out we’re left with a lot of confusion when we try to reconcile the old lore with the new.

Reading the new stuff I don’t know if he’s working alone, or if he’s leading a new group, or if he’s even married to Ashe, or why he would be if his goal is revenge on random living-sword guy (and with his demonblade skin that just adds another level of discomfort to this whole thing, I don’t have a lot of faith in riot to make whatever story this demonblade sideplot is… work), rather than leading the barbarians.

Plus again, Noxus was removed, so there’s less interaction among the various city-states which makes the world feel less rich.

 RiotRunaan: We could have added a small line about his current standing with the Avarosan, and that would have felt tacked on much like the Sejuani line in Volibear’s bio, but would this help reconcile a bit of the disconnect for you guys? It’s sometimes kind of a tough call as to what “one-liners” we want to include in a champion’s bio, but this might be one that makes a lot of sense.

Speaking from personal taste, I think Noxus’ involvement in the JoJ storyline more interesting than Noxus’ involvement in Tryndamere’s old bio–”Noxian assassins” felt really overdone in our older storytelling and didn’t really paint a compelling picture of Noxus as anything more than jerks who are out to assassinate everyone all the time forever (again, just my personal thoughts, not speaking for the whole lore team here).

Also, in terms of the nemesis in Tryndamere’s new story, hang onto your hats… it may not be what you’re expecting.

Are Tryndamere and Ashe still allies?

 Harrow: Tryndamere is still allied with Ashe, and Tryndamere’s new backstory doesn’t contradict him rallying other barbarian tribes.

Note that in Gragas’s story, Ashe is trying to sway some unruly Freljordian tribes to her side. Who’s more unruly than a band of barbarians?

Champions don’t have a strong sense of allegiance

 kitae: We currently don’t make it clear what city state or faction champions belong to. One of the improvements to the web site that is in the work is clearly displaying the city-state or faction a champion belongs to.

In that case of Udyr that will be both Ionia and Freljord.

Future lore and Teasers

Where are Maokai and Nocturne’s revised lores?

Also, a reminder to Kitae and the lore team: we were promised all the way back in October that we’d be getting new lore for Maokai and Nocturne to make them mesh with the Twisted Treeline being in the Shadow Isles now, and that still hasn’t happened. And we were promised that Singed would get a lore rewrite to account for Warwick and Soraka’s new lore even before then, and we still don’t have that either. I would think that two champions having lore that directly contradict one another would be higher priority on the fix-list than jamming Gragas into Freljord.

 RiotRunaan
: We’re still working on this, we haven’t forgotten. We prioritized a lot of the Freljord stuff because of the upcoming Freljord patch (which a ton of work has gone into, there’s a lot you guys haven’t seen yet), but we’re working on the other updates, too (Entropy specifically has been rockin’ this, he’s kind of a badass).

Who’s Tryndamere’s dark nemesis?

I’m hoping this means there is another champion along the lines of Varus. A being who is dealing with these unknown dark and ancient powers but, unlike Varus, he’s completely succumb to it’s influence.

Though, considering he’s in the freljord, I’ll assume he’s just the Ice Witchs minion. Would be really cool though if the Ice Witch herself was one of those dark beings, and that mysterious sword dude was another one. A new ‘ancient evil’ kind of faction would be pretty cool.

 RiotRunaan: Tryndamere’s nemesis is not a minion of the Ice Witch.

Is the Ice Witch a minion of Tryndamere’s nemesis?

 RiotRunaan: Nope!

Udyr’s remade lore – Community concerns and Questions

 kitae: I’d like to take a moment to thank those community members who helped identify issues with the Udyr’s bio on PBE.

For a long time LoL’s lore has been in a frozen state. Champions stories, like Udyr’s, are told and then abruptly end. That is something we want to change, and that is something that requires change. Kha’zix says “change is good” but it can also be difficult. We rely on honest feedback from players to help us identify when we miss the mark, and how, so we can address those concerns while still setting up our champions to play a role in future stories.

In the case of Udyr, his new bio is just the first step – we are already working on a new story which involves him as a key character.

Why is there no Monkey Spirit?

 kitae: We discussed this one for some time but concluded there was no “monkey spirit”. Note the difference in wording of his abilities “Monkey’s Agility” vs “Turtle Stance”.

Each of his stances (tiger/turtle/bear/phoenix) corresponds to a specific, powerful, Ionian spirit that Udyr summons in battle. They are his bros.

Why are Udyr’s spirits not native to Freljord?

 kitae: Ok we’re getting into some deep lore here.

Born with the potential to become the Spirit Walker, Udyr had the innate capability to communicate with and channel spirits of all kinds. However, he never completed his training. If he had, he would be a very different kind of champion, channeling Freljord nature spirits in battle like his master did. Some of this power is hinted at in his bio, where in his untrained state he unleashes an avalanche.

When the Ice Witch killed his mentor, she thought she had ended the line of Spirit Walkers for there was no one left to teach Udyr how to use his abilities. This is one reason why she never returned to hunt down and kill Udyr.

When he went to Ionia and studied with the monks, he found their techniques for self control and mental mastery enabled him to use his spirit walker abilities. There in the temple, he formed a strong relationship with four primal Ionian nature spirits. The very cool thing about this is – this is not an Ionian capability. This is what makes Udyr a unique champion who combines the powers of a Freljord Spirit Walker, with Ionian martial arts training and the ability to summon and channel four Ionian nature spirits.

Still Udyr has much to learn and he still struggles to control his rage. One path he may walk in the future would be to return to Ionia, to fully embrace the teachings of the monks, and at that point he would evolve to become an even more potent spirit warrior.

Why does Udyr refer to himself in third person?

 kitae: Good catch we’re changing his quote to “Through us, nature’s will is done”.

Could we have a northern theme for his new visual update?

KotlettDrake: It makes sense I guess. I accept the fact that you can make up random lore just to justify his visuals not fitting his current lore to avoid to doing a visual update. Would still be cool if his new skin could include animals native to a northern land. Polar bears, Wolves, walrus, mammoth, cryophoenix. Would be cool if you can make it more clear that he connected with Ionian animal spirits because it left me kind of confused when it linked him to tundra wolves yet it also says he is associated with tiger, turtle, phoenix when he is from a northern land.

 Riot Entropy: I was thinking more Snow Leopard, Polar Bear, Cryophoenix for direct analogues. Turtle is a little more problematic. Arctic Crab has the shell and resilience (it might even look cool), but I can’t say “I’ll unleash the power of my Crab Stance” with a straight face. Walrus or Mammoth might sell the toughness as well, but I think there may be a better fit out there worth researching.

That’s all the Freljord lore bits from the last few days put together! Hopefully we’ll get more information from Riot soon!

In the meantime, look forward to the live Freljord patch!

Major buffs to Quinn, Runaan’s Hurricane and Tiamat, Lissandra’s bloody incarnation, changes to the League Tutorial and a few announcements – all in today’s article!

Champion Changes

      Lulu

Glitterlance ( Q )

• Mana cost increased from 40/50/60/70/80 to 60/65/70/75/80

• Mana cost decreased from 90/100/110/120/130 to 90/95/100/105/110

 

 

     Quinn

 

Heightened Senses ( W )

• Now also grants a 20/30/40/50/60% Movement Speed increase when attacking a vulnerable target as Quinn and 40/50/60/70/80% as Valor.

 

Vault ( E )

• Now also stuns the target briefly upon impact

 

Tag Team ( R )

• Bonus Movement Speed when activated increased from 80% to 80/90/100% when out of combat and 20/30/40% in combat from 20% at all ranks.

 

 

    Sejuani

Frozen Domain ( W )

• Duration increased from 6 seconds to 8 seconds
• Mana cost increased from 50 to 60
• Cooldown changed from 16/15/14/13/12 seconds to 15 seconds

 

 

 

Item Changes

 

 

Boots of Swiftness 

• Recipe Cost decreased from 650 to 550 gold

 

 

 

Ionian Boots of Lucidity 

• Recipe Cost decreased from 700 to 650 gold

 

 

 

Runaan’s Hurricane

• Recipe Cost decreased from 1000 to 700 gold

 

 

 

Tiamat

• Recipe Cost decreased from 665 to 265 gold
• AD decreased from 50 to 40

 

 

 

 

Bloodstone Lissandra

 

 (Click on the pictures for sweet full resolution!)

 

 

Model

Ice Shard (Q)

Ring of Frost (W)

Glacial Path (E) First Cast

Glacial Path (E) Second Cast

Frozen Tomb(R)

 

 

New Tutorial

 

The Howling Abyss map has currently replaced the Proving Grounds as the Tutorial map on the PBE. Check out a preview below:

(Inb4 terrible Ashe players building Thornmail)

 

 

The Loading Screen

Welcome to the League of Freljord!

Garen’s 2D Origins

Not for chatting!

Boom.

A bigger boom!

 

 

New Free Champion Rotation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week’s free list includes:

• Ashe
• Karma
• Karthus
• Lee Sin
• Maokai
• Morgana
• Teemo
• Wukong
• Zac
• Zyra

 

Champion and Skin Sale (April 16-19)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Champions:

• Galio
• Blitzcrank
• Volibear

 

Skins:

• Northern Front Swain
• Hyena Warwick
• Gothic Orianna

 

 Cross- Atlantic Server Transfer available!

Lastly, Community Coordinator RiotYmir shared this exciting news on the forum for all American players wishing to switch to European servers and vice versa:

 RiotYmir: Starting today, players will be able to skip over the Atlantic and transfer between the North America and EUW or EUNE servers. This upgrade has been a long time coming and we’re stoked that players now have more flexibility to choose where they play!

To purchase a transfer, head to the in-game store and click on the Other tab. Intercontinental transfers are one-way and run 2600RP, so always double check you’re heading to the right server. Additionally, European players who joined the North American server prior to June 1st 2010 and weren’t able to move to the European platform when it opened will receive a free one time transfer token.

For the full scoop on eligibility, transfer options and more, check out this page on our Knowledge Base.

If you do not meet the criteria below we will be unable to merge your account!

 RiotYmir: A small number of you have asked if you can merge your NA account with your EU account. Unfortunately, that’s a very time-consuming process that we really can’t offer on a broad scale. Some veteran EU players, however, have accounts that pre-date the launch of the European service. Since these players didn’t have the option to create their first (primary) account on home soil, we’re offering them a very special, one-time opportunity to merge their two accounts into one account on the EU server.

Merging’s very labor-intensive and requires special attention from the Player Support team. For that reason, we can only offer mergers under special circumstances.

Here’s how to qualify for a merger:

• You need to have created your account before June 1, 2010
• Most of your games need to be from a European IP
• You need to verify ownership over the two accounts you’re merging

Unfortunately, because this process is so laborious, we’re going to be buzz-kill sticklers about the rules. No exceptions! Also, this is an extremely slow process, so – while we will answer all eligible requests – it might take several weeks to complete your merger.

We can only transfer certain data to your EU account, so please read carefully before you apply. Here’s what we can merge:

• Your summoner level
• Your purchased content
  • You’ll be compensated for content you unlocked on both accounts
• Your IP and RP totals
• Your competitive season rewards

The following aspects of your NA account will be lost during the merger process:

• Your stats
• Your MMR
• Your rune and mastery presets
• Your honor score
• Previous and unused referrals
• Your justice review rating
• Your friends list

Once the process is complete you can’t use refund tokens on content you merged from another account, and your NA account can’t be recovered. So make sure you’ve bid fond farewell to your summoner on this side of the pond prior to requesting the merge!

If you’re interested in merging your NA and EU accounts, meet the criteria and have read through the process, please a send us a ticket with the subject “Account Merge Request”. Also, if you meet the requirements and you’d rather just move your NA account to EU without merging, you can use your free transfer token in the store right now.

We want to thank all the seasoned vets who waited so long for this option, and we hope we can make your merger as painless as possible. If you have any more questions, ask them in this thread!

What if my EU and NA account names match?

 Iniquitee: If you attempt to transfer you will be prompted to change your username if it is occupied on the server you are trying to go to. The messaging that says you cannot is incorrect and will be updated shortly.

Will I get to keep my Summoner icons?

 Iniquitee: Yes, you will keep your summoner icons.

As far as free transfer tokens go – we just finished distributing them to eligible players. Please check the store again!

Good luck on the Fields of Justice!

Have you been wondering why the latest updates have brought so many nerfs? Morello has stepped up to answer this and to share some insight on the recent power reduction in the League and the issue with power creep!

What’s with the constant nerfs?

 Morello: Let me answer, in some detail, why nerfs have been heavier overall more recently.

The first high-level point to reconcile is that power creep has gotten out of hand. Much of our Season 3 initiative was directly centered on letting us fix that exact problem – which may be unintuitive at first.

Power creep? What does that matter?

Power creep is very insidious over time, because it happens slowly and gradually – and a game with new content has greater risk of succumbing to it than more static games. This leads to a problem to where power gets in the way of decision-making an counter-play by creating an arms race between competing factors (champions, in many cases).

Arms race?

Basically, to compete with the most powerful characters, you have to bring better/more/faster/etc. We really saw this between Fighters, tanks and AD Carries in Season 2 – carries were doing such explosive DPS, that defensive itemization had to be tuned to allow near-invulnerability to anything else just to live for a few hits from an ADC. Fighters had to have overtuned everything to both live and do noticeable damage.

But you changed the items – why nerf champions?

Changing the items was step one – get the right baselines for these values. Now, with that settled, we need to undo the arms race by bringing total power in League of Legends down. Some of that was done with AD items, some of that is nerfing fighters and doing other changes. Many of the sweeping changes you’ll see are revolved around these classes as we get their power back under control, or enhance gameplay/counter-play loops.

Why do you not buff champions too?

We actually do quite a bit, but these tend to be more easily-forgotten than nerfs. Additionally, some really outdated champs (Heimerdinger, for example) need heavier work to get them up-to-par. We have a relaunches team who is focused on just that!

One other factor is when a champion being good creates poor gameplay or interactions. League’s design direction involves a heavy dose of decision-points and counterplay. And not just countering like champ X beats champ Y, but action A can be responded to in skilled and interesting ways. Nerfing AP Tryndamere is an example of this, where gameplay fidelity is extremely diminished if that concept is powerful.

Who causes power creep and are nerfs the appropriate response?

 Ralik098: I don’t understand why you think nerfs are a good way to counteract power creep. Correct me if I’m wrong, but power creep occurs as you introduce new champions into the game and their new mechanics push older champions out as they just can’t keep up. For example, what happened with Udyr, the mobility in the game just made him irrelevant since it was so easy to just kite him. Nerfs will do absolutely nothing to solve that, no matter how many little 5-10 points of damage you shave off of other champions, Udyr never would have been viable without the increased mobility that you gave him. The only way nerfs will counteract this is if you change how the skills of other champions function, which is an even bigger mistake than just buffing the UP champions imo as you are then changing their style of play and feel.

Again, I have to say that your obsession with fighters is really worrisome considering they are still one of the only classes along with assassins that you can leave out of your team comps and expect to win with. You can’t go without other classes and expect to have the same degree of success. AD carries are still broken, both ranged (OP) and melee (UP).

 Morello: Because, like in my example, new champions are only one source of power creep. In many cases, this creep occurs because of the underlying concepts that create the arms race. Fighters were tuned to the point of being so strong that “being strong” is all they could do. Either they were straight-up more powerful than another choice, or worthless. In some cases you’re right that heavier work is needed as opposed to buffs or nerfs.

In Udyr’s case, we buffed him, so we agree nerfs weren’t the answer there

What are some of the other sources of power creep? (Ralik098)

 Morello: Player skill and optimization is really the other big one. When players get better and discover more optimal strategies, they unlock new potential and find new interactions that increase overall power. We obviously don’t want to stop players from learning this stuff, but we do need to react to new information presented in this way. Players’ skill ceiling going up raises the skill floor slowly, when the skill floor increases, the baseline power increases as well.

No mistake; champions contribute and we have to deal with that as well (the Mobility Creep is valid), but manytimes it’s a nuanced interaction of systems and mechanics.

Any plans to fix the currently underplayed junglers? (Shyvana talk)

 Krimson62: But what about the jungle changes in Season 3 and champions who have obviously needed help for months – something that most players agree on!

Champions like Shyvana, Rengar, and Mundo in particular have been behind the curve for a while with all the new changes.

You can nerf Zac, Shaco, Amumu, Jarvan IV and Xin all you want without completely changing their kits and you’d be hard pressed to make these three champions listed above more tantalizing to pick simply because the new itemization and jungle changes left them behind.

Look at shyvana after her last nerf… less resistance on ult and a “bugfix” that made it so she lost two seconds from her W despite it matching the tooltip. Season 3 lifesteal nerfed, HoG removed, FoN removed, attack speed items nerfed, counterjungling less profitable…. every single one of her core items was nerfed… and she got the Blade of the Ruined King as the only “compensation” item for all that was lost…

 Morello: But buffing them before establishing baselines just makes more champions broken, not bringing more champions to a good median comparable power level. This would be the case for why nerfing other fighters takes precedence over buffing a champion who is a bit weak.

How is nerfing FotM champions justified?

 Isist: Lux being the same for 8 month, suddenly OP as hell. Akali doesn’t need special runes anymore, suddenly OP as hell. Morello, please explain, how are people going to develop new champion playstyle and meta if Riot nerfs everything that stomps because the opponent got caught in surprise?

If the player refuse to counterplay a certain champion, it is the player’s problem.

 Morello: Because you’re equating a nerf to “it won’t be good anymore.” These characters being good is awesome, but small nerfs to good champions rarely kick them out, just make them less ubiquitous.

Wasn’t it obvious that fighters were going to be overpowered eventually?

 Zerglinator: Okay, I have to ask, but how did creating a champion who scales damage off of building HP, True Damage, Free Armor Pen, and CC Immunity not signal any warning bells when he was made?

Seems like an example of power creep.

 Morello: That whole period was a desperate attempt to answer, in the wrong ways, how to make melee good. We learned a lot since then, though those fighters made us in the arms race already. Irelia and Jax are other good examples of this.

Will you be fixing Irelia? (Ralik098)

 Morello: I want to really badly, hard to prioritize vs bringing up some of the other really outdated folks and doing things like the events. Eventually, but not likely as soon as I’d like.

Did you remove the CC reduction from Trundle’s W from fear of power creep?

 Morello: Nah, it was basically very powerful and had no gameplay, so we thought we could trim there to add to other areas.

Personal thoughts on Fighters and Power Creep in Season 3

A little background for those who are unfamiliar with how the fighter issue came about. I’m sure many of you know, but back in Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2, the AoE meta was incredibly popular. The so-called “R button champs” (Morgana, Galio, Kennen), the bane of squishy champions, ran rampant and that’s when bruisers began to shine. They could take the brunt of the initiation and destroy these comps after their ults were down. That’s when the meta you see today began to form, as a counter to those burst-heavy picks. There had to be a healthy mix of tanking and spanking – a comp you can’t beat with just five ultimates and one that scaled harder than bruisers in the late game, due to AD carries. This is the key word here and the reason why melee fighters were so crazily buffed in Season 2 – if you’re going up against a champion who hits you for roughly 1000 damage each second. you had to be way better statistically to even stand a chance.

The issue transitioned into Season 3, but by then some fighters were so rigged skill-wise (Jarvan IV, Xin Zhao, Vi and Hecarim are the most obvious examples) that they could single-handedly deal with the ranged AD. They had to, with armor being shredded left and right and carries still hitting for absurd amounts. As health became the dominant survival stat, it meant these champions would become an even bigger nightmare for the rest of the team to deal with them. What followed was the Riot standard – targeted nerfs to reduce the popularity of FotM picks, mainly fighters. Those stats they got for free from skills in Season 2? They had to go. As a side effect of these modifications, many champions had to gain % Maximum HP damage to remain strong in the current meta. This is an artificial mechanic, one we’ll hopefully see go away, but we can’t currently do without.

So why did champions such as Shyvana and Mundo become undesirable? Simple, they failed at their job of initiating the carry and killing him before he killed them. They had no reliable CC and burst, which is what pushed certain bruisers above others in the fight to be competitive. Newer champions were built around this design to circumvent the issues that plague older champions lacking the mechanics to be strong in Season 3.

Of course, this isn’t just about fighters. As you’ve seen so far during Season 3, many forgotten champions suddenly gained popularity only to have their fame quickly extinguished by nerfs. Like how Katarina was picked up by the competitive scene or that DFG made Evelynn the single most destructive force on the playing-field. Play Miss Fortune, buy a Cleaver, press R! The end result of these experiments was that champions became overall weaker and this reduced the fun factor. Can you really pick up this guy/girl/amorphous blob/void monster after what Riot did?

You have to understand the philosophy here- it’s not without flaws by any means, but it’s obviously the one the balancing team have endorsed. To keep champions in line, they nerf those who are obviously above others. This is problematic, mainly because players constantly improve their skills and so they find these avenues to success that other players aren’t yet ready to deal with. Riot most often choose to listen to the majority in these cases, who are in favor of nerfing this new-found winning strategy. On the one hand, it keeps the pressure away from the developer- they’ve done their part, they’ve listened to the community and they’ve fixed the issue without causing further damage (this is why considerable buffs are so rare nowadays) But at the same time, you can’t constantly be trimming champions’ power or else you make the gameplay stale.

Is the right decision to nerf these strategies? Very few are actually considering counterplay – the act of thinking, instead of complaining.

What do you guys think is a good method of solving power creep issues?

Share below!

Big changes to skin prices, balance updates, limit on how many health potions you can start with, map – specific champion tweaks and the end of the Freljord journey – all in one!

We’ll start with something that will please everyone- cheaper skins! 79, to be precise. To balance that out, 18 skins will be going up in price. In addition, a new 750 RP pricing tier is being introduced.

Skin Prices

 Hippalus: As you’ve probably noticed, the quality of champion skins has increased dramatically since we started creating them way back in the day. This upward trend in quality is something that we’re always looking to advance while continuing to provide good value and affordable prices to players. With that in mind, we felt it was time to revisit RP skin pricing and come up with improvements for 2013 and beyond.

975 RP has become an extremely broad tier, encompassing skins of wildly differing production quality. We wanted to better define the value of your purchase, and will soon implement a couple of big pricing changes as we move skins into more clearly defined RP tiers and establish two new tiers at 750 and 1350 RP. By positioning skins into tiers based on their features, you’ll have a better idea of what you’re getting for your RP and be able to make more informed purchase decisions.

Here’s a breakdown of the new skin prices with what features you can expect for each skin:

390/520 RP skins

• These are outdated tiers used for skins that only featured texture changes, a new splash image, and at times slight model changes.
• 36 skins in the store at the 975 RP tier will have their prices lowered to 520 RP
• No new skins will be created for these tiers, but existing skins in the store are eligible to be put on sale.
• Example: Loch Ness Cho’Gath, Aviator Irelia

750 RP – New tier

• Skins in the new 750 RP tier feature new texture and model work as well as a new splash image; and some skins in this tier will feature new animations.
• 40 skins from the current 975 RP tier will have their prices lowered to 750 RP
• We expect that 10-20% of skins in 2013 will be released at 750 RP, and they will be eligible to be put on sale.
• Examples: Little Knight Amumu, Explorer Ezreal

975 RP

• 975 RP skins feature a new model, textures and splash image; some skins in this tier will feature new animations, visual effects and sounds where appropriate for the theme of the skin.
• We expect that 50-75% of skins released in 2013 will be 975 RP, and they are eligible to be put on sale.
• Examples: Haunted Maokai, Jade Dragon Wukong

1350 RP

• Skins in the 1350 RP tier will feature a new model, textures, splash image, animations, visual effects and sounds. In some cases, these skins will also have processed voice overs.
• This tier is intended for skins that go above and beyond the quality of 975 RP skins but don’t quite reach legendary status.
• 3 skins from the current 1820 Legendary tier will have their prices lowered to 1350 RP
• 18 17 skins from the current 975 RP tier will be moved to the 1350 RP tier
• We expect that 7-15% of skins released in 2013 will be 1350 RP, and they are eligible to be put on sale
• Examples: Blackthorn Morgana, Arcade Sona

1820 RP – Legendary skins

• A legendary skin completely changes the look and feel of a champion.
• These skins feature a new model, textures and splash image as well as completely new animations, visuals, voice over and sounds.
• We expect that 6-10% of skins released in 2013 will be Legendaries, and they will not be put on sale.
• Examples: Battlecast Prime Cho’Gath, Brolaf

3250 RP – Ultimate skins

• An ultimate skin is a complete reimagining of a champion that includes an evolving model and additional features and bonuses, such as summoner icons.
• 3250 RP skins feature a new model that evolves into different forms, textures, splash image, animations, visuals, voice over and sounds, as well as additional content.
• We expect that 2-4% of skins released in 2013 will be Ultimates. They may have initial promotions or discounts, but will not be put on sale.
• Examples: Pulsefire Ezreal

The price changes will all go into effect at 9am PST on April 25th, so there is plenty of time to plan any purchases of skins that are impacted. Partial refunds will be automatically granted for all past purchases of the three legendary skins (Astronaut Teemo, Lion Dance Kog’Maw, and Piltover Customs Blitzcrank) that are decreasing in price, as that is a price-protected skin tier. No other refunds will be granted in relation to these changes.

That’s it for now! All of the skins that will be changing in price are listed below. Let us know your thoughts in the comments – we’ll do our best to address your questions.

PBE Update

There have been a number of changes, including a wider shop interface, limit to how many health potions you can buy and a bunch of champion tweaks.

Balance changes:

      Nasus

Wither (W)

• The Attack Speed reduction debuff is now equal to half the % MS slow instead of being a flat 35%

      Quinn

Blinding Assault (Q)

• Now scales additionally with AP (0.5 ratio)

Tag Team (R)

• Coldown reduced from 140/120/100 to 140/110/80

     Sejuani

Arctic Assault (Q)

• Mana cost changed from 70/80/90/100/110 to 80/85/90/95/100

   Trundle

Subjugate (R)

• Armor and Magic Resist drain increased from 20% to 40%. Also drains 20% of target’s maximum HP

      Udyr

Tiger Stance (Q)

• Damage dealt reduced from 60/115/170/225/280 to 30/80/130/180/230

Limit to Health Potions bought

Currently on the PBE, a player can buy a maximum of five potions at the start.

If this change seems ambiguous to you, Communications Coordinator Riot Pwyff is here with a helpful explanation:

 Riot Pwyff: Hey all, I just wanted to talk about the changes we’re making to limit health potion stacks. While this is the PBE and things are subject to change, I’d still like to give some context behind this particular change.

At the moment, we are planning to limit the maximum number of health potions you can hold at any time to five. This change was intended to combat super high sustain starts, where champions (particularly those going top and mid lane) would buy as many health potions as possible (and a ward or two) in order to sustain in lane forever. The problem is that this really destroys any incentives players have to interact. Resourceless champions in particular benefited from these starts and, for champions with mana pools, we’ve actually seen that some literally do not have enough mana to burn through that much sustained HP.

On that note, we arrived at the hard limit of five health potions because this should have the least impact on standard starting builds while still targeting the high sustain problem.

Hope this gives some insight into our approach to these changes.

What about champions with a weak early game? Have they lost their viability because of this change?

 Riot Pwyff: Some champions do have a deliberately weak early game, so that’s a weakness that the team would like to bake in. For example, Nasus has a very bad laning phase because he – technically speaking – scales to infinite and beyond.

That being said, if the 1350 HP sustain start was the only thing that kept a champion from being complete rubbish, then I think attacking super sustain will expose that imbalance and will let the team address that down the line. Super sustain just has a lot of innate problems.

Shop Interface tweaked

 The end of Quinn and Val’s journey

We have the final diary entry from Quinn! At last she can return to Jarvan to… discuss her findings. Here’s a short, but sweet lore piece:

Southern Freljord

 We’re finally heading home. It’s been a long journey, and I’ll be happy to see Demacia again.

I’ve begun preparing my report for Jarvan on the state of tensions in the Freljord. I believe he’ll be surprised with the results. There is much more to the Freljord than Demacia assumed, and the threat of war is very real. Ashe has a strong vision, but not all of the Freljord’s tribes are willing to unify under her leadership. Some have left her to ally with Sejuani, a warrior whose ferocity and strength are legendary in this land. I can’t prove it, but Lissandra may be a third force to consider. The Frostguard are mysterious and isolated, and they clearly have their own agenda. A united Freljord led by Sejuani or Lissandra could pose a true threat to Demacia—perhaps all of Valoran.

What happens next might be the spark that lights the fire of war. Knowing what I’ve learned, I think it’s safe to say that we will be watching.

In case you’ve missed any of the previous lore entries: 

• Journey Into The Freljord I: The Avarosan
• Journey Into The Freljord II: The Winter’s Claw
• Journey Into The Freljord III: The Troll King
• Journey Into The Freljord IV: The Frostguard
• Journey Into The Freljord V: The Ice Witch

Good luck on the Fields of Justice!

Interested in how Trundle’s new looks and lore came to be? Join Creative Designer RiotRunaan as he lays down the philosophy behind these decisions!

 RiotRunaan: ”Hey guys,

We’ve been reading to your posts over the past few days and we wanted to jump in to say that we hear you. Trundle’s Visual Upgrade (VU) is a big change from what he was, so I want to share some of the story around how and why Trundle, the Troll King came to be. This might be a bit of a huge brain-dump… sorry if I get a little long-winded. Bear with me!

Trundle’s VU began as a piece of concept art for Trundle as a frost troll. Looking at and thinking about this path for Trundle got everyone super excited. Everything about it made sense. The idea of frost and ice fit the theming of his kit. The visuals were strong and compelling. It was a huge opportunity to strengthen Trundle as a character. We met, talked through the pros and cons, and felt that Frost Troll Trundle would be the best version of Trundle. We knew some would still prefer old Trundle, and we made the Traditional Trundle skin for those players.

On the creative team, we faced a challenging question: if Trundle was going to be a frost troll, how could we make him into the “coolest” frost troll he could be? How could we incorporate the key elements of Trundle’s personality into this new narrative? What we came to was an approach that preserved what we felt were key elements of Trundle’s personality, but with a fresh new identity that built him into the story of the Freljord and provided huge opportunities for storytelling in the future.

Why a new identity?

You guys are right: Trundle’s old story was compelling. It was a strong arc with a cathartic ending that finished the story of Trundle’s involvement with his tribe. The thing is, that story was effectively finished. Any evolution from the point at which Trundle decides to doom his tribe felt arbitrary when we discussed it internally.

We explored evolving Trundle into a frost troll as a solution to the problem of his story feeling complete. For example, we tried stories like “ice of Freljord slowed the disease” or “the Ice Witch cured him,” but they felt like Band-Aid solutions to get from Story A to Story B. This would not have been meaningful character development; it would have been an excuse to move the story forward in an inorganic way. A fresh start allowed us to create a strong, compelling, and open-ended story for Trundle.

Trundle’s old story was essentially finished, but new Trundle’s story is only just beginning. It’s essentially Act 1… where will the rest of the Troll King’s story take us?

With all of that in mind, we took a great deal of care in preserving elements of Trundle’s old story in his new. These themes didn’t take the exact same form, but here’s a run-down of our thought process.

The Underdog

In his old story, Trundle was the underdog. He was a runt, underappreciated and mocked by his tribe. In Trundle’s new story, these themes carry over. Trundle is by no means the biggest and strongest member of his tribe in the Freljord. When he perceives that the troll chieftain he follows may be leading his people down a path of destruction, Trundle challenges him, but the physical conflict only ends in humiliation for him. You’ll notice that when Trundle departs his tribe, he leaves to “the familiar sound of laughter.” Like his old story, scorn and mockery are familiar territory to our poor troll.

For the Tribe!

Trundle of the past was willing to bear the curse of his people at great cost to himself, despite the humiliation he’d faced at their hands. New Trundle faces a similar challenge: he recognizes the danger his people face, and he’s willing to undertake great risk to save them. It may be a bit understated in the bio (we’ve only got so much space to tell stories in that format), but venturing into the Ice Witch’s territory is no easy task. Trundle should have died—the Frostguard who live in that area of the Freljord have access to dark and terrible power. Through his strength and his cunning, however, he prevails.

The Trickster 

Old Trundle’s character had a great deal of cleverness and wit to him, especially in his in-game voice over. For Trundle’s VU, we completely embraced this and further incorporated it into his story. Trundle’s encounter with the Ice Witch presents him with an option: he can surrender, or he can twist the situation to his advantage. Trundle chooses the latter. He sees an opportunity to use the Ice Witch’s powerful presence to further his own goals for his people. An alliance with the Ice Witch will allow the trolls a chance at conquering the Freljord and ousting the humans that hold it—and, when the time is right, Trundle believes he’ll be able to defeat the Ice Witch herself.

The “Nice Guy” Turns Mean 

Many of you have mentioned that this new iteration of Trundle is a selfish creature, but in Trundle’s old Judgment, he reveals a darker shade of his personality. Trundle learns that bearing the curse for his people didn’t save them at all and they are, in fact, still doomed to die. He’s granted the option to save him… but he doesn’t. The bitterness and scorn he feels at being treated as an unworthy runt his whole life finally catches up to him. He leaves them to rot.

New Trundle undergoes a similar transformation, though it may be a touch more subtle. When he becomes the Troll King, the power may have begun to go to his head. He’s never been looked up to, he’s never been treated with respect, he’s so used to humiliation that the right to rule has added a darkness to him that may or may not grow into something more.

Things like this give us a lot of storytelling potential for Trundle in the future—let’s talk about that!

Story Possibilities 

So, where do we begin with Trundle, the Troll King? Where can we take him from here?
One key factor is that Trundle is still the underdog of the Freljord. Ashe, Sejuani and Lissandra seem to be the main power players here, but Trundle is the unexpected fourth force in the grand scheme of things. There’s a lot ahead of him, but can the Troll King rise to the challenge and reclaim the Freljord in the name of his kin?

We’ve put him in a very interesting conflict with the Ice Witch. They’ve forged an alliance of convenience—each needs the other to advance their plans, but where will that end? Lissandra herself is a master manipulator whose cleverness and guile will go toe-to-toe with the Troll King. Will the alliance have unforeseen consequences? Who will turn on the other first?

I hinted at this before, but Trundle’s character flaw—the fact that his newfound power may go to his head—opens up a lot of possibilities for us, too. He began his journey because he wanted a greater future for the trolls of Freljord, but will his hunger for greatness ever put them at risk? Power is an unwieldy, tricky thing, and Trundle is a made leader, not a born one. What challenges has he NOT considered?

“But I loved the old Trundle!”

We hear you. By no means do we think that Trundle’s old story and personality were a detriment to our game. We know that Trundle was beloved to some, which is why the Traditional Trundle skin exists. This preserves the fantasy that Trundle once held. If you want to be Trundle, the Plague Troll, that character still exists for you in all his glory, complete with classic voiceover and updated character art and visual effects.

In Conclusion 

We’ve taken a lot of steps to make Trundle the greatest frost troll he can be while still preserving the key elements of who he once was. This opens up a lot of opportunities for stories and serves a greater goal of building out our world into a more cohesive, unified whole. We’ve only just begun to talk about the coming war in the Freljord, and now Trundle can play an important part in that conflict. We hope the evolving story of the Freljord and Trundle’s new role there really give you something to dig into for League of Legends lore.

Thanks everyone, and keep on trollin’.

Community Concerns

Here are a few select quotes from the ever- helpful designer IronStylus:

Some champions have no reason to be where they are

 IronStylus: That’s a problem. It’s a big problem. I want to emphasize that this is very much something we want to avoid. This is something we are reconciling as you see to the changes in lore that are happening, the assigning of factions, allegiances, etc.

We never want to complete out a champion’s lore from inception. We want to have lots of room to tell a lot more stories. We don’t want to conclude to a hard certainty because that closes the arch of a character. Integration with other characters, factions, etc, strengthens characters because it allows for continuous interactions, cross pollination and alliances. One-off-ism makes things not only confusing, but puts our characters at such distance from each other they may have no way to have a reasonable trajectory with each other. We need opportunities for characters to cross paths, to have relationships, to create conflict.

Can we expect more champion relationships based on lore?

The involvement between characters makes certain moments, like a Rengar vs Kha’Zix lane, much more enjoyable and immersive if you’re aware of the story behind it. I hope we see more specific taunts/in-game nods to allegiances and rivalries.

 IronStylus: I personally would like us to pursue such interactions.

More Voice Overs!

I think champions should be very dynamic with each other. Graves showing off a bit of his ego by blinding Nocturne is a good example of this. All of these champions, especially if they are from similar regions, should have some kind of interaction. Kind of like another game, another moba, one made by a monlith.

…

 

When Elise kills Teemo she should hiss “That’s gotta sting” it’s a reward for killing Teemo, it’s spiteful, just like Elise.

 IronStylus: That’s cool. I can see that happening.

Champion Relationships – everything is here!

If you’re interested in finding out more about the relationships in the League, Summoner Engrailed has made a brilliant schematic showing every champion, where he/she comes from and who he/she has had any interactions with.

Original Thread 

Overview of Trundle’s Remake

Trundle was sort of the forgotten champion of the League, both in terms of his lore and the actual number of people playing him. More than anything his story and involvement in the fantasy world of Runeterra were mostly over. Stuck in a position where he has to accept the curse because it’s the only thing keeping him alive, he didn’t have a strong stimulus to be a continually evolving character. Old Trundle was the rut of the clan, he was shunned by everyone and was left alone to deal with his terrible fate. In this sense he couldn’t remain the indifferent, cheerful troll that we’ve come to embrace. He had to live up to the merits set by the Freljord conflict and in doing so he’s become more assertive, cunning, devious. After all, he wouldn’t have been king of the trolls with that goofy look on his face, right?

To clarify, I’m not a fan of Trundle’s new lore. I simply believe he had to be redone entirely for his frosty rework to make sense in the world he inhabits. Did he have to change his personality to fit a more compelling story? Most certainly yes. Did he have to lose the smirky attitude in the process? Maybe, maybe not, but that’s what Traditional Skins are for. If you feel more connected to Trundle’s past rendition you are free to enjoy him (with crispier textures and more polished animations).

The future of Champion Lore

Look at the past few weeks and what Riot has done in terms of immersing players in the lore behind their game. You have Zac’s lab reports, the Howling Abyss, Quinn’s journal, Lissandra’s reveal, Sejuani and Trundle’s reworks – all done to create a more complete experience. It’s a wonderful, albeit underdeveloped part of the League that’s only now beginning to grow.

In the future we’ll hopefully be treated to extended voice overs, like the ones you see in DotA 2. More dialogue that builds on character relationships, like the Graves/Twisted Fate story or the Kha’Zix/Rengar rivalry. If Leona and Diana are so different in their philosophies, how come we don’t see any of it in-game? Doesn’t everyone hate Teemo? There are so many opportunities in the League to create unique personalities that players can feel attached to. “I’m a champion, I fight, because I must!” – does this slogan inspire any emotion? Most who fight in the League do so because of a certain political involvement. That’s not very enticing, is it? How about “By my father’s name, I shall end you, devil of Noxus!” It’s a new direction, but I’m confident Riot can pull it off.

Where do you see the game’s lore heading?