Changes to Akali, Caitlyn, Diana, Rumble and Twisted Fate, Custom Item Sets and the next sale – and much more!

 

 

Balance Changes

Quality of Life Changes & Bug Fixes

Changes to Items

Map-specific Changes

Game Fixes

Patch 3.7 Video Preview

Custom Item Sets

Sale – May 17th to 20th

 

 

 

Patch 3.7

Balance Changes

 

 

Twilight Shroud (W)

• Now grants vision in the area of effect

 

Shadow Dance (R)

• Essence of Shadow charge time reduced to 30/22.5/15 seconds from 35/25/15

These two changes are intended to give Akali’s kit some utility. With Twilight Shroud now granting vision where it’s placed, Akali can perform interesting jungle and lane jukes by first casting Twilight Shroud to gain vision of an enemy or jungle monster, and then using Shadow Dance as an escape tool. Overall, it should be a cool little trick that adds some depth to this ability.

 

 

 

• Base Attack Speed reduced to 0.625 from 0.668
• Attack Speed per level increased to 4% from 3%

 

Headshot (Passive)

• No longer gains stacks when attacking structures

 

 

 

Twin Fang (E)

• Now counts as a single target spell for the sake of items like Rylai’s Crystal Scepter

 

 

 

Moonsilver Blade (Passive)

• Damage reduced to 20/25/30/35/40/50/60/70/80/90/105/120/135/155/175/200/225/250 (+0.6 AP) from 20/25/30/40/50/65/80/95/110/125/140/155/175/195/215/240/265/290 (+0.6 AP)
• Range of the cleave behind Diana reduced

 

Pale Cascade (W)

• Total damage changed to 66/102/138/174/210 from 60/105/150/195/240
• Shield reduced to 40/55/70/85/100 (+0.3 Ability Power) from 55/80/105/130/155 (+0.45 Ability Power)
• The second application of the shield now stacks with the first shield instead of replacing it

 

 

 

 

Skittering Frenzy (W)

• Ability Power ratio increased to 0.04 from 0.02

 

Spider Form (R)

• No longer grants bonus Armor and Magic Resist

 

 

 

 

Impure Shots (W)

• Max stacks increased to 5 from 4
• Damage per stack reduced to 4/6/8/10/12 from 6/8/10/12/14

 

Miss Fortune excels at trading in lanes, but her Impure Shots were building too quickly and dealing too much burst damage with the use of Double Up. With this change, Miss Fortune loses some of her burst potential, but will do around the same damage in extended trades.

 

 

 

• Basic Attack Missile Speed increased to 1500 from 1350

 

Surging Tides (Passive)

• Bonus Movement Speed increased to 40 from 30

 

Aqua Prison (Q)

• Stun duration increased to 1.5 seconds from 1.25

 

These general usability buffs are for Nami to feel more impactful in team fights and skirmishes. In particular, with Surging Tides giving more movement speed and Aqua Prison having a longer stun duration, Nami players should feel better about playing aggressive in a lane.

 

 

 

Consume (Q)

• Damage increased to 600/700/800/900/1000 from 500/600/700/800/900

• Healing reduced to 90/130/170/210/250 from 125/180/235/290/345
• Healing ratio reduced to 0.75 from 1.0
• Consume now grants bonuses for 120/150/180/210/240 seconds based on the type of monster consume was used on:
  • Golem-type monsters grant 10% increased size and maximum Health
  • Lizard-type monsters grant Nunu’s attacks and spells additional magic damage equal to 1% of Nunu’s maximum Health
  • Wraith or Wolf-type monsters grant 15% movement speed for 3 seconds after Nunu kills a unit

Nunu naturally fits in the jungle with his strong objective control and high map mobility – these changes should add more depth within that role. Above all, we want Consume to be a cool spell –Consume has traditionally languished in late game for everything besides objective control, so making it an attractive spell with these changes adds more depth and rank-up incentive.

 

 

 

Flamespitter (Q)

• Damage decreased to 75/135/195/255/315 (+1.0 Ability Power) from 90/160/230/300/370 (+1.35 Ability Power)
• Danger Zone damage bonus increased to 50% from 25%

 

Electro-Harpoon (E)

• Damage decreased to 45/70/95/120/145 (+0.4 Ability Power) from 55/85/115/145/175 (+0.5 Ability Power)

We did tone down some of Rumble’s overall damage, but we also took this opportunity to make Danger Zone more impactful in Rumble’s overall play. Here we’ve decided to increase his benefits for staying in the Danger Zone, so Rumble players will have more incentive to carefully manage their abilities.

 

 

 

Pick a Card (W)

• Blue card now restores 50/75/100/125/150 Mana instead of 26/39/52/65/78 (+0.6 total Attack Damage)

 

Stacked Deck (E)

• No longer grants Cooldown Reduction
• Bonus Attack Speed increased to 10/15/20/25/30% from 3/6/9/12/15%

 

Destiny (R)

• Cooldown increased to 180/150/120 seconds from 150/135/120

 

With his huge global map pressure in early and mid-game, we wanted to reduce Twisted Fate’s overall power without hitting the core components that make him fun. We’re changing the passive cooldown reduction on Stacked Deck to attack speed to take out some of the free power he was getting without much gameplay interaction. Additionally, given Destiny’s high impact, we’ve brought it more in line with other global ability cooldowns

 

 

 

• Base Movement Speed reduced to 330 from 335

Piercing Arrow (Q)

• Minimum damage increased to 10/47/83/120/157 from 10/43/77/110/143
• Maximum damage increased to 15/70/125/180/235 from 15/65/115/165/215

 

Hail of Arrows (E)

• Damage reduced to 65/100/135/170/205 from 65/105/145/185/225

 

Hail of Arrows makes Varus very strong in lane trades and zoning enemies out, but the strength of this ability was crowding out the intended use of Piercing Arrow as a high-damage snipe. With these changes, Hail of Arrows still has its strength in area control but it no longer completely trumps Piercing Arrow as a method of proccing Blighted Quiver and dealing high burst damage.

 

 

 

Infinite Duress (R)

• Channel time reduced to 1.5 seconds from 2.1 (the target is still suppressed for the full 1.8 seconds)
• Infinite Duress now always places Warwick in front of the target rather than a random spot around the target

These are mostly quality of life changes for Warwick, who actually spent more time channeling Infinite Duress than he spent suppressing his target. Additionally, the fact that Warwick will now always place himself in front of the target rather than in a random location around them should add a little more strategic depth to who he suppresses and when.

 

 

 

• Base Health Regen reduced to 7.0 from 12.5

 

Let’s Bounce! (R)

• Damage reduced to 140/210/280 from 160/240/320
• Fixed a bug where Let’s Bounce! was applying a 0.25 Ability Power ratio on every bounce rather than 0.4 on the first bounce, halved on subsequent bounces
• Tenacity reduced to 50% from 75%

 

 

 

 

Razor Shuriken (Q)

• Damage dealt to secondary targets reduced to 45/69/93/117/141 (+0.6 bonus Attack Damage) from 60/92/124/156/188 (+0.8 bonus Attack Damage)

 

Living Shadow (W)

• Vision radius of the Shadow reduced to 700 from 1300

 

Shadow Slash (E)

• Cooldown increased to 4 seconds from 3

 

 As a resourceless champion, Zed was able to farm efficiently and safely without giving his opponent much opportunity for interaction. These changes should hit his wave clearing efficiency, especially at early levels. The vision reduction on Zed’s Living Shadow was just to bring it more in line with other abilities of this type.

 

Quality of Life Changes & Bug Fixes

 

 

 

Inner Flame (Q)

• Mantra Bonus – Soulflare
  • Slow area now spawns directly under the primary target

 

 

 

• Recommend items updated

 

 

 

Vault (E)

• Fixed a bug where Vault failed to interrupt targets that were immune to slows

 

 

 

Puncturing Taunt (E)

• Can no longer target minions

 

 

 

Scatter the Weak (E)

• Improved detection of Dark Spheres at longer ranges

 

 

Twisted Fate

 

Destiny (R)

• Tooltips updated

 

 

 

Tiger Stance (Q)

• Fixed a bug that caused Tiger Strike to only apply in the first 5 seconds of the stance

 

 

    Varus

 

Piercing Arrow (Q)

• Improved hit detection at the end of the missile

 

Chain of Corruption (R)

• Improved hit detection at the end of the missile

 

 

 

• Thorn Spitter and Vine Lasher plants now correctly display their bonus damage from Ability Power and benefit from Banner of Command‘s minion damage aura

 

 

Changes to Items

 

 

• Recipe changed: Faerie Charm + 120 gold = 300 total gold
• Mana Warp Passive Aura reduced to 5 Mana Regen per 5 seconds from 6

 

 

Mikael’s Crucible

 

• Recipe changed: Philosopher’s Stone + Chalice of Harmony + 920 gold = 2500 total cost
• Grants 7 Health Regen per 5 seconds from 0
• Grants 18 Mana Regen per 5 seconds from 9
• No longer grants Mana
• Active Heal changed to “Heals for 150 + 10% of the target’s Maximum Health” from “Heals for 150 + 15% of the target’s Missing Health”, Cleanse effect unchanged
• Active travel time changed to 0.2 seconds from variable with distance
• Fixed an issue with the hit effect particle

 

 

 

 

• Total cost reduced to 1600 gold from 1700
• Mana Warp Passive Aura reduced to 5 Mana Regen per 5 seconds from 6

 

 

 

Map-specific Changes

 

 

Summoner’s Rift

 

Caster Minions

• Base Attack Damage reduced to 23 from 25

While this change doesn’t seem significant, it will help auto-attack reliant laners when trading against ability-based laners. Champions who rely on lane harassment through abilities typically don’t draw minion attacks as much as auto-attack champions, and this disparity was forcing a lot of champions to opt for high-sustain starts in order to compensate. This change will have a larger overall effect on lane trading as the game progresses.

 

 

• High Winds duration and intervals tweaked to match the pace of the music
• Statue destruction algorithms tweaked to become more consistent throughout the match

Game Fixes

 

 

 

More PBE Balance changes introduced! Rioters discuss Lux and Diana’s shields changes, Udyr stealth nerf, preview of the legendary Blackfrost Anivia, a Freljord mini-website and the next Champion/Skin Sale announced!

 

I’ve organized the content in the following categories:

PBE: Balance Changes
Lux/Diana
Udyr’s Tiger Nerf!
Explore the beauty of the Freljord
Freljord Summoner Icons – here’s how!
Blackfrost Anivia
Champion/Skin Sale – May 3rd – 6th

 

 

 

PBE: Balance Changes

 

 

     Diana

Pale Cascade ( W )

• Damage readjusted from 20/35/50/65/80 to 22/34/46/58/70
• Shield lowered from 55/80/105/130/155 + 0.45 AP to 40/55/70/85/100 + 0.3 AP
• The second shield now stacks with the first, instead of replacing it

 

Read CertainlyT‘s comment on the matter below.

 

 

      Elise

Spider form ( R )

• No longer grants bonus armor or magic resist.

 

 

      Galio

Resolute Smite ( Q )

• Damage lowered from 80/135/190/245/300 + 0.6 AP to 80/125/170/215/260 + 0.5 AP
• Mana cost lowered from 60/65/70/75/80 to 60 flat
• Cooldown lowered from 7 flat to 7/6.5/6/5.5/5 seconds
• Movement speed reduction now only lasts for 2 seconds down from 2.5

 

 

        Lux

Prismatic Barrier ( W )

• Shield lowered from 80/105/130/155/180 + 0.35 AP to 50/65/80/95/110 + 0.25 AP
• The second shield now stacks with the first, instead of replacing it

 

Read CertainlyT‘s comment on the matter below.

 

 

Miss Fortune

Impure Shots ( W )

• Damage lowered from 6/8/10/12/14 to 4/6/8/12
• Number of stacks increased from 4 to 5
• Tooltip updated to state maximum damage from stacks as 20/30/40/50/60 + 0.25 AP

 

      Nami

Aqua Prison ( Q )

• Stun duration increased from 1.3 to 1.5 seconds

 

     Nunu

Consume ( Q )

• Now gains bonuses for 120/150/180/210/240 seconds based on the type of creep he has consumed.

 

• Golem – 10% maximum health and 10% increased model size

• Lizard – Your attack deal an additional 1% of your maximum health as magic damage.

• Wolf / Wraith – 15% bonus movement speed on kill for 3 seconds.

 

• Damage increased from 500/600/700/800/900 to 600/700/800/900/1000
• Heal decreased from 125/180/235/290/345 + 1.0 AP to 90/130/170/210/250 + 0.75 AP
• Cooldown increased from 16/14/12/10/8 to 17/15/13/11/9

 

 

   Rumble

Electro Harpoon ( E )

• Damage lowered from 55/85/115/145/175 + 0.5 AP to 45/70/95/120/145 + 0.4 AP
• Bonus damage from Danger zone increased from 25% to 50%

 

 

   Shyvana

Flame Breath ( E )

• Damage lowered from 80/125/170/215/260 to 80/110/140/170/200
• Tooltip now applies a DoT called Cinders for 5 seconds.
• 15% Armor Penetration buff removed
• This effect is applied to all enemies if cast during Dragon Form

 

Dragon’s Descent ( R )

• Now brings enemy champions along the path with her

 

 

     Varus

Piercing Arrow ( Q )

• Minimum damage increased from 10/43/77/110/143 to 10/47/83/120/157
• Maximum damage increased from 15/65/115/165/215 to 15/70/125/180/235

 

Hail of Arrows ( E )

• Damage lowered from 65/105/145/185/225 to 65/100/135/170/205

 

 

        Zac

Elastic Slingshot ( E )

• Damage lowered from 80/130/180/230/280 to 80/125/170/215/260

 

Let’s Bounce! ( R )

• Tenacity lowered from 75% to 50%
• Damage per bounce decreased from 160/240/320 to 100/150/200
• Tooltip no longer states that enemies hit more than once half damage.

 

 

 

Lux/Diana

 

Read below to discover the reasoning behind the Diana/Lux changes, as well as insight on Udyr’s live stealth nerf!

 

On the changes to Lux and Diana

 

 CertainlyT: These data mined “patch notes” often completely miss the boat, since they are just grabbing numbers without context into associated mechanics changes. We should probably develop a better system for communicating PBE changes to players as we put them on that environment. We just need a way of doing so without making speculative efforts seem like certainties.

 

The change to Diana/Lux that is on PBE for testing is that their shields have lower values, but if the second trigger is met (3 orbs broken and boomerang double hitting respectively), the shields will stack instead of renew. Volty feels this opens up new opportunities for premeditated gameplay (like stacking a monster Lux shield on your team as you engage), while making aggressive counterplay more rewarding since hitting a Lux shield with the projectile still airborne can feel like an exercise in futility.

 

 

 

Udyr’s Tiger Nerf!

 

      Udyr

Tiger Stance ( Q )

• The damage on-hit can only be procced within the first 5 seconds of activation
• Damage on-hit is lost when swapping stances

 

 

Why does Udyr’s proc on-hit disappear when I switch stances?

 

 Pabro: This is intended. The temporary attack speed from Tiger Stance lasts 5 seconds, swap stance or not, but the first attack bonus can only be applied if you are still in Tiger Stance. Upcoming changes to the tooltips and buffs will make this more clear.

 

Is this change game-breaking? To an extent yes, you lose a 1.5 AD Scaling Spell if your target slips away and you have to switch back to Bear Stance. It basically ruins Udyr’s already limited combo.

 

But wait, there’s more! Statikk is here to present a far more detailed explanation on the matter:

 

 Statikk: Sorry guys, I’d like to start by apologizing because we definitely screwed up here both in terms of what we put into the game and what we failed to communicate out to you guys, but let me clarify what is and what is not intended with Udyr’s Tiger Stance.

 

What Is Intended:
- Udyr can “prime” Tiger Stance’s damage-over-time proc indefinitely as long as he remains in Tiger Stance
- Tiger Stance’s Attack Speed bonus carries over into other Stances

What Is Not Intended:
- Udyr should not be able to use Tiger Stance’s damage-over-time proc while in other Stances

With the new patch, we removed his ability to get the Tiger first hit proc unless he used it within the first 5 seconds of being in Tiger Stance. This is not intended. Udyr’s first hit after switching into Tiger Stance should proc the DoT regardless of how long he has been in Tiger Stance, but the instant he switches out of it he will not be able to proc it.

I know removing the ability to proc the Tiger DoT while in other stances is a nerf, but it is intended. Frankly, it doesn’t make sense for him to apply his Tiger hit in other Stances from several perspectives (gameplay, visuals, or thematics). Tiger’s proc, Bear’s stun, and Phoenix’s Flame Breath are all intended to be local to those stances. At the end of the day, if the only reason to use Tiger is to switch into it and then immediately switch out of it…that seems to point to a core problem that Tiger Stance is simply not attractive enough on its own. So we’ll deal with that if that’s an issue.

TL;DR
We will be giving Udyr back the ability to prime his DoT indefinitely as long as he remains in Tiger Stance. Removing the ability to proc the Tiger DoT while in a different Stance is an intended change.

 

 

 

Explore the beauty of the Freljord

 

 

A spectacular mini-website has been released to honor Freljord’s champions!

Scroll sideways to see all the artwork and click on the blue crystals to reveal hidden lore pieces!

 

 

 

 

Freljord Summoner Icons – here’s how!

 

Remember these three?

 

 

Here’s how to get them!

 

Choose your tribe

 

 Pabro: Welcome to the frozen North – a windswept and war-torn region home to some of the most resilient people in all of Runeterra. Here, three great tribes vie for control of their icy homeland. The Avarosan, led by Ashe, strive to unite the Freljord under a banner of peace. The Winter’s Claw, boldest and most warlike of the three, follow Sejuani on her campaign of conquest. And the Frostguard, secluded and mysterious, bide their time haunting ancient ruins alongside Lissandra, the Ice Witch. As they prepare for war, something ancient and sinister stirs deep beneath the earth, threatening to corrupt the land itself.

 

Click here to explore the Freljord

 

Choose your tribe

 

You can join the battle for the Freljord by declaring your allegiance to Ashe, Sejuani or Lissandra. At the start of the event, you’ll be able to choose from the following three summoner icons:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frostguard

 

Choose the tribe you want to support by selecting their banner as your summoner icon. Win 10 games without changing your icon, and you’ll unlock it permanently. Win a game with a different tribal icon and you’ll have to start over, so choose wisely!

 

Choose your tribe FAQ

 

 Pabro: During the Freljord event you’ll have the opportunity to permanently unlock a summoner icon featuring the emblem of your favorite tribe. At the start of the event, all three tribes will have icons available. Winning games wearing the icon associated with your favorite will earn you points toward unlocking it permanently.

 

How do I unlock a tribe’s icon?

 

After accruing ten wins with a tribal icon, you’ll permanently unlock an upgraded version. This upgraded icon is a badge of honor reserved only for loyal members of the tribe.

 

Which game types count toward my wins?

 

All matchmade games against human opponents count toward unlocking the banner of your chosen tribe. This includes all normal and ranked games on Summoner’s Rift, the Crystal Scar, the Twisted Treeline and the Howling Abyss.

Custom game or co-op vs. AI wins won’t help you join a tribe.

 

How long do I have to unlock my chosen icon?

 

The Freljord event will run until 5/14. Victories within this time period will count towards joining a tribe.

Temporary icons won’t be available once the event’s over, so be sure to join a tribe before time runs out.

 

What happens if I change my icon while accruing my 10 wins?

 

Playing a game with the icon of a new tribe will reset any progress you made toward unlocking any of the others. Non-Freljord icons have no effect on your progress toward joining a tribe.

 

How long after I complete my 10th win will I receive my icon?

 

It can take up to 48 hours for you to receive the icon of your chosen tribe. You’ll know you’ve successfully completed the process when you find an upgraded version of the tribe’s icon available in-client.

 

Can I unlock more than one icon?

 

No. You can only join one Freljord tribe, so choose your allegiance wisely.

You can switch tribes over the course of the event by winning 10 games with a new icon. At that point you’ll gain your new tribe’s icon, but lose your previous tribe’s icon.

 

I’m still confused. Can you give some examples?

 

Sure. Here are a few examples for the sake of clarity.

Example 1:

• Morello wins seven games for the Winter’s Claw, then changes his mind and wins one game for the Avarosan.
• Result – Morello currently holds one win toward unlocking the Avarosan icon. He needs nine more wins to join the tribe. If he switches back to the Winter’s Claw banner, he needs 10 wins to join them.

Example 2:

• Phreak wins 10 games for the Frostguard, successful joining the tribe. He then wins nine games under the Avarosan banner.
• Result – Phreak is still a member of the Frostguard, but he has nine wins toward unlocking the Avarosan icon. If he wins another game for the Avarosan, he’ll join that tribe and replace his Frostguard icon.

Example 3:

• ByronicHero racks up 100 wins in a row, but changes his icon to a different tribe every time.
• Result – ByronicHero doesn’t unlock any icons, because no tribe wants to be associated with a dirty, noncommittal flip-flopper like him. Don’t be like ByronicHero – join a tribe so you don’t get left out in the cold!

 

What do these icons represent?

 

 RiotVox: Crown + arrow = The Avarosan (Ashe’s tribe), axes = The Winter’s Claw (Sejuani’s Tribe), and the dark sinister looking eye = The Frostguard (Lissandra’s Tribe). We’re working on getting this reflected in the post better, stand by!

 

 

Do I have to play that champ or just use the icon?

 

 RiotVox: Just use the icon . Once you pick it in the client, just play 10 normal or ranked games with that icon selected to unlock the icon. Co-op VS. AI games do not count toward your 10 played games.

 

 

Does dominion count?

 

 RiotVox: Yes, every map counts.

 

 

 

 

Blackfrost Anivia

 

Join the Dark Side with Anivia. Her Blackfrost remake is available for 1820 RP at the store (Legendary skin)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Champion/Skin Sale – May 3rd – 6th

 

For the next three days, you can pick up the following champions and skins at half price:

 

Champions

• Fiddlesticks – 292 RP
• Morgana – 292 RP
• Xerath – 487 RP

 

Skins

 

Infernal Alistar – 487 RP

Galactic Renekton – 260 RP

Shadow Prince Malzahar – 260 RP

 

Go forth and win ‘dem Summoner Icons!

 

 

 

 

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!

 Check out Riot’s latest batch of balance stew; some champions will not find it delicious.

 

 

Champions

 

 

Elise

• Neurotoxin
  • Cast range reduced to 625 from 650
  • Damage reduced to 40/80/120/160/200 from 50/95/140/185/230

   

• Venomous Bite
  • Damage increased to 60/110/160/210/260 from 50/95/140/185/230

 

Elise has been rewarded too well for playing safely, so we shifted some of her power to her spider form to increase the reward for taking risks.

 

Janna

• Howling Gale
  • Fixed a bug where the knockup duration was not increasing based on charge time
  • Knockup duration when fully charged increased to 1 second from 0.75 seconds

 

 

 

I absolutely love this change to Janna. She deserves to shine among supports, given how satisfying it is to master her. The increased CC of her Q, coupled with her now cheaper ultimate, are sure to bring her back from her state of forgottenness.

 

Jarvan IV

• Golden Aegis
  • Shield amount per nearby enemy champion increased to 20/30/40/50/60
    from 20/25/30/35/40
  • Mana cost reduced to 45/50/55/60/65 from 65

   

• Demacian Standard
  • Active no longer grants bonus Armor

Jarvan has been bringing too much utility to his team, so we’ve removed the armor component of Demacian Standard’s aura.

 

Nami

• Tidecaller’s Blessing
  • Added new visual effects to better communicate the amount of charges left
  • Duration increased to 6 seconds from 5

 

 

Nami’s Tidecaller Blessing now summons swirling orbs around whichever champion she’s enchanted. Each auto attack removes one orb. It’s a very neat visual effect and definitely makes the spell more easily recognizable.

 

Singed

• Fling
  • Damage reduced to 80/125/170/215/260 from 100/150/200/250/300
  • Ability Power ratio reduced to 0.75 from 1.0

   

• Insanity Potion
  • No longer reduces the duration of disables

 

Singed is intended to be incredibly durable and to gradually burn down his opponents in team fights. By making disables more effective against him and reducing his initial burst damage, Singed’s opponents now have more time and ways to deal with him in these situations.

 

Taric

• Shatter
  • Damage reduced to 50/90/130/170/210 from 60/105/150/190/240
  • Armor damage ratio reduced to 20% from 30%

   

• Dazzle
  • Stun duration adjusted to 1.2/1.3/1.4/1.5/1.6 seconds from 1.5 at all ranks

 

Last patch’s changes opened up different playstyles for Taric but did not effectively address his power level. These changes reduce Taric’s lane dominance by lowering his burst damage and forcing him to make more tradeoffs when choosing which spells to level up.

 

 

Items

 

Blade of the Ruined King

• Attack Damage reduced to 25 from 30
• Combine cost increased to 1000 gold from 650 (total cost increased to 3200 gold from 2850)
• Maximum damage dealt to minions and monsters reduced to 60 from 90
• Active heal amount is now reduced by the target’s Armor

 

I’ve reviewed Blade of the Ruined King fully and as Rioters have explained over numerous previous topics, BotRK was far too strong a tank-shredder and Baron destroyer.

 

Aegis of the Legion

• Aura grants an additional 50% Health Regen, Armor and Magic Resist for minions

 

 Runic Bulwark

• Combine cost reduced to 400 gold from 650 (total cost reduced to 2950 gold from 3200)
• Health reduced to 300 from 400
• Magic Resist aura reduced to 25 from 30
• Aura grants an additional 50% Health Regen, Armor and Magic Resist for minions

 

Locket of the Iron Solari

• Combine cost reduced to 520 gold from 670 (total cost reduced to 1850 gold from 2000)
• Health reduced to 300 from 400

 

Locket of the Iron Solari is mainly picked up by junglers and supports, roles that most frequently earn less gold than others, for the team-wide active. We’ve reduced both the cost and personal stats on the item to lessen its gold impact while preserving its team utility.

 

Runaan’s Hurricane

• Secondary target radius increased to 375 from 300
• Fixed a bug where Hurricane could target invisible enemies

 

 Sheen

• Combine cost reduced to 365 gold from 425 (total cost reduced to 1200 gold from 1260)

 

Trinity Force

• Total cost reduced to 3843 gold from 3903 gold

 

Lich Bane

• Combine cost increased to 940 gold from 880 (total cost unchanged)

 

Iceborn Gauntlet

• Combine cost increased to 700 gold from 640 (total cost unchanged)
• Armor increased to 70 from 60
• Ability Power reduced to 30 from 40

 

 We’ve noticed that, in general, champions who buy Iceborn Gauntlet are front-line champions with more emphasis on surviving than dealing AP burst damage. We’ve adjusted Iceborn Gauntlet’s stats to accommodate this play case.

 

Ravenous Hydra

• Combine cost reduced to 200 gold from 400 (total cost reduced to 3300 gold from 3500)
• Life Steal increased to 12% from 10%

 

Zephyr

• Recipe changed: Stinger + Pickaxe + 725 gold = 2850 gold (total cost unchanged)
• Attack Damage increased to 25 from 20

 

Warden’s Mail

• Attack Speed reduction reduced to 15% from 20%

 

 Randuin’s Omen

• Attack Speed reduction reduced to 15% from 20%

 

Seeker’s Armguard

• Ability Power reduced to 20 from 25

 

 

Runes

 

Continuing our efforts from Patch 3.02 to standardize cooldown reduction, we’ve slightly buffed Cooldown Reduction runes to provide less awkward stat amounts. For example, nine Tier-3 Scaling Glyphs of Cooldown Reduction previously provided 8.62% cooldown reduction at level 18, but will now provide an even 10%.

• Cooldown Reduction and Cooldown Reduction per Level runes have been increased at all Tiers (varying from 2-35% increase)

 

Spectator Mode

 

• Fixed a bug that would cause the spectator client to crash when using chat commands (ex: /joke, /taunt)

 

Restricted Chat Mode

 

In an effort to encourage active reform and shield players from toxicity, we’ve implemented a new account restriction that limits in-game chat for toxic players.

• Certain players (identified by Tribunal and by Player Support) will have a limited number of in-game messages available and limited access to [All] Chat.
• Restricted players that successfully complete matchmade games will earn their chat privileges back.

 

General

 

• Ready checks no longer return players to the PvP.Net landing page
• “Random” has been moved to the top of champion select
• Chat notifications in the bottom right-hand corner of the client now wait to appear until players have closed the AFK popup dialogue first
• Battle Training bots no longer acquire unavailable items
• Dragon, Baron, Towers and Inhibitors now show assists

 

 Summary:

 

This patch has mostly been about toning down bruisers, defensive items and tanking in general. Which is a great move by Riot to encourage more risky strategies, one that would ultimately result in more fun scenarios on the Fields of Justice. Elise, Singed and Taric in particular will be taking the heaviest nerfs this patch. Where the flow of the game and mentality of players will take these champions is yet unknown. As for those who love to support, consider including Janna in your roster of picks.

Item-wise, BotRK has received its promised nerfs. Xypherous in particular was very vocal about the toxicity of this item and this patch will definitely bring it down to more acceptable levels. Runic Bulwark, which some have deemed to be the best defensive item in the game, is being taken down a notch. Supports are getting a fair bit of love here as well, with Locket of the Iron Solari being made cheaper and thus more easily accessible by our gold-starved comrades.

This patch provides tweaks to both sides of the equation, meaning neither defence nor offence gets an edge. I personally wish for a more serious look on resistances, armor in particular, as well as further attempts to push champions towards item variation and different builds, rather than bulkiness or damage they gain anyway through abilities or just stat growth.

What do you think of Patch 3.04?

 

Good luck on the Fields of Justice!

As expected, Riot will not leave Blade of the Ruined King in its current state for very long; a hotfix will be heading our way as soon as Riot are happy with the server stability. This is no surprise, more interesting is the very in-depth post by Xypherous about what the aim of BotRK is.

1. The item is DPS efficient on squishy characters

Kind of. Fundamentally, any item built off of current health will always look overpowered when it works. This is because the optimal case for current health damage never actually happens in game. For example, let’s say that BoRK breaks even with BT at 1700 health for the target. What this actually means is that BoRK breaks even with BT at 1700 health for the target assuming there is no other damage sources affected the target at all. Given that almost every character has base damage on their skills and the like – the balance of numbers shifts terribly – For example, if your mage deals 600 AoE damage to the enemy team – BoRK needs to be extra-efficient to still be a valid HP counter at this point. This is also why the active is as strong as it is – The use of the active nerfs the passive damage of the item.

2. Current % Health Paradigms are flawed – because the AD carry will follow after the burst casters

This is somewhat true to a certain extent – but the goal of a counter-item is to counter niche cases not strengthen already existing cases. The current BoRK for example, excels at self-peel and is especially good in 1v1 case against bruisers (regardless of what class you are.)And the current health paradigm allows the item to essentially self-nerf itself when other elements of the game are strong (burst casters).

3. It is a mush-rush first item for a carry?

Kind of.

Again, this boils down to – How much damage is your support adding to your combo? In a Leona lane, for example, you’d be hard pressed to argue that their HP pool is actually 1200 – or how effective your autoattacks are.

4. The active adds more burst than the previous incarnation.

Potentially but it’s generally weaker than the previous active – and that’s why it rolled out – it was viewed as net neutral in most contexts.

150 + 0.5 TAD on an item with 45 AD roughly breaks even with the previous active at 1466 health – which is an HP threshold that only tanks/bruisers break early.

5. But the item is clearly overpowered on live and ruining the game experience!

Most likely. However, I’m more concerned with whether the item feels counterable at this stage. Rest assured though, we’re not going to wait on the next patch to fix it. We knew going out that the item could have come out pretty crazy – and watching it over the weekend – it has been pretty crazy at is.

So we’ll be hotfixing this as soon as we’re comfortable with the server situation (Along with some other bugs.)

 

Nerfs and buffs come and go; but posts as awesome as this, that show the thought process behind the items, are a much rarer beast. Thanks Xyph, keep it up.

See the original post and have your own say on the official forums here.

- Jaszon ‘Lightblind’ Alexzander – @Ravus

 

 

Check out the upcoming nerfs to Darius and Blade of the Ruined King, as well as more changes to Taric!

 

 

 Champion Changes

 

Darius

• Noxian Guillotine ( R ) can be recast for 12 seconds after killing an opponent instead of resetting;
• Noxian Guillotine ( R ) cooldown increased  from 100/90/80 to 120/100/80;

 

 

But whyyyy: This change is obviously intended to reduce Darius’s dominance in the lane. His ultimate is above all a massive zoning tool because it’s almost always available and will win almost any battle. Feed Darius enough and he can kill both you and the jungler! Being able to recast Noxian Guillotine shortly after the killing blow means he can again finish off multiple opponents during a teamfight, but you won’t have it up constantly in lane.

 

Master Yi

• Alpha Strike ( Q ) no longer scales with AD;

 

 

 

 

Taric

• Base Damage increased from 48 to 57;
• Gemcraft ( Passive ) bonus magic damage decreased from 4% to 2% of max mana;
• Shatter ( W ) aura increased from 10% to 15% of Taric’s armor;

 

 

 Taric received a major overhaul last update. With nerfs to his incredibly strong armor aura he is now forced into a more active role in the laning phase, healing, stunning and managing his mana. With that being said however, why was his passive replaced? It was perfect for this shift of power and the new one feels tacked on and irrelevant to his kit. With his base damage going up we might see more hammer action on the bot lane.

 

 

Item Changes

 

Bilgewater Cutlass

• Unique Active cooldown increased from 60 seconds to 90 seconds;
  
  

 

Bilgewater Cutlass was recently turned into a great initiation item! Almost too great… A higher cooldown means less frequent full – on engages from champions like Akali.

 

Blade of the Ruined King

• Total Cost is again 2850;
• Now grants 15% Life Steal;
• Unique Passive no longer heals for 30% of AD on hit.

 

This item was recently changed to better suit a tank-shredding role, with its Life Steal being unaffected by high resistances. Riot are reverting this shift of focus, thus Blade of the Ruined King will once again require ample armor penetration for its full effects in the late game.

 

What do you think of the new changes? Share in the comments below!

 

Good luck on the Fields of Justice!

 

Buffs to the League’s hardest late game carries, as well as changes to Hecarim, Warmog‘s, Blade of the Ruined King and more!

 

Xypherous Discusses Changes

 

You can check out the original forum thread here.

 

Vayne / Tristana / Ashe

Heavy changes to the attack speed these champions gain per level.

 



Vayne: 3.1% –> 4.5% ASPD / Level

 



Tristana: 3.01% –> 4.5% ASPD / Level

 



Ashe: 3.1% –> 4% ASPD / Level

 

 

The goal of this change is mostly to fulfill the basic promise of Vayne / Tristana. At level 18, these characters are supposed to absolutely destroy the enemy team – so long as you can get them there. They are, along with Kog’maw, some of the truest ranged carries in League of Legends at the moment.

However, with the decrease in power from itemization – these characters are suffering from a mid-game slump and a farming slump – thus power in their levels seemed to make sense for addressing their basic curve. This change basically ensures the power level of these traditionally weaker early-game carries for guaranteed power late game.

As for Ashe, she’s kind of the ultimate late game utility/kite carry – thus the attack speed here is mostly so that she is always able to fulfill her role as kiting carry. Attack speed is a major factor in being able to “orb-walk” to poorly use DoTA Jargon (Attack Move fluidity, roughly).

 

 

Hecarim

* Spirit of Dread (W) heal from damage flattened to 20% at all ranks from 10-30%
* Rampage (Q) base damage increased slightly at all ranks.

 

 

Hecarim is a character who is entirely dependent on levels for his major game advantage – The terrific power of his ‘W’ sustain once he actually gets the levels to fuel it.

This also leads to his major weakness – in that when he falls behind, he tends to be terrible at almost all ranks. We’re essentially flattening this ‘W’ curve out a bit better such that Hecarim has a more consistent performance. He is already fairly intensive to play from a mechanics perspective with a lot of subtle nuances in successful ‘E’ and ‘R’ positioning so the added level pressure seems superflous a lot of the time.

 

 

Taric

* Shatter no longer gives a flat 10-30 armor aura, instead radiating X% of Taric’s armor to allies.
* Shatter has an armor scaling damage ratio.
* Taric’s passive changed to deal X% of his maximum mana as bonus damage.

 

Taric is a generalist support pick that has a success rate far far far above his compatriots at the moment. We have a couple options on where to go with him at this point – but in general, Taric suffers from being a generalist lane bully to transitioning to a walking ball of aura statistics for his team.

This tends to lead to Taric feeling like he does very little overall to the team – even if he is adding something like 1000 Gold to everyone’s base statistics.

Keep in mind, we’re still heavily iterating the numbers on him. In the end, Taric should be a compelling pick if you are facing a heavy attack damage team and we’ll adjust the aura value until he fits that mold.

Taric’s base AD reduction is mostly compensate for his passive attack damage which is still undergoing numerical tuning.

 

 

Item tweaks

 

Bilgewater Cutlass

RECIPE: Long Sword + Vamp Sceptre + 200 Gold = 1400 Gold total from 1950 gold.

 

40 AD –> 25 AD
10% LS –> 12% LS
150 Active Damage –> 100 Active Damage
30% MS slow –> 25% MS Slow
400 range –> 500 range



So, our major problem with Bilgewater Cutlass has been that, while attractive, it never really felt like the utility you purchased was anywhere near the price.

It’s meant to be a cool utility pickup that offered some lane sustain and gave you a chance at an all-in but it seemed to be just generally ineffective unless your character already had an all-in. Hence, we’re trying to tune it so that it becomes a better utility pick-up and slightly more usable in general at the cost of some of the active power.

 

Blade of the Ruined King

RECIPE: Cutlass + Dagger + Dagger + 500 Gold = 2700 Gold total from 2850 Gold on live.


* 45 AD –> 30 AD
* 0% AS –> 40% AS
* 10% LS –> 0% LS


* Passive now heals you for 30% of your total attack damage, rather than 50% of the damage dealt. This is essentially premitigation lifesteal.
* Active slow/speed duration is now 4 seconds from 2 seconds.
* Active now deals 100 + 10% of the targets maximum life – serving as an execute or a wind-up peel
* Range increased to 550 from 400.



Numbers still need further tuning.

So our problems with the previous iteration of the PBE BoRK was that it still suffered from a number of cross-purposes. This version is most likely way too mathy to be entirely elegant – ideally we’d find a more elegant phrasing of it – but this is kind of the sledgehammer approach. We’ll probably try to find ways to refine it.

Essentially, the problem with the ‘sustain-tank’ approach that the old BoRK was after was simply it gave you the sustain frequently at a time where you didn’t need it and as you got low. By the time you wound up needing the sustain near the end of the fight, the item simply didn’t give you any sustain – hence the move towards a more flattened sustain approach.

The active is either an execute for those close fights and then further MS to capitalize on cleaning up the fight – or a mid-fight kiting tool.

The approach here is to move BoRK away from being a primary damage slot item and into your attack speed slot as a Carry. BoRK should be ideally competing with your 2nd major multiplicative item, like Shiv or Phantom Dancer – rather than your first big damage item.

Also – I am now deathly scared of Irelia – but at the very least she’s not assassinating squishies exponentially faster than tanks with it.

 

 Warmog’s Armor

* Regeneration lowered to 1% from 1.5%.

 

We’re mostly concerned at the moment with the early laning snowball case of this item, rather than the teamfight potential – considering the way we’re trying to position BoRK. Depending on how well the BoRK tuning works out – the majority of the pain point of Warmog’s should be how well it allows you to win the lane by mere stubborness and be immune to ganks.

 

Further Tuning

 

We’ll be trying to look at the various AS options for this patch and trying to ensure that AD carries have sufficient options for customizing their damage load-outs based on playstyle / needs of the game.
Additionally – we’ll probably be looking more at the Bulwark / Locket / Sunfire combination and trying to assess how powerful this defensive teamfight style is, as it’s been very effective in LCS thus far.

 

 

Champion Changes

 

Garen

• Courage ( W)  now grants additional value to BONUS Armor and MR instead of total Armor and MR. 

 

Hecarim

• Rampage ( Q ) damage increased to 60/95/130/165/200 from 50/85/120/155/190
• Spirit of Dread ( W ) damage decreased to 80/120/160/200/240 from 80/125/170/215/260.
• Spirit of Dread ( W ) now heals for 20% at all ranks from 10/15/20/25/30%.
• Spirit of Dread ( W ) cooldown increased to 18/17/16/15/14 from 14 at all ranks.

 

Kayle

• Reckoning ( Q ) slow changed to 35/40/45/50/55% for 3 seconds from 25/30/35/40/45%

 

 

Taric

• Base Damage reduced to 48 from 58.
• Gemcraft ( Passive ) has been reworked: Now deals bonus magic damage 4% of Taric’s Maximum mana as magic damage per hit. Damage doubled against champions.
• Shatter ( W ) mana cost decreased to 50 at all ranks from 50/60/70/80/90 mana.
• Dazzle ( E ) mana cost reduced to 75 from 95.

 

Vi

• Base damage reduced to 52 from 55.

 

 

Item Changes

 

Bilgewater Cutlass

• Total price is now 1400.
• Now builds from Vampiric Scepter + Long Sword instead of Vampiric Scepter + Pick Axe
• Attack damage reduced to 25 from 40
• Life Steal increased to 12% from 10%.
• Active now slows for 25% down from 30%
• Activate range increased to 500 from 400.

 

Blade of the Ruined King

• Total Cost reduced to 2700
• Attack Damage lowered to 30 from 40.
• Attack Speed increased to 40% from 30%.
• Unique Passive now heals you for 30% of your total AD on hit instead of equal to half of 5% of target’s current HP.
• Unique Active now deals 100 base damage instead of 150.
• Unique Active now slows for 4 seconds up from 2 seconds.
• Unique Active range increased to 550 from 400.

 

Hextech Gunblade

• Total price is now 3400 again.
• Lifesteal increased to 12% from 10%.

 

 

Spirit of the Elder Lizard

• Unique Passive damage decreased to 14-50 from 15-66.

 

 

 What do you guys think of the coming changes? Share in the comments below!

 

Good luck on the Fields of Justice!

 

See the PBE changes to Amumu, Kayle, Nidalee, Vi and Xin Zhao, as well as the new radial ping menu and the revealing artwork for Quinn!

 

 

Balance changes:

 

Amumu

• Bandage Toss ( Q ) damage lowered from 80/140/200/260/320
  to 80/130/180/230/280
• Tantrum ( E ) range lowered from 400 to 350
• Curse of the Sad Mummy ( R ) damage lowered from 150/250/350 to 150/225/300

 
 
 
 
 
Kayle

• Base Magic Resist reduced to 30 from 30.75 (+ .75 per level)
• Reckoning ( Q ) slow changed to 25/30/35/40/45% from flat 35% at all ranks
• Reckoning ( Q ) slow duration reduced to 3 seconds from 4 seconds

 

 

 

 

Nidalee

• Base Magic Resist reduced to 30 down from 30.75 (+ .75 per level)
• Cougar Form no longer grants bonus Magic Resist or Armor

 

 

 

 

 

Vi

• Denting Blows ( W ) damage reduced from 6/7/8/9/10% to 4/5.5/7/8.5/10% of Maximum HP
• Assault and Battery ( R ) damage lowered from 200/325/450 to 200/300/400

 

 

 

 

Xin Zhao

• Audacious Charge ( E ) damage lowered from 70/110/150/190/230
  to 70/105/140/175/210
• Audacious Charge ( E ) cooldown increased from 13/12/11/10/9 to 14/13/12/11/10
• Crescent Sweep ( R ) damage reduced from 125/225/325 to 100/200/300
• Crescent Sweep ( R ) cooldown increased from 100/90/80 to 120/110/100

 

 

Quinn Artwork:

 

Posted from IronStylus under the words “Hand to the ground. Eyes to the sky.” is a lovely art picture of Riot’s upcoming champion, Quinn:

 

 

Introducing the Ping Menu (aka more ways to be annoying) :

 

Holding the Alt button on the PBE and clicking will bring up a circular menu with pings to select. These are visible to allies both on the minimap and the actual map and each is associated with a certain message. Hold the button to select your ping, then click again anywhere on the map to place it!

 

 

How do you guys like the upcoming content and changes? Share in the comments below!

 

Good luck on the Fields of Justice!

 

 

 

Smoother zoom-in and out, lots of item tweaks as well as the brand new control bars – all in the latest PBE update!

 

 

Balance changes:

 

Champions:

 

Nami

• Base Movement speed increased to 340 from 335;

 

Nasus

• Siphoning Strike mana cost reduced to 20 at all ranks from 20/25/30/35/40;

 

 

Items:

 

Abyssal Scepter

• Total cost reduced to 2560 from 2650;

 

Athene’s Unholy Grail

• Total cost reduced from 2600 to 2550;
• Cooldown reduction increased from 15% to 20%;

 

Avarice Blade

• Unique Passive – G/10 increased from 2 to 3;

 

Banshee’s Veil

• Total cost reduced to 2520 from 2610;

 

Chalice of Harmony

• Needs one more Faerie Charm to be built;
• Recipe cost reduced from 300 to 120 (total cost is the same);

 

Deathfire Grasp

• Total cost lowered from 3300 to 3100;
• Cooldown reduction reduced from 15% to 10%;

 

Eleisa’s Miracle

• Unique Passive – Reduced cooldown of Heal, Clairvoyance, and Clarity  (Heal, Clairvoyance, and Revive on live);
• Unique Passive – Aid now increased effects from 20% to 30%;

 

Executioner’s Calling

• Critical strike chance increased from 15% to 20%;

 

Frozen Heart

• Total cost reduced from 3000 to 2950;
• Armor increased from 90 to 95;

 

Glacial Shroud

• Total cost reduced from 1500 to 1350;
• Armor increased from 40 to 45;
• Cooldown reduction reduced from 15% to 10%;

 

Iceborn Gauntlet

• Total cost reduced from 3400 to 3250;
• Cooldown reduction lowered from 15% to 10%;
• Field of Slow is now 50% smaller for ranged champions;

 

Liandry’s Torment

• Ability power reduced from 60 to 50;
• Unique Passive now deals 2% of current HP per second, as opposed to 5% of current HP over 3 seconds (1.66% per second). Damage against CC-ed targets is still doubled.

 

Mikael’s Crucible

• Total cost reduced to 2020 from 2200.

 

Mercurial Scimitar

• Total cost reduced from 3810 to 3700;

 

Negatron Cloak

• Total cost reduced from 810 to 720;

 

Ohmwrecker

• Total cost reduced from 2850 to 2835;
• Now builds out of Philosopher’s Stone, Ruby Crystal, and Blasting Wand;
• No longer grants mana or armor.
• Now grants 50 ability power (AP), 15 Health Regeneration per 5 seconds (Hp/5), 15 Mana Regeneration per 5 seconds (Mp/5) and 350 Health.

Quicksilver Sash

• Total cost reduced from 1660 to 1550;
• Combine cost decreased from 850 to 830;

 

Rabadon’s Deathcap

• Cost increased from 3200 to 3300;
• Unique Passive now increases ability power from 25% to 30%;

 

Spirit of the Spectral Wraith

• Now reduces the cooldown of smite by 20%;

 

Spirit Visage

• Combine cost increased from 540 to 630;
• Cooldown reduction increased from 15% to 20%;

 

Zeke’s Herald

• Total cost increased from 2450 to 2550;
• Cooldown reduction increased from 15% to 20%;

 

Zhonya’s Hourglass

• Total cost reduced to 3260 from 3410.

 

 

Control Bars:

 

 

 Good luck on the Fields of Justice!