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

 

 

 

 

Check out the latest tweaks to Akali, Lux, Karma and Volibear, as well as a plethora of changes to the Spirit and Mythical Items!

 

 

Balance Changes

 

 

 

 

     

       Akali

Mark of the Assassin (Q)

• Initial damage reduced to 35/55/75/95/115 from 45/70/95/120/145
• Mark detonation damage Ability Power ratio increased to 0.5 from 0.4

 

 

Shadow Dance (R)

•  Essence of Shadow charge rate increased to 35/25/15 seconds from 25/20/15

 

As an assassin, Akali should be a champion with high risk and high reward. These changes increase her early game risk while retaining her later game potential.

 

 

 

 

 

      Corki

Missile Barrage (R)

•  Now fires a Big One every 3rd missile instead of every 4th
• Missile charge rate reduced to 12/10/8 seconds from 12

 

 

 

 

 

     Karma

Gathering Fire (Passive)

• Mantra cooldown reduction increased to 2 seconds at all levels from 1/1.5/2

 

Inner Flame (Q)

• The detonation area now occurs at the actual point of missile impact instead of at the center of the initial target that is hit

 

Focused Resolve (W)

• Mana cost reduced to 70/75/80/85/90 from 70/80/90/100/110
• Now applies Gathering Fire‘s effect on each instance of damage dealt instead of only once on initial application, but now deals damage 3 times over the duration instead of 6

 

Inspire (E)

• Movement Speed duration increased to 1.5 seconds from 1.25
• Fixed a bug where the tooltip stated the shield was 80/115/150/185/220 instead of its actual value of 80/120/160/200/240

 

Defiance (Mantra + Inspire) (R+E)

• Movement Speed bonus is now 60% instead of 20/30/40/50/60% (based on Inspire’s current rank)
• Ally shield / haste range increased to 700 from 600

 

These changes to Karma include several quality of life improvements and enhance her ability to generate multiple Mantras in well-executed fights.

 

 

 

 

 

      Kayle

Divine Blessing (W)

• Cast range reduced to 900 from 1000

 

Intervention (R)

• Cast range reduced to 900 from 1200

 

Previous to these changes, Kayle’s support spells could often be cast completely off-screen from her opponents. With these reduced ranges, it should be easier for opponents to anticipate her presence in fights.

 

 

 

 

 

        Lux

• Base Movement Speed reduced to 330 from 340

Final Spark (R)

• Cooldown increased to 80/65/50 seconds from 80/60/40

 

On top of her long range and wide array of defensive abilities, Lux was also among the fastest ranged champions in the game. These changes force Lux to be more mindful of her timing and positioning as opponents now have more opportunities to capitalize on her mistakes.

 

 

 

 

 

  Morgana

Dark Binding (Q)

• Mana cost reduced to 50/60/70/80/90 from 60/75/90/105/120

 

Soul Shackles (R)

• Mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks from 100/150/200

 

 

 

 

 

      Nami

Tidal Wave (R)

• Range increased to 2750 from 2500
• Cooldown reduced to 120/110/100 seconds from 140/120/100
• Mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks from 100/150/200

 

Nami’s been getting consistent improvements to her kit and this latest change buffs her ultimate in almost every aspect. Hopefully we’ll see her rise to Sona and Lulu’s level soon!

 

 

 

 

 

   Nautilus

• Base Armor increased to 19 from 15

Titan’s Wrath (W)

• Cooldown reduced to 22/21/20/19/18 seconds from 26/24/22/20/18

 

 

 

 

 

     Nunu

Absolute Zero (R)

• Cooldown reduced to 110/100/90 seconds from 150/120/90
• Mana cost reduced to 100 from 150

 

 

 

 

 

     Quinn

Harrier (Passive) 

• Valor now marks targets slightly more frequently
• Targets are now marked more immediately when Valor lands on the target

 

Vault (E)

• Quinn now lands closer to her target when using Vault from far away

 

 

 

 

 

      Urgot

Acid Hunter (Q) + Noxian Corrosive Charge (E) Combo

• Now displays Acid Hunter’s lock-on range while there is a visible, nearby enemy champion marked by Noxian Corrosive Charge

 

 

 

 

 

  Volibear

Rolling Thunder (Q)

• Movement Speed bonus toward champions adjusted to 30/35/40/45/50% from 45% at all ranks

Volibear was an extremely powerful duelist as well as an almost guaranteed initiator for early skirmishes. In order to preserve his presence as a threatening fighter, these changes instead reduce his ability to force engagements early on.

 

Items

 

Spirit of the Ancient Golem

• New Recipe: Spirit Stone + Kindlegem + 450 gold = 2000 gold (total cost reduced from 2300 gold)
• No longer grants +30 Armor
• Now grants +10% Cooldown Reduction

 

 

Spirit of the Elder Lizard

• New Recipe: Spirit Stone + Long Sword + Long Sword + 500 gold = 2000 gold (total cost reduced from 2300 gold)
• Attack Damage reduced to 45 from 50

 

 

 

Seraph’s Embrace

• Active Mana cost reduced to 20% current Mana from 25%
• Active Shield adjusted to 20% of current Mana + 150 from 25% current Mana

 

Muramana

• Toggle damage changed to physical from magic

R.I.P Ryze.

 

 

What do you think of Patch 3.05? Share in the comments below!

 

 

 

This patch will include:

• Zac, Riot’s latest champion
• The long- anticipated Karma rework
• Numerous changes to Udyr
• The Champion Select AFK System

as well as several balance tweaks, item changes and numerous bug fixes!

 

New Champion: Zac, The Secret Weapon

 

 

 

 

        Zac

 

 (Passive) Cell Division

Each time Zac hits an enemy with an ability, he sheds a chunk of himself that can be reabsorbed to restore 4% of his maximum health.

Upon taking fatal damage, Zac splits into 4 bloblets that attempt to recombine.
If any bloblets remains after 6 seconds, he will revive with 10-50% health depending on the health of the surviving bloblets. Each bloblet has 10% of Zac’s maximum health, and 50% of his Armor and Magic Resistance. This ability has a 5 minute cooldown.

 

( Q ) Stretching Strike 

Smacks enemies, dealing 70/110/150/190/230 (+0.5) Magic Damage and slowing them for 20%/25/30/35/40 for 2 seconds.

Cost: 6% of current health
Cooldown: 9/8.5/8/7.5/7

 

( W ) Unstable Matter

Zac’s body erupts, dealing 40/60/80/100/120 Magic Damage + 4/4.5/5/5.5/6 (+.02 AP)% of the enemy’s maximum Health as Magic Damage to all nearby enemies (Max: 200 damage against minions and monsters).

Cost: 4% of current health
Cooldown: 4/4/4/4/4 seconds

 

 ( E ) Elastic Slingshot

Zac charges up over 1 second in the direction the ability was cast. Activating the ability again will launch him towards his target, dealing 80/130/180/230/280 (+0.7 AP) Magic Damage to all enemies hit and knocking them back for 0.5 seconds. Can be cancelled while moving.

Cost: 12% of current health
Cooldown: 24/21/18/15/12 seconds

 

( R ) Let’s Bounce

Zac bounces 4 times, knocking up and slowing enemies.
Each bounce deals 160/240/320 (+0.25 AP) Magic Damage to nearby enemies, knocks them up for 1 second, and slows them by 20% for 1 second. Enemies hit more than once take half damage and are not knocked up or slowed. Zac gains an accelerating movement speed buff (20-50%) while active. Zac can right-click to move while in the air.

Cost: No cost
Cooldown: 130/115/100 seconds

 

 

Balance Changes:

 

Karma has been relaunched with updates to her model, her kit and her story. If you would like more information, you can read more here.

 

Gathering Fire (Passive): Reduce’s Mantra’s cooldown every time Karma damages an enemy with one of her abilities (Half-effect for Karma’s basic-attacks).

 

 

Inner Flame (Q): Fires a blast of energy that explodes upon enemy contact, dealing magic damage and slowing all enemies in the area.

 

Mantra Bonus – Soulflare (R+Q): Deals additional magic damage and leaves a circle of flame at the impact area (or upon reaching maximum range), heavily slowing all enemies inside the circle. After a brief delay the circle erupts, dealing heavy magic damage to all enemies in the area.

 

Focused Resolve (W): Links Karma to target enemy champion, revealing them and dealing magic damage over 2 seconds. If the link is not broken, the enemy is rooted.

 

Mantra Bonus – Renewal (R+W): Focused Resolve deals bonus magic damage over time and heals Karma for a percent of her missing health while linked to her target.

 

 

Inspire (E): Target ally gains a shield, granting movement speed for a brief duration and absorbing damage.

 

Mantra Bonus – Defiance (R+E): The shield overflows with energy, dealing magic damage to all enemies around the shielded unit. Allied champions near the shielded unit gain half of that amount as a shield and are hasted.

 

Mantra (R): Karma empowers her next ability within 8 seconds for an additional effect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Hecarim

 

Spirit of Dread (W): 

• Cooldown increased to 22/21/20/19/18 seconds from 18/17/16/15/14

 

The previous version of Spirit of Dread did not offer enough opportunities for tactical decision-making. With higher cooldowns, our goal is to reintroduce strategic choices other than merely activating the ability whenever it is available.

 

 

 

 

 

    Rumble

 

The Equalizer (R)

 

• No longer deals initial impact damage but the area burn damage now starts immediately instead of after a 0.5 second delay
• Burn damage per second increased to 130/185/240 (+0.3 Ability Power) from 100/140/180 (+0.2 Ability Power) (total damage unchanged)

 

Rumble’s ultimate was intended to be an area control effect but, with the large upfront damage it deals, it tends to be used more as a long-range nuke instead. With this patch we’re adjusting The Equalizer to better match its original intent.

 

 

 

 

 

      Udyr

• Mana cost of all stances decreased to 47/44/41/38/35 from 55/50/45/40/35

 

Monkey’s Agility (Passive)

 

• Now grants 5 Movement Speed per stack instead of 4% bonus Armor and Magic Resistance

 

Turtle Stance (W)

 

• No longer returns mana when dealing damage
• Shield increased to 60/100/140/180/220 from 60/95/130/165/200
• Udyr can now critically strike in Turtle Stance

 

Bear Stance (E)

 

• Udyr now ignores unit collision while the movement speed bonus is active
• Udyr now performs a slight dash toward his target on stunning attacks while the movement speed is active
• Bear stance attacks can no longer be self-interrupted mid-attack
• Movement speed increased to 15/20/25/30/35% from 15/18/21/24/27%
• Movement speed duration reduced to 2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3 seconds from 2/2.5/3/3.5/4

 

Phoenix Stance (R)

 

• First attack after activating Phoenix Stance now immediately procs the fire cone in addition to every 3rd attack
• No longer grants bonus Ability Power and Attack Damage when activated
• Ability Power ratio on the fire cone increased to 0.45 from 0.15
• Updated the fire cone’s spell effect to be more visible

 

In this patch, we’ve made some substantial changes to Udyr. Our goals were to make changing stances feel more impactful, transfer power from passive stats to actual noticeable effects and reduce problematic lane issues. For example, Turtle Stance currently allows Udyr to become an immovable object in lane once he gets ahead, and we want to address that.

 

Quality of Life Changes & Bug Fixes

 

 

 

 

 

    Akali

 

Twilight Shroud (W)

 

• Akali is now immediately stealthed/revealed upon entering/leaving the Shroud zone
• Akali is now immediately stealthed when casting Twilight Shroud directly on herself
• Akali is now revealed from stealth upon casting a spell or beginning an attack rather than upon dealing damage
• Delay on re-stealthing increased by 0.15 seconds

 

Akali’s Twilight Shroud was behaving inconsistently before this patch, so we’ve adjusted it to better match its visual and theme, and to provide greater opportunity for counterplay.

 

 

 

 

 

   Anivia

 

Crystalize (W):

• Fixed a bug where Crystallize could stop uninterruptible movement abilities such as Malphite’s Unstoppable Force

 

 

 

 

             

       Ashe

 

 Focus (Passive):

• Now displays the Critical Strike chance bonus on the buff bar

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Draven

 

Spinning Axe (Q): 

• Now leads Draven more accurately when he is benefiting from Movement Speed increases
• Axe drop location will no longer be placed partially inside walls / terrain

 

 

 

 

 

 Master Yi

 

 Double Strike (Passive):

• Double Strike swing time now scales with Master Yi’s Attack Speed instead of being fixed at 0.6 seconds
• Fixed a bug where the second strike of Double Strike could critically hit turrets

 

 

 

 

 

      Riven

 

Wind Slash (R): 

• Fixed a bug where Riven could cast Wind Slash a second time after using Zhonya’s Hourglass

 

 

   Rumble

 

Electro-Harpoon (E):

• Fixed a bug where the visual effect would disappear before the actual end of the projectile

 

 

 

 

 

    Trundle

 

Pillar of Filth (E)

•  Fixed a bug where Pillar of Filth could stop uninterruptible movement abilities such as Malphite’s Unstoppable Force

 

 

 

 

 

   Warwick

 

Hunter’s Call (W)

• Now displays range indicator on mouseover

Blood Scent (E)

• Now displays range indicator on minimap on mouseover

 

 

 

 

 

         Zed

 

Living Shadow (W)

• Fixed a bug where Living Shadow would sometimes cast in a random direction

 

 

Items

 

Nashor’s Tooth 

• Combine cost increased to 430 gold from 200 (total cost increased to 2500 gold from 2270)

Spirit of the Elder Lizard

• UNIQUE Passive damage reduced to 6-40 over 3 seconds from 14-50

Maw of Malmortius

• Fixed a bug where the Lifeline shield was lasting for 3 seconds instead of 5

 

Champion Select AFK Detection

 

• When any player in a match-made game fails to select a champion before their timer expires, the game is terminated.
• A player who fails to select a champion is given a queue dodge penalty. The dodge penalty functions exactly the same as if the player closed their PVP.net client.
• Solo players who succeed in selecting a champion are returned to the front of the matchmaking queue.
• Arranged teams whose members all succeed in selecting a champion are returned to the front of the matchmaking queue.
• Arranged teams with one or more members who fail to select a champion are returned to the arranged team lobby.
• Draft mode is handled on a pick-by-pick basis. If a player fails to pick a champion during their turn, the game is terminated immediately. Players later in the draft order, who did not have an opportunity to pick a champion, are given the benefit of the doubt and not assigned a dodge penalty.
• This feature currently only applies to match made games. Custom games still assign a random champion if one is not selected.

 

General

 

• Turrets

In Season 3, we made a few changes that made turrets feel less like a safe haven for defenders – especially in the early parts of the game. Specifically, with turrets attacking minions in a set order and some champions itemizing for health earlier on, it’s become easier for teams to push aggressively and even dive turrets with low risk. These changes should give defending players more of a fighting chance when under their own turret.

• Turrets now deal 105% damage to champions for the first attack, increased from 94.5%
• Turrets now deal 25% additional damage for consecutive attacks on the same champion (max 225%), increased from 20% (max 210%)

• Siege Minions

• Siege Minions now take 70% damage from Turrets, increased from 50% damage
• Siege Minions now deal 150% damage to Turrets, reduced from 200% damage

• Super Minions

• Super Minions now take 70% damage from Turrets, increased from 50% damage

• Teleport

We are fixing a bug with Teleport where its visual effect would disappear if cast on an expiring temporary unit. Teleport should always be visible to opponents who have vision of the area, much like how casting it on a non-revealed ward still displays a visual effect.

• Fixed a bug where Teleport’s “incoming” visual effect on the target unit would disappear if cast on an expiring temporary unit, such as Jarvan’s Standard or Thresh’s Lantern

• Fixed a bug where new players could not be invited to Matchmaking lobbies after teammates miss a ready check
• Smart casting with charge-up abilities should be more responsive now

 

The highlight of this patch is definitely the Zac release, followed by Karma’s rework and the changes to Udyr. If you’d like to read more on these updates, please follow the links below.

 

Zac preview article

Karma’s Rework article

PBE: Udyr changes article

 

Have any gripes or praises for the new patch? Share below!

 

Good luck on the Fields of Justice!

 

 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!

The user Postal Twinkie brought up a suggested change to Akali on the forums, which lead to a good dialogue between Riot’s FeralPony and the community. Through this post a design philosophy surfaced that has some awesome implications and thoughts behind it. This will be a two-part article going over what the design philosophy is and then showing some examples, flaws and perks to this system.

This back-and-forth conversation brings up the three-talon strike of champion balancing: thematics, kit and numbers. These three are present in any champion and balancing requires multiple iterations until things are right. A flaw in character theme can be overlooked with a strong enough kit, but numbers cannot fix a bad kit. So what exactly are these three things?

Thematics

The first thing to consider is a character’s theme and how their abilities relate to it. The theme ties directly into how a champion feels and should feel, given their appearance and background. In theory this makes sense. You would expect Vi, a champion based around punching with her gauntlets, to have moves focused on being a beat ‘em up style punchasizer. You would not expect her to be summoning flaming space creatures at enemy champions.

A lot of the reworks on characters have been to address oversights in their thematics, as the only way to alter it is a rework. Thematics can be problematic, but not always. Nobody would see a spiked turtle (Rammus) and expect him to taunt things while creating an earthquake (Prehistoric Turtlesaurus didn’t), but this character miscommunication works because it ties into his other, predictable abilities.

Kit

The next stop on the way to balance-town is the character’s kit. There are reworks focused on kits, whether it is a small change such as removing armor from Lee Sin’s Safeguard or a full blown rework such as the Karma changes. A champion’s kit usually determines how hard they are to balance. Someone such as Lee Sin or Elise would be extremely hard to balance. You can’t simply look at numbers and adjust them; you have to see what impact each of those abilities has and isolate the instances where it is too strong or weak.

A lot of the double ability characters (Lee Sin, Elise, Nidalee, Jayce, etc.) are constantly played and fluctuate from “OP” to “playable”. Their kits are strong and offer a variety of options in play patterns while maintaining theme. Characters that drop off the face of the planet almost always have a kit that can be rendered useless by linear play and numbers. This can be seen in someone such as Volibear who’s play style is “run in and maul things.” This is very linear and he’s either able to maul things or gets exploded; there isn’t too much in between.

Numbers

Numbers are the final stop. They’re the fine dials you can play with in order to tune a solid kit up or down without making sweeping changes. After enough number changes with no real improvement in perception, a champion will typically see a kit or thematic rework. This was the case with Katarina and Shen where the changes made didn’t really fix their core problems. Number changes are also what creates flavor-of-the-month style characters, as a buff or nerf in a cooldown, base damage, health, etc. can swing a character back in line.

While numbers can always make a character stronger or weaker, an inherent flaw in a kit cannot be fixed with numbers. Think of someone such as Sejuani in this instance. Her early game and tankiness could be changed by raising her base health, sustain and/or damage, but this creates the problem of her now being too strong in a best case scenario. Her kit either presses too much advantage with slows, AoE damage and stuns or falls flat on its face because she can’t take any damage in order to accomplish that.

Putting it together

We can see that problems in either thematics or kit can render number changes useless. There are constant complaints about champions going up and down in power level because simply tweaking numbers doesn’t work. The next part of this article will go over some problematic examples, the flaws and the perks of using this approach.

Until then, what examples can you find of a patch aiming at the wrong fix for a champion? What champions, like Akali, would be a lot more balanced with a simple (0.5 second cloaking removal) change? What champions would get better with a small kit change (minion pass through on Udyr’s Bear Stance) without a number alteration?

 

Do you want to slaughter the health-stacking simpletons? Think forward and keep reading!

 

Blade of the Ruined King

 

+30 Damage;

+15% Life Steal;

+40% Attack Speed;

 

Unique PASSIVE: Deals 5% of target’s current health in physical damage. Max damage against monsters is 90.

Unique ACTIVE: Drains target champion, dealing 15% of the champion’s maximum Health in physical damage and healing you by the same amount. Additionally, you steal 30% of their movement speed for 4 seconds – 60 sec cooldown, 500 range.

 

When should I buy it?

 

Blade of the Ruined King counters health stacking specifically. As such, it doesn’t have a firm place in a standard carry build. There’s core stats you can’t go without- Attack Damage, Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance/Damage and %Armor Penetration. Then there are the somewhat mandatory stats that you could skip, but rarely. Those would be Life Steal, On-hits (where BotRK falls), Cleave and Flat Armor penetration. Furthermore, you need boots and a defensive item of some sort. Let’s summarize, in order of importance:

 

Carry build

 

1) Damage/Crit

2) Boots

3) Attack Speed

4) % Armor Penetration

5) Cleave, Flat Armor Penetration, On- hit, Life Steal, Health Regeneration Decrease

6) Defensive Item

 

So, realistically, BotRK most often competes with The Bloodthirster.

 

The Math (what’s missing?)

 

How well does the BotRK fare damage-wise? Let’s find out.

We won’t be taking armor into account, the reason being it will reduce the results by an equal margin. Keep in mind that BotRK hits for a % of current health, meaning as your target gets lower in life, your damage will also be reduced.

Average DPS: 30 + 25 per 1000 HP;

So it seems that in order to match a Bloodthirster, BotRK needs to be hitting targets with 3000 HP! That’s crazy late game to be worth it, isn’t it? Wrong!

 

Stat efficiency

 

Blade of the Ruined King also provides us with a 40% Attack Speed boost.

Now let’s take a look again at how much damage that is. We’ll assume a standard Infinity Edge/Phantom Dancer/Berserker’s Greaves Build on a level 16 Vayne. This sums up to 1.4498696432 Attack Speed, or, to be realistic, 1.450. A BotRK will increase that to 1.67. So let’s see!

Bloodthirster DPS: 145

BotRK DPS: 50.1 + 41.75 per 1000 HP

 

So what does that amount to? BotRK breaks even vs roughly 2270 health targets!

 

Life Steal Active: Not so awesome

 

The Life Steal active component is fairly straight-forward. We’ll only be talking about one of its sides here, and that is the health leech.

150 per 1000 Health

Realistically speaking, in a teamfight where you’ve targeted their bruiser and he has ample amounts of armor (190+), with a full build and Last Whisper included, you’ll heal for about 225. If you have Ignite on, that’s 112.5. On the other hand you get a whopping 3% more Life Steal per hit, should you choose to get The Bloodthirster… So yeah, this part isn’t particularly exciting. It’s a small amount that might help you live, but that’s not the main reason you should be buying BotRK.

 

Kiting-Oppa SC Style

 

Now the movement speed leech is incredible. It slows an enemy by 30% for 4 seconds and hastes you by the same amount. If you target a bruiser you’ll steal about 130 movement speed from them and gain the same amount. That’s putting a 260 MS difference between the two of you for 4 seconds! It is the equivalent of a 60% slow which is a godsend.

 

Advanced Math (hide your kids!)

 

Logically you’d want to buy an On-hit item on champions with an AS steroid. How does the unique passive scale with those? Let’s see some examples.

 

Kog’Maw’s Caustic Spittle (30%) – 0.847 Attack Speed, 21.175 damage per 1000 HP

Graves’s Quickdraw (70%) -  1.11 Attack Speed, 27.75 damage per 1000 HP

Tristana’s Rapid Fire (90%) – 1.24 Attack Speed, 31 damage per 1000 HP

Fiora’s Burst of Speed (120%) – 1.43 Attack Speed, 35.75 damage per 1000 HP

 

And now let’s include those in our previous calculations:

 

(30% bonus Attack Speed, 1.59/1.85) -

The Bloodthirster DPS: 159

Blade of the Ruined King: 55.5 + 46.25 per 1000 HP

Breaks even at: 2230 Health

 

 

(70% bonus Attack Speed, 1.85/2.12)

The Bloodthirster DPS: 185

Blade of the Ruined King:  63.6 + 53 per 1000 HP

Breaks even at: 2290 Health

 

 

(90% bonus Attack Speed, 1.98/2.25)

The Bloodthirster DPS: 198

Blade of the Ruined King:  67.5 + 56.25 per 1000 HP

Breaks even at: 2320 Health

 

 

(120% bonus Attack Speed,2.18/2.44)

The Bloodthirster DPS: 218

Blade of the Ruined King:  73.2+ 61 per 1000 HP

Breaks even at: 2370 Health

 

 

This is an interesting situation. As you see, when we near the attack speed cap (2.5) The Bloodthirster actually starts to catch up a tiny bit. Even so, you’d still be getting your money’s worth even when hitting targets who are as low as 2300ish health!

 

Not Ranged Exclusive!

 

BotRK is a solid pick on bruisers who do a lot of right clicking, need some method of sticking to the squishy, or have some method of applying on-hit effects. Irelia is the most obvious choice with her gap-closer, slow/stun and true damage on-hit. Next we have Jax, Olaf, Xin Zhao and Udyr ( =( ), all of whom can use the slow/haste to great extent. Warwick can apply BotRK’s passive five times for the duration of his ultimate. Rengar, Riven, Shyvana, Jayce and Vi are less perfect candidates for it, but if the situation calls for it, don’t hesitate. Life Steal + Slow on their own are great things to have on a non-hybrid bruiser (in which case a Hextech Gunblade would be better).

The only downside to BotRK is that it leaves you fairly squishy. It is, however, a very solid pick as one of two damage items on a bruiser who then goes for full defense items.

 

 

The huge hidden factor – Crit

 

So you’ve made it to the late game, your build is full, BotRK included and you’re happily sitting on roughly 70% Critical Chance. And then it hits you- the unique passive damage can’t crit. This is actually pretty huge; with an Infinity Edge purchased the damage from a BT will be 250. Compare that to a 75 crit from BotRK and you have a problem

Let’s take our Attack Speed Values from the Vayne example, but we’ll add to them a crit chance of 70% and a bonus crit damage of 250%.

 

The Bloodthirster Damage with Crit: 253.75 DPS

BotRK Damage with Crit: 87.675 + 41.75 per 1000 Health

Breaks even at: 3977 (?!) Health

 

Things suddenly got ugly for our tank-shredding friend. The core problem here is that as the game goes longer, instead of increasing your damage, BotRK actually hinders it. This doesn’t mean it’s an inferior choice- you still have an amazing slow and a solid tank shredding passive. Keep in mind, though, that due to the crit not stacking, you lose out on a lot of damage versus squishier targets.

 

The little details- Laning & AD Abilities

 

The Bloodthirster is a stacking item, and although it loses only half of those upon death, when you purchase it you still need to stack it. This means that BotRK is a much better item right off the bat. If you intend to push early and push hard, the latter will serve you far better. If the opposite is true, however, holding a lane with BotRK isn’t easy. Being a percentage of current health, the bonus damage will heal you for pitiful amounts when you last hit. Also, it falls behind by 70 AD from The Bloodthirster, meaning that any AD Scaling abilities you have will be that much weaker. I’m including them here because, frankly, those are only relevant during laning and mid to early late-game. Skills like Ace in the Hole, Buckshot, Collateral Damage, Trueshot Barrage, etc. don’t determine the choice here. I’ll give you an example- by forgoing The Bloodthirster for a BotRK, you are losing out on 140 damage from Caitlyn’s ultimate. Not so impressive, is it. Still, every bit of damage counts during small skirmishes, so keep that in mind.

 

Who’s it good on?

 

Statements such as “get BotRK on Kog he already has %HP shred”, etc. are completely flawed. For one thing, the passive scales with auto attacks, not with other percentage shred abilities. Logically you want it on a champion with high attack speed, which most AD carries have. I’ve shown how steroids and bonus attack speed in general don’t outmatch the Bloodthirster as much as a larger health pool does. To me, the best candidates for a BotRK are those who have ways of applying on-hits, such as Ezreal with his Mystic Shot, and carries who need a good slow and %HP shred to kite bruisers around, i.e Vayne, Tristana, Kog’Maw… pretty much every AD carry in a late game situation.

 

CONCLUSION:

 

So, having considered the above calculations, what is the verdict for BotRK? Well, as it turns out, it’s a great substitute for the Bloodthirster, even if the carry you’ve chosen has high scaling on abilities. It trades AD for a substantial on-hit damage, which ultimately lets you clear the tank line faster. On the same note, it helps bruisers chase squishy targets and survive longer in fights. What you’ve also seen, however, is that Steroids don’t play such a major role in your decision on whether to buy BotRK or The Bloodthirster. Rather, you should evaluate the enemy’s Health- every health point above 2300 is damage you won’t be getting with a Bloodthirster!

 

If you have any questions regarding calculations you’re welcome to ask in the comments!

 

I hope this breakdown was helpful!

 

 

 

 Check out the changes coming to League of Legends! A video preview of some of the more major ones can be found here.

 

 

Balance Changes:

 

 

Akali

• Twin Disciplines
  • Discipline of Force
    • Now takes effect immediately instead of requiring 19.5 Ability Power
    • Base spell vamp bonus reduced from 8% to 6%
  • Discipline of Might
    • Now takes effect immediately instead of requiring 9.5 Attack Damage
    • Base damage bonus reduced to 6% from 8%

As Akali players know, you needed a dedicated runepage to activate both passives. Riot removes this factor from the equation making Akali more accessible and, ultimately- more generic. Read these changes as a BUFF, because it does mean you can raise other stats with your runes and masteries now.
 

Lulu

• Glitterlance
  • When cast after Help, Pix!, Glitterlance no longer gains an increased area of effect size against the target of Help, Pix!
    

• Whimsy
  • Whimsy no longer interrupts enemy movement abilities that are already in progress

The Whimsy change was a necessary one, its effects felt misplaced, much like Skarner’s Impale before the fix.

 

Nami

• Nami’s basic attack should now feel more responsive
• Base movement speed increased to 340 from 335

 

 

 

This will make Nami a much more potent harasser in lane, giving her that early game edge she was lacking. Doesn’t fix her mid and late game issues, however. Hopefully Nami will get more attention in future patches!

 

Nasus

• Siphoning Strike
  • Fixed a bug where Siphoning Strike critical strikes were dealing more damage than intended
  • Mana cost reduced to 20 at all ranks from 20/25/30/35/40

• Fury of the Sands
  • Now increases attack range by 50 and cast range by 100 while active
  • Mana cost reduced to 100 from 150

  Probably the biggest winner of patch 3.02, Nasus has been massively overhauled. Siphoning Strike will now be much more accessible in the early stages, while the buffs to his ultimate are an amazing addition to his chasing potential. Being the hypercarry he is, these changes may backfire, but for now let’s enjoy seeing the big dog being viable once again.

 

Riven

• Runic Blade
  • Adjusted damage to 15-45% of her total Attack Damage (based on champion level) from 5-15 (+0.5 bonus attack damage)

• Broken Wings
  • Fixed a bug that was causing Broken Wings to improperly apply it’s splash damage if Valor was cast too recently

Riven was already nerfed heavily in previous updates so I don’t see this as being justified. It will reduce Riven’s laning dominance by quite a bit, but seeing as she needs it to get ahead of the enemy she may struggle against the top tier bruisers. One welcome factor here is that her passive will be more effective on tankier builds, as it now benefits from total damage.

 

 

Quality of Life changes & Bug Fixes:

 

 

Anivia

• Rebirth
  • Chat messages from Anivia will now have a custom champion name while she’s in egg form

   

   

 

Janna

• Janna’s basic attack should now feel more responsive

 

 

 

 

Jarvan IV

• Martial Cadence
  • Fixed a bug where Martial Cadence was dealing more damage than intended to minions and monsters

   

   

 

Master Yi

• Alpha Strike
  • Fixed a bug which caused Alpha Strike to appear available when it was on cooldown

 

 

 

Morgana

• Soul Shackles
  • Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the Soul Shackles sound and spell effect to play even when the target wasn’t stunned

 

 

 

Nocturne

• Fixed a bug where Nocturne wouldn’t automatically chase his target after using Paranoia

 

 

 

 

Renekton

• Fixed a bug where Renekton’s Slice and Dice wouldn’t work on minions that he couldn’t see

 

 

 

 

Sivir

• Ricochet
  • Fixed a bug where the cooldown on earlier ranks was longer than intended

   

 

 

Vi

• Assault and Battery
  • Fixed a bug where the crowd control component of Assault and Battery was ignoring spell shields

   

   

 

Ziggs

• Hexplosive Minefield
  • Fixed a bug where the sound effect for triggering a mine would not play

 

 

 

Items:

 

 

Athene’s Unholy Grail

• Cooldown reduction increased to 20% from 15%

 

Glacial Shroud

• Combine cost reduced to 230 gold from 380 (total cost reduced to 1350 from 1500)
• Armor increased to 45 from 40
• Cooldown Reduction reduced to 10% from 15%

 

Spirit Visage

• Combine cost increased to 630 gold from 540 (total cost unchanged)
• Cooldown reduction increased to 20% from 15%

 

Deathfire Grasp

• Combine cost reduced to 680 gold from 880
• Total cost reduced to 3100 from 3300
• Cooldown reduction reduced to 10% from 15%

 

Zeke’s Herald

• Combine cost increased to 900 gold from 800
• Total cost increased to 2550 gold from 2450
• Cooldown reduction increased to 20% from 15%

 

Iceborn Gauntlet

• Total cost reduced to 3250 gold from 3400
• Cooldown reduction reduced to 10% from 15%
• Fixed a bug where the slow field was lasting longer than intended
• Fixed a bug where the slow was not being applied immediately
• Slow field radius for ranged champions reduced to 210 from 275
• Slow field radius for melee champions increased to 285 from 275

Shifting the focus of Iceborn Gauntlet to melee champions is a welcome change, considering it was easily abused on certain picks.

 

Chalice of Harmony

Will make multiple Faerie Charms a viable option for mages in the early game. Those fare well with level 1 wards so hopefully we’ll see more diversity.

 

Frozen Heart

• Combine cost increased to 550 gold from 400 (total cost unchanged)
• Armor increased to 95 from 90

 

Negatron Cloak

• Cost reduced to 720 gold from 810
• Magic resist reduced to 40 from 45

 

Quicksilver Sash

• Combine cost reduced to 830 gold from 850
• Total cost reduced to 1550 gold from 1660

 

Avarice Blade

• Gold per 10 seconds increased to 3 from 2

 

 

Eleisa’s Miracle

• Now reduces the cooldown of Heal, Clairvoyance and Clarity by 25% instead of reducing the cooldown on Heal, Clairvoyance and Revive by 20%

 

Executioner’s Calling

• Critical strike chance increased to 20% from 15%

 

Liandry’s Torment

• Ability power reduced to 50 from 60
• Damage per second increased to 2% from 1.66%
• Damage-over-time and multi-target spells no longer have reduced effect
• Fixed damage effect not being properly reapplied on targets that already have it

Solid buffs to a previously niche item pick. Liandry’s Torment will certainly become a strong choice, seeing as its already staple on some champions.

 

Ohmwrecker

• Recipe Changed: Ruby Crystal + Blasting Wand + Philosopher’s Stone + 800 gold = 2850 gold
• +350 health
• +50 ability power
• +15 health regen per 5 seconds
• +15 mana regen per 5 seconds
• Retains the same UNIQUE active

 

 

Rabadon’s Deathcap

• Combine cost increased to 840 gold from 740 (total cost increased to 3300 gold from 3200)
• Ability power bonus increased to 30% from 25%

 

Spirit of the Spectral Wraith

 

 

Shurelya’s Reverie

• Cooldown reduction is no longer UNIQUE

 

 

Blade of the Ruined King

• Attack damage increased to 45 from 40
• Current health damage increased to 5% from 4%

 

Wit’s End

• Magic resist increased to 25 from 20

 

 

 

Leagues

 

 

• Fixed a number of display bugs with the league system
• Updated the rules around displaying Season 2 loading screen borders in each queue
  • Normal and co-op games now show the higher reward from either ranked solo or the appropriate ranked team queue
  • Custom and Dominion games now show the best reward achieved in any queue
  • Ranked games still show the reward from that specific queue

Matchmaking

• We adjusted the matchmaking system last patch so it would account for both matchmaking rating and your total of wins in the current queue when creating matches.
  • We made some adjustments this patch to reduce average queue times.

Item Shop Optimization

• We made some keyboard navigation updates to the Item Shop:The search menu is now on the Recommended Items tab in addition to the All Items tab
  • Ctrl + L or Ctrl + Enter focuses the search menu (You can rebind this command through the options menu)
  • Ctrl + Tab changes item shop tabs (You can rebind this command through the options menu)
  • You can now view the scoreboard while the item shop is ope
  • You can now chat while the item shop is open
• “On Hit” and “Stealth Detect” are now searchable terms within the Item Shop
• You can now single right click items in the item shop to purchase
• The item shop should now be more responsive upon buying or selling items
• The size of the item shop when on resolutions of 1080 pixels tall or higher has been slightly reduced

Co-op vs. AI

• Shen Bot should now continue to function after the target of his ultimate is killed during the channel time

General

• Ashe
  • Focus is no longer consumed when attacking wards
• Caitlyn
  • Headshot is no longer consumed when attacking wards
• Kennen
  • Electrical Surge is no longer consumed when attacking wards
• Sona
  • Power Chord is no longer consumed when attacking wards
• Twisted Fate
  • Pick A Card is no longer consumed when attacking wards
  • Stacked Deck is no longer consumed when attacking wards
• Ziggs
  • Short Fuse is no longer consumed when attacking wards

 

• The teleport indicators on the minimap should now appear more distinct from the recall indicators.
• The chat command system has been slightly improved behind the scenesKnockups now function more consistently and should fail less frequently when close to walls
  • You can type /allcommands to get a complete list of chat commands
  • You can now type /help /command to get detailed information on that chat command
  • You can now ignore a player who is playing a specific champion on your team by typing /ignore @ChampionName
• Setting the DisableCameraSnapOnRespawn=1 option should no longer cause your spacebar to stop working when you respawn
• Muting a player will no longer mute his map pings; map pings have been throttled to prevent spam
• Fixed an issue that prevented some players from receiving in-game messages that included special characters
• Zooming the camera in and out has been smoothed
• Boots of Mobility will now show a cooldown for their passive effect
• You now have the option to display your autoattack range by pressing attack
• The camera should no longer pan when League of Legends is not the program of focus
• Kog’maw, Karthus and Zyra should no longer give double kills when using Muramana
• Dragon and Baron kill callouts should now display assists
• Nami’s Aqua Prison should now properly reset jungle creeps
• Hitting space while using a locked camera should no longer disable locked camera mode”

 

 

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!

Patch Notes

 

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