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

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

Xypherous on Patch 3.7

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

Catch up:

• PBE Champion Update
• PBE Zed & Item Update

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

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

Minion Damage Reduction?

Minion Damage Reduction

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

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

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

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

Akali

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

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

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

Nunu

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

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

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

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

Warwick

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

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

Caitlyn / TF / Varus / Zed / Zac / Rumble

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

Diana / Lux

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

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

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

Cassieopeia

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

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

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

Galio

* Changes reverted

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

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

Items

Mana Manipualtor

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

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

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

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

Mikael’s Crucible

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

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

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

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

Q&A Session

Champion Balance

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

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

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

What are the reasons behind the Galio changes?

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

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

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

Why are you shifting Galio to a support tank role?

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

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

What are your thoughts on Caitlyn?

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

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

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

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

Why did you give Quinn such poor range?

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

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

Can you clarify on the Lux/Diana shield changes?

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

Do you consider Rammus a viable pick?

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

What are the problems with Warwick?

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

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

Why is Olaf being neglected?

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

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

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

Can you fix Leblanc’s powerlevel curve?

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

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

What about making Nami’s passive scale with level?

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

Minion damage & PBE Community Website

Why are you reducing minion damage?

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

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

Will the minion damage reduction mastery return?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Melee AD Discussed

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

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

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

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

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

The problem with Melee Carries is:

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

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

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

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

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

Rengar buffs soon!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How do you plan on buffing Rengar?

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

Will you change how Rengar feels?

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

What will his role be in the end?

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

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

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

Potential champion concept leaked!

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

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

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

The Hunt will soon be on!

More champion and item changes, TPA Skins to be released for 750 RP each, Riot on the future of Sion and Victor, an upcoming discount on Summoner Name Changes and more details on Map-specific changes!

PBE: Zed Changes
PBE: Item Changes
PBE: TPA Skins
Sion, the Undead Champion
Kairon, the Undead Parasite
Victor,The True Evolution
Map-specific Changes
50% Off New Summoner Names!

 PBE: Zed Changes

        Zed

Razor Shuriken ( Q )

• Damage to enemies past the first target lowered from 60/92/124/156/188 to 45/69/93/117/141

Shadow Slash ( E )

• Cooldown increased from 3 to 4 seconds

Zed’s been getting plenty of ability tweaks lately. If you haven’t caught up to his changes, here‘s my article with Riot’s opinion on his current state.

PBE: Item Changes

Mana Manipulator

• Price lowered from 400 to 300 gold
• Now builds out of  one, not two Faerie Charms
• Recipe cost increased from 40 to 120 gold
• Mana per 5 bonus decreased from 6 to 5

The mana manipulator is now less effective but cheaper to make – ideal for supports and perhaps a first item option, along with wards.

Shard of True Ice

• Price reduced from 1700 to 1600 gold
• Mana per 5 reduced from 6 to 5

Mikael’s Crucible

• Price increased from 2200 to 2500 gold
• Now grants 7 HP5
• Mana per 5 increased from 9 to 18
• Active now heals for 10% of maximum hp, changed from 15% of current
• Now builds from a Mana Manipulator and a Philosopher Stone
• No longer grants 300 mana

PBE: TPA Skins

Commemorate the success of Taipei Assasins with the TPA Skins for Ezreal, Mundo, Nunu, Orianna and Shen. They will be available for mere 750 RP each! If you wish to know the origin of this news, you can learn about it here.

Dr. Mundo

Model\

Ezreal

Model

Nunu

Model

Orianna

Model

Shen

Model

Future improvements on Sion and Viktor

Morello stepped in to discuss some of the changes to Sion proposed by fans on the forums. Due to the hybrid nature of Sion, players are leaning towards splitting him into two champions. Here are some ideas for two brand new kits that I really like:

Note: These are fan-made ideas and in no way reflect Riot’s intentions for updates to Sion.

Sion, the Undead Champion

Feel No Pain ( Passive ) 

Sion ignores up to 20 + 2% of his maximum hp worth of damage each time he is hit by an autoattack. The damage reduction is calculated before armor and percentage damage reduction benefits are taken into account.

Heavy Blow ( Q )

Cost: 50/60/70/80/90 HP || Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10 seconds || Range: 400

Melee skillshot. Sion holds his axe high above his head with both hands and channels for up to 1.5 seconds before slamming it down in front of him. You may recast Heavy Blow while its charging to reorient Sion towards the cursor and immediately release the attack. It deals 50-120 / 70-170 / 90-220 / 110-270 / 130-320 (+ Bonus AD) (+10% Sion’s Maximum HP) scaling physical damage in a very short 90* cone. If charged the full duration it also stuns for 1.5 seconds. [Sion will flash from about .75-.9 seconds after charging - if you recast Heavy Blow then, it will do full damage as if you had charged it the full duration. unsure if this adds good gameplay or just makes it needlessly complex]

Ferocious Charge ( W )

Cost: 50/60/70/80/90 health  || Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10 seconds || Range: 600

Sion dashes forward in a line, dealing 60 / 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 (+ Bonus AD) (+10% Sion’s Maximum HP) physical damage to each enemy he passes through and knocking them slightly aside. He gains a shield that lasts for 10 seconds with life equal to half the amount of damage dealt to enemy champions with this ability.

Enrage ( E )

Toggle, Cooldown: 7/6/5/4/3 seconds

Toggle While toggled on, Sion has 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65 increased attack damage at the cost of 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 / 14 health for each autoattack. While Enrage is active, Sion permanently increases his maximum health whenever he kills a unit with either his attacks or abilities. This effect is doubled against champions and large units.

Cannibalism ( R )

Cost: 15% of current HP || Cooldown: 90 seconds

For 20 seconds, Sion gains 50% / 75% / 100% bonus lifesteal, 10% / 20% / 30% bonus spellvamp, and 50% attack speed. Additionally, Sion’s spells and autoattacks will heal surrounding allies for 25% / 37.5% / 50% of the damage dealt.

Kairon, the Undead Parasite

Soul Harvest ( Passive )

Kairon permanently increases his maximum health by 1 / 2 / 3 (increasing at 6 and 11) every time he kills an enemy. This effect is doubled against champions and large units.

Hypnotic Gaze ( Q )

Cost: 100 Mana, 8% of Current Health || Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 Range: 550

Kairon’s gaze hypnotizes a single enemy, dealing 70 / 125 / 180 / 240 / 300 (+ 70% AP) (+health spent to cast this ability) magic damage and stunning it for 1.5 seconds.

Death’s Caress  ( W )

Cost: 70/80/90/100/110 Mana + 8% Current Health || Cooldown: 8 seconds after shield is gone

Kairon surrounds himself with a shield which absorbs 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 (+ 70% AP) (+health spent to cast this ability) damage for up to 10 seconds. After 2 seconds, if the shield has not been destroyed, the ability can be cast again to explode and deal 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 (+ 70% AP) (+health spent to cast this ability) magic damage to surrounding enemies. It will explode automatically after the 10 seconds have passed

Essence Transfer ( E )

Cost: 80/90/100/110/120 Mana || Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6 || Range: 475 || Leash Range: 700

Kairon creates a leash on a target and channels for up to 5 seconds. If the target leaves the range of Kairon’s leash, he will stop channeling.
On enemy cast: Deals 40 / 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 (+ 25% AP) magic damage each second and heals Kairon for 50% / 55% / 60% / 65% / 70% of the damage done.
On ally cast: Kairon sacrifices 5% of his current health each second to heal the ally for 80% / 90% / 100% / 110% / 120% of the health lost.

Gonna Take You For a Ride ( R )

Cost: 100 Mana || Cooldown: 60 || Leap range: 500

Kairon leaps onto target champion, attaching himself to them for a period of time. During this time Kairon moves where that champion moves, can cast Essence Transfer without channeling and his other spells freely, and can autoattack the attached champion if its an enemy. Kairon may reactivate this ability to end the effect.
On enemy cast: Kairon latches onto an enemy champion for 3 / 4 / 5 seconds, slowing their movespeed by 30% / 40% / 50%. This also silences the enemy for half the duration.
On ally cast: Kairon latches onto an ally champion for 6 / 8 / 10 seconds, speeding up their movespeed by 20% / 25% / 30%. The shield from Death’s Caress will protect both Kairon and the attached allied champion.

Here is a link for these fan ideas, both of which belong to Summoner plasmatorture.

Why makes splitting Sion’s kit difficult?

 Morello: Really well-laid out suggestions – thanks for taking the time to propose this in-depth.

Let me clear up one thing, though – there’s no world in which we make an old champion with a schizo kit into two complete champions. This is really about resource allocation usage and efficiency, as it obviously takes 2x the work to make 2x the champions, and whenever we’re doing one thing, we’re not doing another thing (and there’s lots to be done!) Sion being reworked faithfully is not worth another rework not coming out, another champion who brings something new, or any myriad of other fixes we could be doing.

Additionally, and while I understand very well the attachment people can have to a champion, I think retaining Sion faithfully is exactly what I don’t want to do. “Why?!” you may ask!

Sion’s AD kit has some bare-bones tools that can apply well to a lifesteal guy, but those could use updating as well (AS on this guy…hmmmmm), but importantly, the AP kit has little-to-no counter play or interaction at all. There’s something to be said about the shield being interesting, but I think it’s bad when combined with a single target stun and as a burst nuke overall. Additionally, he’s basically a creative mess – a Zombie Axe guy that casts spells and does an assortment of disjointed things with old Arnold movie quotes. The only reason to even consider that is for legacy – which has value – but not enough on its own in many cases.

In this case, unlike someone like Urgot who is just niche, Sion is a low attachment character with low counterplay, interaction, and no creative hooks. What I do think could be interesting about Sion isn’t his kit, but the idea behind him – a massive, unmovable undead lifesteal tank. That has legs (heh) and can really be developed into a resurgence/HP Steal character befitting of the idea, and it gives us lots of opportunities with the art.

Thought I’d just update our direction here so you guys could see our thinking and there can be discussion. I know there will be people attached to original Sion, but in this case (and this is not by any means a default stance for me), I think it has to play second stage to making the character something not-bad.

If people like Sion’s kit currently, why should it be changed?

 Morello: People like it, but it causes problems if it’s ever good – some I laid out above. That is the harm in leaving it alone.

Why don’t you follow the community’s wishes?

 Morello: Because “do people like it” is not the only axis. If so, someone likes everything, so that’d invalidate change at all 

When thinking about the game holistically (I think about this on the gameplay side, but art and creative have important roles there too), the harm outweighs the good. This is similar to my stance on dedicated healers.

Why don’t you use Sion’s Q and W on another champion?

 Morello: Mostly because we don’t want AP Sion’s pattern at all due to the problems it creates – that would make us, likely, just make his rework AP Sion+ if we did.

The True Evolution

 Solcrushed: Alright guys, I will be looking at Viktor and his augments as my next project after Xin Zhao. Since the mega-thread when I was working on Xin was quite helpful, why not do another one on Viktor?

Viktor players: Why did you decide to play Viktor and what do you like/dislike the most about him currently?

Non-Viktor players: Have you ever even considered playing Viktor or played him in the past? If so, what turned you off Viktor/what did not meet your expectations?

Any kind of general observations/suggestions about Viktor is also welcome!

As with the Xin thread, I will not be replying to most of your posts but I sure will be reading them.

THE EVOLUTION IS NOT-REALLY-SOON(TM)

Will you keep his gameplay intact?

 Solcrushed: Pretty much, I do not see myself changing his base spells too much other than synching ranges ./ moving things around a little.

He will always be a very high skillcap champion unless I decide to change his laser, and I don’t plan to become minced troll meat anytime soon. :0
I am aware that many players that play Viktor are drawn to him for his uniqueness and I will definitely be preserving that.

Note: Also, the bug with Victor’s E where the laser disappeared sometimes (mostly due to odd movement) will be getting fixed.

Map-specific Changes

This is an update by RiotNome on the topic of future Champion changes for every map. If you’re unaware of this announcement, here‘s my article on the discussion.

 RiotNome: It’s shipped!

Tech is done, which means the next step is working with our UX and user testing guys to figure out the best way to communicate changes to players. Once we get that done, we’ll be ready to roll out the first set of changes.

Will these changes affect Summoner Spells?

 RiotNome: Nothing with Summoner Spells right now. The first wave will be targeted solely at outliers. We’ll evaluate those changes and figure out if we want to take it further afterwards.

Will you balance ARAM?

 RiotNome: I don’t plan on doing any hard balancing for ARAM (at least initially). Part of the allure to ARAM is rolling an awesome pick–you can’t have highs without lows 

50% Off New Summoner Names!

 Hippalus: When Patch 3.7 arrives in May, we’ll be rounding up inactive accounts to make those summoner names available to players. To make it easier for you to pick up a new summoner name, we’re also putting name changes on sale for 50% off.

An inactive account is any account level 5 or below that hasn’t played a game since January 1^st, 2013 or any account level 10 or below that hasn’t played since January 1^st, 2012. To keep those accounts’ names, you’ll have to log on and play at least one game between now and Sunday, May 12^th, at 11:59 PM PDT. If you miss the deadline, don’t worry – your account is still active, but you’ll be prompted to choose a new summoner name when you log in next time. Only inactive accounts are at risk to lose their summoner names.

From the release of Patch 3.7 through May 26^th, summoner name changes will cost 650 RP, down from their normal 1300 RP price. With Season 3 in full swing, it’s a great time to showcase both your skills and your creativity to your opponents.

We look forward to seeing your dazzling new pseudonyms on the Fields of Justice soon!

What about inactive accounts above level 10?

 Hippalus: The plan is to continue to raise the level limit each time we do this (the last cleanup was only up to level 5) but we want to be careful not to take a name away from someone that has invested a lot of time into the game but has stopped playing for a good reason (illness, war, family, prison, etc). For someone that has reached level 23, they will probably have to be inactive for a couple years before we free up their

When will the names be freed up?

 Hippalus: They will be available immediately after patch 3.7 is live, which will be sometime in mid May.

Good luck on the Fields of Justice!

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

Server split for Latin America soon!

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

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

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

Reworks, balance and more!

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

Champion Balance

Is Heimerdinger being reworked?

 Morello: He is!

Are you planning on reworking Poppy?

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

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

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

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

Any plans on buffing Talon?

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

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

Warwick is struggling in Season 3

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

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

Wukong is weak pls buff!

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

General Balance Discussion

How do you decide which champion to nerf?

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

The latest example for this is Lux.

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

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

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

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

Do you believe in perfect balance?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@Xypherous/Morello – Response to New Maps Post

Morello: ‘no 10v10 map on my watch’

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

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

Late Game Magic Resist items are terrible!

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

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

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

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

What do you think of the Double Golem advantage?

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

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

Game Design

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Skins

New Skin Prices and Champion Priority when releasing Skins

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

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

Non-related + Personal

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

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

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

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

New Players are neglected on the forums!

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

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

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

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

Are you working on a champion who wields a whip?

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

How did you choose your online name?

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

Are you satisfied with how Zyra turned out?

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

How often do you get trolled by your coworkers?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Champion & Skin sale (26 – 29th April)

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

Champions:

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

Skins

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

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

Changes to Karma, Thresh as well as Zed, a new Summoner Icon, Progression System and dozens of Red Posts!

Zed’s mechanics revamped!

        Zed 

Living Shadow ( W )

• Cooldown reduced from 22/20.5/19/17.5/16 to 18/17/16/15/14 seconds 

Shadow Slash ( E )

• Hitting enemy minions and monsters no longer reduces Living Shadow’s cooldown
• Hitting enemy champions now reduces Living Shadow’s cooldown by 2 seconds, up from 1 second

 Statikk: These Zed changes are aimed towards 2 goals:

1) Reducing his lane safety
Currently, Zed has little need to actually manage Living Shadow’s cooldown due to the interactions with lane minions. Zed’s that get ahead are able to push and harass with impunity since in these situations Zed’s Living Shadow has a fairly negligible cooldown.
This is not intended as Zed is by design a high risk, high skill cap, high reward type of champion.

Zed’s Living Shadow, especially early on in the game, should be something both him and his lane opponent need to keep track of. When Living Shadow is down, Zed’s lane opponent should be able to take advantage of this window of vulnerability to punish him and Zed should have to play defensively until it comes back up.

2) Allowing Zed to actually achieve Living Shadow resets in team fights
With Shadow Slash’s increase to cooldown reduction upon hitting champions and the base cooldown of Living Shadow being reduced, Zed actually has a legitimate shot at very quickly resetting his Living Shadow cooldown in actual team fights depending on the situation and his execution. Zed can now potentially open up fights with Living Shadow, land 2-3 solid Shadow Slashes, and have Living Shadow back up in order to exit the fray or continue chasing down his targets.
Like stated above, all of the changes are tenative as of now, but I just wanted to give you guys some insight into the thought process here.”

Does the new CD reduction work per champion hit?

 Statikk: ”It is for EACH champion you hit. So yes, if you ever hit 5 champions, it would reduce the cooldown by 10 seconds.”

Jungle Zed is still viable!

 Scarizard: Just a reminder- while this change will impact Zed’s jungle mobility – it doesn’t actually reduce his damage output in the jungle, and as such shouldn’t affect his clear. Double-casting Shadow Slash doesn’t increase its damage – so while he won’t be able to cast W in the jungle to dart about quite as much, the changes to the cooldown of Living Shadow (4 off the top, 2 off the bottom) should help mitigate this, especially early-game with Blue.

Karma buffs, Scarizard discusses!

    Karma

Inner Flame ( Q )

• Damage increased from 60/110/160/210/260 to 80/125/170/215/260

Focused Resolve ( W )

• Cooldown lowered from 16/15.5/15/14.5/14 to 16/15/14/13/12

Inspire ( E )

• Cooldown lowered from 12 seconds to 10 seconds at all ranks
• Movement speed boost increased from 20/30/40/50/60 to 40/45/50/55/60

Mantra ( R )

• Cooldown lowered from 45 seconds to 45/42/39/36 seconds

 Scarizard: These changes address a couple of things that i feel are pretty important to Live Karma’s success. Let’s talk about the big one, and that’s Mantra’s CD Reduction with Rank.

In the past, i was reticent to make this change due to how insane it -could- get with Gathering Fire and multi-champion hits; but from testing, it seems like this change could be just what the doctor ordered. From my POV it accomplishes two things:

1. More Mantras, More Decisions, More Fun - Something that’s been brought up a lot in this thread is ‘TWO MANTRA WHERe’; fundamentally, if ‘High Impact Mantra’ is to exist, double-cast must be out. It’s something i think works on Rengar but fails here. How cool can Q2, W2, or E2 be if you can cast them independent of the cooldown on the base skills? How much weaker do the ‘Empowered’ versions have to be? This was a failing of the old kit that we felt was to be solved on a new Karma. Old Karma had a shield that was literally just a damage shield (Trivia: the only shield in the game that had no special effect) that needed to eat a Mantra to feel even baseline effective as a spell – because she had two charges, neither Mantra cast could be independently powerful, leaving some things to be straight up overtuned (read: shield damage, scaling, range, etc) for you to even feel functional as a character, regardless if everything else fell short.

The vision for new Karma is that, while i would give you more Mantra casts they would be spaced out so that we could drive the impact for each individual Mantra higher. [Now, dear readers, this is where i'll admit we undershot - the promise that i and the team made to you the players is that this Karma would legitimately be stronger, but along the way of balancing fell short of delivering a powerful champion. There are a lot of factors that go into this, but if the reality is not matching the intent then we will continue to address it as i have been in this changes. Back to our regularly scheduled wordvomit] The Mantra CDR going down with rank (as well as the Gathering Fire/Focused Resolve buffs last patch) create a more fluid mid/late game wherein at the extreme, Karma can almost instantly refresh her Mantra – loading another big moment and meaningfully contributing to that engagement, not just matching the baseline effectiveness of other champions.

2. Itemization! (Less block-of-text) - Lowering R’s Cooldown (As well as W + E) means it’s easier for Karma to build more efficiently. Are you still gonna want 40% CDR? Most definitely – but it’s no longer a hard-cap requirement ‘oh my god get it immediately or you aren’t even a real champion’ as it was before. 40% CDR is easily attainable – Athene’s/Morello’s, but that easily leaves you under the AP Curve relative to other champions despite being a necessity due to high CD’s. Easing this means that while it’s highly likely one of those two items are a first buy, there’s more flexibility in what you can buy and at what times you can buy them due to the fact that your spells scale to much lower CD’s naturally than they had before.

But why tell me about these changes if all i want is Old Karma back?

Like i’ve said before, i’m committed to new Karma and making her an experience that’s fun for players. That means holistically that while i listen to/process feedback, that i’m focused on the future and where we go from here. The changes above are a step to achieve that – they are not a final, perfect fix. A lot of you have mentioned that she’s boring because of similarity to other champions’ spells – and i totally understand that. It’s the gameplay associated with the frequency/generation of Mantra that is meant to tie this kit together, both in flow and feel. Once the machine is well-oiled, we can see if she needs a new engine (so to speak).

I do apologize for prolonged silences – the whole ‘working at riot thing, keeping busy talking about/implementing awesome stuff for players’  it gets pretty busy, but i’ve been refreshing/checking the thread since this morning. Even if we don’t agree on Karma, Balance or who’s the best pokemon (Hint: It’s Nidoking), i hope y’all understand that i appreciate your feedback, positive or negative and that you care enough to share it with me. Thanks again for being patient, y’all.

Thresh’s Q passive on E

Death Sentence ( Q )

• No longer has a passive magic damage on-hit

Flay ( E )

• Now has the passive from Death Sentence (Q)

 CertainlyT: The goal of these changes was not to directly nerf Thresh (though I feel it will likely result in a reduction in his power — particularly at levels 1-2, as a poster above mentioned). One important purpose of our skill rank up system is to let players make meaningful choices with their skill point allocations. After the change, Q=Control, W=Utility, E=Damage is more clearly defined, though perhaps not 100% there yet.

Think of it as a new iteration, or version, of Thresh — one that is a cleaner and generally better design.

Will this change bring support Thresh in line with other picks?

 CertainlyT: The goal is definitely to open space for more of our supports to shine. We’ve consistently received feedback from our pro teams especially that Thresh and Lulu crowded out most of the competition.

New Summoner Icon Progression

 BlueFire: Hello Summoners!
We want your help. You’ve seen us add icons in unique ways for events such as The Harrowing, Snowdown Showdown, and most recently the Lunar Revel.

We wanted to test some icon granting functionality. How does it work?

First select one of the following default icons (all accounts have them) as your icon in the client:

Then you have to win 10 games and you will unlock another “10 win icon” based on which one you selected:

1) You can’t win with another of the 3 icons between your 10 wins!

EX: If you win 3 games with the  icon and then win a game with the  icon, your win counter will be set to 1 for the new icon and 0 for the old icon!

2) You can only have one of the “10 win icons” at a time!

EX: If you earn the  icon and then earn the  icon you will lose the  icon!

3) No Co-op vs AI games or custom games are counted!

FAQ:

What if I get a win with an icon that is not one of the three you showed?
Nothing! Only WINNING with one of these three icons will affect your wins for the event.

Are you going to use these icons / do the exact same event on live?
No. This is merely for testing purposes.

Will I lose my icon if I win one game with a different icon?
You can only lose your icon by winning another icon!

How long do I have?
We hope to run this for at least a week on the PBE but may extend/shorten it as necessary.

How long will it take to receive my icon after my 10th win?
You should receive it within 24 hours. If you do not, please let us know here.

What games count?
There are two rules. No custom games and no Co-op vs. AI games. All other games will count (ranked/unranked/dominion/etc).

What happens if I lose?
Nothing! Only wins are considered in this event.

Can I see my win counter anywhere?
Unfortunately you cannot. So please keep track of your wins.

If I find a bug what do I do?
Describe it in detail here! Also be sure to include the summoner name of your PBE account so I can investigate.ve seen us add icons in unique ways for events such as The Harrowing, Snowdown Showdown, and most recently the Lunar Revel.

We wanted to test some icon granting functionality. How does it work?

First select one of the following default icons (all accounts have them) as your icon in the client:

New icons are on their way:

 BlueFire: We don’t have any current plans for re-using these icons. It is purely for testing purposes.

Scattered Red Posts, Unite!

Has the Norse Darius skin been scrapped?

 Morello: Not scrapped, just still have some cleanup work to do  No ETA dudes, sorry!

Are you planning on nerfing Anivia? She’s proven to be really strong.

 Morello: I agree, but the team (who I tend to trust a lot on this stuff) disagrees for right now.

Do you guys plan on buffing Rengar?

 Morello: We do – though I wanna keep the details tight as Classick’s still fiddling with it.

Urgot improvements on the PBE:

 ricklessabandon: I made a change that I hope will improve Urgot’s quality of life a little bit. Urgot players will now see a range indicator when near an enemy marked by Noxian Corrosive Charge. The indicator shows the max range at which he can acquire a missile lock with Acid Hunter.

Anyway, this change is live on the PBE right now and I’d love to hear any feedback (bugs or feel/usability) you have after playing with it. I’m particularly interested to hear feedback regarding its accuracy, ‘noise’ levels, and/or responsiveness.

Thanks in advance! ♥

These are all the news from the testing server for now, stay tuned for more!

Good luck on the Fields of Justice!

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

What’s with the constant nerfs?

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

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

Power creep? What does that matter?

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

Arms race?

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

But you changed the items – why nerf champions?

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

Why do you not buff champions too?

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

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

Who causes power creep and are nerfs the appropriate response?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How is nerfing FotM champions justified?

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

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

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

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

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

Seems like an example of power creep.

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

Will you be fixing Irelia? (Ralik098)

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

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

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

Personal thoughts on Fighters and Power Creep in Season 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Share below!

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

 RiotRunaan: ”Hey guys,

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

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

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

Why a new identity?

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

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

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

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

The Underdog

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

For the Tribe!

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

The Trickster 

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

The “Nice Guy” Turns Mean 

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

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

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

Story Possibilities 

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

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

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

“But I loved the old Trundle!”

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

In Conclusion 

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

Thanks everyone, and keep on trollin’.

Community Concerns

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

Some champions have no reason to be where they are

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

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

Can we expect more champion relationships based on lore?

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

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

More Voice Overs!

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

…

 

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

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

Champion Relationships – everything is here!

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

Original Thread 

Overview of Trundle’s Remake

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

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

The future of Champion Lore

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

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

Where do you see the game’s lore heading?

It seems like Riot have found their love of lore all over again and we got treated to a little more today.

The storm of war looms over the Freljord.

Rumors of strife in the north have spread for months, but Demacia is only now taking notice. The Freljord has remained divided and tribal for centuries, but should they unite, a barbarian march could threaten our borders. It’s time someone assessed the danger to Demacia. Prince Jarvan has granted me leave to gather information.

Val and I leave tonight.

Avarosan Camp, Southern Freljord

The stories I’ve heard always made the Freljord out to be a barbaric, uncivilized place. If the cold doesn’t kill you, the people will (so the soldiers of Demacia say)

I didn’t expect the warmth that greeted me in the Avarosan camp. If not for the snowy mountains in the distance, I’d have mistaken this for a Demacian border town, not a tribal stronghold. It’s clear that Ashe, the Avarosan leader, has greatly advanced the Freljord people since our last envoy visited this place years ago. These are not scattered barbarians at war with the land and with each other. The people here are adapting to the hardships of the Freljord, growing grain, and building the foundations of a civilization.

Ashe is diplomatic and welcoming. She carries herself with the air of a leader that shines through her youth. Even Val likes her (how rare). Ashe guessed that we’d come here to offer Demacian aid, but she insists nothing of the sort is needed. “We fight our own battles,” she told us.

Her words may be true, but I see division amongst her people. Val’s tense around some of them, and he can sense their discomfort. Some happily tend to the fields, while others hold their tools like weapons. They’re waiting for a war, not a harvest.

I’ve spoken to a few tribesmen. Most are confident that Ashe is the rightful leader of the Freljord. They swear she’ll unify the tribes, but I can see some doubt in their eyes. They whisper one name in fear: Sejuani. She leads the tribe known as the Winter’s Claw. It’s clear some of Ashe’s people fear her strength and ferocity.

Val and I are off to scout Sejuani’s territory at dawn. We’ll determine the extent of the threat she poses to the Freljord—and to Demacia. - Quinn and Valor

Source

Champion Select – a less toxic environment

The Vote Kick System

This is my favorite because generally if there is a problem in pregame lobby it boils down to one particular unfriendly summeoner.

Lyte: In response to the 3 possible suggestions:

 

Vote kick is an interesting idea that has been suggested by players for quite awhile; however, what are some of the goals we’d like to accomplish for Champ Select?

 

One, we want to encourage cooperation in Champ Select. Two, we want players to have an ability to opt-out if they are ‘stuck’ with players they perceive are toxic or extremely negative. Vote-kick systems tend to give players an opt-out mechanism; however, they do not encourage cooperation.

In fact, in some scenarios vote-kick systems encourage premade groups to bully the strangers in the lobby into specific roles or champions. Given a scenario with 5 strangers, if 4 strangers happen to agree on roles and the 5th doesn’t, the 4 strangers are highly likely to collaborate to kick the 5th. Given a vote-kick system, we are likely to see more disagreements than before, and greatly increase the time it takes to get into a game.

WoW Dungeon Finder – type System

Let’s talk about these two points a little. From a queue time standpoint, a standard-meta queue actually wouldn’t be too lengthy. When you take into account the multiple ways of playing support (Tank/Support/Kill Lane) and the players who are fine to fill all roles, you actually have around 15 to 20% of players being down for Jungle and Support (depending region and definition of those roles). So queue time may actually be less of an issue than it’d seem based on the popular perception of those roles as less-favored.

There may be other reasons why players aren’t volunteering support in Ranked even though we know they are probably down for it. There’s the potential for “have to carry your team!” perceptions pushing people out of the role, or the feeling of not being able to strongly influence what’s happening, etc. As a support main, I’m not in agreement with those ideas, but I definitely recognize they’re out there

Regardless, the dungeon-finder approach relies upon the idea of forcing a single ranked-style meta. And even though a ton of players do play the bruiser-top, mage-mid, carry/support bottom, jungle layout, there’s successful strategies that rely on assassins mid, jungle-mages, carry/support top, etc. I think a decent amount of players wouldn’t be down with a queue that only allows for one team layout.

I don’t actually like the “WoW Dungeon Finder” solution. When I queue up for ranked, I normally don’t have a preference for what I play. If we need a top this particular game, I’ll play top with no problems. If the next game someone calls top, mid, and jungler, I’ll gladly play ADC and do just as fine as I did top lane. I don’t want to be forced into deciding what role I’m going to play before I even find a game.

davin: This is definitely something to be cognizant of with any solution that is role/lane/champ pre-call based. There’s a decently-sized chunk of players who are happy to do whatever the team needs. Reactive picking is also a core component of the game when it comes to Draft Pick.

The “Prisoner Island” System

The truth is, there are some people who like to play in a more toxic environment where verbal abuse is the norm. It might be useful for those people to play against eachother. However, it presents a few problems – do you have parallel ladders? What if you want to duo queue with a non-toxic player? And, despite that, there still is almost nobody who actively wants to team with trolls/AFKers/etc. Not even the ragers/flamers. So I’m not sure how this is terribly different than banning them.

-Burgle

Lyte: This is one of the first discussions I’ve had on Prisoner’s Island where a player talks about the complexities of the system and how it would work with things like Ranked–these are great points.

I agree with you, Prisoner’s Island has some unique concerns. Does it make sense to have a global Ranked ladder if you can game the ladder and who you play with by behaving a certain way? This is also why the idea of the matchmaker using “Ignore” or “Mute” information to never match you with certain players has red flags–these types of features provide subtle ways for players to abuse the matchmaker to create matches that are more favorable in a competitive environment liked Ranked queues.

It would be difficult to implement Prisoner’s Island for Ranked Queues. But, I also believe it would be a poor player experience for Normal Queues as well.

RL context isn’t an excuse for players to behave negatively or in a toxic way; however, RL context is an important variable that designers need to consider when designing a game because RL context can influence how players play the game.

The question is, “Is it possible to design a game feature that reduces the impact of RL context?”

What if everyone could ban champions?

Lyte: Hm, this is a neat idea. I’d have to spend more time thinking it through, but this would diffuse responsibility instead of the entire team hinging heavily on how the Captain structures the draft. Because every team member has a voice in the draft, it might encourage players to feel more invested into their team composition.

Lots to consider with this idea.

Summary:

Riot has acknowledged the need for change in Champion Select and the community proposals are many and varied. Considering how many factors must be taken into account: player anxiety, real life issues, toxic behaviour, queue-dodging, etc. The solution probably lies in the middle of all the ideas mentioned.

Vote Kicking is a strong mechanism against single negative summoners, but can easily be abused to bully people or force a queue dodge.

A WoW Dungeon-finder system will alleviate some of the issues players have with conflicting lane and role interests, but will further streamline the game into the current metagame.

“The Prisoner Island” System focuses on condemning toxic players to a queue of their own, though this will only exacerbate the problem with negative attitudes, as it will in no way improve community relationships.

It’s important that players aren’t being forced into making defined choices in champion select just for the sake of reducing toxicity during that time. Therefore, presenting Win/Loss Ratios, player templates or preferable roles will likely not see popularity within the development team. However, some sort of specialization should be considered, as League of Legends is, above all, a team game and if everyone knows their job then cooperation can be more easily achieved.

Champion Select is a complex system on its own. So how can we make positive communication more appealing? By emphasizing on the team’s goal! You’re all in this together, so no one should be above the other in terms of decision-making. Giving everyone the right to ban one champion, or presenting the player’s best role in a way that doesn’t force him/her into a particular lane or champion pick, will go a long way towards improving the game experience as a whole!

Hopefully we see the results of this thread grow into a satisfying system in the near future!

As always, I would like to urge you to take part in these discussions! Riot values your opinion, if written in a constructive manner.

Have you been stacking Warmogs in Season 3? Don’t worry, so has everyone! Let’s see what Xypherous has to say about the changes to resistances in Season 3!

I’m actually a fan of health being the primary defensive stat – mostly because health has severely intrinsic features that resistances don’t, that lets it be more easily controlled.

For example:

1. Health doesn’t reduce the effectiveness of lifesteal type effects – or the secondary effects of an opponent’s abilities.

2. Raw health isn’t multiplicative with other healing or regeneration effects – allowing it to be effective without drastically multiplying in value with other effects (self heals, shields and the like.)

3. Health is a more obvious indicator of high durability than resistances – just due to how basic UIs work.

4. Because of high health per level gains, the relative effectiveness of health is far more temporary than resistances – This is just a natural fallout of our stat per level gains, not an intrinsic advantage of health.

For example, let’s take the following case here:

You have a Bruiser with 1000 health, 300 armor fighting an AD carry, versus a Bruiser with 2000 Health and 100 armor.

1. % Armor Penetration is more effective in the first case than the second as % armor penetration values go up – values start to skew drastically as % armor penetration goes beyond ~20% or so, relatively neutral for low values of % armor penetration.
2. However, Life Steal – is far more effective in the second case – whereas it is completely destroyed in the first case.
3. The Bruiser’s life steal / shield statistics are also neutral in the second case – whereas they are multiplied in the first case.

Thus, the AD carry or any damage dealer actually has multiple paths to deal with a high health target than they did – because the other defensive aspects of the bruisers *aren’t* being multiplied or their own secondary defensive statistic (lifesteal) isn’t being diminished as well.

The flip side of this is that Flat Armor Penetration, the primary statistic of assassins, can be weaker and still be as effective versus Bruisers because of their ability to negate a far larger portion of armor.

Naturally, this has the flipside of making certain resistance focused tanks weaker – but that’s something I feel like we should solve on resistance based tanks. So please, if there’s a particular resistance based tank that feels weak, let us know.

Let’s take another example, in lane:

Let’s say I’m fighting a primary physical damage dealer, whose probably itemized some sort of flat penetration. I have something like 800 health and 50 armor. How much gold do I need to spend to double my life-span?

1. Well, I could buy 800 health and have another 1200 effective health! Success!
2. Or I build 150 armor and have another 1200 effective health!

However, let’s take a look at how things change when the game continues – as the game continues, the relative contribution of that armor to my health levels doesn’t decay mostly because our game awards much more health per level than armor per level. In fact, by the time I’m level 8 or so, I’ll probably have 1200 base health – and thus that 800 health is only increasing my effective at a lower ratio.

However, that 150 armor advantage is “still there”.

Note this isn’t an intrinsic advantage of health versus armor – just a side effect of how we award stats per level – but it does mean that the relative advantage of health in this case is temporary – rather than one that persists through the game.

Interesting forum quotes:

About Warmog Stacking*:

Xyph, can you tell us what you plan to do about the warmogs spam currently?

Xyph*: Not actually certain it’s as big of a problem as the current environment thinks it is. Warmog’s isn’t really efficient in terms of gaining raw health per gold if you do the math on it. Buying any combination of ruby crystal items, for example, will net you more health than gold than buying Warmog’s.

Why Armor feels underwhelming*:

I mean it seems pretty much any champion that’s relevant has a pen/shred function or scales off health. Whether it be Xin, J4, Darius, Olaf, etc. Yes, health feels better to buy, but that’s primarily due to resistances feeling less so.

Xyph*: I totally agree with you – it became more and more obvious to me that armor was too cheap when we started throwing armor shred on basically everyone that wasn’t a carry because none of them could scale to late game when people built optimally.
Like, Darius, who deals 3 types of damage, phys/magic/true also has 25% armor shred because he didn’t do enough damage late game. Like what? That to me was the warning sign of ‘hey, there’s probably something deeper rooted that’s wrong.’

Burst Mages vs Health Stacking*:

Well, my thought on the prevailance of Health is that (seems to, anyway) hurts mages more than anyone, especially burst mages. A lot of the time you can’t keep up with the rate at which everyone is buying health, and once you blow your combo to not much effect, you’re a sitting duck (the inherent problem with burst mages, it’s true, but at least with resistances you could buy some magic pen. Health penetration not so much).

Xyph*: Yes, burst mages do get hit when health becomes the dominant statistic – mostly because, it turns out that health is a pretty good substitute for magic resistance when the going gets rough.
There’s various implications of that – but that’s why you see things like Liandry or DFG existing. We’re doing an AP pass next patch to help mages out – and after that we can start looking at specific characters if they still feel weak.

Armor shred on Champion Kits*:

Then couldn’t the likely culprit be the residual effects of S2 balance work transitioning into S3 ? Just throwing out some food for thought, that all the items may indeed be balanced but certain champion kits make them stronger than intended (namely those with high arm pen/shred as well as those who scale off health to a lesser degree)

Xyph*: Some of it is probably some residual effects from S2 balance, I definitely agree. We’ll be looking at that when we get the chance. I think we can convert some of the % shred on some characters to flat shreds, for example.
Somewhere, in my unspoken secret dreams, I’d like to rip Kayle’s passive off and give her her old one back.

Rammus in Season 3*:

So what are your plans for champions like Rammus? His passive is completely based around buying armor, which you nerfed 2-fold through cost and effectiveness……..I remember you quoting something like “burning 1 champion to save a hundred” in a Heimer thread, it just seem like this is your go-to philosophy way too much and in the ends turns out to be maybe a dozen or so champions getting burned.

Xyph*: Rammus’ problems I think stem from Jungle changes more than anything else. It’s pretty hard to tell with him specifically. The increased health itemization should have helped him be generally tankier.
Rammus isn’t really a resistance based character. Skarner, while he’s not a tank, is a far better example of a resistance based character – because almost everything he is depends on that shield. Udyr is similar.
Typically, strong repeatable shield champions or champions with shields at their core are resistance based characters, because their health pool is actually several times larger than it seems.

Deathfire’s Grasp in Season 3*:

On the subject of DFG, morello mentioned that if he could take it out of the game completely, he would (this was before the S3 rework). Do you agree with him on that?

Xyph*: I disagree with that – but I mean, sometimes late at night, I think I’ve actually gutted DFG. It used to be a 50% current health nuke. Now it’s merely 15% max health. I’m not actually sure whether the new DFG in any way, shape or form resembles the power / scope that the old DFG had.

Giant’s Belt, Item diversity*: 

What do you think of the versatility of giant’s belt? It builds into warmogs, mallet, randuins, sunfire, rylai’s, there really is no reason not to get it. You can’t go wrong because it’s a cheap way to make yourself immovable in lane until you farm up whatever you want while also having no risk associated with it. You can’t build it “wrong” because it can evolve to fill any role.

Xyph*: The strength of the various health components are actually on our radar – I agree with you that it’s probably too safe of an item when unfinished right now. It’s something we’re going to address next patch and then take another look at afterwards to see if it needs further work.

Reducing enemy’s Attack Speed:

Because tanks literally have a cap with what we can diminish from a carry 20-40% attack speed. SO why do carries get to counter half of our gear and tanks just get items to mitigate Berzerker Greaves?

Xyph*: It’s actually multiplicatively reducing. The attack speed slows that you get lower their total attack speed by a percentage. Which means that a combination of Randuin’s + Frozen heart will lower opposing carry DPS by 40% if you’re being attacked.

Tower diving with early Warmog’s:

What is the best way to siege a tower in a 5v5 situation? Assuming it is still early into the game, you only have about 3-4k worth of gold to work with. Your team is already ahead of the other team by about 500 gold a player because of the global pressure. You could buy 1500 gold worth of armor and another 1500 worth of mr, OR you could just buy warmogs and have innate sustain with tower diving health. Now when you get into that first 5v5 situation at about 10-15 minutes (AGES earlier than it used to be), you can use the lead you have and effectively dive tower.

Xyph*: Somewhat agree with the tower diving case. Recall in season 2, we tuned towers to have less damage but more armor penetration to stop tower diving. With the re-evaluation of armor and health availability, this is why I’ve said that we probably need to go back and re-evaluate this particular ratio.

Mages vs AD Assassins in Season 3:

You can already see this, with AD casters displacing AP mids. When you can have an AD burst caster and an AP burst caster, you just pick the better one! It used to be the case that you needed one or the other, but now they are in direct competition and you just pick the better champion and ignore the other.

Xyph*: AD Casters displace AP mids because the AD Caster versus AP mid matchup is so lopsided in favor of AD Casters because the AP caster has no strategic itemization path to build. They are forced to take true damage for the entire laning phase.

Void Staff and Last Whisper, Balance Issues*:

The biggest problem is that LW/VS are still core items that are fantastic for damage, and are *NOT* being used as counters to armor/MR. They’re being used just willy nilly because they’re so overpowered right now.

Xyph*: Yeah – it’s something that has been running through my head for a while but I’m not sure. Depending on my AD scaling versus base damage ratios – LW/VS may be the only damage add that I have in a lot of cases – aka Mordekaiser syndrome.

 What do you guys think about the changes to resistances in Season 3? Share in the comments below!

Good luck on the Fields of Justice!