PBE Balance Update, Rioters Discuss Victor and Sion, TPA Skins Available, Upcoming Summoner Name Change Discount and More!
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 1st, 2013 or any account level 10 or below that hasn’t played since January 1st, 2012. To keep those accounts’ names, you’ll have to log on and play at least one game between now and Sunday, May 12th, 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 26th, 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!
