Hey, is this thing on? *taps mic* Anyone still alive after the chonk of last patch?
So here we are, the preseason aftermath! We bring to you a series of changes that are overwhelmingly heavy on items as we feel out the changes in the new ecosystem. Long story short: AP Mythics are strong across the board, while other items needed a bit more power to fulfill their role. So come along for the ride as we drive down the overperforming and rev up the underwhelming. You know the drill.
More out of the ordinary are two new Behavioral Systems updates to mitigate the blow of disconnected players or AFKs, and a little glitzy glammy for two Void buddies!
And one more thing, we also want to encourage you to revisit the 10.23 patch notes after reading through this one, as we had a LOT of updates and bugfixes since the patch first went live. So if you feel like that really crazy bug that a developer said would be fixed is missing here, it's probably documented over there.
Amumu's been the clear winner of preseason, with many item changes synergizing extremely well with his kit. 10.24's initial nerfs weren't enough to bring him back in line so we've got another round.
Cosmic Flight Anivia, Cosmic Charger Hecarim, Cosmic Invoker Illaoi, Cosmic Destiny Nami, Cosmic Huntress Nidalee, Cosmic Sting Skarner, Cosmic Hunter Varus, Cosmic Devourer Vladimir, Dark Cosmic Lissandra, and Star Guardian Soraka Prestige Edition will be available on November 24th, 2020.
The new items and systems have pushed Amumu from strong to overwhelming. We’re pulling back some of his damage over time, which has particularly benefited from the item update.
W - Despair
BASE DAMAGE OVER TIME DAMAGE :[5/7.5/10/12.5/15]⇒ 4/6/8/10/12
DAMAGE RATIO :[0.5% AP per 100 AP (every half second)]⇒ 0.25% AP per 100 AP (every half second)
BUGFIX : Damage no longer occasionally fires at a slightly increased pace
Hecarim Passive bonus movement speed to bonus damage conversion decreased. E bonus movement speed decreased later and bugfixed.
The new items give Hecarim a bit too much extra pep in his… gallop? So we’re pulling the reins on his Devastating Charge as well as the AD he gains from running fast.
Passive - Warpath
BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED TO BONUS AD CONVERSION :[15-30% (level 1/3/6/9/12/15/18)]⇒ 12-24% (level 1/3/6/9/12/15/18)
E - Devastating Charge
BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED :[25-85% (based on time active)]⇒ 25-75% (based on time active)
BUGFIX : Hecarim no longer gains more than 25% movement speed immediately after casting E - Devastating Charge
Kalista Q Rend transfer bugfixed. E damage ratio bugfixed.
Reverting accidental nerfs to Kalista that was shipped in 10.23.
Q - Pierce
REND TRANSFER BUGFIX : Fixed a bug where killing a target with Pierce did not transfer all of that target's Rend stacks to the next target it hits
E - Rend
DAMAGE RATIO BUGFIX : Kalista’s Rend now correctly scales with 60% of her AD. Each additional spear now scales with 19.8/23.748/27.498/31.248/34.998% of her AD
We’re partially walking back the change to Kayle’s passive from patch 10.23 to lower her whacking stacking.
Passive - Divine Ascent
BONUS ATTACK SPEED :[2% per 100 ability power]⇒ 1% per 100 ability power
Samira Passive melee blade bonus damage ratio decreased; dash range against immobilized enemies decreased.
With more items that grant both lifesteal and crit at her disposal, Samira poses a menacing threat in lane, even when being actively zoned out. We’re nerfing her all-in potential so that she has to think twice before charging in, gun (and blade) blazing.
Passive - Daredevil Impulse
MELEE BLADE DAMAGE RATIO :[10% AD]⇒ 7.5% AD
DASH RANGE AGAINST IMMOBILIZED ENEMY :[800/850/900/950/1000 (level 1/4/8/12/16)]⇒ 650/725/800/875/950 (level 1/4/8/12/16)
Tryndamere Q bonus AD increased; bonus AD per 1% missing health increased.
Tryndamere is critting less often and for less damage, so we’re amping up his damage.
Q - Bloodlust
BONUS AD :[5/10/15/20/25]⇒ 10/15/20/25/30
BONUS AD PER 1% MISSING HEALTH :[0.15/0.2/0.25/0.3/0.35]⇒ 0.15/0.25/0.35/0.45/0.55
Varus Q Blight detonation cooldown reduction removed; damage from Blight effects detonated with Q are now increased by the amount of time Varus charges it for, up to 50%; Q now shows crit text when fully charged. W bonus damage reduced; detonating a Blight stack on enemy champions and Epic Monsters now reduces all basic cooldowns by 12% of the max cooldown per stack. R now snaps Varus to face the target direction on start of cast; missile speed reduced.
As a consistent high-priority pick in Pro play, Varus’ tuning has often left players feeling unsatisfied. To bring him back with vengeance, we’re shifting power away from elements that are typically strong in Pro play—such as reliable CC and lane bullying—and back into Varus’ unique playstyle of charged arrows and spellweaving.
Q - Piercing Arrow
BLIGHT COOLDOWN REDUCTION Cooldown is no longer reduced by 3 seconds if Piercing Arrow detonates on a Blighted enemy
BOW UP Damage from Blight effects detonated with Piercing Arrow are now increased by the amount of time Varus charges it for up to 50%, in addition to increasing Piercing Arrow’s damage for up to 50%
VFX Piercing Arrow will now show crit text when fully charged
W - Blighted Quiver
BONUS DAMAGE :[7/10.5/14/17.5/21]⇒ 7/8/9/10/11
BOW DOWN Detonating a Blight stack on enemy champions and Epic Monsters now reduces all basic cooldowns by 12% of the max cooldown per stack
Q - Piercing Arrow
SNAPBACK Varus now snaps to face the target direction on start of cast
MISSILE SPEED :[1950]⇒ 1500
Yasuo Passive crit doubling now takes place after Rageblade's on-hit calculations.
Yasuo's doubled crit chance was so powerful with Rageblade, the only correct choice was to build it first in every situation. This change addresses that excessive synergy. For full transparency: Given the interactions (like this one) we've run into so far, we're currently targeting next patch for a change that'll cause Rageblade to remove crit chance from users rather than just prevent crits. If you were wondering whether you'd have to learn the Rageblade playstyle to keep playing Yasuo in preseason, the answer is no.
Passive - Way of the Wanderer
ORDER OF OPERATIONS : Way of the Wanderer's crit-related effects now wait to activate until any other effects that care about crit have been taken care of. This primarily means crit chance is no longer doubled before Guinsoo's Rageblade calculates its on-hit damage.
Yone Passive crit doubling now takes place after Rageblade's on-hit calculations.
Same context applies here as Yasuo above!
Passive - Way of the Hunter
ORDER OF OPERATIONS : Way of the Hunter's crit-related effects now wait to activate until any other effects that care about crit have been taken care of. This primarily means crit chance is no longer doubled before Guinsoo's Rageblade calculates its on-hit damage.
Blade of the Ruined King is overperforming compared to the other Legendaries it competes with. Dropping its power to make it look more in line with the others.
We’re opening jungle sustain back up for AoE casters who have been struggling with the recent changes. This comes with a small knock to the number overall, since most junglers are equipped with some form of AoE that will benefit.
The AoE allowance only applies specifically to Emberknife and Hailblade.
Liandry's is too strong, especially for mages that can consistently apply its damage over time effects. We’re reducing AP ratio scaling to pull back some late game power
Luden's Tempest is granting too much movement speed to champions whose mobility is meant to be a weakness. Reining in the fast and a bit of the furious by lowering its burst damage.
BUGFIX : Fully fixed an issue where Moonstone Renewer was not renewing if the ally is in champion combat, but the owner is not
STARLIT GRACE HEAL :[30-60 (ally levels 1-18), increased by 37.5% each second spent in combat with champions (maximum 150%)]⇒ 60-90 (ally levels 1-18), increased by 25% each second spent in combat with champions (maximum 100%)
Nashor's gives a combination of damage and a bevy of stats, which has made the item a little too strong for users that can utilize both. We’re bringing its on-hit damage more in line.
Phantom Dancer generally underperforms, especially early on. We’re putting it on discount and throwing in a utility boost to make it a more appealing early pick-up.
Although Fang is a strong item, it hasn’t seen much action, so we’re increasing its damage to solidify it as a powerful situational choice for assassins.
Tear users have taken a hit from both the new item system and the new Tear stacking. We’re increasing the rate Tear stacks to lessen its weakness. Items building from Tear have had their mana values adjusted as a result.
Midlaners hold a significant amount of power across all levels of play. We think pulling a small amount of power out of this lane during early and mid-game will keep things in check, while also nerfing heavy roamers. Of note, these changes went out in patch 10.23, but were missed in the documentation—so if you’ve been counting, you’re not crazy.
Midlane Cannon Minions now give 10 less gold
Midlane Cannon Minions now gain 30% increased attack speed against towers
As we wrap up the year, we've also wrapped up the Early Surrender and LP Consolation projects we mentioned in September, which are now ready for feedback! We've implemented the following:
If there is an AFK player detected on your team after the 10-minute mark, a surrender vote can occur. For now, this change will only apply to Summoner's Rift and the vote must be unanimous. If the vote isn’t unanimous, at the 15-minute mark the team can vote again, now only needing a majority vote.
If a player on your team leaves during a ranked match or is detected as AFK, your LP loss may be reduced. Premades with a disconnect/AFK, provisional players, and players in promotion series will not receive this loss reduction.
We’re continuing to iterate on the Item Shop based on the feedback you’ve given us. As a part of that work, we're also updating over 60 icons to improve silhouette read, differentiate colors, reduce noise, and improve rendering quality. We hear and agree with the feedback that many of these icons are too difficult to identify quickly and are working towards cleaner, clearer icons. Thanks again for all your feedback!
Updates to over 60 item icons
Stomped a ton of bugs in the shop. Our shoes are now disgusting.
The font size of the shop’s gold display has been embiggened
Future’s Market now displays your debt limit in the shop.
Recommended item card titles are now bolder
Fixed a bug where the tags in recommended item cards had too much padding. We took them to the gym.
When there is only one or two actual recommendations, no empty item cards will appear in the shop
Fixed purchase button hover and clicked states
Player chat will now display behind the item shop until you decide to open it
Many many fixes to items appearing (or not appearing) in the correct tabs and filter groups
Selected items in the shop will now have sweet looking magic surrounding them
Darkened the borders of items you can’t afford to better differentiate them from the ones you can (more coming here soon)
Made it easier to determine when a recommended item is not affordable
While the shop is opened, you can now open the extended stats panel
We’ve got another VFX update for you in this patch! It’s time for everyone’s favourite Void bug to skitter into the spotlight: Kha’Zix! And continuing down our Void friends, we’ve got some ear candy (SFX changes) for the Void’s eye…
Once again, our goals for these sorts of smaller updates is to improve the overall gameplay clarity of VFX and SFX whilst bringing them up to modern League of Legends standards. This means that our efforts are primarily aimed at abilities which do not clearly communicate their hitbox.
Q - PLASMA FISSION : Hit sound no longer plays twice when the Q hits an enemy for the first time before splitting on base and all skins.
BATTLECAST VEL’KOZ : Dance sound effects now loop correctly. Restored the sound that plays while the Q plasma bolt travels after splitting has been restored.
ARCLIGHT VEL’KOZ : Dance sound effects now loop correctly. Restored the sound that plays when an enemy has been hit by the W detonate.
INFERNAL VEL’KOZ : Vel'Koz will now play metal sounds when hit instead of flesh sounds. Restored respawn sound effects. Restored the sound that plays when a second stack of his passive is applied to enemy champions.
LEAGUE CLIENT: We have made improvements to the Champion Select grid, providing a smoother and more reliable experience. It'll take less time to ban and lock in champions, and animations will feel smoother.
LEAGUE CLIENT: The Reconnect button should no longer display after a match has completed. Players should now experience the appropriate end-of-game process.
LEAGUE CLIENT: When the minimum resolution for the client is selected, Summoner Spell descriptions should not longer be blocked
LEAGUE CLIENT: Skin chromas no longer show the incorrect champion
LEAGUE CLIENT: The “This skin is currently not available to purchase” tooltip should no longer appear when entering Champion Select
The player chat has been updated to the new UI tech we’re using in the shop (and other places). It may look a little different, but it still has the same good heart
If Lissandra uses R - Frozen Tomb after using the Hextech Rocketbelt, she no longer gains an increased amount of healing
Moving around Stridebreaker to a new item box location no longer refreshes its cooldown
Silvermere Dawn no longer increases movement speed and its tooltip now reflects as such
Guinsoo's Rageblade no longer deals damage to turrets
Presence of Mind's mana regen bonus no longer resets every time the champion attacks an enemy champion
Resistance Yorick's R - Eulogy of the Isles's Maiden of the Mist will no longer automatically move above him when he recalls
The champion using Shurelya's Battlesong to buff an ally that receives a kill now properly receives assist credit
Yone can no longer critically strike with Guinsoo's Rageblade when he uses his third Q - Mortal Steel attack in melee range
Divine Sunderer's passive damage no longer works against turrets
Zoe's E2 - Sleepy Trouble Bubble and Vel'Koz's Q2 - Plasma Fission now properly proc Horizon Focus
Activating Turbo Chemtank when moving towards a first-tier turret with plates and out-of-vision no longer gives bonus movement speed
Players can no longer one-hit kill jungle creep (including the Drakes) through a series of steps involving Smite
Projectiles from Hextech Rocketbelt's Supersonic no longer goes through champion-created terrain
Fixed Hextech Rocketbelt's, Galeforce's, and Stridebreaker's tooltips to indicate that their dashes cannot pass through terrain
Tear of the Goddess' mana charge no longer triggers off abilities used on Gangplank's barrels
Fizz's W - Seastone Trident can no longer trigger Tear of the Goddess' mana charge twice
Ornn no longer causes crashes when picked in Intro Co-Op vs. AI games
Tricia "Mom Cat" Tan
Hanna "shio shoujo" Woo
Cosmic Flight Anivia
Cosmic Charger Hecarim
Cosmic Invoker Illaoi
Cosmic Destiny Nami
Cosmic Huntress Nidalee
Cosmic Sting Skarner
Cosmic Hunter Varus
Cosmic Devourer Vladimir
Dark Cosmic Lissandra
Star Guardian Soraka Prestige Edition
Cosmic Sting Skarner
Cosmic Flight Anivia
Cosmic Hunter Varus
Cosmic Destiny Nami
Cosmic Charger Hecarim
Cosmic Devourer Vladimir
Dark Cosmic Lissandra
Cosmic Huntress Nidalee
Cosmic Invoker Illaoi
