Preseason Balance Update 1

Earlier today Morello posted up this new set of patch notes which entails the following:

Nerfs: Cho'Gath, Diana, Rengar, Teemo, Zyra, Brutalizer, Black Cleaver, Youmuu's Ghostblade
Buffs: Elise, Fiora, Master Yi
Visual Upgrade: Nidalee

Hey guys,

I wanted to take a moment and fill you in on our reasoning behind today’s balance update.

This patch was mostly focused on champion balance and dealing with the biggest hot-button issues. We want people to explore and experiment as much as possible (allowing us to gather feedback over a longer period of time), but we need to make sure the game isn’t damaged by one or two crazy options!

Black Cleaver is probably the biggest culprit here, as are a few champions (namely Teemo, Zyra, Rengar and Diana). We’ve done some balance work to ensure the game doesn’t come down to a few godlike picks, and to ensure that one item doesn’t trump all other itemization efforts. Many of you have pointed out that these are the obvious things to hit, and we agree. We think the latest changes will leave these champions and items viable while keeping them from invalidating other choices.

Some of you may have expected more sweeping changes, especially to items and the jungle. We want to avoid any knee-jerk reactions and give you guys more time to really dig into the substantial preseason modifications. Some of the issues (especially the jungle) are more complicated, so we’d rather avoid giving everyone balance whiplash by waiting a bit longer and ensuring any changes are accurate and effective. We’re still listening to your feedback, and we’re looking critically at all this, even if we don’t change everything in every patch.

League of Legends v1.0.0.153

Cho'Gath

• Carnivore health restore adjusted to 20-71 from 34-68

Diana

• Crescent Strike
  • Base damage reduced to 60/95/130/165/200 from 70/110/150/190/230
• Pale Cascade
  • Orb detonation damage radius reduced
  • Adjusted orb hit box to better match the visual effect
• Moonfall
  • Maximum pull distance reduced
• Lunar Rush
  • Cast range reduced to 750 from 900

Elise

• Volatile Spiderling
  • Fixed a bug where Volatile Spiderlings were only lasting for 2.5 seconds, rather than the intended 3 seconds
• Skittering Frenzy
  • Now immediately starts Elise attacking at her faster attack speed, rather than waiting until her next attack starts

Fiora

• Blade Waltz
  • The cooldown and manacost are refunded if Fiora is suppressed while casting Blade Waltz before it has started to have any effect

Master Yi

• Alpha Strike
  • Initial cast time reduced
  • Chance to deal bonus minion damage adjusted to 50% at all ranks from 20/30/40/50/60%
  • Bonus minion damage adjusted to 260/320/380/440/500 from 400 at all ranks
• Meditate
  • Reduced the startup time before channeling
• Wuju Style
  • Cooldown reduced at later ranks to 25/23/21/19/17 seconds from 25 seconds at all ranks

Nidalee

• Nidalee and all her skins are looking stunningly stylish after receiving a complete Visual Upgrade this patch. For more details, read the original announcement or check out Nidalee's Champion Spotlight.

Rengar

• Battle Roar
  • Base damage reduced to 50/80/110/140/170 from 60/100/140/180/220
  • Heal reduced to 10% from 15%
• Thrill of the Hunt
  • Fade time increased to 1.25 from .75 seconds
  • Now has fade pushback time (1 second per hit, up to 3 seconds)

Teemo

• Toxic Shot
  • Ability Power ratio on impact reduced to 0.3 from 0.4
• Noxious Trap
  • Damage reduced at later ranks to 200/325/450 from 200/400/600
  • Fixed: Tooltip now indicates the correct cooldown

Zyra

• Rise of the Thorns
  • Damage reduced to 100-440 from 124-549
  • Missile Speed reduced to 1900 from 2200
  • Missile Width reduced to 70 from 90
• Grasping Roots
  • Missile Speed reduced to 1150 from 1325
• Vine Lasher
  • Fixed a bug where the plant was sometimes slowing by more than 30%

Items

• Aegis of the Legion/Runic Bulwark
  • Fixed a bug where the Legion Aura from both items was stacking on teams
• Blackfire Torch
  • Fixed a tooltip inconsistency with the cooldown reduction value
• Brutalizer
  • Flat Armor Penetration reduced to 10 from 15
• Spirit Visage
  • Fixed a bug where the item was healing for less than intended
• The Black Cleaver
  • Armor Reduction per stack reduced to 6.25% from 7.5% (Maximum reduction is now 25% from 30%)
  • Flat Armor Penetration reduced to 10 from 15 and is now UNIQUE
• Youmuu’s Ghostblade
  • Flat Armor Penetration is now UNIQUE

Summoner Spells

• Smite damage increased to 490-1000 from 445-870

Twisted Treeline

• Changed altar capture mechanics
  • Taking damage while capturing an altar will now cancel the capture and prevent capturing for 2 seconds
  • Capture interruptions will be denoted by a shiny particle

Crystal Scar

• Tweaked global aura
  • Armor penetration removed
  • Magic penetration removed
  • Energy champions now receive 2 bonus energy per second
  • Fury champions now benefit from the aura
    • Tryndamere receives 33% bonus Fury for attacks, critical strikes, and kills
    • Renekton receives 33% bonus Fury for attacks
    • Shyvana receives 25% bonus Fury for attacks
  • Healing reduction now only affects self-heals and regeneration
• Reduced ranged minion base magic resistance by 5
• Reduced super melee minion base magic resistance by 15

Crystal Scar and Proving Grounds

• Health Relics will now grant Fury
  • Tryndamere receives 10 Fury
  • Renekton receives 20 Fury
  • Shyvana receives 6 Fury

Summoner Name Changes

• Several million inactive summoner names in NA, EUW and EUNE have been made available for purchase
• Summoner name changes are 650 RP (50% off) in the Other tab of the Store until December 26

Ward Skins

• Two Snowdown Showdown ward skins can be placed in-game for free during the holiday
• The ward skins can be activated and deactivated in the Ward Skins tab in the Store
• The ward skins will be removed from all accounts at the end of Snowdown Showdown

Gift Center

• The Gift Center will be accessible in the Store through December 26
• Players may purchase RP, champions and skins for summoners that were on their friends list in early December
• Only new purchases can be gifted – not pre-owned content or RP
• There are several additional restrictions on gifting, including:
  • Only Level 20+ summoners can send gifts
  • Only Level 10+ summoners can receive gifts
  • Summoners with active bans cannot send gifts
  • Rioters are ineligible to send gifts
  • A maximum of 3 RP gifts and 3 gifts of other types can be sent per day
  • A maximum of 15,000 RP can be gifted per day
  • Payment information must be re-entered for each RP gift

General

• Consumable items now display a stack count in the scoreboard
• Fixed a bug where Honor animations would sometimes play more than once for users that have already unlocked the crest
• Fixed a rare bug where the incorrect Honor animation would play for users with a lot of Honor
• Friend Notes
  • You can now add and edit notes about your friends by right-clicking their name or clicking on the note icon that appears when you hover over their name. You may view friend notes by hovering over the note icon that appears once you have saved a note for that friend. Friend notes are tied to your account and can be accessed anywhere you log into League of Legends
• Changes have been made to the scoreboard to improve readability
• Adjustments have been made to the in-game chat box font size
• Fixed a bug that caused the game to crash when closing the shop while the scoreboard was open