Boards›Dev Corner

Pre-Worlds Early Game Update

RiotScarizard·7/20/2016, 7:19:51 PM·1 votes·177,001 views

Hey folks,

As we get closer to Worlds, we’re looking to make some key changes to the state of pro play. One particular area of focus is the unopposed laneswap meta of the previous patches.

Laneswapping, while difficult to do successfully, is starting to feel pretty formulaic with few strategic tradeoffs. As it’s become more prevalent and teams do it more efficiently, it’s led to passive turret trading and less direct early conflict. When laneswapping becomes a default opener, it creates a non-interactive early game with. We’ll be making some changes in the upcoming patch to address this.

At a high level: we’re adding factors that heighten the risk of laneswaps. Our goal is not to eliminate laneswapping but to make it a strategic choice with actual tradeoffs.

For reference, here are the changes:

First, incentivize attacking and defending turrets. The first turret taken now grants a ‘First Blood’ reward, but turrets are now better at defending their allied champions.

  • New: "Turret First Blood" gold: +275 local, +25 global (400 total gold across the team)
  • New: Turret AI has been updated, and are better at defending allied champions (coming in 6.16)

Second, target a lane that’s ideal for fast push strategies. Bot lane’s outer turret defenses are no longer identical to the other lanes, and cannon minion spawns now rotate between lanes.

Fortification (temporary damage reduction buff on turrets) changed

  • Duration: 7 minutes -> 5 minutes
  • Damage reduction: 35% -> 50%
  • Fortification removed from bot lane turrets (we’re investigating a more nuanced approach to this)
  • Outer turret HP: 3300 -> 3500

Cannon minions now spawn differently

  • Each team gets one cannon minion per wave, rotating lanes.
  • Specifically, Bot gets a cannon minion in lane at wave 3, Mid at wave 4, and Top at wave 5. This then repeats.
  • Post-20 minutes, Mid has a cannon in wave 40 then both Bot and Top get one in wave 41. This then repeats.
  • Post-35 minutes, all lanes have cannons in each wave.

We know the timing’s not great and ideally this would have landed sooner to give teams time before playoffs to adjust. With that said, we think it’s important for the state of the game and something worth implementing now versus waiting until the offseason. We also want teams to qualify for Worlds in the same general meta that they’ll be playing in this October, meaning now’s our only chance to make these changes. While we’re be iterating over the patches to come, these are the last **major **changes coming to the game before Worlds.

294 Comments

Shadòw7/20/2016, 7:20:40 PM38 votes

#BRINGBACKSOLOQ

Aeszarck7/20/2016, 7:26:10 PM25 votes

Whoa, this is interesting. I'm not really in the know about laneswapping, so how will changing bottom lane's turrets make laneswapping less attractive?

Linna Excel7/20/2016, 7:23:29 PM21 votes

So basically 99.9% of the players have to deal with these changes because LCS?

At this point I have to ask, why not just have a separate rule set (and maybe even balances) for LCS play?

RagnaDaddy 7/20/2016, 9:12:57 PM13 votes

As a diamond jungle main, I feel like your making the game even more linear for me. I already have no incentive to jungle the top side of my jungle since the meta is so dragon centric, and rift herald is more of an after thought. Now that bot lane tower is going to be focused so heavily, I feel like I have absolutely zero incentive to play around the top side of the map until Barron spawns. If you must make these changes, may I suggest you switch dragon pit to topside, and herald to botside? That way there is at least some sort of counterplay?

Vistha Kai7/23/2016, 10:11:31 AM8 votes

Because objectives are shit, Riot has to force asymmetrical crap like one sidelane tower weaker than the other (Season 4 anybody?), just to shift players into the Riot's "intended" playstyle.

Great game design.

Not.

Sailor Mint7/20/2016, 8:11:10 PM7 votes

Doesn't the cannon change effectively mean that top lane needs to stay in lane a full extra minute to be able to match current gold income from cannon minions (or at the very least match the recall timing)?

mSticky7/23/2016, 1:46:57 AM7 votes

I SERIOUSLY think that Riot is missing the big picture behind the lane swaps.

Players are lane swapping because the early game objectives suck. They're not worth fighting over compared to safe gold and map control. Riot is trying to cover this issue by adding MORE early objectives (specifically, the bot lane turrets) into the game, but this is just clumsy design that doesn't address the core problem. Riot reinvented the laning meta with their objective changes, but when players adapted, they disliked the result and are now forcing the old meta through contrived means. I'm disappointed.

In classic LoL, the point of sending two players bot lane was so your team could contest Dragon and get early team gold. The moment Dragon became an "arbitrary buff" creature that could be ignored, lane swapping became a viable strategy. Now, with Elemental Dragons, the once-formulaic arbitrary buffs are now RNG based and less consistent, making lane swapping even more lucrative. Ironically, while Riot desperately tries to remove "hidden power" from champion kits (Kayle, Taric, etc.), they've made every Elemental Dragon effect some microscopic garbage that doesn't actually mean anything until it's compounded by an Elder Dragon buff, which players can't get until 35 min in. In other words, there is rarely any reward for an early Dragon kill, nor any penalty for giving up an early Dragon. Killing Dragon does not give me a buff that IMMEDIATELY helps my team make a powerful follow up play (like Baron), nor does it give my team gold that also would let us make a follow up play (via team fighting). With no incentive to fight, safe, consistent play generally wins out in most shotcalling scenarios, and thus you have the LCS lane swaps you see today.

If Riot REALLY wants to promote early game conflict, they need to give players a Dragon worth fighting over early on. Giving early Dragons team gold, a noticeable team buff, or some combination of the two would work, but there are surely other ways to accomplish this. In any case, making bot lane turret "the new 'old' Dragon" and breaking map symmetry is an awkward design concept that introduces way too many arbitrary "answers" for a relatively simple problem.

TL;DR: Make early Dragons worth fighting over and lane swaps will disappear. Easy.

Xenos von Faneli7/20/2016, 8:10:05 PM7 votes

As a top laner I have some serious concerns with this change, namely that of the siege minion spawn times, as this denies me both gold and health if I take Strength of Ages, this feels like a very unfair changes that changes the core nature of the game, honestly just because you don't like certain pro strats. This change also makes it more likely that bot lane gets first blood gold, creating a further shift in power.

RAVEL0RD AZIR7/20/2016, 8:15:44 PM5 votes

Skt skin update?

Shíny7/20/2016, 7:29:40 PM3 votes

Are there any more details on what direction the Turret A.I. changes will be heading in? Seems sorta vague?

TPro837/20/2016, 7:35:45 PM2 votes

Pros just need to make sure to have sufficient time to learn how this system works. It's so sketchy this is happening before worlds without any real time for competitive showings.

CliffHanger077/20/2016, 8:02:33 PM2 votes

Each team gets one cannon minion per wave, rotating lanes. Specifically, Bot gets a cannon minion in lane at wave 3, Mid at wave 4, and Top at wave 5. This then repeats.

This is a terrible idea. The only thing that makes laning phase interactive at all is the fact that there are so many minions to kill. However many champs can insta-clear waves after the first back and there will no longer be a laning phase, it'll be bot lane insta-clearing with velKoz/karma sivir/lucian and taking jungle camps. If we even lack a cannon minion, then there is no reason to poke or play late-game carries, just clear your 6 creeps and get out.

If anything, we need more minions per wave to force us to fight. I've always hoped we got neutral minions or temporary minions like Scuttle that we could fight for bonus farm without power-ups. Another idea is to make enemy minions deliver bombs to your tower so you have to kill them before they reach it.

**TLDR: Farming needs minigames to become interactive, not less minions to fight for. Make it a challenge to fight the other laners for a lane Scuttle. **

Johann177/20/2016, 9:18:46 PM2 votes

What patch will worlds be played on? It would be pretty boring if all of playoffs and Worlds is on the same patch, since worlds was so interesting last year due to the champion diversity.