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Runes Corner: Inspiration Runes Slot Sneak Peek

RiotRiot Reinboom·8/9/2017, 6:09:05 PM·1 votes·187,461 views

Hello! Welcome to this week's Rune Corner!

I’m Riot Reinboom, a Tech Game Designer on Runes Reforged, bringing you a glimpse into the “weird one” of Runes Paths: Inspiration.

WIP DISCLAIMER: Runes are in active development. This means that names, numbers, icons, game rules, or pretty much anything you can see can change before release. Of course, if there’s anything that you really like in particular make sure to call it out.

I’ll be previewing you an Inspiration runes slot, one we’ve actually previewed a single Rune from before. Store Credit, and the rest of the Runes in this slot all aim to ask of you one major thing: Outwit your opponent in the early game.

... but before all that, a new Item.

 Stopwatch - 600 Gold
http://i.imgur.com/d7PcZLx.pngUNIQUE Active - Stasis: Become invulnerable and untargetable for 2.5 seconds, but be unable to move, attack, cast spells, or use items during this time (One time use)

Stopwatch is new component of Zhonya's and Guardian Angel. It's meant to let you react to a painful situation the moment it becomes an issue and follow up with a solution for the rest of the game.

"One time use" means that when you use Stopwatch, it shatters:

 Broken Stopwatch - 600 Gold
http://i.imgur.com/GMfSI7a.pngIs broken, but can still be ugpraded. (After breaking one Stopwatch, the shopkeeper will only sell you Broken Stopwatches.)

A Broken Stopwatch can still be upgraded into Zhonya's and Guardian Angel, it just can't be used again.

But... this is Runes corner, what's with the item?

 Perfect Timing
http://i.imgur.com/XdiJ9vq.pngStart the game with a Commencing Stopwatch that transforms into a Stopwatch after 6 minutes. Reduces the cooldown of Zhonyas Hourglass and Guardian Angel by 15%.

Perfect Timing enables Stopwatch potentially even before your first back. It turns Stopwatch into a tool to let you transform an early risky play into being solidly in your favor.

Perfect Timing is meant as one of the sharpest reactions in Runes Reforged. A direct answer or enabler to early dives in very specific matchups, at the cost of asking you to consider what your Runes build looks like with the Inspiration style defining at least one other option.

In addition to deconstructing item breakpoints (Store Credit) and questioning the results of early dives, Inspiration has one last toy in this slot. This one for pathing and vision play:

 Channel-Blink
http://i.imgur.com/7ltwC4T.pngWhile Flash is on cooldown it is replaced by Channel-Blink. Channel-Blink: Channel for 2.5 seconds to blink to a new location.
Cooldown: 20 seconds. Goes on a 10 second cooldown when you enter champion combat.

What does it mean to channel a Flash? Well... http://i.imgur.com/49ckGvr.gifv Activation details: Moving doesn’t cancel the channel (but also doesn’t move you much), but being disabled or releasing the button early (before the first blue line) cancels it.

Channel-Blink gives you the map movement and big plays setup of Flash at any time you wouldn't otherwise have Flash. From creative jungle invades to side lane bush control, Channel-Blink enables a highly specialized type of map mobility and strategic level avoidance.

And of course, this Runes slot also includes the previously revealed Store Credit:

 Store Credit
http://i.imgur.com/O2LCdKN.pngYou can enter debt to buy items. The amount you can borrow increases over time. Debt limit: 150 + 5/minute
Lending Fee: 50 gold per item

We're really excited to see which Paths your inspiration takes you with these new Runes, as well as any other thoughts on them. We'll be hanging out in the comments section for a while to answer questions. :)

You can check the previous Runes Corner posts here: Runes Corner: Runes Content Development Peek Runes Corner: Meteor Sneak Peek Runes Corner: Hunt of the Bloodmoon Sneak Peek Runes Corner: Domination Major Slot Sneak Peek Runes Corner: Runes Corner: Stormlord's Mandate and Spellslinger's Surge

318 Comments

Illâoi Evê Siôn8/9/2017, 6:55:59 PM26 votes

I actually don't like Stopwatch, Perfect Timing and Channel-Blink, to be honest. They seem more like things you'd see in a rotating game mode than in Ranked. I'll try and sum up what they look like from my point of view. Sorry if the statements sound overly sarcastic, they aren't meant to be.

"Stopwatch is a one-time use Summoner Spell for 600 Gold that also reduces the cost of Zhonia's and Guardian Angel by 600 Gold." Borderline because we don't have any other items like it, but I guess I'll get used to it.

"Perfect Timing gives you 600 Gold at Minute 6 by reducing the cost of Zhonia's and Guardian Angel by 600 Gold, plus it gives you a one-time use Summoner Spell and reduces the cooldowns of the two items by 15%." Perfect Timing has zero internal trade-off since you wouldn't have been able to buy Stopwatch by Minute 6 anyways, and based on its strength I'll blindly assume that it has zero external trade-off as well, since it's really damn powerful. 600 free Gold is quite a lot. Why would you want to pick another Inspiration rune over this? Maybe have the mastery dramatically decrease the cost of Stopwatch instead, to like 150 or 100. So you would then have to buy it instead of Potions at the start. Then have the mastery set Stopwatch on cooldown for 3 minutes after you buy it or until Minute 6 (whichever arrives first) so you can't use it until then. The tradeoff is that you don't have potions until your first back so poke hurts you a lot more, and you have to pay gold, in exchange you're safe(r) from one all-in.

"Channel-Blink gives you a fifth, no-cost ability similar to Aurelion Sol's Comet of Legends whenever your Flash is on cooldown." I don't know how I'm supposed to draw out or explain that statement, it should be pretty self-explanatory. Flash's cooldown is meant to hurt because Flash is so powerful. It's almost as if you're rewarding players for having to bail out of a mistake. But really, the thing that irks me the most about it is the "no-cost" part. I think I would feel much better about it if it extended the cooldown of Flash by a little bit every time you use it or so.

CrazFight 8/9/2017, 6:28:31 PM18 votes

The channel blink actually doesn't seem like a good addition to the game, some champs weakness is mobility and it should stay like that IMO.

Spideraxe8/9/2017, 6:19:47 PM13 votes

Hey guys can i ask about some more in depth thoughts about channeled blink, because i feel you guys are going to risk running into more issues with mobility creep with another flash

thoughtful emoji8/9/2017, 8:52:52 PM10 votes

Commencing Stopwatch, cmon. Stop wimping out and just call it a Startwatch. You know you want to.

Hungry Cancer8/10/2017, 6:50:12 PM8 votes

Wow Riot, this just boggles my mind. I sincerely love your game, and I was hoping to see a viable choice of runes for supports but yet again you disappoint me. All of these items and runes are for carries and they don't do anything to enhance a support's playstyle; I love these runes and items for carries but I have only seen one rune (Zombie ward which I suggested on Taliyah's PBE reveal anyways so it really doesn't count) that is viable for supports and enhances the way supports want to play. These items do nothing to enhance the support playstyle. I understand that MANY support players don't do so by choice nor do they want to play a supportive playstyle, but that has more to do with the current support role (namely items and masteries) being so bland forcing good support mains to rely on macro-play to be truly successful. You're going to dispute this by saying that the play test team loves these runes and use them regularly on supports (though I doubt you have too many real support mains and instead just have people that play it when they need to, picked it up because they plateaued as a carry, or weren't as good at carries as the rest of the team and were instead relegated to support), but that doesn't make them good for supports it really doesn't mean anything except that the runes are technically usable on everyone. First you don't have a significant number of opinions regarding support and you refuse to listen to support players when we try to help you. Second if all they have access to are carry oriented runes then of course they're going to use them and they won't complain because there's no other option to show them how terrible these runes are for support. In what world does a support buy or even really want Zhonya's, we want things that either build into items we really want like Sight Stone or Forbidden idol items or help us to protect or enhance our carry. Please for the love of god give us a real support tree or better yet a group of viable support runes spread amongst the trees that give us significant pre-game choices on EVERY support. I absolutely do not want to quit playing League but if you shit on supports like you're on the path to doing I won't have a choice. You won't listen to what I have to say and you're going to chalk it all up to typical player neuroticism and say that I don't want change, but I have been BEGGING for the new runes and I love game changes; so despite the futility this post is more for me to not feel like I didn't at least try and in hopes that you may actually pay attention to it and try to do something about it. You talk about how important player feedback is but time and again it proves to be all talk, as you just do what you were going to do anyways regardless of the fact that it's so obviously bad for game health that it makes me question your intentions and dedication. I just want a significant amount of choices for supports (other roles too but they don't have this problem); and I won't be forced to use runes intended and balanced for carries on a fucking support nor will I stick with a game with no dynamism for the only role I have an interest in (especially when support is so linear anyways thanks to the Athene's nerf funneling all supports into a single build), I'll just take my money elsewhere and the 400-500$ I've spent on the game will be the last you get from me, and I'll give the next 400 bones to a game that values all of it's players, even the supports. This isn't a threat or ultimatum as I know that $400 from one player means absolutely nothing to you, it isn't even a drop in the bucket, it's just a statement of fact. This game has meant a lot to me; I'm terminal and wound up degenerating and disabled and so League became one of my primary social outlets and interests when I'm feeling up to it, it means so much more to me than just a time wasting game and I am honestly pained at the prospect of losing League as that outlet as it and the friends I've gained from it have gotten me through the hardest times of my life, but I'm not going to play a game where damage dealers and who can kill who first are all that matters which is where the new runes appear to be taking us. I'm not telling you this to garner sympathy or pity as I don't want pity or sympathy from anyone; it's fucking disgusting and insulting, I'm simply trying to make my point and tell you that these runes are terrible and my concerns are not being fueled by some neurotic compulsion to avoid change. I simply want what's best for the game. I apologize for the wall of text, I use voice dictation, but thank you for taking the time to read it and I would love some Rioter feedback on the subject.

Sinzari8/9/2017, 9:10:14 PM7 votes

Why does the Perfect Timing compare so poorly with the free boots rune revealed earlier? This one gives you 600 gold after 6 minutes, while the boots one gives you 300 gold after 10 minutes.

Sinful Sorcerer8/9/2017, 9:53:45 PM6 votes

Please do playtest Channel-Blink a ton before you decide to implement it, because right now it terrifies me...

I understand that it won't work mid-combat, and due to the channel time you most likely won't be able to use it in lane. HOWEVER, junglers will love this shit, it's like a ZAC E for everyone on a 20s cd. I know there are a few other junglers who can go over walls easily and creep up behind you or appear out of nowhere, but most of them have to sacrifice something. Lee Sin has to use a ward to W, Rek'Sai has to use a tunnel, Vi has to use her Q etc. But with this new rune/mastery, every jungler will have a similar gank potential to Zac or Lee. For example, Fiddlesticks is a champion who thrives in the jungle if visioncontrol is low and he can safely get into range to ult. However, with this new rune he'll be able to simply Channel-Blink over a wall into a bush and ult from there, instead of having to walk around the wall. This decreases the chances of him being spotted by other champions or trinkets, it also cuts down on the time needed to set up the gank and gives him more ways to play around vision. Junglers like Amumu who excell at teamfighting but generally lack high-level ganking pressure due to their low mobility and Q having to hit a target to let him go over walls can now channel blink into a bush and Q>R you from out of vision.

Champions who already were mobile will be even more so, and champions who generally needed their flash to pull of ganks will have a ganking window every 20 seconds. Vision is scarce as it is, especially early game. I'm greatful you gave everyone trinkets so people don't always blame their support for "not warding" like how it used to be... But seeing as how you start with only one trinket-ward, and a lot of players change or upgrade their trinkets as the game progresses, the vision is pretty much limited to the supports sightstone, 6 trinket wards and scuttlecrabs. I understand you want junglers to gank and have an impact on the early-mid game, and not just farm stacks like in the Feralflare days, but I don't personally think this is the right way to go about it. Champions whose weakness has always been lack of mobility should stay that way, as far as I'm concerned. (And I'm saying that as a Veigar onetrick.) I think offering slight mobility in the form of purchaseable items like Protobelt is a neat idea (because a. you don't have it from the very start of the game unless you rush it, slowing down other powerspikes. b. it cannot be used to blink over walls, giving a pretty slight mobility boost with a somewhat longer cooldown compared to this new suggested blinkrune. c. it has more meaningful counterplay in the way that you can see your enemy building it if you know its buildpath and gives you time to react. (Unless this thing changes flash's icon in loadingscreen I don't know how you'd realise that the enemy jungler has 3 times the mobility they usually have until they show up in your lane out of nowhere like a Shaco, while playing Udyr.)

I am all for offering improvements to summoner spells (%cdr for summoner spells was something the old boot enchantment system offered, but it didn't bring your flash cooldown down to 20.), however this just seems a bit too much in my opinion. I realise League is not the same game it was 8 years ago, and as an older player I am undoubtedly biased against huge changes, but even compared to things like Bomb-plants this is on a completely different level of mobility increase.

I apologise for the long post, I guess I had a lot to say, but if someone from Riot reads this, please do reply to me. I hope I don't sound like I'm "hating" on you, that is not my intention. I genuinely would like to hear some of your reasoning behind this. In the end it's your game and I cannot tell you what to do or not do with it, but it's a game I love and a game care about dearly.

-Sincerely, a grumpy old grandpa Veigar

Jar Jar binks l8/9/2017, 6:36:10 PM6 votes

will there be lethality runes in the small runes?

Fine Ionian Silk8/9/2017, 6:14:44 PM4 votes

Does this mean GA is now an AD Zhonyas? If so, does it keep it's revival passive?

Wrathof3008/17/2017, 7:58:34 PM3 votes

It would be really cool if the AurelionSol voice line " Put it on my tab... the name's Pantheon!" would play when you go into debt with Aurelion.

Impish Yordle8/9/2017, 6:32:47 PM3 votes

Does Stopwatch have any stats? How will it affect the other components in Zhonyas/GA buildpaths? Will they get removed or changed?

Glory to God8/9/2017, 6:51:32 PM3 votes

Does Stopwatch happen to be inspired by Sakuya from Touhou? :P It's the first that popped in my mind anyways

BadgerLord7778/11/2017, 5:37:30 AM3 votes

I don't like channel blink. It makes it so any champion can have high mobility in the jungle, and really good ganks, which makes a lot of champions kites way out classed

Bowblax8/9/2017, 7:46:35 PM2 votes

is Stopwatch replacing item 3191 ?

Leyin8/9/2017, 6:25:04 PM2 votes

Can someone pls explain Store Credit?

Yoshimimar8/9/2017, 7:46:20 PM1 votes

How is the channeled blink going to be reconciled with champions such as Yorick, Veigar and Anivia? It actually seems like it would completely invalidate Veigar. -or can it not be used in combat?

AOLCustomer8/9/2017, 11:51:32 PM1 votes

These "rune corner" posts are quickly becoming my favorite. I'm excited every time I see them and love all the fresh ideas posted here! Keep up the good work!

MistroTTC8/9/2017, 6:21:19 PM1 votes

So how does stopwatch fit into the buildpaths?

hweeze8/9/2017, 7:57:52 PM1 votes

So does this mean that, if you buy Zhonya when you have a Broken Stopwatch, that Zhonya has no active? Or does it mean that just the stopwatch component wont work, and it'll take up an item slot ?