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Patch Chat with the Playtest Team - Patch 7.14

RiotRiot King Cobra·7/12/2017, 8:47:49 PM·1 votes·14,001 views

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Hey, everyone! I'm Riot King Cobra and it's time for another round of Patch Chat! These threads serve as opportunity for us to talk about the patches that come out every two weeks. You can find the most recent patch by following this link: Patch 7.14 Notes.

I'm on Riot's Playtest Team, a group of high elo players who play with the new champions, reworks, balance tweaks, items, and map updates before they are released. It's our job to the test the changes that our designers come up with and ensure that we're introducing positive changes to League in terms of both balance and fun. Ask us questions - we'll try to answer as many as we can!

Kayn, the Shadow Reaper arrives to the Rift in Patch 7.14 along with a number of other changes. Alistar's ultimate has received a buff to the damage reduction he gets from it, Caitlyn's attack speed growth has been lowered more, Cho'Gath, Diana, and Singed have all received a small amount of gameplay changes, and a number of other champions in need of attention have as well. In addition to champion changes, a number of items have changed as well - we made modifications to Thornmail, Randuin's, and some of the Lethality items.

All of us on the Playtest Team are avid gamers so feel free to talk to us as fellow LoL players!

Ben “Cezium” Burkhardt Don “Aesah” Ding Dan “penguin” Hardison Robert “ROBERTxLEE” Lee Rob "King Cobra" Rosa Nicholas “Nickwu” Smith Blake “S0be” Soberanis Trevor “ThEntropist” Thernes Arnor "Hjarta" Halldorsson Brian "Madness Heroo" Pressoir

100 Comments

Spideraxe7/12/2017, 8:49:58 PM4 votes

Howdy howdy guys, my question for you all is about Urgot if you don't mind. How does he feel, do you think he still feels like Urgot, any runes, masteries and builds?

Leonerdo7/12/2017, 9:32:28 PM4 votes

Since Meddler suggested that y'all are going to start looking to bring almost-viable champions up in the pro-scene, should we mortals be worried about the possibility of Rengar/Graves buffs?

Kirwis7/12/2017, 11:05:14 PM3 votes

Hi Meddler, How do you feel about the current state of Ryze? Will there be some balance changes in the near future?

Nefas7/12/2017, 9:23:40 PM3 votes

Thoughts on Malz?

Kengy7/12/2017, 8:56:26 PM3 votes

Why is lethality back to being a snowball mechanic? Why is it not limited to melee champs or halved for ranged champs? I don't think the stat has been balanced since release, and the pendulum just swung back again this patch.

warpenguin5557/12/2017, 9:45:17 PM2 votes

are syndra and orianna set for nerfs? Im really tired of seeing them in every pro game

Monotachi7/12/2017, 8:55:22 PM2 votes

Currently on the PBE, Akali is getting a small buff to her W CD, 20s to 18s. What is the intention behind this change? Akali currently right for mains is doing fine, so this is a random buff that doesn't really do anything and frankly doesn't need?

Garrotte7/12/2017, 8:55:37 PM2 votes

Duskblade.

ThatHaleState7/12/2017, 8:55:49 PM2 votes

Is Lethality working as intended atm? Seeing issues with it stacking

Sun Wu Ryuumoku7/12/2017, 10:04:55 PM2 votes

I think item 3134 lack of readability, can't u make something for showing when the passive is up. item 3814 is still garbage. There no reason to give HP to this item to begin IMO... most of time u would go ;

and u can reverse Youmuu & drakhtarr, but after BC, adding hp isn't a necessity. I think u should lower the active channel time & lower spell shield duration.

**What's ur thought about item 3814 **? i think item 3142 need a buff on his active...

I would ask more about stats of this patch... but its too early.

Not related, but is it possible to show when they're are premades against or with us ? Club isn't enough to show it.

What's ur plan for toplane ? i feel, as a toplaner, like the game is decided by the bot lane and the game is done before ten.

Give MonkeyKing some love (same for the mighty class of Divers)!!!!!

BarbaJhini7/12/2017, 10:25:43 PM2 votes

Quite a few questions here...

first thoughts on new ? looks like it has everything to me, hp ton of armor grevious wounds and as slow
the combo destroying enemies with damage plus W thanks to grevious wounds is being looked at? and if yes opinions on it.
passive changed to physical damage working too well with is something planned or?
how is seen him only a bunch of times but everyone is playing shadow assassin form, was it just in my games or it's a confirmable thing, if yes you think rhaast is too weak or shadow too strong?
Was a nerf to really necessary? having more speed sure is useful but all lethality items now lack AD 6) used to encourage lethality stacking with its passive, was that deliberately removed to avoid this stacking or?
thoughts on even if the last buff was on 7.3 recently she is having a great rise and is now one of the best adcs in the meta, plans for her?
i know it's not a big focus as runes and mastery will soon get canges but after Deathfire Touch nerfs on AD ratio no ad champ has ever used it, not even that with his ad would be the one with the most profit, is it ok or just none cares as soon the whole system will change?

LyingOnLine7/12/2017, 10:31:33 PM2 votes

Okay, playtest team, a couple of softballs for you.

First, what balance change this patch do you feel was most impactful? Most important?

Second, toplaners, how do you feel about the prospective Nasus changes on the PBE?

volvagia467/13/2017, 12:44:07 AM2 votes

hey guys, what is the reasoning behind the two pretty hefty anivia nerfs? the wall not granting vision really messes with many of her core strategies including making picks in jungle or trying to secure objectives. Is there a specific reasoning behind this drastic nerf that will 100% affect her play style and win rate? Also, why the changes to her R in the bugfix section? This has been like this for quite a long while, why change it now? and can we make ability specific nerfs appear in the champion section, rather than the bugfix one? obviously the swain crows from fountain are a bug fix but the changes to anivia's R are a nerf.

mauyoa77/12/2017, 8:57:12 PM1 votes

Will Jax be changed anytime soon?

DauthiSlayer7/17/2017, 12:49:55 AM1 votes

Well, tried before the patch that went out 7.14 regarding the Diana changes. After playing with her for a few days, her early game took quite the hit. particularly jungle and top lane as I feared. In jungle, she doesn't stay as healthy. Keep in mind I don't do the Penetration runes very much anymore, mainly attack speed. her kit at level 2 is underwhelming as you would often throw your q and w in rapid succession, so, trying to play the mini game to keep her new passive going is annoying. Net loss to her jungling ability, which as you may know, she tends to power farm till 6. Her pre 6 trading and dueling took hits as well in lane phase, most notably in the top lane. I would go back to static 20% attack speed, leave the mana gain on third hit cleave, as you did nerf the Doran's rings she fairly famously used in multiples, as it is better for penetration builds as well as attack speed builds. The extra attack speed off her other abilities on e hasn't really come into play much yet that I have seen. Again, on spellblade champions, Jax, Irelia, Diana, Fizz, Ezreal, etc, quite often you can't quite maximize their spellblade procs as much as one would like. It is generally better to throw what you have when you can, her new passive feels really bad when I do a catch combo on her as I thought it would. But, those rare times where you get to hit the rift scuttle 2 times then, dive into the enemy team and feel quite glorious at the instant triple kill, or more.

Also the odd attack damage runes which I have been experimenting more of lately, that was a rarity I did with her as well as full tank Diana on occasion, may become the norm with her the old Titanic Trinity Force builds work well on her as an ad bruiser, since her ap bruiser is basically nerfed down horribly. She really misses the early Negatron Cloak for the Old Abyssal Scepter for early tankiness and survivability mid lane in particular. Twisted Treeline, she is oddly ok with MoonFlair spellblade servicing both her armor and magic resist needs, but, generally you are more concerned with the Rift rather than anywhere else.

BabyNaix7/12/2017, 9:24:27 PM1 votes

How is kindred's current state in the game? I find that she is not very strong unless she gets a few lucky marks or until she has 2 crit items plus jungle item. Not sure if I'm just bad with her or if the meta does not favor her or she is under powered in general.

Carnicore7/13/2017, 4:30:19 PM1 votes

With every new champion and rework, do you try to make them equally viable in soloqueue and competitive? Do you try to avoid making champions like Azir, old Katarina, Garen, or new Ryze, who are trash or godlike depending on your elo?

Aevilok7/13/2017, 11:28:47 PM1 votes

About the udyr changes on the pbe, does the dot dealing less damage over the triple time period and not being stack-able or something make sense? udyr with lethality or ad was a fun and unique build that could easily oneshot carries but now the dot feels too weak, like if it's only there to compliment phoenix, any chances of a bit of power shifted into the tigerdyr?

Geneman7/15/2017, 6:31:20 PM1 votes

The vision score, which was implemented a couple patches ago, is very very useful. It made me realise, that vision is much more important than just putting down stealth wards. I started buying pink wards not long after that. You should keep adding more to the stats page, to raise awareness between players, at least among those who commit energy post-game, and are browsing through the stats. Keep up the good work!