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Patch Chat with the Playtest Team - 7.1 Jungle Nerfs

RiotAesah··1 votes·103,148 views

new "Minions" art created by inkinesss!

Hey guys! Welcome to Patch Chat, a Dev Corner thread we make to talk about our new patches every two weeks: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/patch-71-notes . Keep in mind that this is for discussing the current patch, not future content (e.g., Warwick)

I'm Aesah on Riot's Playtest Team, a group of Diamond+ 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 LoL in terms of both balance and fun. We'll be watching this thread to answer as many questions as we can.

In 7.1, we're toning down how much agency junglers currently have over the game through decreasing the amount of experience they gain from the jungle. Some champions who have been overperforming that are receiving notable nerfs include Syndra, Ryze, Shyvana, Poppy, and Camille. Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the spectrum, we're buffing Draven, Kalista, Lucian, and Talon. The only item changed in this patch is the Zz'rot Portal, which is getting a reduced range to discourage leaving it alone far away in the back and forgetting about it. There is still a lot of work to be done but these some first steps to delivering an excellent Season 7 experience!

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

Adam "Afic" Cohen Ben “Cezium” Burkhardt Don “Aesah” Ding Nicolas “Gleeb” Haddad Dan “penguin” Hardison Bao “Bao” Lam Robert “ROBERTxLEE” Lee Nicholas “Nickwu” Smith Blake “S0be” Soberanis Trevor “ThEntropist” Thernes

351 Comments

warpenguin55510 votes

Are any of these 5 scheduled for nerfs? Jayce Caitlyn Hecarim Vi Katarina

Have you guys got to playtest a Kalista or Azir mini rework? And if so is Azir more badass, less badass, or did his badassness not change at all

also scale of 1-10 how much fun is the new Warwick? He looks like a champion i might play for fun but not put alot of time into, so probably a 6 for me.

SoundChaosDebug9 votes

The draven buff was just an marksman nerf over all, now there's no reason to play any of the other marksman.

Bao16 votes

You are totally right. IMO DRAVEN ONLY BOYZ

Draven

RiotAesah14 votes

But what if the enemy team picks Draven

SoundChaosDebug6 votes

blind picks baby, league of draven

warpenguin55532 votes

Then your bot lane feeds him duh

Ryoth7 votes

Honestly the fact you buffed Draven (one of the strongest ADCs in the game) is beyond me when you should be buffing some of the other ones that are quite lacking. Draven has always been a higher risk with higher reward champion with the new mages in the bot lane meta doing better than ADCs what is the point of continuing on as an ADC main when I could just go play another lane and have a lot more success. we have always been susceptible to ganks but with the increased EXP/Gold Gain from jungle and how far ADCs have fallen off its slowly becoming a useless roll. early/mid game we have little to nothing to pop off especially when you've got Ziggs Ziggs taking towers/doing more damage than any ADC and Malzahar absolutely destroying us in poke. any plans on reworking ADC because in the current meta ADC is ridiculous. I don't believe in the death threats but it seems Bot lane has literally been brushed under the rug and made the be the jungles easy +300...

Wobly5 votes

So Ryze nerfs:

Obviously he's overperforming at the highest levels, but he's really struggling in the hands of most players. Does the balance team see this as a problem, or are you happy to let him be balanced for high level play and weak for most players?

Riotplaytestpenguin7 votes

That is generally always considered a problem by designers because it means that the character is very difficult to balance. I don't know if ChampUp has any thoughts about Ryze, but I know they've felt that the reworked Vladimir suffers from similar issues.

pV9EMVUT4l5 votes

Aatrox ? Almost been 2 years without a single change.

RiotAesah16 votes

There has been some talk about Aatrox around the office

warpenguin55537 votes

How much of it is people asking what an Aatrox is?

scubb1085 votes

How did you get your Warwick teaser to be so fantastic?

Riotplaytestpenguin8 votes

our video-making team is godlike, we didn't do anything with that really

Spideraxe4 votes

Oh yeah and what do you guys think of Warwick on the PBE at the moment

RiotRiot Afic16 votes

ARH-WOOOOOO

Spideraxe2 votes

What was it like playing against him on yesterday's stream

RiotRiot Afic12 votes

easiest bard bait of my life

Riotplaytestpenguin17 votes

I personally think he's very strong and requires a few games to adjust to. He takes over games during the midgame really intensely if played properly.

Spideraxe5 votes

Does he still have a low skill floor but riased skill ceiling

Riotplaytestpenguin14 votes

You should still be able to clear jungle with very little thought involved but his ceiling is definitely raised IMO

Nefas3 votes

If he can take over a game so much, do you feel that the other team has adequate tools respond? His kit definitely looks like it could be overbearing in the hands of an experienced player.

Riotplaytestpenguin6 votes

He's very strong at making picks but he struggles a bit in full teamfights. I think you can counterplay him, it's just an exercise of timing. Make sure you group and bodyblock the ultimate, and save all your CC until the leap animation ends to peel him off and from there it's just making sure you have enough DPS so that he can't draintank your whole team like an Aatrox in the past.

LostFr0st3 votes

Wrong patch note link :x

RiotAesah19 votes

damnit this happens every time

Live2LetDie3 votes

Is there work being done to adjust botlane back to its original state or does the balance team believe Ziggs and Malzahar are good for the game? I am all ok for the meta to shift to different styles but it seems these are starting to dominate with how weak adcs are. Esp if ziggs takes tower faster than any adc.

As for the jungle i believe xp reduction is a good path and a start in the right direction.

warpenguin5555 votes

why do ADC's have to be the fastest tower takers?

Chromatic Eagle10 votes

Why not?

RiotRiot Afic14 votes

Too early to tell. For now having more viable options in bot lane certainly has some positive potential. Will be monitoring that type of stuff pretty closely over the next couple of patches.

TGDE Cobra3 votes

wtf votre mise a jour eest vrm long .. sa reste sure le 100% .. la je suis tanné sa fait 1 heures que j'attend

Riotplaytestpenguin46 votes

wat

CyanSolution2476 votes

I agree... WAT? Google translate (French-English):

"Wtf your update is vrm long .. its rest on the 100% .. i am tanned its done 1 hours i wait"

LostFr0st8 votes

LOL. Yeah, I think he's referring to the Pbe being still in maintenance. But the Google translation is funny.

bony whimsark12 votes

so I got a 90 in grade 9 french, I am probably qualified for this job. "wtf your something a day is something long.. the rest is 100%.. the I am something it is 1 hour." I guess he's concerned about something by long I guess???

LostFr0st20 votes

Close^^

I'm more than certain he's saying: "WTF your update today is really long... it just stays at 100%...right now I'm fed up, I've been waiting for an hour."

The pbe had an update today, and what happens is they send out the patch files then lock it while they test stuff internally and make sure it went out/is working properly. They've since extended that maintenance time by quite a bit longer than the normal 2 hours.

EROTIC RAID BOSS2 votes

have you guys gotten to play around with any more shyvana sized champ updates? and how do you feel about Camille with these nerfs? still semi busted or in a fair place now or what

nice to see you guys are still doing these threads

Riotplaytestpenguin10 votes

We're always testing and playing around with whatever crazy stuff designers have implemented

EROTIC RAID BOSS6 votes

fishing attempt failed

in all seriousness, you guys think you'd ever write an article on what its like to playtest a champ/rework in development?

Riotplaytestpenguin3 votes

That stuff is more likely to come from the development end than playtest -- iirc Meddler has written articles about some stuff.

Monstrous Yi2 votes

[deleted]

RiotAesah7 votes

There's been some discussion about buffing Yi

LostFr0st2 votes

About Anivia:

Is the R-flash particle added to her ult considered a net neutral change? (I'm assuming it flashes for everyone so enemies now know to gtfo and players can better tell when E will be thrown onto a frosted target)

If she ends up too strong, where would you guys likely trim power?

Riotplaytestpenguin8 votes

Definitely just a clarity change, shouldn't affect power or stats in any meaningful manner unless a large portion of players were struggling to realize when her R was max channeled.

LostFr0st5 votes

Good to hear.
Ty for insight. item 3680

Loco Mot1ves2 votes

Overall, I liked just about everything I saw in this patch except for one small detail. Halving Poppy's snap-cast damage in half was good, but was killing the AD ratio necessary as well? She builds full tank and this officially kills anybody playing around with a full damage build looking to assassinate someone for fun.

As far as the jungle goes, was still able to hit level 3 after 3 camps so it doesn't feel like the biggest nerf and feels pretty balanced for a first clear. For Shyvana, the only noticeable impact I felt was when clearing the raptor camp which you take a bit more damage at.

Riotplaytestpenguin6 votes

She builds full tank and this officially kills anybody playing around with a full damage build looking to assassinate someone for fun.

Unfortunately off-builds often get nerfed as a result of balance changes. It's just a sad reality we live in ;_;

Bruised Ego2 votes

As a Singed main, the Zz'rot nerfs seem too harsh. Zz'rot is a core item on Singed and this is definitely going to hurt. The voidspawn don't even reach from one outer turret to the other. What if every fourth empowered voidspawn was able to go a bit farther?

Riotplaytestpenguin24 votes

That's kind of the point -- it should be an item to help tanks take towers when they're left alone, not an item that completely nullifies the lane phase by placing an item with 100% uptime behind your tower.

WhiteLilyNA2 votes

Hey Robert, didn't expect to see you on post like this. Question, during testing, did you guys feel like the buffs on LucianLucian were enough to bring him back from the rough patch he's having?

RiotROBERTxLEE5 votes

Hi WhiteLily.

I think it's a good place to start. Itemization changes hurt a handful of ADCs. The buffs to Lucian should at least help him become a lane bully again.

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