Assassin Roster Update - Rengar Direction

Hi everyone,

It probably comes as no surprise to most that Rengar is one of the assassins getting an update in the preseason. When you think of champions in League that are capable of “one-shotting” you, Rengar is one of the first that comes to mind. In this update, we’ll be making sizeable changes to how the Pridestalker takes down his prey. This will include more opportunities for opponents to anticipate and react to his attacks, but also making his combat options more ferocious and less predictable.

So let’s get into the kinds of change we can expect to see for him:

More ceremony and depth to Thrill of the Hunt: One of the reasons Rengar is so frustrating to play against is that it feels like the game is trying to give you information about what’s going on around you when he’s using Thrill of the Hunt, but the information is so minimal (and so late) that it often leaves you wondering why you got any information at all. Expect Thrill of the Hunt to change in ways that gives opponents more meaningful play against it, but also in ways that give Rengar tools and options to outwit and outmaneuver his opponents rather than needing to be so brute force about things.

Some new spells (or significant changes to existing spells) on Rengar’s base kit: Rengar’s current kit strongly incentivizes him to use all of his spells immediately, and he can drop his whole base kit on you in a matter of .25 seconds. Some of this may be the nature of the Ferocity system, which tells you to max your Ferocity ASAP, but a large part of it is also that his Q and W have very little context as to how to optimize them effectively. Rengar players deserve adrenaline-pumping, healthbar-chunking button presses, but they shouldn’t all come out in the same instant, and they should have degrees of failure and success. His new empowered W is looking to be a game-changer.

Changes to the Ferocity system: The Ferocity system on Rengar’s kit is one of the standout points of uniqueness on the character, but it has some flaws in its current version. Because Rengar needs to build five Ferocity to get an empowered spell, and he only has three spells to build with, he can’t rely on getting to max Ferocity in a fight if he starts from zero. Thus, expert Rengar players usually optimize by approaching a fight with four or five Ferocity that they’ve built up against a minion or monster. Ferocity should have to be built within a fight, but Rengar should also be able to reasonably expect that he can get to the first empowered spell quickly and consistently. Expect Ferocity to be a mechanic that you make decisions around within a fight, rather than before it.

Adjustments to the Bonetooth Necklace: Bonetooth Necklace has a really strong fantasy behind it, but its current mechanics are just… off. First of all, Rengar is supposed to be all about conquering the strongest beasts out there, but given the current mechanics of Bonetooth, he’s more often best off just murdering the same unfortunate victim over and over again. If that was the only oddness to the thing, it might be acceptable for gameplay purposes, but the reward structure is also problematic. Upgrades like “Rengar now jumps farther with his leap” and “Rengar runs faster during R” are problematic. For example, if Rengar’s jump range should be longer, we should make it the default and let opponents get used to it. Ultimately, Bonetooth Necklace should be more about dominance over all opponents, and the upgrades it provides should be powerful, but they shouldn’t significantly alter spell mechanics or force opponents to relearn his spell ranges.

A champion that doesn’t live and die by the bugs it encounters on a game-to-game basis: This isn’t really about gameplay mechanics changes, but Rengar is essentially getting rebuilt from scratch under the hood. It’s important that your success as a player isn’t dependent upon whether your E decides to fire or not.

And that should mostly bring everyone up to date concerning the direction we’re taking things! Feel free to leave your questions/comments below, and I (or someone else on the team) will swing back around to them shortly.

Cheers, Repertoir