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Quick Gameplay Thoughts: May 12

RiotMeddler··1 votes·73,877 views

Hey all,

Some stuff below. Also, if there are things you'd like to hear more about besides the usual balance adjustments, patch follow up and whatever's on my mind do let me know either here or on Twitter!


Usual Disclaimers

These posts will often contain talk about future work we're doing, or planning to do, that isn't yet guaranteed to ship. The nature of the work could change or, depending on what we discover, projects mentioned may get put delayed or even stopped. If you'd like to see a Tweet whenever a new one of these posts goes up: https://twitter.com/RiotMeddler


Rek'Sai Changes

We'll hopefully have the Rek'Sai changes in patch 7.11. It's possible those move to 7.12 instead, depending on how work on her ult animations/sound goes, 7.11 is currently looking pretty likely though. Our goals are to give Rek'Sai a more engaging ult, reduce difficulties balancing organized play and regular play and better support a fighter, rather than tank, playstyle. Core changes include:

  • Higher bonus AD ratios and lower bases (Q at 15-35 + 0.4 bonus AD from 15-55 + 0.2, E damage at 50-90 + 0.7 bonus AD from 80-120% AD)
  • W now knocks up a single target for 1s, and slightly knocks other units back from Rek'Sai, rather than being a 0.5-1.0s knockup based off distance from Rek'Sai
  • Tunnel CD after use drops much more with rank (10-2s, from 10-6s)
  • Fury generates much faster (25 per attack/ability), converts to health faster (3s instead of 5), restores less health (20-190, rather than 25-450). More in/out pattern as a fighter, using lower tunnel CDs in part.
  • A new ult. Short version is Rek'Sai marks targets as Prey when she damages them by any means. She can dash to marked Prey up to 1500 units away, dealing 100-400 (+1.4 Bonus AD) + 20-30% missing health. Short channel (1.1s)

Exact numbers are still going through tuning of course, and there are some other small changes I've omitted.


7.12 Support Item work

We're targeting some work on support items in 7.12 (7.11 possible, though fairly unlikely). Goal there's to open up more options for characters building items to help their team, rather than being pretty locked on to Locket and Redemption. We like the design on both of those two items, they're pretty fun, have some skill expression, pretty satisfying etc. They've got too much of a strangehold on many builds though. Still figuring out details, likely changes include things like Locket's shield having a lower base but scaling with caster's Armor/MR (so goes well with other defensive purchases and abilities), Redemption having a lower base but scaling better than usual with healing/shielding boosts, build path changes to Knight's Vow, Zeke's, Righteous Glory etc.


Elemental Dragon Ideas

Thanks for the new elemental dragon ideas in the previous thread! Some of them were similar to ideas we've kicked around ourselves previously, some were new and well worth thinking about. It'll be quite a while until we playtest anything (maybe next year even), but it's always good to have some concepts to think about until then.

Reading through those suggestions a vision drake cropped up as an idea more than I'd expected. There's a lot of ways a vision drake could be done poorly (unsatisfying, low, or hard to appreciate power). Things like more wards or more frequent trinket uses are likely to fall into that category. If going a bit more inventive though there might be something with some pretty gameplay to it that could work though (e.g. circling dragons who provide windowed vision for you team and can be interacted with by the enemy? Could make them spawn with your minion waves etc). Will have to put more thought into that.

We'll also likely take a look at the drake encounters themselves at some point, whether with testing on new drakes or possibly beforehand. At the least a pass on whether the difficulty taking each drake's in the correct spot (gut reaction: close, but might benefit from some tuning). Possibly some quick work to make the fights a bit more distinct too, though we don't want to over complicate them (they're there to reward map control and encourage PVP interaction, not to be a difficult PVE encounter you only take if the enemy can't contest meaningfully).

317 Comments

HalcyonDweller32 votes

Hi Meddler,

There is player frustration due to players trolling us or threatening to roll steal to force us to queue dodge when they don't want to do it themselves. If they force a dodge then nobody can report them, and it feels as if they get away with it while we suffer the consequences.

Is this on Riot's radar?

And what are your personal thoughts about it?


Thank you for your time and for doing these gameplay thoughts so frequently!

Regards, Halcyon

RiotMeddler16 votes

Better monitoring and tools around champion select trolling's on the team that deals with that's radar, I know that much. Details beyond that are outside of the area I work in though.

I'd agree personally it can be a really frustrating experience, especially given you don't have any way of knowing as a player what does or doesn't happen to people trolling like that further down the line.

HalcyonDweller4 votes

Thank you for letting us know, it means a great deal to know that Riot is at least keeping an eye on it.

is there any chance we could hear from anybody on that team for more information?

Overlord Forte19 votes

Perhaps have enemies who crush Rek'sai's tunnels also be marked as a target for her R? Would open another way for her ambush tunnel behaviors without necessarily having to 'be traveling through the tunnel when it's collapsing'.

Jeddy01715 votes

....build path changes to Knight's Vow, Zeke's, Righteous Glory etc.

All I want is for Knight's Vow to have some CDR, then I'm happy. Support tanks needs some more options for supportive tank items with CDR.

RiotMeddler13 votes

We're thinking the same thing so far at least (about to test a Kindlegem as component).

ImaginesTigers4 votes

Regarding Redemption, would you consider making the active heal more in the centre, and less around the edges? I feel like it works for a visual perspective (the VFX of Redemption), and also promotes some strategic use. Not sure where that would land with you

Master Stache13 votes

Will Rek'Sai's new ult still use the scream of the old one? I know it won't be as necessary since it isn't global, but it's pretty iconic.

Chromatic Eagle5 votes

Of course it's necessary. We need to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies.

A GIANT CAPYBARA12 votes

Hi Meddler, some question as to the thoughts behind rek'sai changes

  1. A lot of her power is looking to be tied into her ult simply by the numbers listed, and the changes to her E specifically really make her E look very unsatisfying for the cd it has given already, and her Q doesnt look like it has enough of a benefit for going more ad centric items. Are you planning on shifting her numbers around to make her base kit in terms of damage feel more rewarding and less or a "ult bot" when it comes to fighting someone?

  2. A lot of her power in pro play was tied into her constant map pressure with her old ult, and her tremor sense giving a very safe scouting game for the early stages. Since you made her more of a duelist now, are you planning on tinkering with the tremor sense range early on and making it scale up to its current form to make her less reliable than she is?

  3. Her fury looks very unrewarding to get with the damage change to her E and the small amount of healing it gets, while it adds up I dont think it will be very noticable for the opponent or rek sai to see when she is powerful with the mass amount of fury shes able to gen by 25/per ability/auto. Also with most fury champs it is a very core aspect for success to make their kit function as effectively as possible, and with the E damage nerf you show if you built more twords ad as opposed to live, it doesnt look like the fury mechanic was expanded upon and just left kind of as a afterthought in her kit.

Lord Desert10 votes

Talking about Support items: What do you think about a Red/Control Ward Trinket similar to old item 3362? #GiveSupports6ItemSlots Ruby got the short end of the stick in the Quest update/could use some improvements, so it potentionally could store a Control Ward too (can be placed with shift+key).

KFC Owner9 votes

Will Rek'Sai ultimate still grant her bonus attack speed?

Supes8 votes

Heya Meddler,

I absolutely LOVE the fact that Leblanc has a secondary, less directly impactful ulti on a separate cooldown from her primary ultimate. Is there any opportunity for the same to be done with Rek'sai regarding her old ultimate? A way to still have a global presence?

I would hate to see the whole "Rek'sai could always be lurking" aspect of her champion fantasy gone.

All the best!

Winterkill8 votes

You are still not addressing the issue, Meddler. Your team even said it yourselves.

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/champions-skins/free-rotation/some-thoughts-support

  • Itemization - Are support items sufficiently compelling or does power progression as a support often feel worse than other roles?

How did adding the quests really make a difference? You just added another skill point, another shield, and another movement speed mechanic. Support champions survived this long without an extra skillpoint. You added another shield to be procced when champions already have it in their kit and with CoC. You added more movement speed on champions that are already hard to kill because of their utility and cc . . . and half of them can already speed themselves up. Again, how did this improve anything, make supports more engaging, added depth to the character and role, and really feel like we earned a reward?


You really need to change how shields/heals increases are earned. Just as tanky supports are required to use their abilities to proc things and make flashy plays, Enchanters should have to do the same. Make the Enchanter have to damage someone first before they give the Ardent Censer buff and have their shields/heals increased on this item. I mean obviously there are better ways to do it but this is just an example. Your lazy work and "I don't care attitude" towards the Support role throughout the years is still continuing. You still have not made the role more engaging with champions, items and mechanics. You still have not made the role more attractive to players. You still are talking about making numbers buffs and not addressing champion distinctiveness and unique itemization. I really wish there was ONE person on your Development team that care about the role. You keep talking about doing all of this stuff for the Support role the past few years, and you give us starting Support item quests that don't really give that great rewards if it comes down to it.


Again, I am telling you this. You really need to work on Enchanters and make them more distinct and interesting to play. I really cannot understand how you think every single Enchanter character is distinct and interesting to play, when they all build the same thing, have one damage ability, a mechanic to speed someone up, the same heal/shield that is not done in a unique way like newer Support champions, and more.

I want my favorite champions to receive the same treatment you give new champions. I want my favorite champions to engage more with their teammates and themselves other than just sitting in the back and pressing a shield/heal button. I want my favorite champions lore, fantasy, and theme to be really imagined in their kits and gameplay. I want my favorite champions to be different than every other Enchanter in their role that does the same thing and builds the same thing.


I am asking this again, for the 15+ time Meddler. Do you care about making the role more distinct, interesting, rewarding, properly fleshed out lore and theme wise, and more? You have YET to show any of us that you are doing this. Here you are talking about increasing the number values of items to make them feel more rewarding. We are going to have the same problems if you keep putting a bandaid on it. Fix the noninteractive itemization and find a way to make shield/heal enhancing more interactive than just buying an item. Make Enchanter Supports more engaging, interactive and distinct with their kits, gameplay, and themes.

I don't expect a response. I expect tons of hate and downvotes. I expect comments about how if the champion is great in LCS, that means they are fully fleshed out champions and fantastic as a champion both lore, gameplay, and theme. No one can sit here and deny my dedication to the champions I want to be changed and the role I want to be better. Riot Games, you have made the Support role very bland, not engaging enough, generalized almost every single Enchanter Support, and ignored feedback to make the role, itemization, and champions more interesting. You have made newer champions have more engaging and interesting ways to use their shields/heals and you even did it with Taric. Why can't you do the same for the following:

Janna Karma Lulu Sona

Really flesh out their roles, themes, and gameplay. Really make them more engaging with their abilities like you did with newer champions and Taric. Really actually care about the champion's lore, theme, and gameplay and not how well some player in the tournament scene does with them. In the end, these players that play them in the tournament world will take the time to learn any champion and make them look awesome. What is the excuse now to ignore making itemization more interactive, Enchanters more distinct and interesting to play, finding a way to make shields/heals on Enchanters more interactive? The answer is another Ryze rework. I don't want to sit in the back and spam heal/shield and build items to further myself spamming heal/shield.

summoner 11

As always, stay frosty.

  • Wintertechnics.
Avison3 votes

I'm not going to flame or downvote. I will point out that calling the people who you are asking to do something for your benefit "lazy" is counter intuitive. But I digress.

The process of doing what your asking has to start somewhere. The changes that have been made to existing support items, as well as the creation of entirely new support items is the first step. You can't expect an entire rework of a role such as support to happen at once. The goals of somebody who is in that role are so much more different than that of any other person in the game with you. Likewise, the process in which changes are made to that role are entirely different as well.

Every change that is made has millions of possible interactions with other elements in the game. One small tweak to how an items benefit is aquired (referring to your ardent censor example) can and will have huge ripple effects thought the rest of the game and meta in general. If one of those ripples ends up being either an overpowered interaction or breaks the a game some other way, then the idea is canned or iced and hours of work are gone. Imagine that work load. Riot is doing their best to track and test each one of these million possibilities but that process takes time. Your essentially asking for a rework of the entire role.

The issue is we, as a community, have grown accustomed to getting our reworks all at once with a novel of patch notes worth of changes. We, as gamers, want our changes immediately. I myself am incredibly guilty of this.

Once they have gotten through the majority of changes they have planned for supports, I would recommend comparing the support roles health at that time to the health of the role at the time of this post. If you take all the changes in that time period and put them on one page I'm sure you will feel like you are getting exactly what your asking for.

Winterkill2 votes

{quoted}

I'm not going to flame or downvote. I will point out that calling the people who you are asking to do something for your benefit "lazy" is counter intuitive. But I digress.

The process of doing what your asking has to start somewhere. The changes that have been made to existing support items, as well as the creation of entirely new support items is the first step. You can't expect an entire rework of a role such as support to happen at once. The goals of somebody who is in that role are so much more different than that of any other person in the game with you. Likewise, the process in which changes are made to that role are entirely different as well.

Every change that is made has millions of possible interactions with other elements in the game. One small tweak to how an items benefit is aquired (referring to your ardent censor example) can and will have huge ripple effects thought the rest of the game and meta in general. If one of those ripples ends up being either an overpowered interaction or breaks the a game some other way, then the idea is canned or iced and hours of work are gone. Imagine that work load. Riot is doing their best to track and test each one of these million possibilities but that process takes time. Your essentially asking for a rework of the entire role.

The issue is we, as a community, have grown accustomed to getting our reworks all at once with a novel of patch notes worth of changes. We, as gamers, want our changes immediately. I myself am incredibly guilty of this.

Once they have gotten through the majority of changes they have planned for supports, I would recommend comparing the support roles health at that time to the health of the role at the time of this post. If you take all the changes in that time period and put them on one page I'm sure you will feel like you are getting exactly what your asking for.

There are a lot of problems with what you are trying to tell me.

Riot has adjusted the Support Starting items more than once now and it has not solved any of the problems. They need to make the Support role more interesting, but they added rewards and quests that really don't benefit the champions as much as you think they do. All of the Enchanters have a move they can speed themselves up with. Almost all of the Tanks have a shield in their kit and CoC is already enough. Why did we need another mechanic with another shield attached to it? The removal of health from Coin did more harm than good. The problem is they are not doing anything but trying to add flashy mechanics than improving upon what we already have.

Riot Games could have made warding more interesting. Riot Games could have made shielding items more interactive and rewarding. Riot Games could have gone in and made Support champions more interesting so they all don't have almost the same abilities, build the same items, and play the same. There is so much they can do with some Support champion themes, kits, and creativity . . . but they want champions to sit in the back and build shield/heal enhancing items.

I have a problem with Riot Games ignoring the role for almost four plus years now and working on the same old thing. I have a problem with Riot prioritizing classes that can abuse the same items, but Support champions all bild the same thing every game and it is quite frankly boring. I have a problem with Riot Games prioritizing four Ryze reworks at the expense of every other champion in the game. These Developers have not convinced me the past couple years that they care.

Deep Terror Nami7 votes

Got a general idea how long Rek'sai's Ult mark might last?

Also, for the support items, could we consider making other items flashier (more obvious benefits) rather than nerfing down the ones that are fun because the benefits are apparent? Think of them just like champions; even if Redemption and Locket weren't that great, people want them because their power is very visible, unlike a Censer or Frozen Heart. I'm looking for something like putting more of Censer's power in the first attack the buffed ally uses and giving that attack some extra flair, adding a lightning effect to high damage dealt with Zeke's bonus activated, and 120 seconds is still too long for Mikael's.

RiotMeddler5 votes

5s mark.

We'll need to do both some bringing up of weaker/unsatisfying items and some bringing down probably of Locket/Redemption. They're satisfying, with visible power and skillful uses, which is great. They're also just too strong though. Buffing weaker performers definitely feels better, if that's the only approach you take though whenever you make something stronger than other options you've then set a new bar everything else has to be brought up to.

Deep Terror Nami3 votes

They're also just too strong though.

Might I suggest a sweet spot for Redemption (stronger healing in inner circle)?

iahim987 votes

Meddler about thornmail possible changes (if it still matters):

  1. a passive that reduces life stealed from you by 50% (not grevous wound) 2.make its damage be true damage (will prob need some small nerf to its dmg, but adc's don't have high base mr anyway), as there are many cases where they built mr against your AP dealers or you are an magic dealer yourself and makes the buy weaker by default.

Also saw an idea of a drake on surr@20 for a drake that increases mr/armor %, you probably already tried this (as its pretty simple), but just want to make sure as I like the idea.

RiotMeddler11 votes

Thornmail with a reduced healing effect is something we're going to be looking at a bit now that mid season's out of the way, seems like a reasonable niche for an item in response to lifesteal users sometimes getting really effective. Would likely need to be paired with some adjustments to the damage return though.

Armor/MR drakes are popular suggestions, they do run into overlap with Infernal drake (direct PVP combat power) and challenges with not being useful to much of the team at all or creating excessively tanky team comps where even targets who should be squishy by themselves get too resilient.

Glory ln Death6 votes

{quoted}

challenges with not being useful to much of the team at all

Doesn't Infernal share that same aspect, though? A percent increase of AD and AP only really benefits damage dealers. Most tanks and supports won't be building much AD or AP, and so won't get much out of Infernal.

LongHair Fox8 votes

Please be aware that thornmail as it is, already tells marksmen that they cannot hit the target until they get lifesteal. So if thornmail also counters lifesteal it might turn into a fullblown arms race where you have to up the lifesteal on lifesteal items as well.

Silverjust11 votes

I think item 3075 should be turned in an anti-lifesteal-item

KFC Owner7 votes

One more question, and its an important one!

Now that her ult isnt a TP kinda ult anymore, where will you move her jetski animation that was in her ult? It would be great if it was in her homeguard animation!

RiotMeddler11 votes

I believe that's the plan, will double check though.

Edit: Yep, that's the plan.

Gixia6 votes

Speaking of keeping things from her old ult... is there any chance we can keep that wonderful ear-piercing shriek she does on her ult? Even if it stops being global since the enemy team doesn't have a telegraph for it anymore, if we could keep it for the player using it. I LOVE that sound so much. Combined with her insane zoom across the map, it was so satisfying, and sadly with the ult change that zoom will be gone but I wanna keep the sound at least.

Linna Excel7 votes

Would it be possible to add a dragon that turned an entire wave of minions into a single drake? It'd give gold to the nearby teammates of whoever killed it. Taking multiple of that type of dragon makes the drakes stronger and if you get 3 dragons, the drakes turn into ranged damage dealers.

RiotMeddler19 votes

Minion wave modifying's got potential yeah. I suspect something like replacing some cannon minions with drakes would be the way to go, avoid too large an impact on single target versus AOE abilities.

Sahn Uzal6 votes

oooooh I really like the Direction that's going in

Decrit6 votes

About Rek'Sai, what about marking the champion that destroys ehr borrows? She will depend a lot on them for mobility and presence now, and it also gives a mean to punish said champions. Also, without the ability to proc it from distance outside of borrowed Q it sounds like a nerfed diana's ult with a cast time.

I might use the term improperly, but it sounds clunky to have to be borrowed, have to use Q to hit somebody and then have to cast a spell for one second. And this supposing you can use it while borrowed, otherwise it sounds much worse to use. I know it' s obviously too much early to say this, just pointing out some potential issues.

RiotRiot Sotere5 votes

Interesting idea. Right now it's pretty simplified by: deal damage to them, mark. Think there're some good reasons to remain with a consistent and very simple rule.

The hope is that she uses it to re-engage on enemy champions she's been in melee combat with, as well as ones she's blasted with Prey Seeker.

DeadUnborn3 votes

will marking a target as Rek Sai grant true vision while the mark is on? I´m just concerned that since the ult is clearly meant for 1v1 scenarios it will be to hard/clunky to use properly since Rek Sai becomes near sighted while burrowed. I'm assuming her ult is a point and click spell so if you want to use the spell as a re-engage tool and the range for the ult is so vast it would become mandatory on rek sai to get blue trinket for her to work properly

Sahn Uzal5 votes

That Rek'Sai ult seems pretty interesting, She's definetly gonna be really good at sticking to people who try to flash away from her. Also, Prey Seeker (That's what Burrowed Q is called, right?) > R sounds pretty mean as a way to get into the fight.

Curious how these changes will turn out!

TomiMan75 votes

Hi Meddler,

With the recent support quest I thought about giving support just a tiny little bit more gold for providing vision for the team. For example every time, with like a 10 second cooldown per enemy, if a ward spots an enemy, it would give like 5 coins to the person who placed the ward. To not to make it overpowered to those who dont build wardstones it would only work if the wards was placed using a wardstone or a warding support item. This would (or could) encourage ppl to build sightstones more. Also those who builds support items could have a 7th item slot that could hold a pink ward and only a pink ward maybe 1 or 2max? I even think that a 7th item slot for storing consumables and consumables only, could be benefitial for late game if for example a full build ad carry wants to place a pink ward or just wants to have a potion, or healtpotion but doesnt really has the place for it, or in the potions case doesnt wants to consume it right when he or she spawns. Any thoughts? :)

Monkeytender4 votes

Speaking of support items, is there a general consensus on how the updated starting items + quests are performing? Particularly the item quests - my experience with the spellthief line is that the move speed buff is pretty hard to notice, it's possible that'll become more obvious after more games though. And I gotta say, I like the coin collecting mini game way more than I thought I would, both playing with it and against it (landing Nami bubbles against a Draven and a coin support is a dream come true)

Sexy Jack Rabbit4 votes

Can you confirm that Rek'sai current ult animation for Pool party will be recycled??

Solidair33 votes

Meddler, can you tell us why the elixir point from coin's quest won't let you get a skill for the next level? AS in, why I can't at level 8 get my rank 5 skill point I'd normally get at level 9?

It's kind of unsatisfying the way it is currently, when I thought I'd be getting rank 2 ult earlier or rank 5 base skill, etc.

RiotMeddler18 votes

As of 7.10 (next patch) the extra skill point from Coin will allow you to put points into an ability one level earlier than you otherwise could (e.g. rank 2 ult at 10, or rank 5 basic spell at 8).

HalcyonDweller2 votes

Is Riot attached to the idea of an elixir worth just a skill point? Would it work to give the champion XP up to the next level?

Or has that already been considered and scrapped because of the additional effect of per-level stats going up?

RiotMeddler3 votes

We tried a level's worth of XP, moved away out of concerns about both power and power versus satisfaction. Enough XP to next level would on average be a lot less power, but comes with some real feel bad if you're close to level up but can't optimize around that (and you should almost always be doing the correct thing for your team/growth in general, not just trying to optimize the Coin quest rewards).

Toastersaot3 votes

Just a question about item 3123 . Many people have complained about this item, and as a Vladimir main I hate it. However, I know it is an important tool for the balance team to keep some sustain champions in line. However, one auto attack to cut out 40% of a champion's healing seems a bit strong for the price of 800 gold. I remember seeing it's price being increased to 1000 gold on the PBE at some point, and I wanted to ask if you have any ideas or changes in the Pipeline right now. Thank you!

HalcyonDweller7 votes

I would think that even just making it a smaller % reduction but let it stack up to some % (could be 40, could be more or less) would be at least an improvement on the current way it works.

Spideraxe2 votes

Question on Rek'Sai, how does BeatPunchBeef feel about these changes

RiotMeddler4 votes

He contributed a lot to the early exploration of these changes before swapping to focus mainly on Rakan.

DCYOUNG8881 votes

Will Rek'sai's recommended item build be updated too once the update is released (e.g. cinderhulk to warrior)?

RiotRiot Sotere5 votes

Yup, we'll definitely give her a new set of rec. items. :)

DCYOUNG8883 votes

Thanks, will Rek'sai also still keep the passive attack speed from the ult?

swampert9191 votes

I really like the idea of the new ult for rek'sai... she should feel like an inescapable animal like in her teaser trailer so this change does capture this so much better....good job on that.

Also quick question... what's happening with tremor sense... you haven't mentioned it here but I feel like that was the main thing which made her so different in pro play to solo Q so if the goal is to make her easier to balance in pro play I'm guessing tremor sense has to have at least small changes coming.

RiotMeddler4 votes

No current changes for Tremor Sense. We shared the feeling initially that it made balance for pro versus regular play tough, but the more we looked into it the more we concluded global mobility from her ult was also a significant issue, a much less unique/engaging power much of the time, and a chance to give her a better high moment in combat off her ult.

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