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Quick Gameplay Thoughts: March 10

RiotMeddler··1 votes·49,045 views

Hey all,

Happy Friday! Few short notes below.


Aatrox hotfix

All going according to plan we should be putting out a balance hotfix for Aatrox today. We concluded he was definitely in too poor a state to leave until the next regular patch and wasn't likely to recover enough just based off relearning. Changes include increased starting health (580, was 537 and had been kept low historically because of the impact of the previous revive in lane), Q CD down (13-11, was 16-12) and W damage up (45-185, was 30-150). Suspect it's likely we'll also make Aatrox changes in 7.6, though we'll need to see where these put him first of course.


Rek'Sai Timing

It looks like the Rek'Sai small update's going to be after mid-season at this point (we won't have the artist time needed available until then).


Mid-season

Speaking of which it's very likely mid-season will be patch 7.9. That could still change of course, but that's what we're shooting for.


Next new champ

The next new champ will be coming out before the next VGU. Once they're out we'll also share some details for anyone curious as to why the longer than usual gap between new champ releases and whether the circumstances that caused it are likely to crop up again or not.


Knight's Vow on PBE

We saw some reports yesterday that Knight's Vow had been reverted to its older stats and build path on the PBE yesterday. Going to be looking into that today, it's not an intended change so it's either a datamining error or we've accidentally stomped the newer version with an old file somehow.

199 Comments

WizZarD6 votes

So will the new champ be released before or after the mid season?

RiotMeddler13 votes

Yes.

Jeddy0175 votes

Perfect answer.

Solideus2 votes

Is the next champ gonna be OP or not OP y/n?

WizZarD2 votes

[zombie-brand-clap] Yes means before or after? I'm gonna go with before xD

RiotMeddler8 votes

{quoted}

[zombie-brand-clap] Yes means before or after?

Yes.

Jeddy0172 votes

https://youtu.be/oLwVKYS-iSs?t=7s

Again, perfect answer.

XIII Vanitas2 votes

Smartass.

Failog5 votes

Meddler, being in combat with minions should count as being in combat. This would make it easier to sustain Blood Rush, especially given how long it takes to stack it.

This is a bigger problem than his numbers.

Skias4 votes

Meddler, is the team planning on doing anything to reduce the stacking of BC and LW? It's super depressing to be Taric, who is supposed to be award late game for suffering through my terrible early game by being tanky, only to be deleted because BC+LW reduces my 400 armor to nothing. I have no other items I can buy to give me added durability.

Even if the ADC doesn't buy BC, someone else does because it is so generalist. I WILL have a fully stack BC debuff from someone and die nearly instantly. I think this is a big source of late game Tank problems.

Have you considered not allowing BC to shred for the entire team and limit it to the user?

Taric has miserable mana costs, is saddled with low power spike early items and is getting trounced late game by the shred. His Ult is basically all he has left to try and survive because his shields and heals are too meager to survive focus fire. He has no built in % damage reduction.

This seemed like a balance team concern because you already changed Lord Dom and BC. 45% armor reduction and fully stacked 30% total armor reduction is too much. This doesn't even take into account any lethality or mastery pen.

I feel terrible picking Taric even into full AD teams because I know I'm screwing my team with my pick.

beany3 votes

Hey, what are your thoughts on graves and rumble in pro play?

By the way its stil kinda vague when the next champ will be out, since we don't know when the next vgu comes out either.

RiotMeddler9 votes

Personal opinion (haven't talked with the Live Gameplay team about those two specifically recently) is that Graves is too universally good a pick and probably too strong. Less sure on Rumble, though seems very worth watching.

Agree timing on next new champ's still vague. I don't want to undercut the release process the team working on that character have planned though, so that's about all I can offer as a result.

Noìr2 votes

Ahhh wait. Can I give some input on graves pls? I have more games than I can count on him and would love to save my guy from unnecessary nerfs.

Graves is benefiting from a few things right now:

  • All of the people that could compete with his early game were nerfed. Kha and rengar both provided safe early clears but also gank pressure, which meant that although graves had a safer clear, he sacrificed better pressure on lanes and the possibility of snowballing heavily through kills.

  • Graves' synergy with Maw is stupid, and where I think the best place would be for nerfs would be. The passive shield on maw is more effective on graves than anyone else becuase of True Grit. With the runes/masteries I run now (scaling mr blue/oppressor/unyielding), Graves can have up to an almost 600 magic damage shield. Playing ap junglers into graves especially is miserable atm because of this.

  • Phantom Dancer. This is another item that's just too good on him. The damage reduction is a lot of hidden power, and is one of the most frustrating things to play against when graves already has so much survivability.

Skyroar3 votes

Hey meddler,

Ever since you teased about Aurelion Sol's need for changes, I've been a bit anxious about them. Does the team have any concrete plans for him already?

Also, what about exhaust's current state? Do you think the nerfs were fair?

RiotMeddler9 votes

Nothing concrete on Aurelion Sol, very unlikely we'll make any major changes at least though, direction we were exploring didn't work out as hoped.

Too early to say much on Exhaust, no major concerns yet at least though.

IxtaliKing5 votes

What about Azir, wasn't he meant to be getting some changes in the earlier part of this year?

RiotMeddler6 votes

This year yes, early part of it no.

Lil Soybean1 votes

{quoted}

This year yes, early part of it no.

Do you expect the PBE Warlord's Changes to go live? Are the changes supposed to just make it terrible on bruisers while keeping it good for Crit ADCs and Jhin?

RiotMeddler4 votes

A modified version's likely to go live. Main goal is to smooth out some of the extremes that using Lifesteal directly favors (e.g. how much a Caitlyn Headshot on a minion heals).

TheSingularity1 votes

Why the sudden interest in ninja tabi use?

The rise of ninja tabi is due to the fact that the 10% dmg reduction, specifically against lethality adc's and lethality-building champs in general is currently more valuable than CDR or tenacity. Notice the word currently. The boots weren't the be all end all before you implemented lethality. People bought tenacity and CDR boots. Junglers loved swiftness and mobility. But this meta isn't full of CC tanks and CDR is plntiful outside of boots. It's full of low CC assassins and adc's bulding lethality. And in order to survive long enough to do anything WE LITERALLY NEED THOSE BOOTS! The boots themselves have been fine for an extremely long time, and have only now rose in popularity because they are a need against the currrent lethality meta. Not a want. Hell I'd take any other boots any day of the week if lethalty wasn't a problem. Kinda like boots enchants. We didn't buy the best one, we simply bought the least shit one. In this case ninja tabi are the least shit pair of boots against lethality users.

RiotMeddler3 votes

We're more interested in Ninja Tabi because Ninja Tabi are much more common. That's generally a sign something's worth paying attention to. So far it looks like Ninja Tabi are an appropriate response to multiple physical damage based enemies using flat pen (Lethality) which is strongly countered by additional armor.

TheSingularity2 votes

So at this point, do you feel ninja tabi are an issue as a "too strong" reactionary item to lethality. Or lethality is a problem because it is causing such a rise in ninja tabi usage?

Jeitsu3 votes

Good night Meddler.

Could Riot fix the Aatrox's passive bug with the sterak for this 7.5 hotfix?? This is rly affecting him too.

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/bug-report/LbEGHsAL-gameplay-new-aatrox-passive-dont-gives-the-right-amount-of-ad-when-you-buy-steraks-gage

Ahristocats2 votes

https://i.gyazo.com/9c02652e0f22fd84a1b3b2796fdb67b4.png what do you think of challenger adcs building ninja tabi now?

i think it's because of lethality, but i just want to know your plans

ShadowParker2 votes

The next new champion will be out before Urgot? I thought the next two champions were gonna come out a lot sooner and closer together?

Usernamehere12352 votes

Not too long ago, Riot mentioned actually buffing Shen. Now it seems that instead of a buff, you guys are now going to nerf him. Are there any plans to buff him to counteract the nerf, whatever that nerf may be? Are there any long term plans to give him a more extended rework?

Lùmen5 votes

His ult is too strong in competitive play, they said they're testing to make the shield based off missing health in order to encourage defensive plays instead of aggressive ones.

Ralanr2 votes

Once "they're out?"

[insert Obligatory over analyzation of a Riot post here].

Oleandervine3 votes

"They" being used ambiguously to refer to either a male or female.

Sexy Jack Rabbit2 votes

What is happeneing with the Karma splash updates? You've mentioned Maokai and Sejuani a lot at this point.

Are the Karma ones still happening?

RiotMeddler11 votes

Karma splash updates are still happening, not sure on timing though (that's more of a question for Reav3, though I'd imagine the answer will have to be 'when they're ready')

Sexy Jack Rabbit2 votes

Fair enough. Wasn't worried about timing, just anxious about them. By all accounts it's been very quiet in regards to them. So I appreciate the reply.

Midzy2 votes

Ahri is being picked in every other pro game in the patch BEFORE two of her most difficult matchups in LeBlanc and Ryze are even nerfed. She has a 19% pick rate in NA solo queue (4% higher than the next highest mid) with a near 54% win rate.

Are there any plans to tone her down a little? She will inevitably be picked or banned every LCS game once they play on patch 7.5.

Danakun2 votes

Hey meddler,

My thoughts on the Atrox changes, I'm a fan of everything except one kinda big change. His passive only activating during blood rush makes his self revive almost useless. Anyone who knows what they're doing will just wait for the 4 seconds to pass kinda like a zilean ult just to get the easy kill. Where that's not too big of a deal if you're ahead and can do some decent damage to make them be forced to proc it, if you're behind its a huge sting because they can literally just ignore your damage long enough to get the easy kill. Other than that, he feels like he's in a much better place than he used to be.

Failog2 votes

Amen. So obvious, can't understand why they are being so stubborn about this.

Dragonslayer RS2 votes

i think increasing his passive to 8 sec may help him a lot.

Jeitsu2 votes

Meddler me and the rest of Aatrox players are rly dissapointed with this "Buff-Rework". Riot new hotfix (Patch 7.5) dont fix anything of the champ. I have played hours and hours with him, trying hundreds of builds, ways to play, agressive, passive, and he is STILL TOO WEAK, is imposible to play him now even when you are ahead or hard fed, if you dont have 1 or 2 charges of blood rush, because you have just used TP or 1000 different situations, just before fight EVERYBODY can kill you in 1 v 1.

Im rly angry with this rework because MY MAIN CHAMP is now rly unplayeable, all the Aatrox players agree that the NEW PASSIVE SUCK, thats all, Aatrox didnt need a TOTALLY NERFED passive. Jax can have 100 extra resistances, fiora can deal 1500 true dmg, darius can have 300 ad building tank and a 1000 true dmg ult, camille can have 1000 true dmg Q and that FRUSTRATING ULT, but Aatrox can have his (Sometimes useless) revive passive... Cant you understand that it dont makes any sense?.

Until you fix Aatrox passive HE - WONT - BE - VIABLE. And DONT make this champ a BORING TANK PLEASE. Hard words but the truth. Probably you wont reply this coment, or maybe you wont even read this. Hear Aatrox players suggestions and stop making wierd changes. You could have buff Aatrox in this way:

  1. Flat and low hp cost in Q and E.
  2. Revives with blood well full and 30% of your max health.
  3. ALL THE REST DOES THE SAME.

I cant even build guinsoo now. Just... no words. Im gonna stop playing this game until you fix this HARD MISTAKE.

Failog2 votes

It really is staggering how incompetent Riot acted with Aatrox. Sheer arrogance on their part, and a disdain for their customers because they assume that all the Aatrox main suggestions were going to be bad.

Tensa Zangetsu1 votes

Something planned for jinx ? she feels very weak now.

Cosmic Warper4 votes

{quoted}

Something planned for jinx ? she feels very weak now.

??? Her kit is fine. Crit itemization is ass. It's not the champion's fault they don't function as well because of their itemization

Archlord Aatrox1 votes

Who was the next VGU on the schedule, couldn't remember if it was Evelynn or Urgot

Jeddy0176 votes

Urgot. The WW team move to the Urgod while the Galio team will take on Eve.

RiotMeddler4 votes

Yep, Urgot.

Northmund1 votes

Nonono give his passive work without stack and let his attack speed buff work on 5 stacks. i would find this change really helpful for Aatrox .

Jeitsu2 votes

Have you realized that your suggestion would be a buff for the new aatrox but is still a nerf compared with the old one? How could this rework be a buff if they nerf the core passive of the champion.

Northmund2 votes

You understand that those doritos never change what they did. Their fcking pride won't allow, so at least something to make his passive useful outside of teamfight.

I mean have you seen hotfix buff for him?they lowered Dark Flight CD, something they should have done in a first place, every fcking Aatrox main told them to do that, but no they just did it worse.Even i suggest to do so that every enemy hit by E reduces his Q CD by flat amout, hell no lets make it so that Aatrox win rate drop even harder.

So ye what i mean any buff is good with me. Have a nice day :D

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