Boards›Dev Corner

Patch Chat with the Playtest Team - Patch 7.10

RiotRiot King Cobra·5/17/2017, 9:11:58 PM·1 votes·75,737 views

https://news-a.akamaihd.net/public/na_images/PCHCHT/Minions.jpg Header by inkiness

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 7.10 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!

In Patch 7.10 we've introduced some changes to Heimerdinger and Rammus. Additionally, we've pulled back some power from a few champions that have been appearing quite a bit on the Rift including Fizz, Graves, Ivern, and Lee Sin. We also went back and further tuned our updated tanks - Sejuani, Maokai, and Zac all have some numbers changes to bring them to more appropriate power levels.

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 Nicolas “Gleeb” Haddad 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

172 Comments

KeKCroW245/17/2017, 9:39:51 PM11 votes

Can i ask you what is your intent with rengar? Do you have any plans in the near future for him? If not can i ask you what do you think of his kit? Thanks in advance and have a nice day.

Monotachi5/17/2017, 9:35:03 PM5 votes

According to https://na.op.gg/champion/rakan/statistics/support, Rakan has a ~45% winrate, yet the changes to him this patch are an overall nerf.

His laning phase is his weakest, yet lost 80 base shield in-exchange for +100 range on Q and 20 base damage at max rank of W.

The patch note explanation also implied Rakan is not supposed to max E first, but I don't see why not?

It is simply the most efficient route to max out first:

  • Q heal scales with level, so it's a one-point wonder
  • His W knock duration doesn't scale with level as well, so there's also no reason to max this out as well.
  • With support income, he's not going to deal amazing damage, so going for a 'damaging' playstyle just not going to work out (supports above point of not maxing W).
  • He is also an all-in support, so the increase in Q range doesn't help since you use this after knocking up enemies with W. His Q is not meant to be a poke spell (something the designer intended on purpose).

Given the patch notes explanation, does the designer/live balance team feel like players are not using Rakan 'properly' as the designer would of liked? Why is this? Does Rakan simply not have the numbers to entice players to go a more high-risk-high-reward playstyle?

Evelyn Endwise5/18/2017, 5:40:07 PM5 votes

Saw the Reddit post where Diana was mentioned as having a winrate in the 40s (Was already there pre-Banshee's change, which obv doesn't help her). Are there any plans for small help for her in the near future, or is she likely gonna hang around in the background for a potential Diver update?

Spideraxe5/17/2017, 9:37:07 PM3 votes

How do you guys feel about Zac with the hp scaling added to Q? Shrieve mentioned you guys tested an iteration of his ult with grounded, how did that feel. And why doesn't RoberXLee want to duo with August

Chubbles5/17/2017, 11:07:19 PM3 votes

Meddler mentioned Ahri being looked at for nerfs. Thresh has a similarly high play rate and win rate. Is Thresh being looked at for nerfs as well? If not why not? Thanks for the posts every patch! I enjoy reading them.

tempzkwxrozmzriv5/17/2017, 10:31:36 PM3 votes

Thoughts on how Pulsefire Ezreal's update turned out? And is it possible we'll see any other Pulsefire skins in the future? It's just such an awesome theme and fits Ekko absolutely perfectly and I'd love to see it expanded to other champs.

slimebow5/17/2017, 9:24:46 PM3 votes

Hey team,

What is your opinions​ on the changes to Rammus?

Where do these changes place him in the current state of league?

I Am Lord Ruler5/17/2017, 11:43:11 PM2 votes

For quite a while now I have only seen mage supports and downright midlaners sitting in Bot as a support. Will we see some future changes to increase the viability of Tank supports? While I don't think they are in a terrible spot, I always feel outclassed by Zyra/Malz/Lux/Karma/etc etc whenever I play Braum or Leona

Jar Jar binks l5/17/2017, 9:30:52 PM2 votes

Volibear is struggling alot especially after the tank update where Sunfira Cinderhulk dmg got nerfed.Also Volibears only attacking spell his W scales with HP which also got reduced. Are there any plans to buff him ? Same can be said about Mundo and Malphite

Kei1435/18/2017, 4:07:57 AM2 votes

please share fun/fail stories with heimer's / Rammus' rework.

Psuchezoe5/17/2017, 9:32:46 PM2 votes

Is there a reason why it was decided to gut Rammus' damage? I mean, just with some math, it's pretty easy to tell that his damage has been gutted. His passive deals less damage once he gets more than 200 or so armor, his q deals less damage, his ult's damage has been almost halved. Even his w, the most iconic part of his kit, has had it's damage destroyed- it doesn't break even unless he has 700 armor!

I understand he got attack speed buffs, but it's incredibly short lived without making use of his w. And it seems extremely counterintuitive- he wants w to do more damage with his autos, but you literally cannot make use of the AS buff and his w on anything that isn't a monster because of the self-slow. While his ult allows you to maintain the buff post-6, what about pre-6? Is he simply unable to fight or duel any champion? I feel like he gave up so much damage for what amounts to very situational power. Was this a conscious choice?

Edit: Also, why was his w changed to only go on cooldown after the spell was over? It amounts to being exactly the same as the old W.

HalcyonDweller5/17/2017, 9:21:30 PM2 votes

Do you think it would feel better playing against Maokai if his saplings did their DoT first and damage after? Possibly allowing you to spellshield or cleanse it off to counter the burst damage?

Would it be more satisfying as Maokai if you got to trigger the saplings after they attach to enemies? Such as by landing another ability or attack on the enemy. Sort of like Tristana E.

Shíny5/17/2017, 11:21:30 PM2 votes

I know this is a long shot, but can you see if someone can look into Heimerdinger/vision system audio? Any game that has Heimer in it has the disabled ward(when you use a control ward or sweeper on an enemy ward) sound effect replaced with Heimer's grenade sound.

ImaginesTigers5/17/2017, 11:43:46 PM2 votes

Would you guys be willing to talk about where you think Syndra's current state lands? How is she viewed internally?

Havoc3515/19/2017, 10:26:39 AM1 votes

Any chance Kindred would be up for a remake soon? i'd still like to jg with them, but i feel like their scaling damage wise is pathetic... especially Lambs Q. i Feel W needs to be something to avoid when you are an enemy of Kindred. E is amazing down to the animation and function but again scaling i feel its a miss for them.

i get what kindreds ult is (its a stand off) ( life saver ) or (f@^k up XD) instead of increasing their ults health gain upon ulting, which i originally thought was a good choice.. i'd like to see kindreds ult radius much larger. instead of 500 units (600) (700) would be awesome. item 1419 item 3006 item 3085 item 3812 item 3046 item 3031 item 2140

these are the items i use for Kindred. i can solo barron with all items and over 8 marks.

problems i had was early and mid way through of the game. going up against someone like warwick was a bad time, even tho i keep my range he somehow finds a way to basic attack me and gain health at lvl 2 as if he had

![item 3072](https://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/16.11.1/img/item/3072.png)

barely managed to get the kill on Riven from gaining health with smiting and keeping my range while using w as a cooldown and have wolf attack when i'm not attacking and more fleeing.

late game its easier, but when it comes to talon, xin, lee or that ass that can short teleport Kassadin its crazy to stand a chance (late game) when stunned or surprised by these half tank assassins ( tanky ass sins ) XD a sum up.

i feel like Kindred works best with attack speed and life steal and i think her passive (marks) should increase her basic attack damage (not by much) but all their abilities scale with the marks by large amount would be awesome.

Love the lore of this champ as well as their animations and the design look of Kindred.

LostFr0st5/17/2017, 9:51:40 PM1 votes

If you were to pull power from Kassadin, where would you pull it from and why?

I was thinking his W mana restore myself, but it would be cool to see how you guys would approach him if you needed to.

Lord Desert5/17/2017, 11:29:33 PM1 votes

Can I ask you playtesters if you see any huge flaws in the concept of having a Control Ward trinket, similar to the old item 3362, and giving ruby the ability to store 1 control ward extra?

It is very hard to get anyone to discuss this with, nether a rioter nor other boards members have said anything usefull in this matter as far as I know off. So do you as (ex-)challenger see any mayor flaws that I migth have overlooked? To make it clear: I dont want a "we will implement it right now", I want a "Here is why it would be problematic/not so good/might not work". I cant improve an idea if I cant find any flaws that need to be adressed.... xD Thanks for your time!

Vodka SIut5/18/2017, 1:23:51 AM1 votes

So, i'd just like to point out this is like the 100th patch Morgana hasnt been touched.

Ive played 600+ games ranked with morgana. Something needs to change and it's not just her tacky dress, bad skin tone, lack of dialogue.

We are just so worried about new champs Morgana is sitting in her grave wondering why her Pentakills are always stolen.

Kat gets rewarded for kills, while Morgana has to sit back and watch all the champs that SHE CC'ed.

The potential for multi-kills on morgana could be higher.

Does riot want her to be a doublekill-only champ?

Or ya'll gonna park her higher on the support bench?

Love, best silver Morgana NA

Xenos von Faneli5/17/2017, 9:12:52 PM1 votes

wooooo yorick lovin

now if only he had skins...