Patch 10.2 Rift Herald Changes; Good, Bad, or What?
Rift Herald takes a little too long to defeat, so teams lessen the priority on it compared to other objectives. We want her to get a little love too, so we're looking to lessen the gap between the pros and cons of killing her. BASE STATS HEALTH 5500 (8250-16500 [level 6-12]) ⇒ 4750 (7125-14250 [level 6-12])
Above this, is the change coming to the Rift Heralds in patch 10.2. Ever since the rework of the Dragons, the Rift Herald's value significantly diminished and how I know this is because I play jungle often. I can see that not everyone cares about it even though it has some good potential for applying a significant amount of lane pressure. However, the Dragon buffs are significantly more valuable as they scale into the late game and even give the team that has acquired four the corresponding elemental soul. While this change is nice for jungle-players like me or anyone else, this doesn't feel like it's going in the right direction, especially for the Rift Herald, which now cannot compete in terms of value when it comes to the Dragons. Even when I play as an ADC or support at times, I can immediately tell what the enemy team values more.
Too reiterate, the Rift Herald's value has struggled to compete against that of the Dragons and has put a lot of pressure on junglers to capture them no matter what, which does make the jungle a more interactive role, but indirectly puts a significant amount of pressure on the bottom lane which at times can feel really suffocating. Even with the changes to the top lane with the new items, it feels easier than playing an ADC as the enemy jungler isn't always likely to be in the top section of the map simply due to the dragons.
With this all said, I believe the Rift Herald needs a buff, not in health or damage, I mean an actual buff that players can acquire if they capture a Rift Herald that remains permanent even if the Herald expires or is used. This buff would be called the "Herald's Calling." This buff gives Rift Herald a significant boost in value as this buff will be like the old Mountain Dragon buff which allowed the team that captured it to do bonus damage to epic monsters. However, it won't be exactly like the old Mountain buff which also did bonus damage to structures.
Herald's Calling:
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1 Rift Herald Captured: Provides +8/11.5/15% damage to epic monsters
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2 Heralds Captured: Provides double that of capturing 1 Rift Herald, +16/23/30% damage to epic monsters If both teams have 1 Rift Herald captured, the effect will not double for either.
In addition to this change, the Rift Herald's base health should be increased by 25% of the previous version instead of being reduced. BASE STATS HEALTH 5500 (8250-16500 [level 6-12]) ⇒ 6875 (8250-16500 [level 6-12])
DISCLAIMER These changes are purely conceptual and an idea I felt like sharing since it is clear that the Dragons are being valued way too much.
