[4.6] Patch Forecast

Hey guys,

This is the first of hopefully many Patch Forecasts where we can share our perspectives on what issues we see affecting the game as well as those we're actively looking to address for the next patch.

This should give you guys more context about the changes you guys regularly see hit the PBE between patch releases. Ultimately, we want to start conversations earlier on so that 1) there's fewer surprises and 2) there's time for us to chat with you guys, get your feedback, and continue to iterate on our goals and changes.

So without further ado, here's some of the primary projects we're looking at for the next patch:

1) Reworks Follow-up

We released several reworks in the last couple of patches, so this patch we're focusing on ensuring they're all in a good state. We think we undershot a bit on the power level of all 3 of the recent large reworks to Kassadin, Gragas, and Rengar, so here's a sneak peak at the current directions of the changes:

Kassadin: We're looking to give Kassadin more favorable opportunities to close into melee with his targets and make sure he is rewarded correctly when he successfully does so. We also want to continue to focus on amplifying Kassadin's unique strengths against magic damage.

Gragas: We're looking to free up some of the constraints we put on Gragas' mobility so he can more readily initiate and better function as a tank in fights.

Rengar: We're looking at cleaning up some of the responsiveness issues we may have introduced with the rework and want to make sure Rengar can better compete during the early game in Top Lane and in the Jungle.

2) Top Lane and the "Renekton Bar"

As with any lane, we are definitely aware and concerned that there may not be enough champion diversity in the Top Lane, especially at the competitive level. This is largely due to what we believe are "lane bullies" who essentially represent the relative early game power level needed to enter and compete in the lane. Currently, that bar is the "Renekton Bar."

One way to reduce the severity of the "Renekton Bar" would be simply to tone down Renekton's power a notch. In this case, directly lowering the bar would potentially create an even more unhealthy situation where a different champion rises to the top and acts as the new "bar." We actually see Renekton as one of the more interesting top lane champions in the game, and so instead of nerfing here, we're looking to buff.

We're in the process of looking at champions that we think provide interesting and healthy gameplay in the top lane, and finding ways to nudge them up to be able to better compete in the current Top Lane environment. This doesn't mean these guys should just now outright beat champions like Renekton, but it hopefully means they have a better chance of going toe-to-toe with him or maybe even just surviving the lane against him and then providing some unique strengths to their team later on.

As a note, since we can't address every single top laner we'd like in one patch, this will be an ongoing project as we continue to bring more and more champions into the fold.

Remember, these are all currently in iteration and may change at any point before we actually release the patch.

In addition, I'd like to give you guys some insight into a couple of hot topics we're currently analyzing to see if we need to make any adjustments:

1) Lulu

We think we dropped the ball a bit here by failing to make sure we kept Bot Lane Support Lulu fully intact when we made adjustments to her Mid Lane harrass patterns last patch. We're currently in a heavy analysis phase to gauge where her power level is at as a Bot Lane Support.

We also want to continue to monitor her presence in Mid Lane and see if she is still presenting a large diversity issue there even after our changes.

Once again, this simply means we need more time here to gather data and feedback before deciding if and how to move forward.

2) Jungle Items

There are actually 2 potential issues here we have been discussing a ton internally:

**1. The Lack of Class Diversity in the Jungle **

We are currently investigating why other classes of Junglers such as Jungle Tanks like Maokai and Nautilus are not valued in the current game. We feel it largely has to do with the way Spirit Stone and its upgrades scale their effectiveness based purely on the amount of damage dealt.

We think there's some complex work to be done here in order to open the jungle back up to more classes of champions, so we're doing a deep dive at the moment to make sure we have a solid direction before moving forward.

2. Is Feral Flare too strong?

We are currently monitoring the power level of Feral Flare after its recent release, as our current thinking is that it may be a bit over-tuned.

We prefer to let it settle a bit on the Live servers before making any changes, but it's possible some adjustments to Feral Flare may make it into 4.6.