[4.10] Live Gameplay Patch Forecast

Hey guys, Wav3Break here for the 4.10 Patch Forecast. I’ll be explaining some of the reasoning and insights that the balance team is using to approach some of the major issues we have found in live League of Legends gameplay. Keep in mind that this forecast is meant to highlight some of the problems we’ve identified and that not all issues mentioned will necessarily have changes reflecting them in the upcoming patch. Some changes might take longer than others and everything is subject to change! Without further ado:

**DISCLAIMER: I'M GOING TO BE SAYING MARKSMEN A LOT. **

4.10 – The Marksmen Patch: We're currently looking at a lot of things in and around the space of the marksmen role in League of Legends. In 4.10, we expect to tune a lot of game elements that currently impact the health and success of the role. You’ll be seeing a lot of changes regarding marksmen itemization paths, champions, items that affect their late game power, etc. Our overall goal is to make these champions feel more satisfying late game and shine even brighter as the powerful late game champions they were meant to be.

Edit for easier clarification:

With the changes coming in 4.10, we expect that the entire marksman role will be more powerful. That is why we are closely looking at the current dominant champions and making sure that they don't become over the top in the aftermath of implementing our overall role changes.

Marksmen we feel that are too strong: We feel that the following champions currently warp the role in such a way that it is unhealthy for the role itself and/or the holistic game. The power of these characters negatively impacts the overall viability of other marksmen and we plan on making some changes to bring them back in line with their marksbrothers and markssisters.

1) Twitch

As Jag mentioned in our 4.8 patch forecast (http://community.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/live-gameplay/gTkfbmI6-48-live-gameplay-patch-forecast), Twitch is an incredibly powerful champ that has been on our radar since his rise in popularity in both competitive and casual play. Our current feelings on this sneaky rat are that his early game power does not give him enough weaknesses to offset his hyper scaling carry potential in the late game. Our challenge is to retune his early game dominance to be better balanced with his late game power levels.

**2) Lucian **

Lucian is still widely regarded as one of the safest and most reliable marksmen in all levels of play. His early game poke via Piercing Light and a scaling double-hit passive allow him to dominate the lane phase while also dealing very respectable damage late game. These problems coupled with his innate safety continue to allow him to dominate the role. In this upcoming patch we plan to retune some his early game strengths and give him well-defined weaknesses and strengths throughout all stages of the game.

Marksmen that we feel need some special lovin’: We feel that the following champions have currently fallen out of flavor for reasons that specifically have to do with their lack of power or loss of late game identity. We plan to implement changes that will help these champions reestablish themselves as compelling markspeople to play in the current live game.

1) Sivir

Our previous changes to Sivir were aimed at reducing her capabilities in the early game to push minion waves down while avoiding any interaction with her lane opponent(s). While the changes we last implemented did accomplish this goal, we feel that some of the constraints we enforced on her early game currently inhibit her identity as a powerful AOE Marksmen in the late game. Thus we are looking to retune some of her mana issues in the late game to make her feel more like the powerful ricochet damage dealer she was meant to be.

2) Tristana

Tristana is one of the most classic Marksmen and we’ve identified her as one of the weaker ones in today’s landscape. That being said, we believe there are many low risk changes we can actualize to make her a more attractive champion in the live game.

Game Systems that impact the Marksmen role (Marksmen Items / Defensive Items):

1) Warden’s Mail and Randuin’s Omen

These items are currently the premier buys for players wishing to itemize against ubiquitous physical damage. While we want to maintain the defensive effectiveness of these items, we feel that they may be too powerful due to their combination of high base stats and unique passives.

2) Life Steal Itemization

The game systems team has a lot of changes for marksman itemization (specifically centered on life steal) that they'll go into on their upcoming game systems forecast.

**Other Pressing Issues: **

1) LeBlanc

As mentioned in the previous patch forecasts, we are continuing our efforts in creating a healthy LeBlanc for League of Legends. We still enjoy her skill requirements and mind-gamey playstyle, but LeBlanc’s issues reach further into the core of the character and therefore the scope of our long term goals for her have also increased. Still, due to her power and lack of counter play in the live game, we are looking at some incremental changes that will make her play pattern healthier and maintain her defining playstyle.

Champion Rework Updates: We've got some champion rework updates on the way in the form of Nidalee and Skarner, so head over to the champion update forecast (http://community.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/champions-skins/ZuUsm0U8-champion-updateupdate-49-410) for more information there.