1/9 PBE Update: Tentative Balance Changes

[WIP!] [STATUS: PBE is currently online!]

The PBE has been updated! As we continue the 9.2 PBE cycle, today's patch includes tentative balance changes!

Continue reading for more information!

(Warning: PBE Content is tentative and subject to change - what you see below may not reflect what eventually gets pushed to live servers at the end of the cycle! Manage your expectations accordingly.)

Table of Contents

• Balance Changes
• Context & Notes

Balance Changes

* NOTE*: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, & experimental changes. Be aware that what you see below may be relative to other changes earlier this cycle! These are not official notes.

Champions

Neeko
[Neeko has other changes in testing on the PBE!]

• Inherent Glamour (Passive) 
• • cooldown increased from [25/22/19/16/13/10 at 1/4/7/10/13/16] to [35/30/25/20/15/10 at 1/4/7/10/13/16]
  • [New Effect] "If Neeko becomes invisible to the enemy while disguised, she gains 20% magic penetration that lasts 4 seconds after the disguise breaks."

• Shapesplitter (W) 
• • Clone duration increased from 2 seconds to 3 seconds
  • bonus movement speed duration increased from 2 seconds to 3 seconds 

• Tangle Barbs (E) 
• • AP reverted from 60% to 40%
  • Damage reverted from 80/125/170/215/260 to 80/115/150/185/220
  • Empowered root duration reverted from .75/1/1.25/1.5/1.75 seconds to .7/.9/1.1/1.3/1.5 seconds

• Pop Blossom (R)
• • Cooldown increased from 90 seconds to 120/100/80 seconds
  • Leap duration lowered from .75 seconds to .6 seconds
  • [New] Nearby champion leap damage now had a 40% AP ratio

Volibear
[Changelist - Missed in 1/8 Update]

• Majestic Roar (E) 
• • Bonus damage to dashing or airborne enemies changed from [40/60/80/100/120 (+30% AP)] to [8% Target Max HP] 

• Thunder Claws (R)
• • Delay before initial bolt on cast changed from [0.25s - 0.1s delay between each bounce] to [0.075s - 0s delay between each bounce]

Yorick

[Changelist] [Yorick has extensive changes in testing on the PBE!]

• Eulogy of the Isles (R)
• • Cooldown increased from 120 at all ranks to 180/140/100
  • • Vs. Live: from 160/130/100 to 180/140/100
  • Maiden bonus attack damage changed from 10/20/40 to 0/20/40
  • Max health damage on Yorick attacking Maiden's target lowered from 4/7/10% to 3/6/9%
  • • Vs Live: from 5/7.5/10% to 3/6/9%
  • Maiden break free time increased from 60 seconds to 25000 seconds [probably a bug!]

Zyra

• Grasping Roots (E) damage lowered from 60/105/150/195/240 to 60/100/140/180/220

Items

Relic Shield Line

• Unique Passive: Spoils of War now specifies "Killing a minion with an attack or spell heals the owner and the nearest allied champion".

Context & Notes

WIP!

1) Riot Maple provided a changelist for Volibear this cycle:

"This is the whole list 

Majestic Roar (E) Damage :: Bonus damage to dashing or airborne enemies :: 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 (+30% AP) >>> 8% Target Max HP 

Thunder Claws (R) Delay before initial bolt on cast :: 0.25s >>> 0.1s Delay between each bounce :: 0.075s >>> 0s"

He also provided further changes for Yorick this cycle:

"The version that we're going to try out tomorrow is: 

• Maiden lives in the world permanently and follows you by default
• After some period of time you can choose to recast R to set her free to roam down a lane."

2) Here's Meddler's quick gameplay thoughts for January 9th, including details on buffs and nerfs in 9.2 and more:

"Hi folks, 

Usual Disclaimers 

These posts will often contain talk about future work we're doing, or planning to do, that isn't yet guaranteed to ship. The nature of the work could change or, depending on what we discover, projects mentioned may get delayed or even stopped. If you'd like to see a Tweet whenever a new one of these posts goes up: https://twitter.com/RiotMeddler 

Happy 2019! 

Hope the year's treating you all well so far. To kick things off as these posts resume I wanted to get some feedback on the posts themselves, in particular:

• What types of topic would you like to see more of in these posts?
• How often do you want to see one of these posts come out? Twice a week's been the regular schedule for quite a while now, would once a week and a bit longer be more appealing for example, or is shorter but more frequent better?
• Who else should we be learning from? Would particularly love to hear your thoughts on communication from other game developers and what approaches and techniques we should be adopting. 

Changes in 9.2 and beyond 

As you might have seen Maple Nectar talking about on Twitter we've just picked our likely targets for 9.2 as below. As usual not guaranteed we'll necessarily ship changes for all of these cases and we're still in the process of testing what exactly we'll do. 

Buffs:

• Sunfire Cape
• Aurelion Sol
• Dr Mundo
• Jarvan
• Neeko
• Renekton
• Shen
• Shyvana
• Volibear
• Yorick 

Nerfs:

• Oblivion Orb
• Relic Shield line
• Aatrox
• Brand
• Camille
• Cassiopeia
• Galio
• Irelia
• Jax
• Kassadin
• Rakan
• Urgot
• Zyra 

We're also looking at some more Akali work, though that's looking at counterplay, pro versus regular play power etc rather than a straight buff or nerf. Part of that includes assessing the recent shroud changes to see how much they have or haven't moved the needle and whether further shroud changes are a good tactic. 

In terms of longer term work (likely changes over more than one patch, which might or might not include 9.2) we're also looking at some wider issues. The key ones there are how damage is distributed across the game (including which sources contribute how much damage), ADC itemization (crit primarily, possibly a bit that affects other build paths too) and reducing jungle influence a bit (lower camp reward scaling, less damage from the Smite upgrades). 

Allowing a few champs to go beyond level 18 

Wanted to get a gut check from you folks on a concept we've kicked around occasionally internally. How does the idea of allowing a few specific champions to exceed the level cap slightly (level 19, maybe 20?) sound? If for example Zilean's passive, in addition to allowing him to give XP to allies, also allowed him to break the level cap a bit just for himself is that something that feels natural? If so, is it something that would feel out of place if a few other champions could do the same? Not something we're immediately planning to do, but could be an option for champs who could do with a bit of super late game power and a bit of extra relevance to their passives. Was curious as to whether it was something that generally sounded appealing versus boring, fair versus unfair etc to you all." 

3) Here's Riot Orphyre with a bugs & feedback thread for the chroma this cycle:

"Hey everyone! 

We’ve got some new Chromas coming up for Coin Emperor Tahm Kench, Firecracker Sejuani, Lunar Wraith Sylas, and a couple of Golden Chromas for Lunar Guardian Warwick, Warring Kingdoms Xin Zhao, and Warring Kingdoms Jarvan IV! We also have some coming out a bit later for Heartpiercer Fiora and Heartbreaker Vi!

Coin Emperor Tahm Kench:

• New textures:
• • Coin Emperor Tahm Kench (Obsidian)
  • Coin Emperor Tahm Kench (Aquamarine)
  • Coin Emperor Tahm Kench (Amethyst)
  • Coin Emperor Tahm Kench (Rose Quartz)
  • Coin Emperor Tahm Kench (Pearl)
  • Coin Emperor Tahm Kench (Ruby)

Firecracker Sejuani:

• New textures:
• • Firecracker Sejuani (Ruby)
  • Firecracker Sejuani (Citrine)
  • Firecracker Sejuani (Sapphire)
  • Firecracker Sejuani (Rose Quartz)
  • Firecracker Sejuani (Obsidian)
  • Firecracker Sejuani (Turquoise)

Lunar Wraith Sylas:

• New textures:
• • Lunar Wraith Sylas (Obsidian)
  • Lunar Wraith Sylas (Ruby)
  • Lunar Wraith Sylas (Catseye)
  • Lunar Wraith Sylas (Aquamarine)
  • Lunar Wraith Sylas (Amethyst)
  • Lunar Wraith Sylas (Pearl)

2019 Lunar Revel Goldens:

• New textures:
• • Lunar Guardian Warwick (Golden)
  • Warring Kingdoms Xin Zhao (Golden)
  • Warring Kingdoms Jarvan IV (Golden)

Heartpiercer Fiora:

• New textures:
• • Heartpiercer Fiora (Ruby)
  • Heartpiercer Fiora (Citrine)
  • Heartpiercer Fiora (Amethyst)
  • Heartpiercer Fiora (Rose Quartz)
  • Heartpiercer Fiora (Aquamarine)
  • Heartpiercer Fiora (Obsidian)
  • Heartpiercer Fiora (Pearl)

from
http://www.surrenderat20.net/2019/01/19-pbe-update-tentative-balance-changes.html