Welcome to February and another big ol’ patch!
This time around, we took a large sweep across items to tweak what's hitting too hard and what's needing some love, categorized into 6 sections: tank, enchanter, marksman, fighter, mage, and sustain items. For sustain, we’re continuing to reassess systemic healing by adjusting stats around Omnivamp on powerful items like Goredrinker and Sterak’s Gage. The intent here is to balance the stat’s strength while keeping items viable and, you guessed it, sustainable.
Then it’s the usual champ balancing, with some sizzle for Jinx, who’s been wanting to crash back onto the scene for a while now, and some more for AP Shyv. As for outliers, we’re tamping down champs like Rammus and Elise who have been consistent hot shots in the jungle.
All that aside, ARURF is back and better than ever! We've made a few changes in light of the new item landscape, so take a quick peek below and get ultra ready. See ya in the next one.
Party-goers galore, festivities continue in the TFT world with our first patch of the Festival of Beasts! Take this portal to TFT patch notes to uncover where the real party is at!
Lunar Beast Fiora, Lunar Beast Fiora Prestige Edition, Lunar Beast Annie, Lunar Beast Darius, Lunar Beast Alistar, Lunar Beast Jarvan IV, and Lunar Beast Aphelios will be available on February 4th, 2021. Withered Rose Syndra, Withered Rose Talon, Crystal Rose Swain, and Crystal Rose Zyra will be available on February 11th, 2021.
Q detonation damage decreased. R cooldown increased later.
Since her refresh in patch 10.25, Anivia's been leaving her enemies in the cold with high spell consistency and damage.
E base damage decreased later.
With the last round of tank item buffs, Cho's been feasting in top lane.
Q base damage decreased later. W active attack speed decreased later.
Elise has crept to the top of the jungle echelons despite some previous nerfs (see 11.2). We're squashing her down a bit to even out the playing field.
Q damage ratio increased.
Ezreal hasn't been faring so well with the new item system. To give him more of a (mystic) shot, we're buffing his Q ratio to better synergize with Muramana, while also giving him more value when building heavy AD items like Hydra.
Base health growth decreased. E shield decreased later.
While it's great to see Ivern wunder-ing around outside of his usual home, he's still too effective meandering around the jungle. We can't beat around the bush any longer-we're pulling back some of his safety and shielding power.
Base health decreased. Q bonus range increased; Fishbones bonus attack speed penalty decreased. E cost increased; arm time decreased; max range cast adjusted.
The new item changes have not been kind to Jinx. We wanted to make some priority adjustments to the items in general first before tackling her, and now it's finally time. Additionally, since she's been primarily out of pro play for a while now, we're shifting some of her kit's power from raw stats to her abilities to create more room for skill expression.
Base mana regen increased. Q cost decreased.
Bringing good karma to support Karma.
E cooldown decreased.
Morde isn't grasping the new season well, so we're giving him more grasp. We're hoping this along with other system changes (Riftmaker giving more health, AD bruiser items getting nerfed) will help him navigate this strange new world.
Base health decreased. Passive bonus attack speed decreased; now displays amount of attack speed on passive icon.
Olaf is dominating in the jungle. We're nerfing his clear speed and dueling slightly so he's a bit more dependent on finding successful ganks.
Q now has decreased damage against both minions and monsters; cooldown increased early.
Balancing out Pantheon's power both in mid and the jungle.
E cooldown flattened.
Rammus rolled comfortably into preseason and has gained more momentum with the cheaper tank Mythic items. We're reducing some of his taunt power now that his engages have become more consistent.
W1 and W2 damage ratio increased. E damage ratio increased; unbind cooldown decreased; cooldown bug fixed; long distance pathing bug fixed. R damage ratio increased.
So far so good for Rell, so no meaningful balance adjustments here. These changes are light usability work and bugfixes, sprinkled with a bit of love for the very-much-not-a-thing AP Rell builds.
E cooldown decreased.
The new season put Riven in a weak spot, and with high cooldowns on her E, she's lost her mojo. Since both of her hardbound items (Goredrinker/Ravenous Hydra) are getting substantial nerfs this patch, we're looking to reforge her spirit.
Passive base note damage decreased. W shield decreased.
Seraphine is often front and center, and with her strong stage presence in mid lane (and other roles), she's in need of some tuning down.
Q empowered basic attack damage and second strike bonus damage increased. W bonus movement speed increased.
While AD Shyvana has been tearing up the Rift with both fighter and tank builds, AP Shyv has been dragging (dragon?) behind in the new season. We want to buff AP Shyvana in ways that aren't centered around her just spamming fireballs. These changes should help her clear speed, which is weaker with the new items.
Q damage ratio increased.
Singed has been struggling since preseason, and even more so after the recent Imperial Mandate changes. We're adding some power back to his signature spell. Remember, always chase Singed.
Q cost flattened. W damage increased.
We're unshackling Sylas while also evening out his skill ranks.
Passive bonus movement speed increased. Q subsequent stone damage against monsters decreased.
Taliyah's jungle surfing in Elite levels of play has been seismic. We're reverting some previous changes (11.1 and partially 10.25), while narrowing in on some specific jungle clear nerfs.
R total base active aura damage decreased later.
Udyr is another dominant jungler at the moment, especially with a Phoenix max. His items are already getting hit, so this nerf is aimed to be lighter than what he would normally merit.
R cooldown now flat.
Now that we've taken a couple stabs at balancing out preseason item changes, Vladimir has been left a little worse for wear. Instead of focusing buffs on his damage or healing, we're taking a different route and opening up access to his ult.
We're doing a pass on mage items to create more balance amongst their purchase rates and to stop any one item from overshadowing the others (Lich Bane, Zhonya's Hourglass, Seeker's Armguard). We're also broadening Horizon Focus by lowering its activation range so that more mages can take advantage of its specialty. Lastly, we're unifying the stacking passives between Verdant Barrier and Seeker's Armguard for consistency.
Zooming in on enchanter items, it’s clear that Flowing Water is largely overperforming compared to other second item choices. On the other hand, Chemtech Putrifier is fulfilling its niche role quite well (healing reduction), but it's not purchased as often or as powerful as the other Grievous Wounds items. We’re making some changes to ensure that enchanters feel they have access to a viable Grievous Wounds option as well as the other classes.
Silvermere Dawn isn't as efficient for an item we think is an important piece in the fighter ecosystem, so we're upping its power. Additionally, Ironspike Whip has been helping certain champions invalidate minion waves, so we're removing the empowered damage to minions to better highlight those champions' strengths and weaknesses.
We're noticing that Phantom Dancer is rarely built as a second item, and almost never as a third. Not many champions need that much attack speed, so we're reshaping what the items give to marksman champions. We're also adding more oomph to Immortal Shieldbow since it's only purchased by hard-bound short ranged users that benefit from lifesteal, and even then, it loses out often to Galeforce which does the same in most situations.
When building sustain, players should be feeling the effects of a real trade-off, usually in the form of damage. However, certain items with omnivamp (particularly Goredrinker and Ravenous Hydra) are feeling particularly overpowered due to less of a trade-off in damage. We're going through and making adjustments to those items, hitting their early game power specifically.
We're addressing some tank item outliers and opening Frozen Heart as a cheaper mana and ability haste item for tank supports, top laners, and junglers alike.
Sign-ups and team formation for the first Clash of Season 2021 will begin during 11.3 on Monday, February 15th! The tournament will officially start in patch 11.4. Check out the Clash tab in the client for specific tournament start times and details.
ARURF is back in time for the Lunar festivities. Since this is the first URF since the item changes, we're changing a few things to better fit with the new system. The intent is to allow players to build the items they want to without worrying about missing out on any value. Now, even though your starting cooldowns will be ever so slightly higher than last time URF was on, you can now build ability haste and mana items without the worry of missing out on stats… and can potentially get your cooldowns even lower than you ever could before.
The following skins will be released in this patch.
The following chromas will be released this patch: