Full Patch Preview 26.10!
Systems
- New from yesterday are small buffs to Doran's Bow and Helm
- Doran's Bow at this tuning is the most efficient starting item, but the tradeoff to all of the others is opening yourself up to dying from ganks and all-ins
- We're also giving a small buff to Doran's Helm as it's predominantly a K'Sante item at this tuning and we think it can be broadened to more users
- In 26.11, we intend to make a change to Cleaver and its interaction stacking with Deathfire Touch to give it an internal cooldown
- These changes were too risky to do on this patch however
- Lich Bane changes are aimed at providing more differentiation to Dusk and Dawn on the Movespeed and Burst Damage aspect, however we don't think we can go much higher than these values
- Cyclosword is looking a little strong and so we're giving it a nerf
- At the same time, we think after these changes it will still be a bit on the stronger side, but we want to give it a bit more time to stabilize and we can discover the shape of the optimized patterns and what users come out
Zed and Naafiri
- We have to talk about Zed and Naafiri if talking about Cyclosword
- As 2 of the AD Assassins with a functional poke pattern, these champs were always going to benefit from Cyclosword's new passive in the same way that if there was no AD Sheen item and we added one, it would be disproportionately powerful on those users
- We're taking care not to overly nerf these two champions, but they're also too strong with Cyclosword
- We're giving a small nerf to both champions, but they will still likely be strong after the nerfs as it seems reasonably likely that we'll need to adjust Cyclosword in the future as its true balance state becomes more known (and we don't want to Riot special these champions)
Ambessa
- Last patch, the R changes, which we think are good for the champ long term, ended up being a pretty moderate sized nerf
- We're restoring a bunch of power back to her now that we know the power level more clearly
- We're opting not to restore power in any of her mobility capabilities and instead increasing the throughput of each ability cast
Anivia
- These changes are targeted at nerfing Anivia in non-mid roles, especially Top lane where her trading patterns are a bit more oppressive to play against
Lee Sin
- This patch features some modernization changes to Lee Sin to help him feel more fluid and pull off some fancy plays without giving him more net power
- There are a few feelsbad mechanics adjustments that were added to Lee's kit over 10 years ago (like penalizing ward hops) that don't really make sense in the modern game anymore [I remember getting an interview question about these changes when I was just starting at Riot!]
- These changes are aimed at providing Lee more opportunities for incredible highlight moments and raising his skill ceiling, given that he's been out so long and many players are at the top of his mastery curve
- We'll be keeping an eye on how these changes affect Lane Lee Sin as well
Patch 26.6 Full Preview
Azir
- We're buffing Azir to distribute some of his power back into regular play capabilities through scaling power that Azir players hopefully will appreciate
- Phreak is Xerath
Lissandra
- Lissandra hasn't really felt the same since her Q cooldown was nerfed in Season 9
- Times have really changed since then and her perma priority waveclear + aftershock taking days and in the vein of making champions feel better to play, we're seeing if she can sustain having this cooldown again
Olaf JG
- These changes are targeted at Jungle, which has been languishing a bit
- Top is a little bit weak, so he will be getting buffed there a bit too
Sunfire Aegis
- Sunfire's build cost (1000g) has been long cited as a pretty painful experience of the item
- While we think having some painful build paths is valuable for the long term value of League, we think this one is a bit too painful
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Ranked
EUW/VN Matchmaking
- We've had about a week and a half now of autofill vs autofill matchmaking being Live and we're seeing excellent results
- In regions like Vietnam with a high autofill rate, we're seeing autofill vs autofill go from ~25% of games to 75% of games
- In EUW, regular play was already good (90% of the time autofill vs autofill), but in high MMR we went from 30% to 85%
- We will continue to roll out to more regions over the coming patches as we're seeing positive results here
Apex LP
- So far, so good on Apex LP fix resolving most of the issues. The fix looks to be good and is holding
- >98% of players should be between 19 and 21 in terms of LP gains, calibrating up and down in small amounts (+19/-21 or +21/-19 or +20/-20)
- We have one small fix coming in 26.6 to make this even more consistent
Patch Preview 26.6!
Overall
- Overall, the game is looking pretty healthy in terms of balance and broad satisfaction
- Over the coming patches, we're going to be looking at some of the champs that have felt a bit unloved/worse for wear and would love to hear your suggestions (both champions and systems)
Systems
- Chempunk Chainsword has been one of the weaker Grievous items for a while. While we don't want Grievous items to become too commonplace, as it subtly degrades champion kits when too common, it is still just a bit weak for even that purpose
- The support item minion penalty has been a pain point for support users and with role quests, the risk of funneling (why it was there in the first place) has been reduced pretty significantly, so we're removing that drawback
Shen
- Shen Jungle has really started to take off recently, which is really awesome to see! (thanks xPetu!)
- That said, he is a tad strong, especially in lower levels of play
Zaahen
- We're really happy to see Zaahen picking up a sizeable audience in both Top and Jungle, but now that regular players, in addition to experienced players are starting to demonstrate that top end mastery performance, he's looking too strong across the board
- Currently, we think his Jungle is a bit stronger than Top, so the nerfs are mostly focused there
Skarner Top focus
- Skarner has been out of the spotlight for a while and since we've tapped down a few of the things that were causing him to be overbearing in Top (especially W max and the E point blank kidnaps), we think he can get a bit more power there
Olaf
- Jungle Olaf has fallen a little behind the pack so we're adding some power back
Patch 26.5 Full Preview!
Ranked EUW Test delayed for another day, we're playing it safe to land the changes without breaking anything
Volibear
- Voli changes are targeted at balancing out his AD builds vs his currently strong AP builds; needs a bit more time to land
Lillia
- We're looking to pull back on some of the previous changes and bring Lillia's power level most of the way back to where she was before
Orianna
- Changes are targeted at reducing the power level of her early laning phase, especially when sitting on Rank 1 Q for several levels
Neeko
- Neeko has been strong in Pro Play for a while while not being overly strong in regular play
- We're taking some power out of her vision outputs which are better used in Pro Play without overly impacting her regular play
Varus
- Varus was overbuffed a while ago and so we're practically reverting the buff to his Q damage
- Lethality Varus has been the strongest ADC in Pro and so we're tapping him down to not overrun the Pro meta