It’s been a while since the last time I really dove into some patch notes for League of Legends, but this time there is much to talk about. Full patch notes are available here, but I’ll be going over the most pertinent bits. First and foremost, Bard, the new champion that I’ve discussed recently is going to be a part of this patch. The new champion spotlight has finally turned up, so you can take a look at that now. I’ll wait.

He looks awesome, and I’m definitely looking forward to getting some play time in with the new champion. Beyond the new champion, there is also news of a visual rework for Kassadin, which is nice to hear, because he’s looked rather ugly for a while compared to newer champions. Take a look:

In the lower half you can see how the changes affect existing skins, and I happen to own the 2nd from the left, which looks much better now. This is just a visual rework though, so there haven’t been changes to his kit save for a tweak (nerf) to his ultimate. It’s nice to see the older champions getting some love, as many of them were starting to look a bit dated. The next wave of texture balances are also included in this patch, updating Cho’Gath, Janna, Taric and Warwick. They’re all in need of some help too, so good news all around.

Remember how Deathfire Grasp was removed a couple of patches ago, but it was said that a new item would be taking its place? Well that’s finally come to fruition. The new item is called Luden’s Echo, and it’s going to be a nice item for many AP carries.

Luden’s Echo

IT’S HAPPENING!!!

Our new 120 ability power item is here to fill the void left by the passing of Deathfire Grasp (rest in pieces). Goals up front: we want to provide a unique item that helps out movement-focused, spell-slinging mages, like kitey Lux, bursty-train Akali, or even spell-slingy (that’s a word) Karthus. Try it out and let us know what combinations work with you – we’ll be keeping a close eye here as new experiments get brought out. It’s also important to note that this works on spell hits, not basic attacks!

So basically we’re looking at the Statikk Shiv for AP carries. I like getting the extra movement speed as well, because mages tend to be pretty slow. Another new item is being added as well, which is a new part of the build path for Sunfire Cape, but also part of a new jungler item that replaces the juggernaut item for tanky junglers. Behold, Bami’s Cinder:

Bami’s Cinder

Baby sunfire.

We’ve mentioned this before, but one of our goals with this ‘new’ tanky jungle enchant was to provide an item that not only provides valuable tank stats but also helps junglers with their early to mid game clears. We’ve had to be very careful in balancing champions with this new item (ie: Amumu and Sejuani probably don’t need anything in addition to the new Cinder), but we’re excited to see what possibilities emerge. Want to play a tank jungler? GET FIRED.

Otherwise, there’s mostly balance tweaks and minor changes that you can read about in the full notes if you’re so inclined. Also, the Summoner’s Rift Beta will have officially ended with the new patch, as they feel it is working as intended. Apparently that means we’ll have animated Defeat and Victory screens now. Nothing major, but a nice touch.

That’s about all for the patch notes, but there was one other news story I wanted to talk about briefly. A new part of the “launcher metagame” is coming, called Champion Mastery. I call this part of the “launcher metagame” because this is where it takes place, in the launcher, but also because I would lump runes/masteries and other things of that nature into part of the meta that you “play” when you aren’t in game. Anyway, it’s kind of convoluted at this point, but the gist of it is that you gain “mastery” by playing a particular champion over and over, but you gain more mastery if you play well. Each champion will basically have a individual leveling system that takes place out of the game. This is something done in other MOBAs, at least I know it’s happening in HotS. However, in that game the level means something for your in-game character, whereas this system in League seems more cosmetic. You get some sort of icon/border for maxing out the mastery of a particular champion, and I believe you’ll be able to look these things up on other people’s profiles. So you can tell if someone is really a great Vayne or not based on their mastery level. But since you earn mastery just for playing, you don’t have to perform well to get the mastery maxed out, you’ll just do it slower than a truly good Vayne player. So I’m not sure exactly what Riot is aiming for here, aside for something else to keep your eyes on and maybe encourage your continued play. This is going onto the PBE, so we won’t see it live for a bit, and it will be limited to Normal games on Summoner’s Rift. I’ll talk more about it when it goes live and I know more.

That’s about all I have this time around.

#leagueoflegends #patchnotes #championspotlight