Hello Champions!
V1.9.2 has big shoes to fill. V1.9 was a major update that changed a lot - mostly for the better, based on your feedback. Thank you! For the parts that didn’t land as well, this patch aims to address them. Let’s take a look!
In V1.9.2, you can look forward to:
- New skins to expand our Halloween collection
- Balance changes
- Bug fixes
Let’s dive in!
Store News
New Skins
Kitty Witch Phase [Epic]
Join us - tonight, we fly!
Oculon Gideon [Epic]
A rather chilling rendition of Gideon, should he be infected by a mysterious deep space parasite.
Oculon Mourn [Epic]
If you’re trying to hide… there are many eyes that could still be seeing you.
New Bundles
Kitty Witch Phase
- Kitty Witch Phase [Skin]
- Scarlet Kitty Witch Phase [Skin Variant]
- Caught [Overhead Emote]
- How Could You [Overhead Emote]
- Kitty Witch Phase [Banner]
- Kitty Witch Phase [Icon]
- Phase [Hero]
Oculon Bundle
- Oculon Gideon [Skin]
- Voidborn Oculon Gideon [Skin Variant]
- Cursed Oculon Gideon [Skin Variant]
- Oculon Mourn [Skin]
- Rotted Oculon Mourn [Skin Variant]
- Cursed Oculon Mourn [Skin Variant]
- Gideon [Hero]
- Mourn [Hero]
Coming Soon: V1.11 - Health & Stability - Submissions
It’s rare that we talk about the patch after the next one this early. In fact, this probably is the first time! But this is a special case.
The Health & Stability Patch (V1.11) - arriving 13 January - is our first dedicated “health” update, focused on addressing the issues that most impact your game experience. We’ve heard your feedback: some things need attention before we push further. We have a dev-side shortlist, but we also want your input. We’re announcing this early so you have time to submit requests - and so we have time to work through them.
Submit your suggestions in our Discord’s dedicated forum channel - perfect chance to join if you haven’t already. Once there, head to #patch-1-11-have-your-say to share your ideas, and please read the posting guidelines before you post.
Please read a dedicated blog for more info.
Wolf's Bane Event Ending Soon
If you’re reading this on 31 October (and if so - happy Halloween!), our Wolf’s Bane event is still live for a few more hours. You’ve still got time to survive or infect as many survivors as possible!
Balance Changes
General Context
- We’re still monitoring the general balance ecosystem as the dust continues to settle on the V1.9 changes.
- As a result, this pass includes smaller changes aimed at ironing out some outliers and smoothing out some rough edges.
- You can expect a larger set of balance changes to follow in the V1.10 update that will further tackle feedback points that continue to develop over the coming weeks.
- Some minor ARAM Balance is also included at the bottom of these notes, further refining the gameplay experience within the mode.
Systems
Kill XP
We’re adjusting the Experience rewarded for kills between levels 9-16 to be slightly higher, meaning the rewards for killing higher level opponents are greater. This should make the ability to bounce back from an early-game deficit slightly higher should your team manage to pick up a few kills.
- Kill XP at Levels 1-18 changed from 30/60/100/145/180/250/300/355/400/450/490/530/570/610/650/750/875/1050 to 30/60/100/145/180/250/300/355/420/470/520/570/600/640/690/770/875/1050
Kill Comeback XP
Similar to Kill XP, we’re adjusting the amount of Kill Comeback XP players receive when they are -3 Levels on their opponent. This combined with the slightly higher Base XP offered for Hero Kills in the mid-game+ will allow lower XP roles such as Support and Carry to bounce back and catch up faster after a successful fight or two, should an opponent get too far ahead.
- XP Modifier at -4/-3/-2/-1/0/1/2/3/4 Hero Level Difference changed from -80%/-65%/-45%/-25%/0%/+10%/+25%/+40%/+70% to -80%/-65%/-45%/-25%/0%/+10%/+25%/+45%/+70%.
Minions
Melee
Melee and Range Minions are receiving slight increase to the damage they deal to Enemy Minions, better allowing stacked waves to push out at a faster pace, creating a stronger ebb and flow of bounce behavior between Minion Waves.
- Minion Damage Modifier increased from 90% to 95%.
Ranged
- Minion Damage Modifier increased from 115% to 120%.
Siege
Siege Minions are seeing a reduction in the damage they deal to Towers. This is to reduce how threatening a lone Siege Minion can be to a Tower, given it already has the ability tank its damage for an extended period, while also reducing the frequency of a Siege Minion taking a Tower Plate in the early-game by itself with no one there to claim it.
- T1/T2 Tower Damage Modifier decreased from 120% to 100%
Heroes
As will be the theme with this balance pass, Akeron is one of the outliers that is slightly overperforming since the last balance update thanks to the combination of damage and general utility he has. We’re pulling back in this area, better ensuring that a single rotation of abilities from Akeron does not feel as oppressive. On the flip side, Akeron is receiving a small range increase to his Web Shot as a quality of life change. This should help to reduce the frequency of accidentally missing a wall that was felt to be in range when firing it.
Hellfire [Primary]:- Damage decreased from 15/29/43/57/71 to 15/28/41/54/67.- Slow decreased from 8% to 7%- Max Slow decreased from 40% to 35%.
Web Lash [Secondary]:- Web Shot Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 45% to 40%.
- Slam bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 70% to 65%.
- Web Shot Range increased from 1500u to 1575u.
Crushing Maw [Alternate]:- Cooldown increased from 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 to 8.5/8/7.5/7/6.5.
With the changes to the early-game durability of Minions in V1.9, Argus’ strength in the early game has become more relevant. This is primarily due to his ability to relentlessly push the first wave or 2 with Particle Shredder at a pace far greater than most other Heroes which then unlocks him to take trades with wave advantage. As a result, we’re reducing his early-game Health and Mana, better ensuring he won’t be able to stick around in lane for as long before the first recall, should he commit to pushing and trading too recklessly in the first couple of waves.
General:- Health decreased from 715 to 705.
- Mana decreased from 540 to 500.
- Mana Growth increased from 40 to 43.
Aurora is receiving a small bump in uptime and potency to Boreal Sweep to provide her with more combat uptime and potency in mid-game fights, especially as the Explosion effect saw the removal of its Slow in the last pass which has left the ability with more room for efficacy.
Boreal Sweep [Alternate]:- Explosion Magical Power Scaling increased from 65% to 70%
- Cooldown changed from 11/10.25/9.5/8.75/8 to 11.5/10.5/9.5/8.5/7.5.
Bayle is receiving a range of changes, both in the balance and quality of life department.
On the QoL front, in response to community feedback we have made some adjustments to his Skull Crusher leap, making it smoother to use in exchange for being slightly more difficult to hit, better allowing him to navigate fights. Likewise, we have reduced the lock-out window on Dire Howl by a few frames, making his combo’s feel smoother to weave together.
On the balance front, Bayle is receiving some general damage and efficacy improvements, better allowing him to have impact in the mid/late-game where he tends to fall off the hardest. However, to ensure he does not run too rampant, his Swift Strikes Augment is seeing a large reduction in potency, as this Augment largely outperforms his other options and is where a lot of his general strength arises from in the hands of experienced Bayle’s that utilise it optimally.
Swift Strikes [Augment]:
- 3rd Hit Damage Modifier decreased from -20% to -25%.
- Bonus Attack Speed decreased from 80% to 45%.
Berserk [Passive]:
- Duration increased from 6s to 7s.
Cursed Edge [Primary]:
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 65% to 70%.
- Bleed Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 10% to 15%.
Dire Howl [Secondary]:
- Blocking Window after activation decreased from 0.77s to 0.64s.
- Omnivamp increased from 5%/6%/7%/8%/9% to 6%/7%/8%/9%/10%.
Skull Crusher [Alternate]:
- Damage increased from 80/115/150/185/220 to 85/125/165/205/245.
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 90% to 100%.- Leap Range increased from 1000u to 1125u.
- Slam Radius decreased from 300u to 275u.- Cooldown decreased from 18/17.25/16.5/15.75/15 to 18/17/16/15/14.
- [QoL] Cancelling the leap early can now be buffered, removing the chance of dead inputs that could occur when the leap could be cancelled out of.
Countess is one of the Heroes that can find herself struggling in the V1.9 environment, and is receiving a few shifts to her strength. Primarily these are aimed at increasing the potency of her lesser used Augments, while also bumping up her general mid-game efficacy, better enabling her to have impact across the match.
Shadow Strike [Augment]:- Shadow Slip Cooldown Reduction increased from 5% to 6%.
Sanguine Slash [Augment]:- Isolation Damage increased from 15% to 20%.
General:- Physical Power Growth increased from 3.8 to 4.4.
Shadow Slip [Primary]:- Cooldown decreased from 19/17.5/16/14.5/13 to 18/16.5/15/13.5/12.
Eventide [Secondary]:
- Damage increased from 90/130/170/210/250 to 100/140/180/220/260.
- Magical Power Scaling increased from 75% to 80%.
Drongo has emerged as one of the more successful Carries since the last balance update, partially in thanks to his general laning strength. While he is by no means too oppressive, he can stand to receive a small reduction in Rad Rounds uptime, creating a larger window of downtime between his trade and all-in attempts for opponents to navigate around.
Rad Rounds [Secondary]:- Cooldown increased from 10/9/8/7/6 to 11/10/9/8/7.
With the fix to Hamstring that removed various unintended Item interactions last pass, Feng Mao has been met with a significant damage loss to his core damage source. While this is reasonable for PvP interactions, his general ability to clear camps and waves is lacking, and some damage needs to be shifted around to allow Hamstring to feel meaningfully effective against packs of Enemies, in exchange for slightly less isolation damage.
Hamstring [Secondary]:
- Damage increased from 40/55/70/85/100 to 40/58/76/94/112.
- Isolation Damage Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 22% to 20%.
A small bump down in early-game durability for the ‘Stone, better providing his opponents more space to keep him down and threaten a killing blow in the laning phase before he reaches his Level 6 spike, as currently he can feel too stable and difficult to punish in lane.
General:
- Health Regen decreased from 2 to 1.7.
- Health Regen Growth decreased from 0.22 to 0.18.
Kallari is another large beneficiary of the V1.9 changes, and has seen a surge of success. In general, certain Assassin Junglers have found themselves accelerating in matches and snowballing too hard should they pick up a kill or two. Due to this, we’re slowing down Kallari’s mid-game efficacy through a range of scaling and damage reductions, reducing the oppressiveness of her damage-output should she get ahead of the item curve. Likewise, she currently possesses too much raw durability given her high burst potential, making her difficult to shutdown even if she mispositions, and is receiving a reduction in Health and Physical Armor Growth as a result.
Executioner’s Mandate [Augment]: - Takedown Cooldown Reduction decreased from 50% to 45%.
General:
- Health Growth decreased from 120 to 116.
- Physical armor Growth decreased from 4.7 to 4.4.
Plasteel Swords [Basic Attack]:- Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 85% to 80%.
Crippling Dagger [Alternate]:- Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 105% to 100%.
Guillotine [Ultimate]:- Damage decreased from 130/255/380 to 120/250/380.
With the hits to Overlord and Aegis further below, Khaimera is already receiving drops in the efficacy of his go-to items. As a result, despite his general strength, we’re opting to only make some small adjustments to him directly. This is primarily being done in the form of reductions to his early-game durability, better allowing his opponents to burst him down before generating too many stacks.
General:
- Health decreased from 720 to 710.
- Health Regen decreased from 1.8 to 1.4.
Unleash [Primary]:- On-Hit Modifier decreased from 80% to 70%.
Murdock’s general damage potential relative to other Carries is currently on the low-end, with him suffering more than most when falling behind in lane. To ensure his damage curve is more consistent, we’re offering Murdock some additional Physical Power Growth, better allowing his damage threat to remain respectable throughout a match.
General:Physical Power Growth increased from 3.4 to 3.8.
Muriel currently struggles with the ability to remain active in lane thanks to her more limited Mana resources. While we want opponents to have ways to run her resources low by forcing repeated Consecrated Ground uses as a form of tactical counterplay, we feel there is room to give Alacrity to have a lower Mana Cost, better allowing Muriel more liberal use of it throughout the lane to compliment her shorter trades patterns when playing aggressively without running her dry as quickly.
Alacrity [Alternate]:- Mana Cost decreased from 65 to 50.
Reversal Of Fortune [Ultimate]:- Shield increased from 180/390/600 to 200/400/600.
Renna is receiving some smaller adjustments this pass, as generally her power level is currently in a far more comparable state to other Mages than in previous balance updates. For this pass, we’re removing some of the raw sustain and gold offered from her Vital Essence Augment, as this frequently allows her to cancel out deficits in lane, effectively allowing her to scale up safely. Likewise, she’s seeing a cut to the uptime on her Abyssal Rift in the later stages of a match, creating more windows for her opponents to take fights against her while it is down.
Vital Essence [Augment]:
- Bonus Gold decreased from 5 to 4.
- Missing Health and Mana Restore decreased from 4% to 3.5%.
General:- Physical Power decreased from 56 to 54.
Abyssal Rift [Ultimate]:- Cooldown increased from 130/110/90 to 130/115/100.
Revenant received a large cut to his Hellfire Rounds’ Movement Speed effect in V1.9. While this was in line with many other movement speed buff reductions, we feel we went a little too far with this one and are granting him some of this lost speed back.
Hellfire Rounds [Alternate]:- Movement Speed increased from 20% to 25%.
Much like Kallari, Serath’s ability to achieve early snowballs and run over a match has become more pronounced since the last balance update. A large portion of this strength has come from Heaven’s Fury’s speed increase, meaning the ability feels far more bursty than before. As a result, we’re applying a larger hit to its damage and thereby providing her opponents with more time to react and fight back in order to prevent a reset.
The Nephalim [Basic Attack]:- Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 85% to 80%.
Heaven’s Fury [Primary]:
- Damage decreased from 40/65/90/115/140 to 40/60/80/100/120.
- On-Hit Modifier decreased from 75% to 70%.
Given his scaling strength, Sevarog is another Hero that feels too difficult to punish and hold down in the early game due to his general consistency in lane. To introduce slightly more volatility to Sevarog’s laning phase we’re reducing his base Health Regen and Mana Pool in the early game, meaning he must navigate the lane with more care, lest his opponents deny him too many stacks.
General:
- Health Regen decreased from 2 to 1.7
.- Mana decreased from 375 to 360.
Skylar’s Atomised Artillery Augment currently exists in a strange limbo where she must hit 2/3 of the shots in order to achieve similar damage to her default ultimate, but naturally this is far more inconsistent and difficult to achieve. To provide the Augment with more payoff, it is receiving a damage increase, with landing 2 shots now being far more valuable than the base form’s blast, and should she skillfully hit all 3, enough damage to decimate a fight.
Atomised Artillery [Augment]:- Damage per Blast increased from 50% to 60%.
The Fey’s Harvest Nettles was one of the abilities that was slowed down quite aggressively in the last pass with its -40% Projectile Speed reduction. While we do not wish to undo this entirely, we’re bumping back up the speed to a happier middle ground that still feels easier to dodge than before, while still being intuitive and enjoyable for The Fey to interact with herself.
Harvest Nettles [Secondary]:Projectile Speed increased by 25%.
Twinblast’s general mana resources are on the low-end, frequently resulting in his running low on Mana when playing aggressively. While we intentionally keep the Mana Cost of his Vorext Grenades high in order to dissuade passive play should he spam it from afar, we believe there is room to grant him slightly more Mana efficiency in the earlier lane when he is engaging in proactive trading loops with his entire kit.
General:
- Mana increased from 310 to 335.
- Mana Regen Growth increased from 0.12 to 0.18.
Ventilate [Ultimate]:- Damage per Bullet increased from 12/17/22 to 13/18/23.
Wraith has been struggling since V1.9 thanks to his Peekaboo generally being more difficult to hit. While this was very much the intention as it has added more counterplay to his combat loop, this has now allowed room to grant him a higher payoff with some extra strength back into his abilities. On the flip side, Sniper’s Bounty is seeing a small cut to its gold generation, as much like Renna’s Vital Essence Augment, it can too easily offset early-game deficits and reward passive pay too highly.
Sniper’s Bounty [Augment]:- Bonus Gold decreased from 7 to 6.
Peekaboo! [Primary]:
- Damage increased from 40/50/60/70/80 to 40/55/70/85/100.
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 20% to 30%
- Magical Power Scaling increased from 40% to 45%.
Surprise, Surprise [Secondary]:- Movement Speed increased from 18% to 20%.
Knock, Knock! [Alternate]:- Damage increased from 70/95/120/145/170 to 80/105/130/155/180.
Back It Up! [Ultimate]:- Cooldown decreased from 140/110/80 to 130/105/80.
As mentioned in the last pass, with the removal of Cyclebreaker’s Projectile Destruction we’re keeping tabs on Wukong’s general strength. As it stands, we believe he still has some additional room for strength now that there is more possibility of him being disrupted and locked down by a wider range of opponents. As a result, alongside some general early-game durability improvements now that he doesn’t need to be aggressively gated outside of lane as harshly thanks to the Cyclebreaker changes, we’re granting him so more general uptime to his High Impact and Windsurge, better allowing him to be mobile in fights and play for multiple, tricky ability rotations.
Prosperous Path [Augment]:- Missing Health Healing increased from 2% to 2.5%.
General:- Health increased from 670 to 680.
Cyclebreaker [Secondary]:
- Damage Reduction increased from 20% to 25%.
- Damage Reduction Physical Penetration Scaling increased from 45% to 50%.
High Impact [Secondary]:- Cooldown decreased from 13/12.2/11.4/10.6/9.8/9 to 13/12/11/10/9/8.
Windsurge [Alternate]:- Cooldown decreased from 16/15.4/14.8/14.2/13.6/13 to 16/15.2/14.4/13.6/12.8/12.
The average Zinx is currently struggling to find much impact throughout a match unless they find themselves in a winning position. Similar to previous changes, we’re granting her some small but meaningful improvements to her individual agency in the form of a greater Mana Pool and baseline mobility/healing, better allowing her to find impact in a match throughout a match.
General:- Mana increased from 300 to 320.- Mana Growth increased from 42 to 48.
Triage Protocol [Passive]:- Decaying Movement Speed increased from 15% to 25%.
Refibrillator [Basic Attack]:- [Bugfix] Fixed an issue where Zinx’s Basic Attack Targeting indicator was visually longer than its actual range.
Infuse [Alternate]:- Healing increased from 60/85/110/135/160 to 65/90/115/140/165.
Items
Carry
Spectra currently provides too little value relative to other Carry options. With its Slow Effect being removed last pass, we can now provide it with a large Haste and On-Hit identity, and juice those 2 aspects of the time without fear of excessive kiting occurring.
- Ability Haste increased from 12 to 15.
- Radiant Strikes On-Hit damage increased from 20 to 25.
Fighter
Aegis is currently providing too great of a mix in damage and durability for the user. As its wielders are already stacking high amounts of Health (and therefore possess good amounts of durability already), we’re opting to reduce the durability it offers as a standalone option to ensure these Health-heavy Bruiser builds are not overly effective.
- Agawar’s Protection Low Health Armors decreased from 25% to 20%.
Overlord is once again seeing another reduction in strength. While it is not excessively powerful in its current form, the amount of Physical Power it offers makes it overly attractive to classes such as Assassins. A reduction here is needed to better ensure that it remains strong on its natural users such as Khaimera and Greystone, but less effective on the likes of Feng Mao and Serath that should be seeking more damage-heavy investments if they wish to engage in burstier gameplay patterns.
- Physical Power decreased from 40 to 35.
- Colossal Cleave Max Health Scaling decreased from 3% to 2.5%
Mage
Since the previous increase to its Ability Haste, Timewarp has seen a resurgence in popularity. With it now offering an incredibly amount of Ability Haste and unlocking new build combinations thanks to the needs it fulfills in a single slot, it can stand to lose some of its Mana Regeneration to be less of a catch-all compared to other options in its class.
- Base Mana Regen decreased from 175% to 125%.
Support:
Frosted Lure can deal a deceptively high amount of damage in the later stages of a match, and often provides tankier Supports with unintentional amounts of burst damage in fights. We’re dropping this down slightly to make it more reasonable, while upping the Shield Modifier to ensure that the amount of Shielding offered still feels meaningful.
- Damage Max Health Scaling decreased from 5% to 4%.
- Shield from Damage increased from 140% to 150%.
- Base Health Regen decreased from 125% to 100%.
- Ultimate Haste increased from 20 to 25.
ARAM Balance
ARAM is receiving a small set of balance changes. Alongside some general quality of life improvements to the mode based on some of the more common community feedback points such as Towers being too easy to dive, we’re also aiming to decrease how often a game can stall out in the late-game should a match extend beyond the 20-25+ minute mark thanks to the downtime between Minion Waves. This is primarily being achieved with Minion Waves now spawning at slightly faster intervals, meaning there is less time waiting around for Minions between waves, which should make the average match feel more engaging, and more decisive.
Death Timers:- Death Timers at Levels 11-18 increased by 2s.
Towers:
General:- Physical Armor Penetration increased from 50% to 75%.
Inner Tower:- Health decreased from 10,000 to 9,000.
Inhibitor:- Health increased from 5,500 to 6,500.
Minions
General:
- Minion Wave Spawn Interval decreased from 30s to 25s.
- Minion Level-up Interval decreased from 80s to 65s.
- All Minions Movement Speed increased level 7-15 from 785-865 to 795-880.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue where players could get out of bounds in the Dusk Base.
- Fixed an issue where Mecha Terror Iggy’s Affinity Horns were not attached to his head correctly.
- Fixed an issue where Wraith’s Sonar Drone would not correctly show its Charges or Cooldown on the HUD.
That’s a wrap-thanks for reading!
We hope you enjoy these changes. As always, we’ll be watching for your feedback once the update launches.
Stay tuned for V1.10-it’s coming very soon, and there’s a lot in the works.
And don’t forget to join the submissions for the Health Patch-more details here.
Until next time,
Rei & Zuzu
Game Design, and Community @ Omeda Studios
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