V1.11.2 Patch Notes

Hello Champions!

Time flies - it’s already the end of January, which means it’s time for the first balance patch of the year! As always, we’ve got a healthy mix of Hero and item changes, alongside a few small features you may enjoy (and find handy during matches).

This patch includes:

• Minimap improvements
• Social Screen improvements
• New skins
• Bug fixes

Let’s dive in!

Minimap Improvements

There are a few minimap improvements that are finally ready and will be implemented in V1.11.2. These two changes are tremendously helpful, giving you plenty of new information at a quick glance.

First, we’re implementing one of the biggest requests when it comes to the minimap: a recall indicator. When a player is recalling, their character icon on the minimap will flash to let you know, so you can act accordingly.

Second, we’ve added numeric jungle camp respawn timers, allowing better planning for junglers and the entire team - you can now time your Fangtooth attack down to the second.

We’re looking forward to hearing what you think, Champions, and we hope you’ll notice an improvement in your matches.

Social Screen Improvements

We’ve also implemented a few neat changes to the social screen and friends list. While in the main menu, you’ll be able to see more information about players on your Friends List, including:

• How long their current match has been running
• Whether they’re in queue (and for which mode)
• Whether they’re in a party (and if that party is full)

All of this makes it easier to find the best party to join and take advantage of that Party XP bonus!

AFK and Punishment Changes

In this patch, we’re making some tweaks to how we handle players going AFK.

First, we’re expanding the early match-ending functionality to ARAM and Nitro when an AFK player is detected near the start of a match. This functionality is already in place for Standard and Ranked.

We’re also increasing the severity of penalties for going AFK, dodging Ranked Draft, and declining to accept a Ranked match.

We won’t be sharing the exact thresholds or trigger conditions to prevent abuse, but we want to ensure the best possible player experience - so players who choose to ruin it will receive increasingly stern bans.

Store News

God-King Rampage [Epic]

Bow before the true king. (This skin features updated voiceover)

Stewardess Muriel [Epic]

Please remember to fasten your seatbelts… or else.

Apocalyptic Narbash [Epic]

Deliver a steady rhythm of drums across the wastelands. (This skin features updated voiceover)

Bundles:

God-King Rampage Bundle

• God-King Rampage [Skin]
• Volcano God-King Rampage [Skin Variant]
• Tundra God-King Rampage [Skin Variant]
• Forest God-King Rampage [Skin Variant]
• Mountain God-King Rampage [Skin Variant]
• Let’s Go [Spray]
• God-King Rampage [Banner]
• God-King Rampage [Icon]
• Rampage [Hero]

Stewardess Muriel Bundle

• Stewardess Muriel [Skin]
• Onyx Stewardess Muriel [Skin Variant]
• Ruby Stewardess Muriel [Skin Variant]
• Amethyst Stewardess Muriel [Skin Variant]
• Emerald Stewardess Muriel [Skin Variant]
• Hmph [Overhead Emote]
• Stewardess Muriel [Banner]
• Stewardess Muriel [Icon]
• Muriel [Hero]

Cosmetic name changes

Some Sprays and Overhead Emotes have been renamed:

• Boris Spray "Let's go!" is now "Flex"
• Boris Ice Spray "Huh?" is now "What?"
• Yin's OHE "Wow" is now "Yin wow"
• Orby OHE "Cry" is now "Sob"

Balance Changes

Minor Augments

Farmer
- [Bugfix] Fixed an issue where it was not granting intended extra damage to Minions.

Heroes

Bayle is receiving some reductions to his general effectiveness, as his current mix of durability and damage output makes him overly potent as a diver that is equal parts too bulky to burst while also being too threatening to ignore, especially in late-game teamfight scenarios. Additionally, we are applying some reductions to his base Mana and durability in the early-game, thereby reducing the pressure he possesses in the early lane, be that in Offlane or Support roles.

General:
- Health Growth decreased from 120 to 116.
- Health Regen decreased from 1.6 to 1.4.
- Physical Armor decreased from 32 to 30.
- Mana decreased from 380 to 355.

Berserk [Passive]:
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 75% to 65%.
- Movement Speed decreased from 9-17.5% (+0.5% per Level) to 6.5-15% (+0.5% per Level).

Cursed Edge [Primary]:
- Cooldown decreased from 14/13.5/13/12.5/12 to 15/14.5/13/12.5/12.

Dire Howl [Secondary]:
- Bonus Physical Power decreased from 10/15/20/25/30 to 8/12/16/20/24.

Kingslayer [Ultimate]:
- Damage per Slash decreased from 30/42/54 to 30/40/50.
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling per Slash decreased from 26% to 24%.
- Max Health Damage per Slash decreased from 1%/1.4%/1.8% to 1%/1.3%/1.6%
- Final Slash Max Health Damage decreased from 3%/4.2%/5.4% to 3%/4%/5%.

Countess is receiving some shifts to her general Mana economy and Offlane/Jungle potency specifically as she is currently thriving against many Melee opponents, with care to not impact her in the Midlane too much. For Offlane, she will find herself running lower on Mana when maxing and spamming multiple Blade Siphons in succession, as this is the optimal loop for many of the Offlane matchups she thrives in. For Jungler, the general uptime and Monster Damage granted by Blade Siphon is also taking a hit, reducing her overall pace in the Jungler as her clear-speeds are among the fastest right now, leading to accelerating beyond the curve of other Junglers too frequently. To ensure Midlane is not as heavily disturbed, we’re reducing the Mana Cost of Shadowslip, better allowing her to use it aggressively for poke trades relative to Blade Siphon. The combination of these changes should have her less able to spam through Tank and Fighter defenses unless she invests into Mana Itemisation, and provide her opponents with slightly more breathing room between trade attempts.

General:
- Mana decreased from 350 to 330.
- Mana Growth decreased from 55 to 52.

Shadow Slip [Primary]:
- Mana Cost decreased from 80 to 70.

Blade Siphon [Alternate]:
- Bonus Monster Damage decreased from 95 to 85.
- Mana Cost increased from 60 to 60/65/70/75/80.
- Cooldown increased from 8/7.25/6.5/5.75/5 to 8/7.5/7/6.5/6.

In exchange for a small amount of Health, Crunch is receiving some general boons to his Mana, Passive damage, and Ultimate uptime. The combination of these changes is to ensure that Crunch remains punishable in the early-game, but has better scaling capabilities once he passes the level 6 mark and progresses throughout a match, better allowing him to take duels and have an impact in team fights as the match progresses.

General:
- Health decreased from 745 to 730.
- Mana increased from 320 to 340.

Cross Crunch [Passive]:
- Total Physical Power Scaling increased from 25% to 30%.
- Magical Power Scaling increased from 22% to 25%.

Re-Crunch [Ultimate]:
- Cooldown decreased from 55/40/25 to 50/35/20.

Despite the previous round of adjustments to Eden, she continues to find too much success. This is due to a combination of factors: For starters, many of the Assassins and Divers that helped keep her in check were also hit last patch, which helped offset some of strength she lost. Likewise, she is currently among the bulkiest Carries in terms of statline, meaning she can take more punishment than most and can be difficult to execute before she reaches maximum heat. As players have now become more proficient at Eden, we are now reducing her overall Health and Armor to a level that is more applicable given her ability to wipe a fight, meaning she will be far more prone to being isolated and blown up should she commit to a fight prematurely. Additionally, we are reducing her general damage output for some specific abilities, better ensuring opponents have the time to react and fight back, should she dash in and commit to a duel.

General:
- Health decreased from 700 to 695.
- Physical Armor decreased from 25 to 24.
- Health Growth decreased from 123 to 118.
- Movement Speed decreased from 680 to 675.

Plasma Claws [Basic Attack - Melee]:
- Total Physical Power Scaling decreased from 32% to 30%.
- Final Strike Total Physical Power Scaling decreased from 95% to 90%.

Sniper Shot [Primary - Ranged]:
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling 80%/85%/90%/95%/100% to 70%/75%/80%/85%/90%.

Axiom Strike [Primary - Melee]:
- Spin Critical Strike Scaling decreased from 100% to 85%.

Grux has been faltering relative to other Offlaners and is in need of a power injection. Currently he struggles to find impact outside of the early stages of a lane, with his general damage output not being high enough to make a consistent impact. As a result, we’re improving both his Basic Attack Timer, and the damage output of Double Pain, better allowing him to curve through a match and stay threatening when committing to damage heavier builds. In exchange, he is losing some early durability, reducing his overall level 1-3 dominance and bringing some additional risk to his early all-in attempts in lane.

General:
- Basic Attack Timer decreased from 1.2 to 1.1.
- Physical Armor decreased from 35 to 33.
- Health Regen decreased from 1.8 to 1.6.

Double Pain [Alternate]:
- Total Physical Power Scaling increased from 110%/125%/140%/155%/170% to 110%/130%/150%/170%/190%.

Kallari’s last set of adjustments went some way to bringing her general power level down to a more reasonable level. However, despite being at more reasonable strength level since the last set of changes, she continues to draw consistent bans in ranked play which is indicative of her being overly powerful and frustrating to play against. To remedy this, we’re reducing her general durability and Camo uptime, as well as some damage from Death Mark. This combination of changes will force her to commit to slightly longer trading loops in order to secure kills with a fade away Death Mark, while also leaving her more susceptible to being caught out with a counterengage, thereby giving her opponents more ways to deal with her assassination attempts.

General:
- Health Growth decreased from 114 to 112.

Death Mark [Passive]:
- Missing Health Damage decreased from 15 (+5 per Level) to 15 (+4 per Level)
- Missing Health Damage Bonus Physical Power Scaling decreased from 3% to 2.5%.

Shadow Walk [Primary]:
- Cooldown increased from 10/9/8/7/6 to 11/10/9/8/7.

In the current ecosystem, Kira can struggle to keep up with the other core Carry threats. A nudge to her Dusk and Purge damage is being granted to help bring her further into contention, better allowing her to take trades with Dusk in isolated duels, and find those pop-off moments in team fights should she find the angle for a well-timed Purge.

Dusk [Primary]:
- Cooldown decreased from 16/15.25/14.5/13.75/13 to 16/15/14/13/12.
- Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 27% to 30%.
- Max Stacks Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 162% to 180%.

Purge [Ultimate]:
- Total Physical Power Scaling per hit increased from 35% to 36%.
- Total Physical Power Scaling increased from 525% to 540%.

Maco is receiving a suite of quality of life orientated changes and balance shifts, further improving his general gameplay feel and precision. This is largely through his Maco Gift ability as we are removing the lob targeting due to it causing a disconnect between action and expectation, which we have observed to negatively impact his overall accuracy, especially when trying to aid Allies with a heal. Likewise, alongside some general balance adjustments and a reduction to the Health Cost of Maco Gift, his Ultimate’s Stun Duration is now increasing with charge time, better incentivising him to go for the full strike and reducing the strength of instantly throwing it out. Overall, the combination of these changes should have Maco feeling smoother and less frustrating to operate, and serve as a small but meaningful boost to his general efficacy throughout a match.

Mach Speed! [Passive]:
- Movement Speed Falloff Time upon taking Hero Damage decreased from 3s to 2.5s.

Maco Gift! [Primary]:
- Damage Magical Power Scaling decreased from 50% to 45%.
- Self Heal Magical Power Scaling increased from 2% to 3%.
- Self Heal Max Health Scaling increased from 0.3% to 0.4%.
- Lob Targeting Visualization Removed.
- Now uses traditional Lob Targeting Reticle.
- Projectile no longer targets where you initially throw, and instead can be “flicked” until its Cast point.
- Projectile Release Pitch decreased from 12.5° to 11°.
- Projectile speed decreased from 4000u to 3800u.
- Ally Healing Explosion Radius increased from 275u to 375u.
- Health Cost changed from 50/75/100/125/150 to 60/75/90/105/120.
- Cooldown changed from 7 to 7.5/7.25/7/6.75/6.5.

Maco Fly! [Secondary]:
- Slow increased from 25% to 30%.
- Slow Magical Power Scaling increased from 3% to 5%.

Maco Strike! [Ultimate]:
- Push Damage Magical Power Scaling decreased from 40% to 35%.
- Explosion Damage Magical Power Scaling decreased from 70% to 65%.
- Explosions Stun Duration changed from 1s to 0.7-1.4s based on Charge Time.

Morigesh currently exists on the fringes, generally lacking the strength required for success relative to the other Mages. To help with this, she is receiving a bump to her dueling capabilities with Hive and Swarm now possessing increased potency and/or uptime. This will especially benefit her in the Mid lane, better allowing her to keep up in the wave clear and pressure departments. In exchange, we’re applying a small hit to her Basic Attack Timer to ensure that this newfound strength does not overly benefit her in the Offlane, where Attack Speed focused builds are both more common, and oppressive.

General:
- Basic Attack Timer increased from 1.4 to 1.45.

Pestilence [Passive]:
- Monster Damage Cap increased from 2-19(+1 per level) to 4-38 (+2 per Level).

Hive [Primary]:
- Cooldown decreased from 13/11.75/10.5/9.25/8 to 11/10.25/9.5/8.75/8.
- Magical Power Scaling increased from 60% to 65%.

Swarm [Secondary]:
- Minion Healing Reduction decreased from 75% to 70%.

Curse [Primary]:
- Magical Power Scaling increased from 75% to 80%.

Since the hits to her Mana Burn augment, Muriel finds herself without adequate aggressive agency when investing in Serenity, resigning her to over-reliance on her Shields to make an impact in fights. A small bump in Scaling and Slow strength is being offered, better allowing her to catch out or dissuade diving enemies, as needed.

Serenity [Primary]:
- Magical Power Scaling increased from 50% to 55%.
- Slow increased from 34%/38%/42%/46%/50% to 35%/40%/45%/50%/55%.

Narbash’s Berserker's Beat augment currently underperforms relative to his other options, and can feel lacking to invest levels into as an alternative path. Increases to the Attack Speed it offers are being granted, better bringing the augment into parity. Additionally, he is receiving a bump to his Ultimate damage in the later stages of a match, better allowing his Ultimate to threaten opponents if left undisturbed, and thereby better rewarding him for demonstrating a strong positional game within teamfights where the chances of an interrupt occurring are high.

Berserkers Beat [Augment]:
- Bonus Attack Speed increased from 15%/18%/21%/24%/27% to 15%/20%/25%/30%/35%.

Crash, Bang, Boom! [Ultimate]:
- Damage increased from 220/330/440 to 230/370/510.

Phase generally tends to fall under the radar, despite generally being a strong participant within a team. For this pass, we’re adjusting her support-oriented Augments to bring them into greater parity, as Kindred Surge’s ability to heal up an Ally consistently outperforms Psychic Support, even in the niche lane pairings where Psychic Support should have merit.

Kindred Surge [Augment]:
- Max Health Healing per Second decreased from 1.5% to 1.2%.

Psychic Support [Augment]:
- Ally Missing Mana Regeneration 10% to 12%.

Riktor is once again receiving small changes aimed at improving his overall strength in the Jungle and Offlane roles should players choose to take him there, better allowing him to serve as a viable frontliner to round out team compositions in a variety of matches.

General:
- Health Regen Growth increased from 0.2 to 0.25.
- Attack Speed Growth increased from 1.1 to 1.3.

Electrocute [Secondary]:
- Damage increased from 100/140/180/220/260 to 110/155/200/245/290.
- Bonus Health Scaling increased from 15% to 18%.

Shinbi’s ability to default to defensive play and spam wolves from afar can lead to too many cases of passive gameplay and makes her difficult to punish, even if she’s behind. We’re shifting around her Mana economy to ensure that repeat casts of Line Tempo will have a more noticeable impact on her resources, and thereby reducing the time that she can comfortably farm from afar if she is put in a position of weakness.

General:
- Mana increased from 380 to 400.

Line Tempo [Primary]:
- Cost increased from 30 to 40.

Though he can throw hands in the early stages of the lane, Steel’s ability to find impact from the Offlane is largely hampered by his inability to clear waves and maintain pressure against the faster-clearing fighters and duelists within the roster as a match progresses. To grant him a little more stability in the mid-game, we’re granting him some increased wave clearing capabilities through his Basic Attacks and Bullrush which should better allow him to contest waves as the pace of a match begins to pick up.

General:
- Physical Power increased from 55 to 57.
- Physical Power Growth increased from 4.8 to 5.3.

Bullrush [Primary]:
- Bonus Health Scaling increased from 8% to 9%.

Yurei continues to thrive in high-level play, with her windows of general mobility allowing her to navigate around threats with too much safety. Reductions to her movement speed and Anima Burst uptime are needed to ensure that the window for punishment is appropriately large enough should her opponents manage to interrupt her dash reset loop and force her into an unfavourable extended fight.

General:
- Movement Speed decreased from 690 to 685.

Anima Burst [Primary]:
- Cooldown increased from 11 to 12.

Items

Crests

Three of the projectile-based Crests that were added in v1.10 (Abyssal Dart/Gravitum/Voidgazer) are receiving adjustments aimed at increasing their consistency for players to land, as well as small increases to their general potency, providing a more adequate risk:reward ratio to their Users.

- Preyseeker Reactivate Damage Bonus Physical Power Scaling increased from 15% to 20%.
- Preyseeker Slow Duration increased from 0.3s to 0.5s.
- Projectile Speed increased from 3500 to 4000.
- Range increased from 2000u to 2200u.

- Polarity Blast Damage Type changed from Magical Damage to True Damage.
- Polarity Blast Damage increased from 50 to 80.
- Polarity Blast Damage Scaling changed from 20% Total Physical Power to 20% Bonus Physical Power.
- Polarity Blast Grounded Duration increased from 2s to 2.5s.

- Eldritch Grasp Magical Power Scaling increased from 20% to 30%.
- Eldritch Grasp Slow increased from 35% to 40%.
- Eldritch Grasp Slow Duration increased from 1.25s to 1.5s.
- Projectile Speed increased from 3000 to 4250.
- Projectile Radius increased from 60 to 65.
- Range increased from 2500u to 2750u.

Tier 1

Spirit Locket is a little-known component that exclusively builds into Hexbound Bracers (Tip: it can also be picked up cheaply and sat on by any Hero in the early game to help deal with Mana Burn mechanics or a tight Mana economy). Given the changes occurring to Hexbound further below, we’re granting Mana to Spirit Locket to allow the recipe tree to make sense stat-wise.

- Cost increased from 425 to 450.
- 80 Mana Added.

Feather is being granted some Ability Haste, making it more attractive to sit on and risk for all those high-rollers out there.

- 5 Ability Haste added.

Tier 2

Alchemical Rod (and the other Mana Stacking Items) is receiving increases to the Mana gained for Monster kills, opening up these options to Jungle further.

- Font Camp Leader Mana Gain increased from 10 to 15.

In this pass, we are reducing the cost of all the Tier 2 Anti-heal Items (and sometimes their stat amounts, where appropriate), making them more accessible and more attractive to sit on when needing a quick answer to a heal-heavy Hero, rather than making players feel as forced to finish the Tier-3 version of the Items.

- Cost decreased from 900 to 850.

See Horned Plate

- Cost decreased from 1150 to 850.
- Magical Armor decreased from 25 to 20.
- Base Health Regen decreased from 60% to 50%.

See Horned Plate

- Cost decreased from 1000 to 950.

See Alchemical Rod

- Camp Leader Mana Gain increased from 10 to 15.

Spellslasher (and the various other Tier 3 items that possess a similar effect), is receiving a small damage bump to make it a stronger initial power spike when purchased, especially in the earlier stages of a build.

- Spellblade Damage increased from 40 to 45.

See Horned Plate

- Cost decreased from 1050 to 850.
- Magical Power decreased from 35 to 25.

Carry

See Alchemical Rod

- Potent Font Camp Leader Mana Gain increased from 10 to 15.

Ruination continues to struggle to justify its slot for its niche user set. An increase in power is needed to bring it into greater contention with the likes of Vanquisher, Scattershot, and Lightning Hawk, and thereby open it up as a strong alternative to these other early-game options.

- Physical Power increased from 55 to 60.

Scattershot is providing too much general combat potency thanks to its effect - especially when paired with Lifestealing effects. A reduction in its potency is needed to ensure that it does not eclipse other alternatives as heavily.

- Scatter Total Physical Power decreased from 35% to 30%.

See Spell Slasher

- Solarblade Damage increased from 45 to 50.

Assassin

Demon Edge, while specialized in nature, does not currently function strongly enough within its Anti-shielding niche and is in need of a power bump to its Cost and Effect to ensure it feels strong and meaningful in those few games it feels required.

- Cost decreased from 3000 to 2900.
- Demonic Bonus Damage vs Shields increased from 35% to 40%.

Dread is geared to be the premier magical defense option for Assassins that seek to survive a wayward Mage’s burst. Currently it falls short in this regard, and is often overlooked in favour of other options which is a sign that, despite its otherwise impressive statline, its effect does not feel meaningful enough. As a result, we’re bumping up the Damage Reduction offered by Vital Shield to make it feel like an appropriately strong counter option when it is called upon.

- Vital Shield Magical Damage Reduction increased from 20% to 25%.

Envy’s price point, given its niche use-cases, forces many Assassins to shy away from it. A small reduction in price is on offer to make it more competitive tech-buy compared to other options.

- Cost decreased from 3100 to 3000.

Fighter

We’ve fixed a large bug with Earthshaker that was causing its bonus damage to essentially be reduced by an opponent twice, meaning its bonus damage was coming out anywhere from 30-60+% lower than intended across a match. This fix is a large buff to the item’s strength, so we will be monitoring it and adjusting it as needed in following updates.

- [Bugfix] Battleborn’s Bonus Damage is no longer affected by Armor 2x for the sake of its damage calculation.

Mistmeadow is designed to be the go-to option for Fighters looking for a response to heavy magical burst and poke. However, despite its general strength, it doesn’t quite feel potent enough as a counter-buy to many Mages during the laning phase. To remedy this, we’re granting it some additional Health Regen, better allowing its Melee users to persist through a Mages poke as they posture around a wave and threaten engagements.

- Base Health Regen increased from 80% to 100%.

For Solstice, we’ve been careful with providing the Item too much strength due to the general potency of its effect. However, since the previous round of changes it received that reduced its overall burst and healing capabilities, it now has room to be granted additional Magical Armor as it is currently on the low end and does not feel like a strong enough standalone response to teams with low-moderate amounts of magical damage.

- Magical Armor increased from 25 to 30.

Volcanica is another item with an extremely potent effect which we have cautiously been tuning around since its arrival. Now that it has settled into the ecosystem and received other adjustments, we feel it is in a position to receive a price-cut, making it a more unique and cheaper tech-buy that can serve as a mix-up for various fighters and duelists that are hungry for cooldown uptime.

- Cost decreased from 3000 to 2850.

The mighty carapace continues to function as a strong addition to the Fighter Item set, with its effect offering a strong mix of defense and offense. Given its defensive shielding power and how potent it is within short trades, we feel the offensive burst it provides is currently too high and in need of a nudge down so that it does not overwhelm its opponents as heavily.

- Shell Smash Damage decreased from 60-190 to 60-170.

Mage

Alongside opening up the item to Junglers thanks to the changes described in Alchemical Rod’s section, we’re also granting Azure Core a bump to its Mana, better rewarding those Mana-hungry Mages that complete it earlier within their build.

- Mana increased from 400 to 450.
- Font Camp Leader Mana Gain increased from 10 to 15.

As with Demon Edge, Astral Catalyst is also receiving a boost to its shield-killing capabilities, better allowing it to serve as a strong response to Shield-heavy team compositions.

- Event Horizon Bonus Damage Vs. Shields increased from 35% to 40%.

Combustion stands tall as the premier 1st-buy for many Mages, and appears to be outcompeting other alternatives too heavily - even for the Mages that do not naturally synergize with the item as heavily. This is a large indicator that Combustion is too powerful and in need of a bump down in strength.

- Magical Power decreased from 85 to 80.

Claw continues to be underappreciated and underbought, despite its niche nature. Once again we’re cautiously bumping up its strength in order to find its sweet spot within the ecosystem, making it more accessible and potent as an early-game buy option.

- Cost decreased from 3000 to 2900.
- Base Health Regen increased from 75% to 80%.

The damage portion of Gaussian Greaves’ System Shock effect can be difficult to pull off, but even when it is utilized, it can feel a little underwhelming. As a result, we’re granting it slightly more burst, better encouraging its users to go out and goomba-stomp their foes, rather than using it exclusively for mobility.

- System Shock Damage increased from 80 to 100.

We’ve been toying with Magnify’s general statline since v1.10, aiming to find that sweet spot where it feels like a desirable and potent first-buy for those specific Heroes that lack a large range of desirable bruiser options in their 1st/2nd slot and need it to carry that weight. We currently feel a small price reduction can be granted, which should leave Magnify feeling like a strong and flexible staple to slot into builds, as and when needed.

- Cost decreased from 3100 to 3000.

See Spell Slasher

- Celestial Spellblade Damage increased from 55 to 65.

Orb Of Growth is being increased XP gains on both Monster and Hero kills, better rewarding aggression, and further allowing Junglers to consider it within their builds and ponder its mysterious origins.

- Inner Growth Camp Leader Bonus XP increased from 12 to 15.
- Inner Growth Takedown Bonus XP increased from 42 to 50.

World Breaker is receiving some subtle, yet meaningful, shifts to its effect, with the goal of increasing its strength as a damage capstone for tankier builds. In the past, we have had too many Mages poaching this item, resulting in us having to keep the durability and damage it offers on the low end. However, we have now adjusted its Fiend effect, no longer allowing it to be instantly stacked which was frequently abused by specific mages, and instead requiring it to stack up over a short duration thanks to the new cooldown, which is more befitting of a front-line combatant’s gameplay drawn-out gameplay loop. This allows us to inject some power back into its Health-stacking synergies, and appropriately gear it towards Magical Bruisers/Tanks that have built for it.

- Health increased from 300 to 350.
- Maya Bonus Health to Magical Power Conversion increased from 5% to 6%.
- Fiend Stack Duration increased from 3s to 4.5s.
- Fiend can now only gain stacks once every 0.5s.

Wraith Leggings, especially when paired with Combustion, is another item that pushes magical burst to oppressive levels and is stifling build variety due to its potency. As a result, a reduction in Magical Power is needed.

- Magical Power decreased from 95 to 90.

Support

As described in the Spellslasher section, we are increasing the potency of Spellblade effects to feel more impact as an early-game power spike. However, in the case of Crescelia, it is frequently dipped into by Mages, and thus the power increase is coming with a small cost increase to justify the power bump.

- Cost increased from 2400 to 2450.
- Moonblade Damage increased from 45 to 50.

Dawnstar is a niche-option in nature, but is still difficult to justify buying for its specific use-cases. To better allow it to compete for its slot and make its unique damage reduction effect more appreciable to its wielder, we’re nudging it up.

- Debilitating Strikes Damage Reduction increased from 2% to 2.5%.

Hexbound is receiving a large stat-shift. This change is motivated by the fact it is already quite specialised to begin with, with only certain Frontline Supports feeling able to pick it up, but rarely ever feeling good about it. We’re opting for a Health/Mana/Healing profile instead, making it feel far more desirable for Mana Hungry Frontliners and disruptors, such as Narbash, Mourn, Maco and Riktor, who can all benefit from the stats on offer, without it generically being too powerful for the likes of Dekker and Steel unless they’re building with Shields in mind.

- 375 Health Added.
- 300 Mana Added.
- 8% Heal & Shield Power Added.
- Ability Haste decreased from 20 to 15.
- 100% Base Health Regen removed.
- 45 Physical Armor Removed.
- Recipe Changed to: Violet Brooch + Spirit Locket + Divine Pouch
- Mana Reactor now restores Mana equal to 8% of damage taken when damaged by Non-Heroes.

Tank

Catalytic Drive can feel a little difficult to stack up and come online. Rather than reducing its overall stack requirement, we have now made it able to be stacked on small monsters, better allowing Offlaners to dip in and poach a monster between recalls and waves to accelerate their progress, and thereby not making it faster, but not overly powerful when utilized by Tanks in the midlane.

- Deconstruct now executes Small Monsters (i.e: Non-Camp Leaders).

- Lesser Deconstruct now executes Small Monsters (i.e: Non-Camp Leaders).

See Spell Slasher

- Frostblade damage increased from 65 to 70.

Fist is receiving changes that better allow it to function as a dueling item with a faster ramp up, while also now being better able to slot into various Jungle builds.

- Razuul’s Might Max Stacks decreased from 5 to 4.
- Razuul’s Might now also deals 2x damage to Monsters.

See Spell Slasher

- Damage increased from 60 to 65.

Raiment often feels awkward to fit into Tank builds, and is most frequently utilized as a greedy defensive buy for Supports. While more work is needed here to truly cement this as a Health Capstone for Health-stacking builds without it becoming overly powerful on Supports, for now we have opted to grant it some Tenacity, providing a new form of access to the stat for the Tank Role, instead of only having Unbroken and Gaia Greaves as natural options.

- 10% Tenacity Added.
- Recipe: Violet Brooch + Tenacious Gem + Stalwart Gauntlets.

Once again we’re nudging up Rebirth’s potency, as its users are too frequently re-fragged and thereby find it difficult to find value in its resurrection effects. The increases to the Drone’s Health and Speed will increase odds of survival by a significant margin, while the increase to Magical Armor will have the item feeling better as a standalone defensive item between cooldowns.

- Magical Armor increased from 30 to 35.
- Drone Health increased from 500-1700 to 600-2100.
- Drone Bonus Movement Speed increased from 10% to 15%.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Revenant could gain additional Physical Power from his Passive under certain conditions.
• Fixed an issue where Replays could crash if a User skipped time while transformation effects such as Earth Spirit or Rebirth were occurring.
• Fixed an issue where Sevarog’s Sunforged Skin was using the incorrect VFX for its Basic Attack.
• Fixed an issue where Sevarog’s Sunforged Skin VFX would be visible through Fog Walls.
• Fixed an issue where Greystone’s Infernix Skin could have its Waist Cloth clip into each other.
• Fixed an issue where Rampage’s Emote VO would not trigger if used immediately after casting Behemoth.
• Fixed an issue where Heroes could appear temporarily invisible within the Fangtooth Pit.
• Fixed an issue where Dawn Inhibitors could sometimes not be damaged by Melee Attacks after respawning.
• Fixed an issue where Minions could randomly stop moving while marching down Lanes in Player vs. AI.
• Fixed an issue where Dusk Mid-lane Minions would path unnaturally around the Tier 2 Tower if it was a Siege/Super wave.
• Fixed an issue where the Dawn 4-camp could become stuck when leashed towards Blue Buff.
• Fixed various issues where certain Heroes could go out of bounds/to unintended areas throughout the Apocalypse Worldshift Map variant.
• Fixed various issues where certain Heroes could stand on unintended terrain throughout the Apocalypse Worldshift Map variant.
• Fixed an issue where Objectives would not appear as Stolen if the Objective took moderate amounts of time to die.
• Fixed an issue where certain Hero Art could be the incorrect size for rotating deals section.
• Fixed an issue where Maco’s Player Banner would not appear faded correctly.
• Fixed an issue where the stated Account/Rank of a User’s Social Card could fail to update correctly unless they reboot.
• Fixed an issue where duplicate images could appear when navigating the Loadout Builder Guide View with Arrow keys.
• Fixed an issue where certain daily rewards could appear as default images if the reward was already owned.
• Shaper should no longer have Fangtooth's icon in the notification.
• Selection should now be properly saved in active gameplay when a new default build is set.
• Sevarog's hammer should no longer float in front of him when the Sunforged skin is equipped.
• It should no longer be possible to get infinitely stuck on pillars in the red jungle.
  

Thank you very much for reading!

This is only the first of many balance updates coming throughout the year, and we hope the changes in this patch are to your liking. As always, we’re looking forward to hearing what you think.

Until next time,

Rei & Omeda_Zuzu

Game Design and Community