Did somebody say Worlds patch?
11.19 is all about buffing underpowered and underplayed comps to allow even more ways to play. Aside from that, there are some small balance changes to tighten up the meta, with some of the higher impact balance changes made during the 11.18 Mid-Patch Update last week. This is the patch Worlds will be played on so we’ll be keeping a close eye on it’s impact—especially on the much needed Draven and Tristana mini-reworks.
Systems change, but I’ll be waiting on you.
Tomes make for awesome high roll moments, but the frequency was a little higher than what we’re comfortable with given their impact.
The double Reforger drop left players feeling less blessed than we’d like. By taking this out, we hope to continue to—did someone just sneeze?
Large and in charge!
Being able to hit Skirmisher 6 at level 6 makes for a tricky balance scenario, where hitting it at level 6 is strong, but later in the game it can be rather weak. We see wiggle room to add power into the 6 Skirmisher breakpoint, which will continue to be strong in the early game, but might last a bit longer into the mid game as well.
Tristana’s safe yet powerful rocket-propelled assassinations have led to uncounterable gameplay that’s been difficult to balance. She’s gone from being one of the most OP units of the set to being a dead unit, and having that at any time in the game let alone as we approach worlds is just not okay. With the rework below, we’re taking out her ability to selectively destroy the enemy carry and leaning into her fantasy as the run and gun Hellion that makes your foes wish they ran Cavaliers.
There is life, there is death and there is getting CC’d multiple times in a fight. Thresh has been Unbound for too long, so we’re limiting his ability to cast consistently multiple times in a fight.
We’ve tried a lot to make Draven work. We’ve even thought about changing his name to Draaaaven, but we’re unsure on how many ‘a’s he’d need to be A-tier. Draven’s current problem is that he needs 4 items to solve all his problems. This change removes the need for Last Whisper and lets him build 3 items that'll let him succeed, but we're pulling back on some of his damage output now that he can opt into more damage multiplicity through items. If this doesn’t work we’ll try adding more vowels.
This is an overall buff for Heimerdinger, while also reducing the gap between Archangel’s Heimerdinger and no Archangel’s Heimerdinger. Did I mention we buffed Spear of Hirana?
The Zz’Rot changes are not something to Zz’z on. Zz’Rots will now taunt units in a large radius but will not force any movement, meaning that units who can attack from their current position will be taunted, while units who cannot attack will not succumb to the petty insults of the Zz’rot.
Spear of Hirana has been underperforming the whole set, so we’re giving it a Radiant bonus to make it a better consideration for comps with AP carries. Did I mention that we buffed Heimerdinger?
Small and on the ball?
Nobody wants to see their favorite underground bodybuilder body everybody, but they do want to see them body somebody—especially when they’ve committed to Abomination 4 and 5.
Whether it’s with crunches or punches, Sett’s all about gettin’ shredded' and doing some shredding.
It's the eye of the cougar, it’s the thrill of the fight. Rising up 5 percent more attack speed.
Karma has seen buff after buff in the past few patches, but with this we finally think she’s getting what she deserves.
With more damage on Garen’s Victorious trait, resets will be more impactful and visible.
Our updated mobile tutorial goes live with 11.19. The new tutorial is simple, fun, and evergreen (it’ll be the same regardless of the set). Here are some of the specifics about it.
You know when you think you locked your car, but you’re not sure, so you lock it again and it doesn’t beep back at you cause it’s actually just a bicycle? Well, if your car did beep back at you, that would be an example of a closed feedback loop, which would make you feel confident that your car is secure, and also not a bike. Anyways, we’re adding a feedback loop into Mobile so you know your clicks are going through.