EDIT: The issue with Taya's Q and EX Q still being able to interrupt Counters/Direction Shields and placement players being matched with Diamond League players or above will be fixed in a hotfix January 26th.
There will be downtime on the servers today (January 25th) for patching at 17:00 CET (11:00 AM EST / 8:00 AM PST). The servers will be down for approximately 1-2 hours.
Features & Content
Chinese New Year Mount
We're celebrating the Chinese New Year with a new mount that will be unlocked for everyone who logs in between January 27th and February 3rd!
Champion Balance Changes
With these changes we want to:
- Improve the diversity and balance of Battlerites by tweaking or replacing unpopular ones.
- Adjust Battlerites that have been a tad too strong
- Replace or tune a couple of mechanics that offered little counter-play
We have kept a close eye on the Champions that received major updates in the last patch. We are now making some changes to improve the general Champion balance.
- A few champions can expect more extensive Battlerite reworks in the February patch. The primary targets for these reworks are at the moment Shifu, Ashka and Jumong.
Ashka
To allow for more of a window to escape Ashka's Fire Storm bolts we have reduced the knockback duration.
- Fire Storm (M2)
- The duration an enemy is knocked back by a Fire Storm Projectile has been reduced from 0.25s to 0.2s.
Croak
We are looking into Croak's EX Q and the impact of this ability in high level play. For now we have slightly reduced the movement speed bonus but we will take a closer look at this mechanic in the future.
- Deceit (EX Q)
- Movement speed bonus reduced from 30% to 20%.
Freya
Some of the tiers in Freya's Battlerite tree suffer a bit from one sided choices. We increased the power of a few unpopular Battlerites to allow for more diversity of picks.
- Charged Strike (R)
- Cone angle increased from 140 to 170.
- Battlerites
- Storm - Reworked
- Thundercap deals 2 bonus damage and inflicts a 1s Fading Snare.
- Tempest
- Haste factor increased from 25% to 30%.
- Surge
- Now also reduces the cooldown of Charged Strike by 3s.
- Storm - Reworked
Iva
Iva has been running circles around a lot of the competition recently. Grandma is becoming more and more popular after the latest Battlerite reworks! We are taking baby steps here to begin with but her mobility has become a bit too strong.
- Battlerite - Rocket Boosters
- Movement speed increase reduced from 65% to 60%.
- Fixed a bug that made Iva's Oil Blaster Battlerite to not work correctly with the Hyperspeed Battlerite.
Jade
There is little counter-play to Jade's Smoke Veil which can be frustrating to face. We still want her to have a tool to support allies with though. This rework will allow for that and give a more secure way to escape, but without being 100% bulletproof.
- Smoke Veil (EX Q) - Reworked
- Now turns you inivisible. Removes movement impairing effects and grants self and nearby allies a shield absorbing 32 damage.
- Battlerites
- Ambush
- Stealth duration increases from 2.4s to 2.7s and Stealth resets the cooldown of Snipe.
- Cheap Shot
- The duration of the Root has been reduced from 1.2s to 1s.
- Ambush
Pearl
The radius of Pearl's Splash Damage has been a tad too big. We have toned it down a bit to make it more in line with its effect.
- Battlerite - Splash Damage
- Radius reduced from 2 to 1.8.
Pestilus
To rein in Pestilus' mid orb control we have reduced the output of Bloodsucker. Swarm has received a slight value increase to allow him to withstand a bit more pressure. Some Battlerite tweaks will allow for more diverse Pestilus builds.
- Bloodsucker (M2)
- Damage and healing reduced from 30 to 28, self damage reduced from 15 to 14.
- Swarm (R)
- Damage absorbed increased from 24 to 28.
- Battlerites
- Hardened Carapace
- Healing reduced from 12 to 8.
- Disperse
- Now also deals 6 damage.
- Overlord
- Movement speed increased from 5% to 6%.
- Lord of the Flies
- Damage absorbed per active scarab increased from 15% to 20 %.
- Hardened Carapace
Poloma
We have reduced the Root on Dire Wolf a bit to reduce the punishment of its unpredictability. This also keeps it in line with Jade's Cheap Shot and Sirius' Debilitating Slash.
- Battlerite - Dire Wolf
- Root duration reduced from 1.2s to 1s.
Rook
Rook has been a little too wild at smashing away lately. We have taken a look at Crushing Blow and Smack to make them feel more fair. A reduction to the range of the knockback on Smack will force Rook to be more careful when setting up his combos. Some tweaks to Rook's Battlerite Tree will create new possibilities and more varied builds.
- Crushing Blow (M2)
- Radius reduced from 1.9 to 1.6
- Can no longer hit enemies on the other side of a wall.
- Smack (R)
- The distance an enemy is knocked back has been reduced from 5.5 to 4.75
- Now interrupts casts.
- Battlerites
- Raging Bull - Reworked
- Rush gains 1 Ability charge.
- Frenzy
- Duration reduced from 1.5s to 1.2s.
- Crag - Reworked
- Boulder Toss inflicts a 1.5s Fading Snare and cooldown is reduced by 1.5s.
- Weapon Break - Slight Rework - Moved to Tier 2
- Crushing Blow deals 2 bonus damage and enemies affected by armor break deal 25% less damage
- Tenderizer
- Removed
- Crumble
- Fixed a bug causing Armor Break to last 4s when applied via Crumble. Now lasts the intended 3s.
- Slugger - New Tier 3 Rite
- Reduces cooldown of Smack by 3s and increases the duration of the Incapacitate by 1s.
- Total Incapacitate duration increased from 2.5s to 3.5s.
- Reduces cooldown of Smack by 3s and increases the duration of the Incapacitate by 1s.
- Pummel Rush
- Cooldown reduction reduced from 0.5s to 0.4s.
- Raging Bull - Reworked
Sirius
We have rounded out Sirius Battlerite choices a bit. Celestial Split will allow for better combos with Crescent Strike when engaging enemies.
- Celestial Split (Space) & Celestial Rift (EX Space)
- Now slightly pulls enemies towards Sirius instead of pushing them back.
- Battlerites
- Sun Screen - Replaces Orbit
- Sunrise grants self and nearby allies a Shield that absorbs 12 damage when relocating.
- Crippling Slash
- Root duration reduced from 1.2s to 1s.
- Debilitating Slash
- Charged Crescent Strike weaken effect increases by 10% and duration by 1s.
- Weaken effect increased from 50% to 60%.
- Charged Crescent Strike weaken effect increases by 10% and duration by 1s.
- Sun Screen - Replaces Orbit
Taya
The wind in Taya's back has been a little too powerful recently. As such we have evened out some of her more powerful Battlerite choices. She will also no longer be able to shut down some defensive options as well as before.
- Wind Strike (Q) & Zephyr (EX Q)
- Wind Strike & Zephyr now counts as melee attacks instead of area attacks (which causes them to trigger counters and directional shields).
- Battlerites
- Surprise Attack
- X-Strike can be used while moving at 55% movement speed during haste.
- Movement speed is now reduced to be roughly the same as Taya's regular movement speed.
- X-Strike can be used while moving at 55% movement speed during haste.
- Cold Wind
- The Fading Snare duration has been reduced from 0.5s to 0.25s.
- Breeze
- Cooldown reduction has been reduced from 5s to 3s.
- Surprise Attack
Matchmaking & Ranking Changes
- Placement players can no longer be matched with players in diamond league or above
- Fixed a bug with auto balance, where players of lowest league sometimes could end up in the same team
- Reduced the chance of players in quick match getting matched against players in league
- Reduced the amount of rating players gain when facing players of lower leagues when playing in the higher leagues.
General Changes
- Winter Event Ends
- Frozen Chests can no longer be purchased
- Winter theme has been removed
- Items now automatically equip upon selection and unlocking via tokens
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug which caused energy to be refunded if an EX was used during a channeling Ultimate
- Fixed a bug that allowed Bakko to throw two Blood Axes in a row with the Rampage Battlerite
- Fixed a bug where observers would see the wrong color on the destroy effect on the center orb
- Fixed a bug where melee champions would be unable to move when casting a melee ability on the position a stealthed enemy became stealthed
- Fixed a bug which caused players to incorrectly lose rating when choosing to not reconnect to a faulty match.
- Fixed an issue that could cause players to get stuck in "Initiated Connection" on certain servers in Japan.