Better nerf Irelia! We've got loads of changes coming to cards with the launch of Rise of the Underworlds this week and we've got all the details on the latest card balance.
Quote From Riot Due to the large number of changes, we won’t be providing context for each change like we usually do. Instead, we’ll share our goals and philosophies that guided us leading to these changes.
- Targeting the top - Irelia/Azir, Nasus/Thresh, Trundle/Lissandra, and Draven decks:
Any changes we consider for other cards would be largely overshadowed with the current power level of the top decks. We want to tone down each of these decks to allow room for other strategies, but not go so far to completely remove them from the metagame. We want the decks to exist without dominating.- Considering what’s next:
Similar to the first goal, we want to consider what decks are currently strong, but maybe not popular that would likely replace the current top decks. We want to avoid simply replacing one dominant strategy with another. There will always be decks that perform better than others, but we want there to be a high variety in popular decks and ensure the gap between the best decks isn’t too large.- Focusing on region identities:
We want these changes to help emphasize the identity, strengths, and weaknesses we target for each region. Some regions have drifted away from their intended strengths and weaknesses over time. For example, buffing Ionia’s flexibility with combat tricks and recall, buffing Bilgewater’s incidental damage or big bets with bigger payoffs, and some nerfs to Targon to have more pronounced weaknesses rather than being good at everything.- All regions can perform:
As the popular decks evolve and change there will naturally be some regions that are more popular than others. However, we don’t want any region to feel far less fun or powerful than the others. Specifically, we wanted to buff at least 1 champion in each region and ensure all regions had at least 3 cards receive a buff.
Read on for all the balance changes arriving in Patch 2.11.0 and see here for the full patch notes.
Champion Balance Changes in Patch 2.11.0
Level Up Changes
- Jarvan IV - Level up requirement changed to 3+ strikes (Down from 4+).
- Irelia - Level up requirement changed to 14+ allies have attacked (Up from 12+).
- Azir - Level up requirement changed to summon 13 units. (Up from 10).
- Sivir - Level up requirement changed to deal 30+ damage (Down from 35+).
Stat Changes
- Karma - Now costs 5 (Down from 6).
- Karma (L2) - Now costs 5 (Down from 6).
- Heimerdinger - Now has 2 Attack (Up from 1). Now has 4 Health (Up from 3). [+1/+1]
- Heimerdinger (L2) - Now has 3 Attack (Up from 2). Now has 5 Health (Up from 4). [+1/+1]
- Hecarim - Now has 6 Health (Up from 5).
- Hecarim (L2) - Now has 7 Health (Up from 6).
- Taric - Now has 5 Health (Up from 4).
- Taric (L2) - Now has 6 Health (Up from 5).
- Aphelios - Now has 3 Health (Up from 2).
- Aphelios (L2) - Now has 4 Health (Up from 3).
Keyword Changes
- Miss Fortune (L2) - Overwhelm keyword added.
- Tryndamere (L2) - Tough keyword added.
- Nasus - No longer has Fearsome keyword. (Level 2 & 3 still do)
Functionality Changes
- Riven (L1 + L2)
- Old: When you gain the attack token, Reforge.
- New: When I’m summoned, if you have an attack token, Reforge.
- Taliyah (L2)
- Old: Attack: Deal 2 to my blocker. If it’s dead or gone, deal 2 to the enemy Nexus instead. If you have a landmark, do this 2 more times.
- New: Attack: Deal 2 to my blocker three times. If it’s dead or gone, deal 2 to the enemy Nexus instead.
Follower Changes in Patch 2.11.0
- Black Market Merchant Now has 2 Health (Up from 1).
- Slotbot - Now has "On Summon" in addition to "Round Start.
- Mageseeker Inciter - Now has 4 Health (Up from 3).
- Laurent Bladekeeper - Now has 3 Attack (Up from 2).
- Dancing Droplet - No longer has Attune.
- Greenglade Lookout - Now has 2 Health (Down from 1).
- Young Witch - Now has 2 Health (Up from 1).
- Incisive Tactician - Now has 5 Attack (Up from 4).
- Citybreaker - Now has 1 Attack (Up from 0).
- Jae Medarda - Now has 5 Attack and 5 Health (Up from 4/4).
- Midenstokke Henchmen - Now has 4 Health (Up from 3).
- Watcher
- Costs 0 if you've summoned 5+ allies that cost 8+ this game (Up from 4+ allies).
- No longer obliterates the entire enemy deck - 3 non-champion cards will remain.
- Rhasa the Sunderer - Now has 8 Attack and 6 Health (Up from 7/5).
- Duskrider - Now has 3 Attack (Up from 2).
- Escaped Abomination - Now has 2 Health (Up from 3).
- The Clock Hand - Now has 7 Attack (Up from 4).
- Raz Bloodmane - Now has 7 Attack and 7 Health (Up from 6/6).
- Dunekeeper - Now has 1 Attack (Down from 2) and 2 Health (Up from 1).
- Mountain Sojourners - Now has 4 Attack (Up from 2).
- Sun Guardian - Now has 4 Health (Up from 3).
- Ren Shadowblade - Now has 4 Attack (Up from 3).
- The Fangs - Now has 2 Attack (Down from 3).
Celestials
- The Serpent - Now has 1 Attack (Down from 2).
Spell Changes in Patch 2.11.0
- Make it Rain & Miss Fortune's Make it Rain - Now costs 2 (Down from 3).
- Confront & Shyvana's Confront - Now costs 2 (Down from 3).
- Double Up - Now costs 5 (Down from 6).
- Will of Ionia - Now costs 4 (Down from 5).
- Twin Disciplines - Now costs 2 (Down from 3).
- Rummage - Now costs 2 (Up from 1).
- Tri-beam Improbulator - Now costs 5 (Up from 4).
- Stalking Shadows - Now costs 3 (Up from 2).
- Starshaping Now heals for 4 (Down from 5).
Landmark Changes in Patch 2.11.0
- The Howling Abyss - Now costs 6 (Down from 7).
Comments
Well. This oughta shake some things up.
I am very excited for these changes but I got admit buffing both Karma and Will of Ionia is leaving me a little bit concerned.
Given that Homecoming exists at 4 mana currently, I highly doubt that dropping Will of Ionia back to 4 mana matters much.
It matters a lot actually. You can play around Homecoming by killing the recalled unit, Will of Ionia has no such restriction.
I don't know what you meant to put for Midenstokke Henchmen but I will assume its 4 health up from 3.
That would be correct.
These changes all seem very appropriate.
Let's see if they get their job done
Edit: wait... they did not consider buffing Malphite?! I guess Riot wants to keep some meme cards of the game "intact"
The one that is the most glaring to me is that Katarina got no changes at all. I would have thought maybe at least they might make her level 2 form not cost more than her level 1 form, seeing that she is literally the only champion in the entire game that has that feature.
In general riot did little to nothing in order to buff noxian builds...
I guess they want aggressive decks getting back more to bilgewater and also tune down aggro enough so that p & z can have it's time in the sun.
As long as noxus will rise again in the next expansion I can live with that and embraze the glorious future of zhaun in the meantime
I didn't see anywhere explicitly stating they didn't consider buffing Malphite. However given that he just received a buff last balance patch and Taliyah is now receiving back-to-back buffs, there's a solid chance they want to see how he plays out in a post TLC/AzIrelia/ThreshNasus meta before committing anything else.
(Spoiler: I think he still needs Overwhelm at least on his L2 form, but we'll see.)
Man, these are some good balance changes. I’m a bit nervous about restoring Miss Fortune’s Overwhelm (especially alongside a buff to her spell), and I dislike the idea of making Howling Abyss playable, but I can see the arguments for both. The only one of these changes I'd actually stop if I could would be the reduction to The Serpent’s attack.
For such a large list of changes, that’s an amazing success rate!