We've got a large round of balance changes arriving this week in Legends of Runeterra's 3.6.0 patch which includes changes to 14 Champions! Read on for the full scoop on the changes.

Update: Additional Changes

Two more changes have been added as Runeterra tweeted out this evening.

Quote From PlayRuneterra

A few last-minute changes didn't make it to the patch notes - we'll be getting them updated:

  • Dragon's Protection - Spell Speed changed from "Slow" to "Focus"
  • Shadow Apprentice - Effect changed to "When you summon an Ephemeral ally, give me +1|+0 this round."

Card Balance Changes in Patch 3.6.0

Quote From Riot

As laid out in the Early 2022 Roadmap, this is our Champion Adjustments patch. We’ve made a range of changes to some underplayed champions to help smooth out their gameplans, as well as some supporting cards for Elites, Reputation, and Udyr, among others.

Also, yes, nerfs The Bandle Tree & Yordles in Arms.

Here’s a look at each of the card updates coming in this patch:

Champions & Related Cards

Ashe (Level 1)

  • Level-Up Condition: You Frostbite 4+ Enemies. → You decrease 4+ enemies’ power to 0.

LoR has evolved quite a bit since Ashe was designed, so we’re opening up her level condition to let her chill with regions outside of Freljord.

Darius (Level 1)

  • Level-Up Condition: I see the enemy Nexus has 10 health or less. → I see the enemy Nexus has half of its starting health.

This change should help Darius be more consistent in The Path of Champions.

Galio (Level 2)

  • Base Stats (Level 2): 0|9 → 0|10

Galio was only gaining a single point of health on level-up, so this change makes his stat gain more consistent with our rules & makes him just a bit more formidable.

Garen (Level 1 & Level 2)

  • New Effect: Round Start: Rally. When I’m summoned, give other allies +1|+1 this round.

Garen was feeling a bit vanilla, so we modernized his design while helping him to enable Demacians to do what they do best - fight with square stats.

Karma (Level 2)

  • New Effect: Create in hand a random spell from your regions. When you play a spell, cast it again on the same targets.

Karma losing functionality on level-up didn’t feel great, so her Level 2 now retains the spell generation, which also helps replenish your hand if you empty it to reach Enlightenment.

Katarina (Level 2)

  • New Effect: Play: Rally. Create a 0-cost Fleeting Blade’s Edge in hand. Strike: Recall me.

Katarina’s got a few more knives. Like Karma, she now retains her level 1 functionality. Reducing the cost of Blade’s Edge to 0 on her level 2 form, we’re giving her a slight edge to clear our weakened targets to prevent chump blocking.

LeBlanc (Level 2)

  • New Effect: When I level up, and each time I see you deal 15+ damage, create a Mirror Image in hand. If you already have one, reduce its cost by 1 instead.

It can be pretty tough to generate a Mirror Image, so giving her one on level up should help to increase LeBlanc’s overall presence & thematic resonance.

Leona (Level 2)

  • Keywords: None → Overwhelm

Leona already has the Zenith Blade, so this just makes sense (and y’all seemed to like it when we accidentally shipped this before). This change should help Leona close out games more effectively once she levels up.

Malphite (Level 1 & Level 2)

  • New Effect: Play: Stun an enemy.

For a high-cost champion, we wanted to give Malphite a little extra rock & roll when he’s dropped on the field. Being able to immediately stun a target makes him a better pick with Yasuo lets him more consistently stall the match until he can get into motion.

Nasus (Level 1)

  • Keywords: None → Fearsome

Nasus dropped this, we’re just giving it back. For real though, he was a little too scary on release, but he’s fallen a little too far and could benefit from having it back.

Nocturne (Level 2)

  • Change: When you play a unit, give enemies -1|-0 this round. → When you summon a unit, give enemies -1|-0 this round.

Changing ‘play’ to ‘summon’ gives Nocturne more options to fill the board & terrify the opposition in doing so.

Sion (Level 1, Level 2, & Returned)

  • Base Stats (Level 1): 1|6 → 2|6
  • Base Stats (Level 2): 8|6 → 9|6
  • Base Stats (Returned): 8|4 → 9|4

We’re giving Sion a little extra power to help close out games more effectively.

Udyr (Level 1 & Level 2)

  • Level-Up Condition: You’ve damaged the enemy Nexus 7+ times this game. → You’ve played Stance Swap 3+ times this game.
  • Base Stats (Level 1): 4|4 → 5|4
  • Base Stats (Level 2): 5|5 → 6|5

Udyr should feel right at home playing Stance Swap, so changing his level-up to revolve around it should make his kit more cohesive overall. We’re also giving his power a slight boost to make him more of a threat early on.

Vladimir (Level 1 & Level 2)

  • Keywords: None → Fearsome (+Regeneration at Level 2)

Vlad has a bloody hard time dealing with chump blockers, so this change should let him be a bigger threat and close out games faster.

Followers, Spells, and Landmarks

Ambush

  • Cost: 2 → 3

Ambush has become a go-to tool for some decks to end games abruptly, without much opportunity for interaction from the opponent. We’re increasing the cost to be in-line with similar effects.

Ballistic Bot

  • Base Stats: 1|3 → 0|3

This bot has been an overperformer for a while, and with Viktor’s recent buffs, it’s time to tune the engine down a notch.

Blood for Blood

  • Speed: Fast → Burst

In addition to Vlad’s changes, making Blood for Blood burst speed allows for some cool outplays in self-damaging decks.

Buried Sun Disc

  • Change: When an Ascended ally levels up, advance me 10 rounds. → When an Ascended ally levels up, advance me 9 rounds.

We’re happy to see Buried Sun Disc get some serious play, but it’s getting flipped faster than we’d like for the impact it has on the game.

Callous Bonecrusher

  • Change: Reputation: I cost 2 → Reputation: I cost 3 and when I’m summoned, grant me Overwhelm.

In addition to For Glory! and LeBlanc’s changes, we want to make hitting Reputation more impactful. Even at a slightly higher cost, Callous Bonecrusher is now more of a threat to close out games once Reputation is achieved.

Hyara Allseer

  • Change: When I’m summoned, create a Stance Swap in hand. It costs 0 this round. → When I’m summoned, create a Stance Swap in hand. The first stance you play each round costs 0.

With Udyr’s new level-up condition & Inner Beast, Hyara Allseer has also been changed to encourage more Stance Swap casts.

Swiftwing Lancer

  • Subtype: None → Elite

Giving Swifting Lancer the Elite subtype lets it benefit from Might of the Vanguard & Vanguard Squire’s changes to make the archetype more cohesive overall.

The Bandle Tree

  • Cost: 5 → 4

Change: Round Start: Create a follower from a new region in hand. Win the game if you’ve summoned units from 10 regions. → Round Start: Create a follower from a new region in hand. Win the game if I’ve seen units from 10 regions summoned.

This change makes it so The Bandle Tree’s condition can be reset if it’s removed from the field, increasing overall interactivity & effectiveness of landmark removal against the deck. Hitting the instant win condition is much harder, but we didn’t want to completely burn the tree down, so the cost has also been lowered to make it an effective value generator for a relatively high initial investment.

Vanguard Squire

  • Cost: 4 → 3

Like with Might of the Vanguard & Swiftwing Lancer, this change helps smooth out the curve & overall gameplan for Elites.

Yordles in Arms

  • Change: Give allies +2|+2 this round. If you’ve summoned or cast cards from 4+ regions, give allies +4|+4 instead. → Give allies +2|+2 this round. If you’ve summoned or cast cards from 4+ regions, give allies +3|+3 instead.

YiA hasn’t seen as much play as before 3.4 with all the new decks popping up, but it’s still a little too scary when it is played, so we’re reducing the enhanced effect.

Game Rule Updates

We've also got some new game rule updates arriving in the patch.

Quote From Riot

Following up from patch 3.4.0, we have some important rule changes, as well as more visual UX improvements. We’ve got a few videos here that outline all the changes, but please read below for full info.

Context from game designer Rubinzoo:

Burst / Pass: Previously, you could only end the round after your opponent has fully passed without taking an action. Beginning this patch, if your opponent passes after playing only a Burst or Focus spell, you may now end the round.

We're making this change to:

  • Create consistency between how gameplay flows both inside and outside of combat.
  • Create higher-stake decisions especially in the late game.
  • Reduce empty and unnecessary pass and pass backs.

“Cast” is merging with “Play”:

  • This is a bit complex, so let’s define “Play” in LoR first - when a card leaves your hand into play or onto the stack, that’s “Playing” a card.
  • Changed: "Cast" cards have been adjusted to activate when you “Play” a card.
  • Changed: Targeting now activates when you “Play” a card.

With this change, we’re adjusting 61 cards in ways that range from small text-only changes to larger impact timing changes. The vast majority of these are card buffs with some slight tweaks  and a few nerfs. We plan to extra-closely monitor both in positive cases for buffed cards and negative cases for nerfed cards and make future changes accordingly.

We're making these changes to:

  • Unify the timing of our Spell Listeners to increase consistency and understandability.
  • Increase gameplay satisfaction of playing with cards like Lux or Heimerdinger.
  • Increase the overall utility of slow spells.
  • Clean up the space for new mechanics.

This might be hard to fully grasp right away, so take some time to experiment! Our goal is to make gameplay more intuitive right off the bat, and we’ve put the work in to iterate on these changes to make sure they’ll land right, and we’ll keep a close eye on feedback. Once the patch drops, let us know how you feel about the changes

Visual UX Updates

Riot has also made some updates to the visuals that make it easier to see what is going on during a match.

Quote From Riot

On top of 3.4.0’s Premonition update, this patch, we’ve added additional visual UX updates to make it easier to tell what’s going on in a match. No gameplay rules are changing based on these updates, they’re visual-only.

  • Stack Clarity: The board visuals aim to clarify that there are unresolved actions, and which player started a stack.
  • Attacker & Blocker Indicators: Units that can attack or block get sword or shield icons, respectively, that clearly indicate their status.
  • Turn Gems & Button Naming: The “Ok” / “End Turn” blue button has been relabeled to consistently name what’s happening to reduce ambiguity. Two gems have been added to the button to indicate turn status. A lit gem means the player on that side has committed an action. Once both gems are lit, actions will be resolved or the round ends.
  • Attacker Chevrons: Attackers have a red, pointy indicator if they’re going to hit the opponent’s Nexus. They lose it if they’re blocked or reduced to 0 power.
  • Clearer Ghost Blockers: Ghost blockers (the translucent visuals that remain after a blocker is removed during combat) now appear under the blocker as soon as it is placed, to make it clearer that the attack is still blocked, even if they’re removed.

As with the game rule updates, we’ve done a lot of testing on these to make LoR a more intuitive experience overall, and we’re looking forward to your impressions and feedback once the patch drops!

Bug Fixes

It wouldn't be a patch without squashing some bugs!

Quote From Riot

  • Fixed an issue where tooltips would sometimes not show when hovering over some cards.
  • Oracle’s Eye will now interact correctly with a level two Rumble.
  • Fixed an issue where the visuals for Restored Sun Dic would remain after leaving Oracle’s Eye.
  • Fixed an issue where Landmarks offered after playing Stoneweaving had incorrect costs.
  • Fixed an issue where Blighted Caretaker was not correctly using optional targeting.
  • Spellshield will now correctly block Despair’s effect.
  • Various text & grammar consistency fixes.

More From Legends of Runeterra Patch 3.6.0

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