Legends of Runeterra's latest balance patch dropped a few days ago, and it's a massive one, with 12 nerfs and over 20 buffs, as well as a number of sidegrades that go in one direction or another. Here's everything you need to know from the patch:
Nerfs
- Scout has been removed as a generatable keywork (cards like Hex Core Upgrade, Pantheon, The Arsenal etc. can no longer generate it).
- Ezreal -> Level Up requires 8 targets (up from 6).
- Brightsteel Protector -> Is a 2/1 (down from a 3/2).
- Disintegrate -> Damage mitigation now prevents units dying from Disintegrate’s effect.
- Ferros Financier -> Has 1 Health (down from 2).
- Gleaming Lantern -> Has 2 Health (down from 3).
- Murkwolf Rager -> Has 4 Attack (down from 5).
- Petricite Broadwing -> No longer has Challenger by default, has to gain it by summoning another ally.
- Promising Future -> Costs 4 (Down from 6).
- Quicksand -> Debuffs units by 1 (down from 2).
- Sands of Time -> Instant Century is now fellting.
- Zenith Blade -> Overwhelm only lasts this round.
Sidegrades
Those are cards that were buffed in some ways, but nerfed in others.
- Kalista -> Is now a 3/4 (from a 4/3). Level 2 is a 4/5 (from a 5/4).
- Shen -> Now has Barrier. Level Up requirements increased from 4 to 5.
- Aftershock -> Costs 3 (down from 4). Can no longer target the Nexus.
- Ember Monk -> Costs 3 (down from 4). Has 2 Attack (down from 3).
- Hothead -> Is a 4/2 (from a 3/3).
- Khahiri the Returned -> Costs 5 (down from 6). Is a 3/3 (down from 4/4).
- Legion Deserter -> Overwhelmed replaced with Fearsome.
- Murkwolf Shaman -> Is a 2/4 (from a 3/3).
Buffs
- Copied spells now count as being Played (from cards like Karma, Taric, Jayce etc.)
- Ashe -> Now counts Power reduction on units that already have 0 Power.
- Bard -> Now counts units that buff their own stats.
- Hecarim -> On Level Up, he grants allies everywhere +3/+0 (this used to be an aura tied to the champion)
- Irelia -> Now has Attune.
- Avatar of the Tides -> Now has 6 Health (up from 5).
- Avarosan Hearthguard -> Now has 6 Health (up from 5).
- Babbling Bjerg -> Now has 4 Health (up from 3).
- Blighted Caretaker -> Now has 2 Attack (up from 1).
- Camavoran Dragon -> Now has 4 Health (up from 3).
- Chief Nakotak -> Is now a 2/4 (changed from a 3/3). The affected ally also gets Impact.
- Crumble -> Now costs 4 (down from 5).
- Inspiring Marshal -> Is now a 5/6 (up from a 4/5).
- Justice Rider -> Has 5 Health (up from 4).
- The Lady of Blood -> Has 3 Attack (up from 2).
- Lava Lizard -> Has Impact
- Resplendent Stellacorn -> Is a 5/6 (up from 4/5).
- Riptide Rex -> Is a 7/5 (up from 6/4). Cannon Barrage is played 7 times (up from 6).
- Squeaker -> has 2 Health (up from 1).
- The Arsenal -> Is a 9/7 (up from 8/6).
- The Prefect -> Has 2 Attack (up from 1).
- Trifarian Assessor -> Costs 4 (down from 5).
- Vanguard Firstblade -> Is a 3/3 (up from 2/2).
- Windfarer Hatchling -> Has 3 Health (up from 2).
- Yordle Contraption -> Costs 4 (down from 5).
Patch Notes
Quote From Riot Games Card Updates
Here’s a look at each of the card updates coming in this patch:Gameplay System Updates:
Scout has been removed as a generatable keyword (i.e. Hex Core Upgrade, Pantheon, The Arsenal, Acceleration Gate).
While it's important to have a mix of keywords of varying strength, Scout often outperforms as a generatable keyword, so we’re removing it from the pool.These outliers can be frustrating gameplay experiences, so we'd like to smooth the experience out while also having achievable highs and lows of using random keyword generation.
Copied spells now count as being Played (i.e. Karma, Taric, Mirror Mage, Jayce).
Following up from our Play / Cast changes, we wanted to ensure that champions that copy spells are satisfying and exciting in the long term.Spells that are copied will now activate targeting quests such as Ezreal & Taric, they’ll count towards making Lux Beams, and will now also activate Augment!
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Champions & Related Cards
Ashe (Level 1)
ASHE (LEVEL 1)LEVEL-UP CONDITION: Now counts Power reduction on units that already have 0 Power.
This is part bugfix, part gameplay clarity & functionality update - now Ashe should be somewhat less sad about being unable to level off of Formidable units.icon
Bard (Level 1)
BARD (LEVEL 1)LEVEL-UP CONDITION: Now counts units that buff their own stats.
We want to open up additional deckbuilding possibilities for Bard and address confusion around what counts for his level up quest.icon
Ezreal (Level 1)
EZREAL (LEVEL 1)LEVEL-UP CONDITION: Increased to 8+ targets.
icon
Hecarim (Level 2)
HECARIM (LEVEL 2)CHANGE: Ephemeral allies have +3|+0 → When I level up, grant Ephemeral allies everywhere +3|+0
We want the payoff for Ephemeral decks to be more consistent by guaranteeing Hecarim’s buff on leveling up, even if he dies in combat.icon
Irelia (Level 1)
IRELIA (LEVEL 1)KEYWORDS: Quick Attack → Quick Attack, Attune
Irelia (Level 2)
IRELIA (LEVEL 2)KEYWORDS: Quick Attack → Quick Attack, Attune
Over the course of several archetype nerfs, Irelia has become much less satisfying. We want to strike a cleaner balance between her power level and her gameplay satisfaction.icon
Kalista (Level 1)
KALISTA (LEVEL 1)BASE STATS: 4|3 → 3|4
Swapping states here gives Kalista some more innate tankiness, and will increase her ability to engage in combat and level up.icon
Shen (Level 1)
SHEN (LEVEL 1)KEYWORD: None → Barrier
LEVEL UP REQUIREMENT: I’ve seen allies gain barrier 4+ times. → I’ve seen allies gain barrier 5+ times.
Shen (Level 2)
SHEN (LEVEL 2)KEYWORD: None → Barrier
LEVEL UP REQUIREMENT: I’ve seen allies gain barrier 4+ times. → I’ve seen allies gain barrier 5+ times.
Shen’s play rate is among the lowest in LoR - we want to give him a bit more immediate ability to attack or block to give him some more combat control, with added potentially to level him up and realize the Shen dream.icon
Followers, Spells, and Landmarks
Aftershock
AFTERSHOCKCOST: 4 → 3
CHANGE: Deal 3 to anything or destroy a Landmark. → Deal 3 to a unit or destroy a landmark.
We'd love for more landmark removal to be more viable, and identified Aftershock as a card that could help provide more widespread interactive counterplay against landmarks.icon
Avatar of the Tides
AVATAR OF THE TIDESBASE STATS: 4|5 → 4|6
Adding a bit of health to help make the mana engine a little more stable.icon
Avarosan Hearthguard
AVAROSAN HEARTHGUARDBASE STATS: 5|5 → 5|6
Returning Hearthguard to his former glory to give Freljord midgame units a boost.icon
Babbling Bjerg
BABBLING BJERGBASE STATS: 3|3 → 3|4
A slight buff to a staple Freljord midrange unit to help enable the archetype more.icon
Blighted Caretaker
BLIGHTED CARETAKERBASE STATS: 1|1 → 2|1
Reverting a previous nerf to give Slay / sacrifice archetypes a bit more power.icon
Brightsteel Protector
BRIGHTSTEEL PROTECTORBASE STATS: 3|2 → 2|1
This change is meant to soften the strength of Demacia curving out with Brightsteel, and encouraging the utility of her Barrier.icon
Camavoran Dragon
CAMAVORAN DRAGONBASE STATS: 4|3 → 4|4
We’re adding more on-curve health to make the Camavoran Dragon more cost-effective.icon
Chief Nakotak
CHIEF NAKOTAKBASE STATS: 3|3 → 2|4
CHANGE: When an ally transforms, fully heal it and grant it +1|+1. → When an ally transforms, fully heal it, grant it +1|+1, and Impact.
Transform-based Bandle City decks have historically not seen much play, so we're buffing Chief Nakotak as a core synergistic card for new deckbuilding possibilities.icon
Crumble
CRUMBLECOST: 5 → 4
Given its high ability to disrupt and potential access through Tellstones, we've identified Crumble as a card that could use a cost decrease to see a bit more play.icon
Disintegrate
DISINTEGRATECHANGE: Damage mitigation now prevents units dying from Disintegrate’s effect.
We want to add more healthy counterplay to Distentegrate, increase the clarity of its text and effect, and fix several buggy edge-cases (such as Disintegrate vs Barrier, Lifesteal, Tough, etc).icon
Ember Monk
EMBER MONKCOST: 4 → 3
BASE STATS: 3|3 → 2|3
Ember Monk was too inefficient to function within its archetype, so we’re lowering its cost.icon
Ferros Financier
FERROS FINANCIERBASE STATS: 2|2 → 2|1
Ferros Financier was giving too much value with a decent statline for his versatility.icon
Gleaming Lantern
GLEAMING LANTERNBASE STATS: 3|3 → 3|2
We’re increasing the ability to disrupt explosive Gleaming Lantern starts, but leaving the outright power the Lantern provides for Fae decks.icon
Hothead
HOTHEADBASE STATS: 4|2 → 3|3
Hothead could use a bit of a stat adjustment to have a higher potential to make one or more attacks.icon
Inspiring Marshal
INSPIRING MARSHALBASE STATS: 4|5 → 5|6
Marshal has had a hard time since its previous nerfs - we'll keep it as a top end for token decks, and increase the stats to make it a bit more viable in Shuriman token decks.icon
Justice Rider
JUSTICE RIDERBASE STATS: 3|4 → 3|5
Flashbomb trap followers rarely show up in decks and haven’t been too effective, so we’re giving Justice Rider more durability to plant more bombs.icon
Khahiri the Returned
KHAHIRI THE RETURNEDCOST: 6 → 5
BASE STATS: 4|4 → 3|3
We’re reducing Khahiri’s cost to make him a more satisfying “build around me” card.icon
The Lady of Blood
THE LADY OF BLOODBASE STATS: 2|4 → 3|4
Providing Lady a bit more combat viability to give slower Noxus discard decks a bit of a better curve.icon
Lava Lizard
LAVA LIZARDKEYWORDS: None → Impact
Lava Lizard deserves to spit a bit more fire.icon
Legion Deserter
LEGION DESERTERKEYWORDS: Overwhelm → Fearsome
We want to keep the gameplay dreams of scaling huge Legion Deserters, but swap out Overwhelm to Fearsome to reduce the ability to outright end your opponent’s career prematurely.icon
Murkwolf Shaman
MURKWOLF SHAMANBASE STATS: 3|3 → 2|4
Murkwolf Rager
MURKWOLF RAGERBASE STATS: 5|6 → 4|6
Freljord midrange units and transform should be a bit more viable to enable some of those strategies.icon
Petricite Broadwing
PETRICITE BROADWINGKEYWORDS: Challenger → None
NEW EFFECT: When you summon an ally, grant me Challenger.
We're opting for a small nerf to Broadwing that will ease some of the early round tension of playing against it, while also giving more windows for potential counterplay.icon
Promising Future
PROMISING FUTURECOST: 4 → 6
We’re greatly slowing down the ability to double down on landmarks risk-free and introduce more obvious windows for counterplay.icon
Quicksand
QUICKSANDCHANGE: When targeting two units, give them -2|-0 and disable positive keywords this round. → When targeting two units, give them -1|-0 and disable their positive keywords this round.
We're happy with the increased interaction previous Quicksand changes has provided Shurima, but are pushing a small follow up to make it less of a combat blowout and reduce the overall safety it provides to more greedy decks.icon
Resplendent Stellacorn
RESPLENDENT STELLACORNBASE STATS: 4|5 → 5|6
This change should provide more on-curve power to Targon healing decks.icon
Riptide Rex
RIPTIDE REXBASE STATS:6|4 → 7|5
CHANGE: Plunder: Play Cannon Barrage 6 times on randomly-targeted enemies. → Plunder: Play Cannon Barrage 7 times on randomly-targeted enemies.
Bilgewater Control decks have slowly moved out of the metagame with time and nerfs to key cards. Returning Riptide Rex to his former glory should give some slower and midrange Bilgewater decks more viable top end cards.icon
Sands of Time
SANDS OF TIMECHANGE: Instant Century is now Fleeting
Instant Century being a 0-cost card that can be held in hand for an ideal combo timing gives Thrall decks a bit too much agency over when to advance their landmarks. We think this adjustment aligns the functionality a bit closer to our design standards for cards that are created in hand.icon
Squeaker
SQUEAKERBASE STATS: 1|1 → 1|2
We want to make Mecha-Yordle creation more cost-efficient.icon
The Arsenal
THE ARSENALBASE STATS: 8|6 → 9|7
Scout’s removal as a generatable keyword hurts this guy quite a bit, so we’re making him a bit beefier to retain his name as The Arsenal.icon
The Prefect
THE PREFECTBASE STATS: 1|3 → 2|3
The Prefect is too undertuned to see play in dedicated Skill decks, so we’re boosting her overall strength.icon
Trifarian Assessor
TRIFARIAN ASSESSORCOST: 5 → 4
Reputation-based Noxus decks could use a revert on the Assessor’s cost to improve viability.icon
Vanguard Firstblade
VANGUARD FIRSTBLADEBASE STATS: 2|2 → 3|3
What's a patch without a random Elite Buff? Firstblade curve out should be a bit more satisfying for Demacia decks.icon
Windfarer Hatchling
WINDFARER HATCHLINGBASE STATS: 4|2 → 4|3
With the release of Worldwalker, Ionia has been underrepresented overall - we’re providing Elusive decks some more power to finish out games.icon
Yordle Contraption
YORDLE CONTRAPTIONCOST: 5 → 4
This card hasn’t seen much play, so we’re improving the efficiency of this old contraption.icon
Zenith Blade
ZENITH BLADECHANGE: Grant Overwhelm. → Give Overwhelm This Round.
Zenith Blade should be a solid go-to repeatable buff for decks, but its power output should be a bit more narrow considering the low amount of card resources required to grant up to 3 units Overwhelm, especially given the additional synergies and stats repeated Zenith Blades provide.icon
The Path of Champions Updates
We’re smoothing out Shard acquisition in The Path of Champions by introducing Wild Fragments:Wild Fragments can be used in place of Champion Fragments to unlock or Star Up any champion in The Path of Champions.
When you earn Champion Fragments for a champion that exceeds the amount to get that champion to 3 Stars, you’ll instead earn an amount of Wild Fragments.
Players who have already earned excess Champion Fragments will retroactively receive Wild Fragments.
When you earn duplicate Relics that are clearly not useful (e.g. a fourth copy of any Relic, or a second copy of any keyword-granting Relic) you’ll get Wild Fragments instead. This also applies retroactively!
Additionally, players can receive Wild Fragments from some Weekly and Daily Quests.
Finally, we’re opening the option to spend Coins to unlock champions instead of Champion Fragments or Wild Fragments.Champion Skins
062822_062822_05BW005T1RQ_Namicleric.jpg062822_05BW005T1RQ_Nami2Cleric.jpg
Nami TidecallerAlternate Art & Level-Up Animation
06RU001RQ_Bard-Bard.jpg06RU001T4RQ_Bard2-Bard.jpg
Bard BardAlternate Art & VFX, Skin added to Level-Up Animation
062822_02BW046RQ_Fizz-Assassin.jpg062822_02BW046T3RQ_Fizz2-Assassin.jpg
Fizz FinslayerAlternate Art & VFX, Skin added to Level-Up Animation
062822_02IO006RQ_Lee-Sin-Monk-F2.jpg062822_02IO006T1RQ-Lee-Sin2-Monk-CENS.jpg
Monk Lee Sin
Alternate Art
062822_04SH039RQ_ZILEAN-DRUID_Lv-1_FR.jpg062822_04SH039T1RQ_Zilean2-Druid_CENS.jpg
Zilean Wisewood
Alternate Art
062822_01NX038RQ_Darius-RiftMaster_CENS.jpg062822_01NX038T2RQ_Darius2-Knight_CENS.jpg
Rift Master Darius
Alternate Art
Boards
062822_Board_Rift_Quest_Screenshot.jpgTabletop Tavern
Place your piece and let the adventure begin.
This board has special visual effects and music.
Emotes
062822_3.8_Emote_Zilean_Riftquest.gifSnoozefest
“Wake me up when it’s my turn.”
062822_3.8_Emote_Bard_Riftquest.gif
Outclassed
“He’s doing his best…”
Miscellaneous
Potentially the single most exciting miscellaneous patch note ever written:
- Added a “skip” button on the Weekly Vault
Bug Fixes
- Fixed some issues causing players to crash when starting a match or reconnecting.
- Fixed a crash when Khahiri the Returned is summoned from Chronobreak.
- Fixed an audio-related crash.
- Fixed an issue causing the game to stop loading when entering a match in The Path of Champions.
- Thresh’s Challenger VFX will now only play when he is Challenging an enemy.
- Tibber’s Pyroclastic Arrival will now deal damage as intended.
- Fixed some issues preventing Bard from properly receiving level up progression when increasing the stats of allies.
- Fixed an issue causing spells that start a free attack to function incorrectly.
- Fixed an issue preventing Jhin’s Dancing Grenade from bouncing.
- Fixed an issue preventing the Emote panel from opening.
- Fixed an error when players attempt to draw Claws of the Dragon.
- Fixed some visual issues causing cards and the Nexus to be displaced.
- Fixed several VFX issues that were causing incorrect playback.
Comments
Any reason why this patch notes took so long to be posted here? I don't mean to be rude or anything, just worried about the site.
Flux has been busy with managerial stuff lately, and he's the one usually doing the patch notes. I'm the one who's covered notes previously (like once, lol), but I was also otherwise occupied with things when the patch dropped.
I'll add onto this, thanks to Nirast for picking up the slack!
Normally Riot sends us notes in advance of them being publicly announced which is why we're normally able to get them up nicely formatted on the moment they drop (there was one time where we posted on the embargo time and Riot didn't... that was some nice traffic). That hasn't happened a few times now, receiving them after they go live. I'm not sure what's up with the change since it doesn't even seem to be consistent. But because of that, there was just a lot of other things going on at the time LoR posted their notes and it wasn't stuff I could jump off of. Many other folks here too are busy with other things or are around on a more limited basis so we were able to get to them when we could.
I agree though, it's not a great look for us, especially when I've prided my content career on the fact that I've been first to break a lot of news and generally speaking, we're still damn fast. I know our Runeterra coverage has also just been close to non-existent over the past half year or so, maybe a bit longer. When we lost our primary for covering the game, we just weren't in a great spot to bring someone else on at that point in time, and LoR traffic has just been downhill both here and in general, so hard committing to a new person is a very risky play. Riot pushing forward on a more PVP focus for the game in their recent announcement is nice to see though because that makes me more hopeful they're trying to figure out what to do with the game instead of just letting it die out.
Actions speak louder than words though, and not only does that apply to Riot here, but us too. On that action side of things, there hasn't been much of it and it is my hope that we can turn that around by finding some new people who want to cover LoR on Out of Cards.
Me, too. This site in general is doing ok, but I am worried about how sloppy the LoR coverage is.
In addition to being 3 days late, the article has several glaring typos and makes some debatable judgment calls in it summary: Some clear buffs and nerfs are listed as “sidegrades”, rules changes are moved into the buff and nerf lists, and other significant changes in the patch aren’t mentioned at all.
I moved some cards to "sidegrades" if they had changes that went in both directions, even if it leaned in one more than the other. The only one I made a buff is Chief Nakotak, since its effect is far more important than its stats.
Agree about the gameplay changes. Even if they make some cards stronger or weaker, they should've had their own section in hindsight.
We don't usually cover bug fixes in these articles, so I kinda ignored them. Same for Path of Champions. If you're talking about the new cosmetic stuff, stay tuned!
Thanks. I appreciate the attention that you bring to Runeterra. (I probably wouldn't be playing the game at all if OoC hadn't covered it from the start.) I did see this morning's new article on the cosmetics. These are the other things I would add about the patch:
All good points. Honestly, I glossed over most of their explanations (why doesn't this word have an 'i' in the first half?), because there were sooooo many cards, and I started writing the article pretty late my time, so I wanted to be quick about it. I also don't play play the game at all, most of my exposure to it is trough Mogwai, so I wouldn't know how any QoL changes affect the game, but I probably should've mentioned them.
Thralls got murdered with this patch and I don't think that Fated is a top tier deck anymore, Veigo deserter should still be good but not as oppressive. I was afraid that they would make Quicksand sand unplayable but the nerf ended up being reasonable.
Overall I liked this patch even if I would have liked some changes to Bard, hopefully for the next one.