Surrender at 20

Aatrox AMA Summary

2013-05-22T02:11:00.002-07:00

As you may have noticed, several Rioters dedicated yesterday afternoon on Reddit hosting an AMA to answer your questions about Aatrox, the Darkin Blade!

Continue reading for a recap of the AMA questions and answers!

For those unfamiliar with how an AMA works, a person or group of people start a thread about a certain subject. In this case the topic is our next champion, Aatrox.. The AMA is being conduced by the following Rioters:

Trevor "Classick" Romleski, Champion Designer
Mike "ohmikegoodness" Laygo, Senior Animator
Lee "Ripviv" Strauss, Senior Character Artist

I've attempted to sort answers and questions into fairly board categories and then clump similar answers but there will definitely end up being overlap. The [ ] questions aren't always going to be the exact phrasing of the question asked. I did my best to modify them for more readability.

General

[ How do you correctly pronounce Aatrox? ]

"Ay-trox. As in "Bay".

If he were to give up being an ancient warmonger and hit the club scene, he could call himself DJ 8-Track. ( not cannon )" - Riot Harrow

[ The Aatrox reveal was short and sweet, completed in under a day's time. Is this what we should expect from champion teasers or just another experiment? ]

"We're certainly experimenting with the story teasers - in this case, we came up with this particular idea specifically with Aatrox since he had that ancient history feeling. We're still not locked in to one particular format for these things, so you can expect...I dunno, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE." - Riot Harrow

[ What are your thoughts on the Aatrox teaser now that it's over with? ]

"We feel that the structure of the Aatrox teaser was received pretty well (especially for a first run) so it's definitely something we'll consider. That said, in some cases it'll make more sense to create something over a longer stretch of time, such as the Lissandra teasers. Or something altogether different. It depends on what makes sense for the content!" - Riot Aether

[ Where did the idea for Aatrox come from? Kit or looks first? ]

"The visuals, gameplay and story all developed organically, in parallel, around the goal of creating a unique, dark entity. A lot changed in early iteration - as art changed, it would inspire me to tweak the story, etc." - Riot Harrow

[Where did the concept of Aatrox stem from?]

"We wanted to make a visual appearing evil character with western and eastern influences, yet still try and make it have a unique feeling that fits into the LOL universe." - Ripviv

[ Where you worried that his art/silhouette is too similar to Kayle's? ]

"We may have wings like Kayle and Morgana, but because of the way they moved and the way he's posed, we weren't worried about an overlap on art and silhouette. But that is something we ALWAYS keep in mind!" - ohmikegoodness

[ Why is he left handed? ]

"So we chose the left hand because we wanted his model to look visually balanced in game. If the sword was in the right hand, he'd have lots of metal on one side. Putting it into the left hand made him look and feel a lot more balanced! Also we were able to get a nice contrast between his bare hand and his sword!

Unrelated, I made Vi left handed because I'm a southpaw fighter! ;D" - ohmikegoodness

[ I love that his Wing's look like banners. ]

"Also THANKS on the banner stuff! I tried to get a banner feel from them, as we didn't want to suggest they were used for locomotion! I took some queues from nature and frill lizards when they get angry they open up! " - ohmikegoodness

[ Why make the release skin for such a dark champion so light and "good"? ]

"Skins are often a place to fulfill an alternate fantasy - but in this case, it also meshes with the base character. Since those he fights alongside often see him as more savior than villain, the skin sort of represents that more angelic interpretation." - Riot Harrow

[ Why does Aatrox's sword sometimes act like jelly. For example, when he crits it jiggles around. ]

"Aatrox's sword is actually organic and alive! I wanted to show it wasn't just a normal sword by giving it movement. It's solid in most of the auto attacks, but after the hit frame you can see it moving around. The crit animation he was using it more as a whip" - ohmikegoodness

Lore

[ Will we be hearing anything else about the Darkin in the near future? ]

"Define "near future." ;) We have plans for the Darkin, but as usual, we can't promise a timeline." - Riot Harrow

[ Who are the other other Darkin? ]

"The world as a whole doesn't know how many Darkin there are. That's some privileged information you get as a reader ;)

As a bit of a future spoiler: three of the five, including Aatrox, are known to history, turning up in myths etc. The other two are completely unknown to the rest of the world. It's unclear whether even the other Darkin know of them. They don't talk much." - Riot Harrow

[ What's the deal with Aatrox and Tryndamere ]

"Well...the dark figure in Tryndamere's lore sure sounds familiar, huh? And with the Freljord dagger that Ezreal found as evidence, it does seem very possible that Aatrox has been involved in some Freljord battles." - Riot Harrow

[ Are Kayle and Morgana related to Aatrox? ]

"No, they're from another world. As far as records show, Aatrox has existed solely in Runeterra." - Riot Harrow

[ How do you think Kayle and Morgana would feel about Aatrox? ]

"I think Kayle would definitely see Aatrox as something that must be destroyed, a bringer of chaos and war that disrupts order.

I don't think Morgana would have reason to think that Aatrox is tyrannical, he doesn't seem to be trying to rule over anything. I think she's still be suspicious of a figure she knows so little about, I don't think she'd make allies easily." - Riot Harrow

[ As told before Aatrox revelation, why the demacians that believe in “light” put him on churchs windows and stuffs like that? For the Demacian, is he a God? Or is he a Demon?]

"That window was a small part of a larger artwork, but essentially it was created to commemorate Aatrox's involvement in a battle that Demacians won.

It portrays Aatrox as an heroic figure, and since Demacians aren't down with evil and stuff, it suggests that they didn't see him as a villain. Raises an interesting question, though - how did Aatrox's involvement affect those Demacians?" - Riot Harrow.

Game Play

[ Will Aatrox be a viable jungler? ]

"With what we've seen from our internal testing he definitely can jungle, I don't think it's particularly strong but it in the right scenarios it may be viable." - Classick

[ Can Aatrox be played mid? ]

"We have done a couple tests with Aatrox mid and found that he can function mid lane, but a lot of his damage comes from auto attacking over time and less burst so it can be hard for him to get kills early in the game." - Classick

[ What's up with all the rebirth passives? Zac just had one and now Aatrox is getting one. ]

"it just so happened that both of these characters had rebirth-type passives and ended up being completed at nearly the same time. With Aatrox we felt he needed a soft disengage which allows him to momentarily get out of the teamfight and re position himself after reviving. It also has a feeling of momentum to it as it builds when Aatrox spends health while he stays in combat which gives him windows of vulnerability early on in a fight. If he manages to stay alive over a long period of time he can resurrect with a respectable amount of health to finish off opponents." - Classick

[ Aatrox's lore is all about him giving soldiers on a losing side strength and power, yet Aatrox doesn't have anything like this in his kit. Was he originally designed with a team buff, and the lore wasn't changed when that spell was scrapped? ]

"While it may have been a thematic tie in for the character to add something like a lifesteal aura to Aatrox at some point during combat, we found that putting that kind of power that is hard to notice would result in us nerfing the noticeable parts of the character which would overall make him feel less visceral and more cerebral. In other words we wanted to emphasize him jumping in and slicing down opponents and not more supportive attributes such as a lifesteal aura.

We also feel that while it may not be in the mechanics themselves, Aatrox's playstyle should give that feeling to players on his team and create that experience based off his actions." - Classick

[ I can't help but feel you guys are trying to revive Melee AD Carries with Aatrox. Is this what you were going for, or were you just trying to design a unique champion? ]

"While Aatrox certainly skirts the line of being a melee carry, he plays more of a fighter role while being auto attack focused. Meaning he brings more more utility to a fight and is slightly tankier, but most of his damage is primarily coming from auto attacking. As an example I would say his play style is similar to someone like Irelia but scales much harder with damage items while Irelia's damage scales by building attack speed for Hiten Style." - Classick

[ How do you think Aatrox will be played in the current meta? ]

"I think it really depends on the team composition Aatrox is in, if he has to be the tank for his team then tanky/attack speed is mostly likely what he'll build. In the case that he has a team composition that allows him to build a lot more squishy (tank such as amumu in jungle, morgana or kayle mid) he can build similarly to a more traditional melee ADC." - Classick

[ Do you feel like Aatrox's design mesges with the balance team's stated goal of making top lane less snowbally?]

"There's a couple things that were done for Aatrox to help make him less snowbally, one thing we did with the ultimate is make it scale based on how many targets are hit. This allows Aatrox to scale harder in teamfights and prevents him from being nearly as powerful in 1v1 scenarios. His E ability is also great at letting him get some CS in lane when he's being bullied." - Classick

[We just got finished listening to the hazards of infinite sustain and the damage it does to the game. My question is, why is this champion seemingly centered around mechanics we were previously told are detrimental to the game?]

"The idea with Aatrox was to make him feel dependent on this sustain to help balance out his health costs. A lot of his gameplay revolves around controlling your current health with Blood Price and Blood Thirst. If you're not using Blood Price you won't output enough damage, so you have to find a balance between your health costs and your sustain.

So while he does have some mechanics that have proved toxic in the past, we think that with his health cost gameplay can help remedy that and make his sustain a trade off instead of just a straight bonus." - Classick

What do you guys think of all these recent AMA's Riot has been hosting? Do you enjoy lookingat what goes into new champions?

5/21 PBE Update: Sona and Sejuani Balance Changes

2013-05-21T13:30:00.003-07:00

A small PBE patch has been deployed! It's fairly empty save for some balance changes for Sona and Sejuani.

( Note: PBE changes are tentative and iterative! What you see below is subject to change and may not fully reflect the finished or intended changes. )

Ghost Bride Morgana and Woad King Darius available for testing.
Ghost Bride Morgana and Woad King Darius are now available for testing. They are both priced at 975, which means, in accordance with Riot's PBE pricing changes, they should be that price once they hit live servers.

Balance Changes
( Note: These are taken from the game's tooltips. Will confirm once server is up )

Sejuani

Flail of the Northern Winds ( W ) bonus HP ratio reduced to 12% from 16%.

Sona

Base HP increased to 380 from 340.
Base Armor increased to 8 from 6.
Aria of Perseverance ( W ) armor and MR bonus changed to 6/7/8/9/10 from 3/6/9/12/15
Aria of Perseverance ( W ) activation now grants 6/7/8/9/10 bonus armor and magic resist for 3 seconds, down from 8/11/14/17/20. ( Editor's note: It still heals., I don't know why there is confusion here. )

Miss out on some of the fun this PBE patch cycle? Check out the earlier iterations!

Upcoming Dom/TTL AP itemization overhaul and Incoming PBE Lissandra Buffs

2013-05-21T04:26:00.003-07:00

Good morning Summoners! How about we kick off the day with a brief red post collection?

Continue reading for posts discussing an upcoming AP itemization overhaul for TTL and Dom, as well as Meddler mentioning a few Lissandra buffs that should be hittin' the PBE soon.

Dominion and Twisted Treeline AP itemization overhaul coming.

Responding to complaints about Wooglet's, a Dom/TTL exclusive item, Super Nomegeta mentioned that there will soon be a "large-scale AP itemization overhaul" for these two modes!

"Wooglet's is kind of a necessary evil for mages on Dominion and Twisted Treeline right now. That doesn't mean it's fine as-is though. There's going to be a large-scale AP itemization overhaul soon that focuses a bit more on utility over raw damage, and Wooglet's will likely be touched along the way."

He continued:

"I'll post more details are things materialize, but...- Wooglet's WILL build out of Seeker's Armguard (but end stats and cost may be different). It won't be the only item that builds out of Seeker's.
- Liandry's is coming. Blackfire Torch will be repurposed.
- New item or two.

Current Dominion AP itemization is centered around BFT and Hextech for the most part, so the goal is to break those up and give more options at similar price points."

Why only Lissandra nerfs on the PBE?
In relation to the additional Lissandra nerfs we saw on the PBE last night, Meddler commented that it won't be all nerfs - a few buffs are being put into testing soon!

"There are some more changes going through, most likely tomorrow, that are the intended buffs to accomplish the additional nerfs that went in today. The main one's that the ult's self cast duration is being increased (we'll be testing 2.5s as per Zhonya's). Glacial Path will also have its CD started when the spell is initially cast, not when reactivated/end of missile flight, which effectively shaves around 1-1.5s off the CD of that under most circumstances.

As usual anything on the PBE is subject to change though so please bear in mind nothing (nerf or buff) is set in stone yet."

[ Updated ] 5/20 PBE Update: Aatrox, Justicar Aatrox, Woad King Darius, and more.

2013-05-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

Update #3: Second patch has hit. A few changes have been reverted and Aatrox is now available for testing. Also updated Aatrox's ratios and video previews!

The PBE has been updated and this time there is ACTUALLY a game patch! It's looking like it's mostly the same changes we saw last update. This means we can get our first look at Aatrox and the new skins, even if they aren't yet available for testing.

Continue reading for previews of Aatrox, Justicar Aatrox, Woad King Darius, Ghost Bride Morgana, and several other miscellaneous changes in this PBE patch!

( Note: PBE content is tentative and iterative! This means everything you see below is subject to change. )

Aatrox

Aatrox

*EDIT*: Looks like the second patch rolled back most of these changes.

Aatrox's abilities were tweaked and changed a bit from what we saw on 5/17. His damages were lowered a hair and his W now amplifies either Q or E based on what stance you are in. Here is his up to date kit with the changes bolded:

Blood Well ( Passive )

Upon taking fatal damage, Aatrox extracts the current blood in the well and recovers it as Health over 1.5 seconds. When using an ability that costs Health, Aatrox stores 70% of the self-inflicted damage into the Blood Well.The Blood Well has a base of 35% of the max pool, 225 second Cooldown, and decays 3% of the well a second while out of combat.

Dark Flight ( Q )

Aatrox takes flight and slams down at a targeted location, dealing ~~60/95/130/165/200 lowered from~~ 70/115/160/205/250 (+0.7 AD) physical damage to all nearby enemies and knocking up targets at the center of impact for 1/1/1/1/1 second.

Cost: 10 % of Current Health // Range: 650 // Cooldown: 16/15/14/13/12

Blood Thirst / Blood Price ( W )

Activate to switch between Blood Thirst and Blood Price.

Blood Thirst:~~Reduces the cost of Dark Flight and Blades of Torment by 50%~~ Every third attack, Aatrox restores 20/25/30/35/40 (+ ratio missing ) Health, increased by 200/200/200/200/200% when below half Health.

Blood Price:~~Increases the damage of Dark Flight and Blades of Torment by 25%~~. Every third attack, Aatrox deals 60/95/130/165/200 (+ ratio missing ) bonus physical damage and loses Health.

Cost: 0 // Cooldown: 0.5

Blades of Torment ( E )

Aatrox unleashes and sends forward the power of his blade, dealing ~~65/100/135/170/205 lowered from~~ 75/120/165/210/255 (+ .6 AP ) Magic Damage to all enemies hit and slowing them by 40/40/40/40/40% for 1.75/2/2.25/2.5/2.75 seconds.

Cost: 5% of Current Health // Range: 900 // Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8

Massacre ( R )

On activation Aatrox draws in the blood of his foes, dealing magic damage to all enemy champions around him equal to 15/15/15% + 0.01% of their current Health.

For the next 12/12/12 seconds, Aatrox's Maximum Health increases by 100/175/250 + 50/65/80 per champion hit, Attack Speed increases by 25/35/45% + 10/10/10% per champion hit, and he gains 175 Attack Range.

Cost: 0 // Cooldown: 120/100/80

Check out ~2:41 for him referencing to Tryndamere as his "greatest creation".

Justicar Aatrox

New Skins

NOTE: The two new skins are currently disabled for testing. No word yet on when they will be enabled.

Woad King Darius ( formerly Norse King )

Ghost Bride Morgana

Balance Changes:
Seem to mostly be the same as reverted 5/17 PBE Update. They are lengthy so I won't copy and paste them here. The new changes are below.

Be sure to read the 3.08 PBE Changes Context thread for details on those changes, as well as all the follow up commentary and discussion.

New Changes

( Changes relative to how things are on live )

Annie

Tibber's HP increased to 1200/2100/3000 from 1200/1600/2000
Tibber's MR increased to 30/50/70 from 25/45/65

Ashe

Passive has been changed as described here. There is a fancy particle as it charges now.

Evelynn

Agony's Embrace ( R ) cooldown lowered to 120/105/90 from 150/120/90.

Items

Hunter's Machete's and Spirit Stone's passive changed to Maim: Basic attacks deal 10 bonus MAGIC damage to monsters on hit instead of Rend which dealt 10 true damage per hit.
Spirit of the Ancient Golem's, Spirit of the Spectral Wraith, and Spirit of the Elder Lizard's Unique passive Butcher now increases damage dealt to monsters by 30% up from 25%

Changes to Changes

( Changes relative to things previously changed this PBE cycle )

Aatrox

Kit has been updated above. Scroll back up for more info. TL;DR changes from 5/17 patch: Q damage went down, W now effects other abilities based on which stance you are in, E damage down

Akali

Twllight Shroud ( W ) changes reverted back to what they are on live.

Kha'Zix

Void Assault ( R ) reverted back to taking less damage while stealthed and being able to be cast again 3 times within 10 seconds - same as it is on live.

Lissandra

Ring of Frost ( W ) damage lowered to 60/95/130/165/200 from 65/100/135/170/205.
Ring of Frost ( W ) mana costs increased to 70 at all ranks from 50 at all ranks.
Frozen Tomb ( R ) damage reduced from 150/275/400 to 150/250/350.

Shyvana

Flame Breath ( E ) damage increased to 80/125/170/215/260 from 80/110/140/170/200.
Dragon's Descent ( R ) passive now grants 10/15/20 fury per basic attack, up from 2/3/4.

Shyvana's new passive, it now grants her 5 bonus armor and mr, increasing by 1 per level. The previous passive effects have been distributed to the other skills.

Items

Madred's Razror's Unique passive damage lowered to 60 from 70.
Wriggle's Lantern's Passive now deals 100 bonus magic damage down from 110 bonus magic damage.

Misc Changes
New Replay button icon

New Custom game map previews:

Redditor Pabro also discovered a not yet implemented change for the character HP bars. Here it is file swapped over the current bar.

Miss out on some of the fun this PBE patch cycle? Check out the earlier iterations!

5/17 PBE Update: Tons of changes that ended up being rolled back.

Riot's Response to recent EUW Problems + Emergency Downtime

2013-05-20T19:23:00.004-07:00

It's been a shaky couple of days over on the EUW servers. Lots of server unavailable, discounts, and all sorts of other nasty stuff. Riot hasn't been ignoring the problem though!

Here is Riot tmx with details on what's been happening over the past few days:

"Hey all,

We were hoping to give you a rundown of the problems over the weekend today, but the root cause has been very difficult to identify. We have got a team going through every aspect of EUW infrastructure and they’ve been working constantly on the issue.

The main issue is that it strikes seemingly from nowhere in a 5-30 second flash, causes a chain reaction of problems and then resolves itself. However it leaves behind a login queue and other lingering issues which then also take time to resolve themselves giving the impression that this is of a much larger scale. We have a lot of monitoring systems in place to catch this transient state, and just so you guys know we have not stopped searching between the problems.

We’ve currently narrowed this down to one aspect of the infrastructure and are working on that right now. To answer one question that has come up quite a lot, this is not caused by the amount of players, external attack or platform limitations; that would be very easy to nail.

We’ll keep you in the loop as more information comes to light, particularly when we believe we’ve found the heart of the problem. We know it sucks and we’re working flat out to find the source and eliminate it."

Immediately following this, an emergency network maintenance, for EUW, was announced.

Here is the Riot NOC post:

"Summoners,

We are planning to do an emergency network maintenance to address the recent issues, this will require downtime. We will be starting in a few hours but not sure on the exact time. We will message out prior to beginning the maintenance."

Free Champion Rotation Season 3 Week 16

2013-05-20T17:43:00.001-07:00

This week's, Season 3 Week 16, free to play champion rotation includes Evelynn, Malphite, Mordekaiser, Rumble, Soraka, Syndra, Talon, Urgot, Varus, and Vi. These champions will be available to play starting tomorrow!

Continue reading for a price list for the free rotation champions just in case you have so much fun you want to pick one up!

Free Rotation Champion Prices:

Evelynn - 1350 IP or 585 RP.
Malphite - 1350 IP or 585 RP.
Mordekaiser - 3150 IP or 790 RP.
Rumble - 4800 IP or 880 RP
Soraka - 450 IP or 260 RP
Syndra - 6300 IP or 975 RP.
Talon - 6300 IP or 975 RP.
Urgot - 3150 IP or 790 IP.
Varus - 6300 IP or 975 RP
Vi - 6300 IP or 975 RP.

We also have a Great Atlas entry for Talon!

Explore the 2013 League of Legends All-Star Event

2013-05-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

Are you guys ready for this weekend's All-star games? If not pumped with Riot's new promo video.

Continue reading for more details on the event, team rosters, and more information straight from Riot's eSports team!

Here is Magus with the details:

"The 2013 League of Legends All-Star Event begins this week at the spectacular Shanghai Grand Stage in China.

Featuring 25 of the best players from around the globe, a tournament with World Championship implications and an exclusive skills competition, the All-Star Event promises three days of non-stop action from May 24 to 26.

Meet the players and the teams
NA LCS:

Top: Dyrus (TSM Snapdragon)
Mid: Scarra (Dignitas)
ADC: Doublelift (Counter Logic Gaming)
Support: Xpecial (TSM Snapdragon)
Jungle: Saintvicious (Curse)

EU LCS:

Top: sOAZ (Fnatic)
Mid: Alex Ich (Gambit BenQ)
ADC: Yellowpete (EG Raidcall)
Support: EDward (Gambit BenQ)
Jungle: Diamond (Gambit BenQ)

OGN Champions (Korea):

Top: Shy (CJ Entus Frost)
Mid: Ambition (CJ Entus Blaze)
ADC: PraY (NaJin Sword)
Support: MadLife (CJ Entus Frost)
Jungle: inSec (KT Rolster B)

Tencent LoL Pro League (China):

Top: PDD (Invictus Gaming)
Mid: Misaya (Team WE)
ADC: WeiXiao (Team WE)
Support: XiaoXiao (Invictus Gaming)
Jungle: Troll (Team WE)

Garena Premier League (South-East Asia):

Top: Stanley (Azubu Taipei Assassins)
Mid: Toyz (Azubu Taipei Assassins)
ADC: Chawy (Singapore Sentinels)
Support: MiSTakE (Azubu Taipei Snipers)
Jungle: HarLeLuYar (Singapore Sentinels)

All-Star Tournament
The five regional teams face off in a three-stage elimination battle. South-East Asia earned a bye into the second round with their region's victory in the Season 2 World Championship.
Round one features two matches:

Match 1: North America vs. China
Match 2: Europe vs. Korea

The winner of Match 1 will meet South-East Asia in the second round, while the losing teams in the first round fight to face the winner of Match 2.

All-Star Skills Competition
League of Legends is a team game played by individuals. For the first time, the All-Star Event features a showdown between players of the game's five primary roles. With a custom map and victory conditions for both 1v1 and 2v2 duels, the All-Star Skills Competition ratchets up the tension and delivers the drama.

Junglers:

Saintvicious
Diamond
inSec
Troll
HarLeLuYar

Mid Laners:

Scarra
Alex Ich
Ambition
Misaya
Toyz

Top Laners:

Shy
Dyrus
sOAZ
PDD
Stanley

AD Carry and Supports:

Doublelift and Xpecial
Yellowpete and EDward
PraY and MadLife
WeiXiao and XiaoXiao
Chawy and MiSTakE

All-Star Event
Winning the All-Star Tournament earns the victorious region an additional spot at the season-ending World Championship, increasing their odds to take home grand prize money and the Summoner's Cup. The top four teams at the All-Star Tournament claim a bye and seeding into the elimination rounds at the World Championship; the last place region loses that bye and teams reaching the World Championship from that region will slug it out in the group stages.

Catch all of the high-stakes action from Shanghai starting Friday, May 24. Head here for more about the All-Star Event from the home of League of Legends esports, www.lolesports.com. "

New Champion and Skin Sale 5/21 - 5/24

2013-05-20T07:25:00.001-07:00

A new champion and skin sale starts tomorrow! Between May 21st and May 24th, you'll be able to pick up Cassiopeia for 440 RP, Gragas for 395 RP, Vladimir for 440 RP, Dryad Soraka for 260 RP, Bilgerat Rumble for 260 RP, and Musketeer Twisted Fate for 375 RP.

Continue reading for video previews of this sale's discounted skins!

Dryad Soraka

260 RP

Bilgerat Rumble

260 RP

Musketeer Twisted Fate

375 RP

PS: I know I never posted them but it seems like Riot might be done with the story-based / flavorful descriptions of the skins. This is the second week without them.

Panser's S@20 Weekly Recap: Week of May 12th

2013-05-19T21:33:00.001-07:00

Here is Panser's news recap for the week of May 12th! Spooky ghost skins, Sunbathing Leona, and pick vs call order, oh my!

Articles mentioned:

Ionia 2013 Qualifiers now open!

2013-05-19T04:32:00.000-07:00

Listen... The whistling winds comming from the seas...

Winds embracing tales of greatness and prowess
Sail into adventure summoner, follow the wind

Face your fears in battle, and Battle those fears without faces

And embrace the Ionian winds

Listen... The whistling winds coming from the seas

Sail into glory, pursue that dream

Ionia awaits you summoner...

This is the time to overcome your fears, to accept the challenge, to take a step further into adventure. This is more than just a tourney, more than a mere event, some mortals fail to get what this is really about, they can only see the prizes at the end of the road (Cough* And that awesome Triumphant Ryze skin courtesy of Riot). But this is not about that dead end, is not about a win, or a loss.

Is about looking into fear's faceless smile, and feel that rush of courage overwhelming your inner demons...

The idea of Ionia 2013 came the desire to deliver not a tourney, not just a bunch of RP, not just some shoutouts. But an experience, a whole new experience to feel and embrace, a moment you may remember in the future as something just, epic, a memory you can save in your precious vault of invaluable moments. We wanted to aesthetically deliver an experience, an ambiance, that would make you feel like you're sailing into a big adventure, a once in a lifetime adventure, where you could demonstrate what you and your fearsome team is made of.

That's the reason we chose Ionia to represent this moment. A distant and mysterious island, far away in the great Guardian's Sea. Full of tales no man can bare, and some other tales, yet to be written. We want to give you the chance to write your own tale, to sail into adventure and change the course of your destiny to where greatness, honor, and prowess lies. To engage in a massive battle, not for a 1st place, but for glory.

Write your own tale summoner, and let the Ionian winds embrace it.

Beep Boop Summoners! For more information about the qualifiers be sure to check the Ionia'13 Information page! or email us at IonianCircuit@surrenderat20.net

Xypherous talks Hybrid itemization and more.

2013-05-19T04:31:00.002-07:00

Stemming from all the discussion surrounding the recent, controversial PBE changes, Xypherous has ignited a giant conversation about hybrid itemization.

Continue reading for a recap of this itemization discussion, as well as a few quips about the balance of various champions and items.

Hybrid Itemization Discussion
In the Patch 3.08 context thread, a thread explaining the slew of recent PBE changes, Xypherous found himself knee deep in a heated discussion about hybrid items - that is, items that benefit both AP and AD ratios and scaling at the same time.

Here is what he kicked off the conversation with after sharing his opinion that strictly hybrid items are bad for the game.

"Sure. I don't claim that hybrid builds are bad though - I claim that focused Hybrid items are bad for the game because they lock the character in question to only using hybrid items when they are balanced *or* the character is overpowered when they aren't.

If you think about the breadth of itemization that a champion has - an item that appeals to hybrids would have to offermore statistics than one standalone AP or AD item. This means that the item in question is far more efficient for that character than any other item because it provides mixed statistics that no other character can take full advantage of.

Now think about what happens if this is a core item for the character build in question: Either he needs the increased statistics from the hybrid item (which means his AD / AP ratios are artificially low because this item exists) - but then almost every standalone AP or AD item now sucks, or more likely, the character is overpowered because he has decent ratios for AP and AD - but now there's an item that gives him a wealth of both and he now simply has more raw damage or scaling than any other character.

To put it in concrete terms: think about what Gunblade did to Akali's balance and ratios - I would rather a world in which Gunblade never existed so that Akali could simply have higher AP and AD ratios - and then she could then use more items that suited her from the normal pool of AP and AD items. However, because Gunblade exists, everything about Akali's scaling is toned down around the fact that there's this keystone item giving her 50% more statistics and thus everything that scales about her had to be toned down or she would simply be massively overpowered.

One could argue that Gunblade is the overpowered item in this case - however, break that down. If Gunblade wasn't overpowered in terms of statistics for hybrid builders - why bother getting it when you could get an AP item *and* an AD item? By necessity, in order for an item to be appealing to hybrid characters - it has to offer a surplus of both statistics.

Note that this says nothing about hybrid builds - A hybrid build consisting of getting a Bloodthirster and then a Rylai's scepter is interesting and compelling. However, focused hybrid items destroy a lot of the power of a hybrid character's dual scaling - it takes away from the character being able to build whatever they want in terms of AP or AD - thus losing the benefit of a lot of good unique passives and actives."

Of course these comments didn't sit to well with players attached. He responded to this and elaborating, saying:

"Convincing people that the best thing for their hybrid characters is to have no hybrid items at all is difficult at best.

The other aspect of this is that the hybrid characters we have don't actually take advantage of hybrid scaling - they need a much heavier focus on basic attacks if they were to dip into the advantages of AD.

You have a handful of characters who hybrid scale - but don't actually benefit from a hybrid playstyle of attacks and spells - hence the drive for sheer raw statistical power. They don't actually benefit from building any of the AD items - nor does their playstyle synergize with some of the more focused AP items like Zhonya's and the like. If you take a look at the line that connects Kayle, Akali and Jax, the common thread is that they almost all rely on going nuclear at some point through sheer statistical might."

Xypherous continued, explaining why there is a difference between building hybrids vs "normal" champions.

"It's not a fundamental difference in the problem. It's a difference in expectation.

When you pick a ranged carry - you expect to do ranged carry like things. Kill dudes with your ranged attack - harass with spells - train on people. You have a specific set of needs and you are trying to accomplish them.

Similarly, when you pick a mage - you want to kill people with abilities. You could care less for your basic attack. You hit buttons - they die in a wildfire.

However, what do you expect out of a hybrid character? The flexibility to do both - or run a range from whatever you want it to be. Focused hybrid items kill that - because they demand that you build them. You don't get to choose what range you are from 'burst caster' to 'sustained drain-tanker' - you only get to build the hybrid items because your ratios have been tuned around these inflated items to exist.

It goes against the base expectation of flexibility or 'jack of all trades' nature that the hybrid scaling seems to promise you in the first place."

Returning back to the item discussion, he responded to summoner concerns that perhaps the problem with the items is because of BAD hybrid design.

"True but items don't help bad or good hybrid design. My argument mostly rests on the fact that hybrid items hurt a well-designed hybrid rather than help it by restricting the pool of items that the character could build to have a balance of both (if that's even a goal of 'good' hybrid design.)"

As for specific hybrid items, Xypherous chatted about both Gunblade and Nashor's tooth.

First up is his thoughts on Gunblade and it's impact on itemization.

"I can easily point to Gunblade limiting hybrid champion build options because whenever Gunblade has been good at had to be balanced around, we've continuously nerfed the AP ratios of the characters who could use it.

If I removed those 3 hybrid options from the game and simply increased the ratios of hybrid champions, now instead of those 3 items being their only options they now have access to every other AD or AP item in the game. It's the fact that balancing around hybrid items simultaneously forces them into those items and also takes away existing items that is so criminal here."

As for Nashor's Tooth, he had this to say:

"Nashor's tooth allows the potential for a large group of existing champions to branch out into a subtype (autoattacking) and synergizes with champions that work well with it.

However, core hybrid itemization, when balanced, does not allow either AD or AP to branch out in such a fashion. A balanced gunblade does not help any AD or AP character aspire to any aspect of their character.

As for dual penetration %, think about how much % penetration it would take to rival Last Whisper or Void Staff. You are dealing split-damage already. Thus, any advantage of % penetration is cut in half. This is mitigated somewhat by lopsided resistances of the opponent - but then it's hard to argue that Last Whisper or Void Staff wouldn't simply be better in that regard then."

When asked what exactly he considers a hybrid champion, or rather a good example of a hybrid champion, he responded:

"If you want the bluntest expression of a hybrid character - recall Kayle's old passive which I will always miss even though it made her explode and hyperscale.

You *could* not be anything but a hybrid character with that passive. Your attack damage was ability power and vice-versa. Every item improved every facet of your character, whether you wanted it to or not.

It's blunt, crude and possibly the purest expression of what it means to be hybrid to me.

As for playstyle changes - it depends on the passives and statistics which you favored. A hybrid playstyle looks remarkably similar to every hybrid character - except for the player playing him who is familiar with exactly how he wants to build or play."

In relation to all the earlier hybrid , someone brought up Akali. Xypherous shared his thoughts on her as a hybrid, saying:

"I agree with you on that - Akali as a hybrid character, is really odd because she really doesn't want to autoattack much. Nothing gives her a chance or an opportunity to - which is why I suspect the AP build is the default - and that any hybrid items created simply augment the AP build, if they're good.

I'm not sure what you could do to change that - or if making Akali more AA focused would be a good change now. It certainly doesn't fix her current problems if you made AD stronger on her."

Other Stuff
His posting spree wasn't all fun and hybrid items though! Xypherous also took a bit of time to talk about various other items and even a feew champions.

As far as non hybrid items go, Xypherous responded to questions about the state of post-nerf Warmog's Armor ( 1 ) and Locket of the Iron Solari ( 2 ) :

"1. It's regarded as weak - but more likely in a decent spot.

2. Locket doesn't built out of an Emblem of Valor because it was re-designed as a sister item to Aegis of the Legion. In effect, because Locket and Aegis function so well together - we didn't initially want to introduce anything that caused the pairing to clash.

As for why Aegis builds out of Emblem of Valor now - it was some weird principle that the keystone aura item should be an aura item at all points, including lane - which is ironic given that Aegis is frequently built by the Jungler."

Xypherous also responded to questions about all of the recent nerfs for Spirit of the Lizard Elder, saying:

"This was Statikk - but in general, he felt that the Lizard item was crowding out other AD itemization and much more powerful than intended - to the point where it didn't really feel like a cool off-build from a Jungle item - and more like just a really good item that didn't have a place for Junglers anymore."

He also chatted a bit about the current state of Atma's Impaler, saying:

"Quite frankly, it'd be pretty easy to make Atma's Impaler good (make it slot-efficient, rather than gold-efficient, given how late of an item buy it is) - but we're not altogether convinced that making Atma's Impaler good would make the game better - so we've been holding off on it."

Moving on to champions...

In regards to Renekton's balance, Xypherous commented:

"Renekton right now serves as the 'You must be this tall to enter top-lane' champion. While he's kind of obnoxious at this role, he's not the root cause of it.

He's probably slightly too strong right now and probably needs his 'Q' nerfed a little. Otherwise, he's kind of the quintessential bruiser man - one of the few we find annoying - but not egregiously so."

When asked what's up with the tentative Hecarim PBE changes ( TL;DR Removing his unit collision ), Xypherous shared what he knew:

"I don't really have any context here at the moment - sorry.

The reason why this context post isn't being posted by me is because the vast majority of the changes are being handled by other people. The few changes I've made on this patch are mostly starting item oriented and the removal of Malady.

As far as I know, I think the assessment is that Hecarim doesn't need it and it's greatly increasing his dive strength and escape power. I believe that while 'E' is up, he will still ignore unit collisions however. I believe the contention here is that Hecarim is still really strong and further numerical balance without removing this strength would start to get pretty dire, in terms of nerfing his end-game survivability and damage.

Ignore Unit Collision is a terrifying fighter statistic - as I've said before when this was brought up for boots. :x"

As far as plans for Pantheon go, Xypherous commented:

"If people find Pantheon weak - we'll change him. There's a ton of ideas for Pantheon - but right now, it's not altogether clear that people dislike Pantheon or find him weak - so there's little real reason to change it. He's pretty low priority.

I'd like to take a look at him - but any changes would be more disruptive than beneficial at this point if people like who he is now."

Xypherous also briefly discussed the tentative Nautilus PBE nerf ( W's damage lowered), saying:

"Sure - we took away the thing that held Nautilus back, his early clear - and now his actual overpowered elements are coming into the forefront.

This is one of those cases where a 50% win rate didn't necessarily mean balanced. Something was holding him back - something unreasonable and out of the player's control (early clear) and we compensated it with extreme damage. Well, that's all fine and good, except it means roughly half your games are stomps and half your games, you are terrible. Hence the retuning - removing early weakness - but also removing this unnecessary damage."

[Updated] IronStylus talks Sunbathing Leona and cancelled Leona skins

2013-05-18T19:07:00.003-07:00

Updated: Added a few more posts. Enjoy.

Remember that Sunbathing Leona concept from PAX East? Well, IronStylus is over on the forums chatting about it, sharing what's currently going on with it, and talking about a few cancelled Leona skins we haven't heard anything about before.

( Note: This is the preview Sunbathing / Beach Bash Leona concept from PAX East, not some sort of new finalized version. )

Continue reading for several posts discussing Sunbathing / Beach Bash Leona, some now cancelled skin ideas for Leona, and more!

IronStylus got the Leona skin ball rolling by with this post:

"So, here's a thing. Yes, Sunbathing/beach bash Leona will most likely be a reality barring some major issue or slotting problem. That does sometimes happen. I never want to set certainty that could be subject to change.

It's past the concept phase, having been fully fleshed out, and will move onto modeling. I reconcepted her after PAX for better readability and some other more thought-out touches. She'll probably move onto 3D very soon, then through the animation and particle pipeline. Depending on priority, this could be a few months, we'll see.

One of the reasons it's been a while since she's had a skin is because we actually brought a couple skins of hers up to the modeling phase, and plugged them into the game, but then realized they either weren't cutting the quality/theme bar, or the skin had to be bumped because of saturation of similar themes. These skins might some day come to release, but I'm not certain of that at all.

I don't want to really delve into what those skins were because at least one wasn't terribly strong in differentiation from her other skins. It might even only really equate to a model swap. I made a call to kill the skin and possibly focus on a legendary skin for her down the line that would be a much stronger theme than what I had produced. You actually have seen the beginning of that skin in one of the videos that was released about champion production. A picture had been circulated of an armored figure from the bust up that was very early on in iteration. That was a potential Leona skin, but again, in the end it wasnt very strong.

This can happen. We actually had a mecha-cho'gath finished and animated but it was really lame. We scrapped it and decided to make him a Battlecast skin which was a MUCH stronger theme. While sometimes skins can be cool, and we feel they're neat ideas, until we get it plugged into the game we don't really know if the skin will work.

Concept art can't solve all the problems up front. Concept, meaning "idea", is just that. Until our 3D brows get that thing walking round, only then can we know that it works 100%. So while it can be unfortunate that we have to kill content that we know some players will want, we want to make sure we're delivering the right thing at the right time, and these particular unreleased skins weren't hitting the bar. My hope is that we can revisit them and make them work! Who knows!"

In relation to the shield still containing Teemo, IronStylus had some bad news...

"I de-Teemo'd the board and put something more... feathery.. on it."

This insight into this skin's process, and the mentioned cancelled skins, stirred up quite the conversation. In response to all the enjoyment, IronStylus shared his feelings on why we, as players, often aren't clued in more often.

"Yeah, I should really try to shed some light onto the process.

There's ONE BIG danger in it though. We don't want to promise something then not deliver. It's very dangerous to give so much insight or transparency into the process where we're showing everything we're doing and 1) possibly ruin surprise and interest, 2) raise expectations we can't deliver on, and 3) show or talk too much about what we create and then do throw away, because some players will indeed "want what they can't have" simply because the thing does exist in some form, even though we deem it as subpar.

It's often hard to appraise value on a skin, and we simply don't want to half ass something. And if we do make something that we feel didn't hit the mark, it sucks to have to be like, "Guys, we know you might want this thing, but trust us, it wasn't the best execution on our part, sorry!" That's the toughest part. Basically keeping something form players which we know isn't as valuable as its perceived to be externally minus the development context.

It comes down to us saying "trust us, this thing sucks", but that's hard to validate to players at times."

He then dove into a discussion about one of the cancelled skins in particular:

"Here, this is something I think I can talk about since I feel the dust has settled around it a little.

One of the cancelled Leona skins was Leona in the ancient armor of the Solar seen in the Diana teaser. We thought of an angle that was Leona discovering the relic armor which was akin to Diana's relic armor. We found an interesting lore loophole that allowed for this because its said in her bio that only the sword and shield were passed down generationally from one avatar to another. It was an interesting way to further the story, and I've very much wanted to explore the idea of canon lore skins. Traditionally they haven't been popular but I thought there was an opportunity there.

Unfortunately, we got it in game and it very much looked like a cross between her base and the Iron Solari skin. We decided that wasn't enough of a strong theme to warrant a skin. It just wasn't really special enough.

It was discussed that maybe a way to accomplish this same idea was to eventually develop Legendary skin that felt very substantial. Leona x10 in a way. We could then anchor it to her story but still make it amazing just on the surface if a player didn't care about the story context. So, that's what we opted to do. Currently there's no skin in development for that, but its something I want to explore later as a way to help continue the story."

Finally, he commented on a few community skin ideas, such as DJ Sona and K-Pop Ahri:

"I'm very pro-DJ Sona, but I'll say that I'm not pro "Girls Generation" or K-Pop Ahri as I've seen it presented so far. Here's the reason.. If GG Ahri is indeed something globally appealing, then I'm all for it. When I first saw the posts about it I was like.. "Wait, she's an airline pilot?" I had to dig a little deeper and I'm not really cool with players having to do that just to get the base context of the skin. It's gotta stand on its own.

However, if it's something we deem as really appealing, or say that it's realy locally appealing to the South East Asian region, and it would provide a ton of value, love, and simultaneously be something worthwhile enough for the rest of the regions to appreciate on face value, then I'm again all for that.

It's the same reason I'm not for sport specific skins, North American-centric trope skins, "meme" skins, and other content that really only appeals to a niche. If our priority however achieves a) an awesome skin at face value, and then b) hits those little niche notes, again, all for it.

La Llorona Morgana, Gladiator Draven, and Special Forces Gangplank are really good examples of skins that are based on cool themes from their respective inspirational regional sources but they are, on a very surface level, just really kickass skins."

EDIT: More posts!

IronStylus continued to talk about transparency in the skin/creation process, saying:

"As I've said, that's the tricky thing about skins and content creation in general. Omen is a fantastic case. Tons of people wanted Omen to happen once we showed that he was once a possibility. However, since I was the artist working on him, I can tell you first hand what a disaster it was. It was not up to quality, it was extremely confusing, and it was a product which was not a worthwhile endeavor. Nonetheless, once people know about him, they asked for him regardless of the context, assumed, and theorycrafted.

I'm comfortable talking about some scrapped content because I can give the context and assurance that we can produce better.

Again, with this particular skin, even though some people might want it, it's most likely going to not be as widely appealing as we'd like, and we have to consider the cost/benefit situation."

Returning to the topic of Leona skins, he mentions:

"She has plenty of opportunities for good skins that are more serious in nature. I mean, it's actually pretty difficult to do more fun or silly things with characters like her. I want to take the opportunity while this idea is fresh."

A summoner then tossed out the request that Riot work to do something like a pair of lore related, high quality skins for Diana and Leona and release them as a bundle. Ironstylus responded favorably but also explained the reality behind something like this.

"Honestly, I'd love to do this. I'd love to make a pillar of the story line and express it with a content bundle like this. Not sure when this would be realistic, but anything is possible if we feel it's a worthy enough endeavor.

Again, it all comes back to the need for such skins to be on the surface extremely compelling. The story aspect would be pivotal, but the real meat is in how appealing things are to the majority of the players who don't engage in the story side of things.

I'm pretty sure it can be done, it's a matter of when the best time to do it is and how we decide to allocate the resources necessary."

Lastly, he shared his thoughts on a Mount Targon themed event, the home of his two loves Diana and Leona.

"I think a Mount Targon event would be super fun. I can think of some neat ideas. We need the content, story, and reason to support it however. It has to accomodate those that find value in story, but also widely appeal to those who are more surface oriented and don't delve too deep into the IP. It has to be significant to both, I think it can be, but time will tell."

Next Ultimate hopefully in June, Lifetime RP Icons still in the works

2013-05-18T06:05:00.002-07:00

Yesterday, Hippalus was spotted on reddit taking the time to respond to a few summoner questions, particularly questions about what happened with the promised summoner icons rewarded based on how much total RP you've spent as well as what happened to the ultimate skin that we were supposed to see within a month.

Here's what he had to say:

"OP is correct - we have not come through with the summoner icon rewards for lifetime RP purchases yet. There have been a few different reasons for the delay, but the good news is that when they do finally come, they should be much cooler than I originally envisioned.

And while I'm fessing up to missing target dates I've put out there, I should mention that the next ultimate skin will not make it in May. Hopefully June!"

Thanks to Riscion for pointing this one out to me! If you ever stumble across news we may have missed, feel free to toss it over to moobeat@surrenderat20.net.

More about 5/17 PBE Changes: Annie, Vi, and Lissandra

2013-05-17T22:13:00.001-07:00

If you missed it earlier, the PBE received ( and then had it rolled back ) a ton of changes earlier today. A lot of them have sparked quite a bit of controversy and many players have rushed to the forums with questions about them. Some of these questions and answers have already been edited in to the 5/17 PBE post, but than making that thread even messier than it already is, I've elected to split things into another post.

Continue reading for several posts clearing up and giving context to the recent/planned PBE changes for Annie, Lissandra, and Vi.

For reference, please check out the 5/17 PBE post as a reference for the changes that most of these posts are talking about. If you do not wish to do this, I've also included a short TL;DR version of the changes being discussed.

Lissandra

( For reference, the TL;DR version of the Lissandra changes is Ring of Frost: Cooldown reduced + Damage reduced and Frozen Tomb : Slow increased per level and damage reduced at later levels. )

First up is Meddler is discussing the slated changes for Lissandra.

Meddler

"Our goal with the Lissandra changes currently in testing was to shift Lissandra's power a little bit more towards utility (lower W CD, stronger slow at higher levels on ult) and away from burst (base damage at higher ranks on W and ult). These changes aren't intended to be a nerf and shouldn't impact her laning phase much at all, bar the lower W CD. We suspect they may actually may be a slight buff, though it's that realignment of power towards desired strengths that's the key thing here.

In terms of overall performance Lissandra's also still pretty new so we're still assessing her overall state as well, particularly given some people started playing her in her first week, others when she dropped to 6300 IP and yet more of course during her current free week. This means quite a wide range of experience on her from individual players, resulting in a fair bit of variation in performance still."

Responding to a summoner asking "why make changes if you are still assessing her power level", Meddler explained:

"Still assessing doesn't necessarily mean 'do nothing'. We're confident in these changes in terms of the overall direction that's right for the character (control mage). Power level however is something it'll take a bit longer to get a really clear read on, so we may well make additional power focused changes (raw strength, rather than champion direction) at a later point if needed (whether buffs or nerfs)."

He also elaborated on these changes being a buff rather than a nerf to laning phase.

"The changes to her ultimate only kick in at levels 11+. The W I feel's pretty clearly stronger while at rank 1. You'll be getting less damage per point at higher ranks (though on a lower CD) granted, that won't occur until level 8 if you're maxing it 2nd or level 14 if maxing it third though. Unless you're seeing extremely long laning phases I'd be surprised to see these changes have much effect on Lissandra's laning phase as a result."

Annie

( For reference, the TL;DR version of the Annie PBE change is the tool tip for Summoner Tibbers no longer read that Tibber's gained stats per rank of the ability. )

Next up up is Solcrush confirming that Annie changes were just tool tip changes and reiterated what is perhaps one of the most important aspects of reading PBE coverage: The information largely comes from datamining tools tips and, thus, commonly misses things.

Solcrush

"Please realize that the PBE changes are datamined from just the tooltips.

The tooltip for the stats just got moved to the spell level up tooltip. There is also another siginificant buff we are testing that the datamining missed."

Vi

( For reference the TL;DR version of the Vi changes is her Assault and Battery ( R ) tool tip now reads that it ignores "knockups and knockbacks" rather than all crowd control.

Here is FeralPony with some insight on the tentative Vi changes:

FeralPony

"The change currently on PBE is obviously still in testing. However I need to jump in here to clarify that even with this change Vi's ultimate is still unstoppable it simply doesn't discard the CC, however she will feel the effects of the CC when the charge ends. Knockbacks and Knockups however since they are displacing the charging champion's movement are completely ignored to allow the Ultimate to complete.

What does this mean in game?
If Vi uses her ultimate on Lux who lands a light binding while charging. Vi will finish the charge and smash Lux into the ground. Then, Vi will be rooted for the remainder of the duration of the binding.

The other ultimates with similar mechanics such as Malphite also have this change, however totally blocking CC effects was not directly referenced in tooltips outside of Vi's before which is why you are only seeing a change in hers.

Champions effected by this change iirc are Malphite, Hecarim, J4, Nocturne, and Vi. The goal here is to add a little bit more counterplay to these abilities while still keeping them "unstoppable". We want these abilities to be uninterruptable and they will, however we also don't feel that them completely nullifying other champions crowd control effects and cooldowns even after the charge is compete is fair. We felt this was a nice and logical compromise, but we'll see how testing goes.

I'll work on the tooltip wording to try and make this a bit more clear. I don't feel this will ultimately be a bit power hit but if we feel it is - or becomes one we'll adjust the individual champions as needed."

To clarify, Phreak laid it out as:

Phreak

"Knock-back and knock-up are discarded. Stun/Slow/Silence/Blind/Root/Suppression are temporarily ignored."

Phreak then gave an example situation, just to make sure everyone is on the same page.

"And just to make sure we're all clear here:

A 1.5 second stun hits you right as you ult as Vi. Let's say it takes .9 seconds to reach the target and remove the "Can't be CC'd status." There will only be a .6 second stun left after you're done puncherizing.

(I could be wrong here, but I'm pretty certain this is how it works)"

[ Updated ] 5/17 PBE Patch - A bunch of Reverted Changes + Related Red Posts

2013-05-17T16:15:00.002-07:00

Update: I've added several red posts related to this set of PBE changes. I suggest you read them for delicious context.

The PBE has been ~~updated~~ reverted back to how it was! For those who are just joining us, a big AIR client only update, containing Aatrox and loads of balance changes, was pushed to the PBE and immediately removed/reverted. While I have listed the changes below, remember that there is a reason they have been pulled - they may be unpolished or unfinished.

Continue reading Riot's CONTEXT post for patch 3.8 ( which these PBE changes are a part of ). Additionally you'll find our list of the reverted changes, including a ginormous list of balance changes and a preview of Aatrox's lore, abilities, game play tips, and more.

( WARNING: This content is NOT CURRENTLY LIVE ON THE PBE! The changes were pushed out to the Air client and then removed shortly thereafter. Let these serve as a preview. As always, PBE content is tentative and iterative, what you see here is subject to change. )

Riot's Context Post - PBE for Patch 3.08
Here is Riot Pwyff with Riot's official overview of the changes planed for patch 3.08.

RiotPwyff

"Hey Summoners,
As you know, we use the PBE servers as a testing ground for a lot of our experimental changes, but we’ve run into situations where sometimes a change requires a bit more nuance to understand. As a result, we’ll be driving these PBE context posts when we can offer some more context.
Also note that these changes are tentative, like anything else on the PBE, so they are all very subject to change.
Kha'Zix

Taste Their Fear

Isolation bonus redesigned as "increases damage by 45%".

Evolution adds 8% Missing Health damage. (Which can also be increased by isolation.)

Void Spikes

Now slows targets hit for 2 seconds.

Mana cost reduced

Evolution no longer consumes passive to apply effects. Instead triples shot.

Ultimately we just wanted to increase your viable choices when picking evolutions. Kha’Zix was getting huge damage, high poke, and great utility from evolving Void Spikes. Now Void Spikes gets a slow as part of the base skill, so W is a reasonable one-point wonder. Evolving and maxing it first also works though, just not so well that it dominates the other skills. Taste Their Fear’s evolution was previously reliant on having targets isolated. Now it works whether they are isolated or not, but does more damage against isolated targets, making it a more reliable choice.

Lissandra

Ring of Frost

Cooldown reduced

Damage reduced

Frozen Tomb

Slow increases per level

Damage reduced at later levels

For a control mage with a kit she has, Lissandra was throwing out a lot of front-loaded damage in team fights. The intention of these changes was to lower her damage, but to also increase her crowd control abilities. These were made to better highlight her core strengths as a strong DPS mage with high in-fight control.

Jungle

Wolves

Initial spawn time increased to 1:55 from 1:45

Respawn time reduced to 50 seconds from 60

Wraiths

Initial spawn time increased to 1:55 from 1:45

Golems

Initial spawn time increased to 1:55 from 1:45

Respawn time reduced to 50 seconds from 60

Ancient Golem

Base Experience granted increased to 275 from 220

Now plays a particle effect to show who the buff transferred to

Lizard Elder

Base Experience granted increased to 275 from 220

Now plays a particle effect to show who the buff transferred to

We’ve increased the initial spawn times of jungle creeps to get rid of the frustrating experience advantage players could get by killing certain jungle monsters before laning phase begins. This was a much requested change from a lot of pro teams around the world, as the only real counter was to switch lanes or to try to prevent it altogether. The other changes are to reassure junglers since they’ll feel like they’ve “lost” a full camp clear since they won’t be able to start wolves or wraiths before heading to their buffs. So Elder Lizard and Ancient Golem will give more EXP, and jungle camps will spawn a little faster. Faster spawns will also help some champions who have exceptionally high clear times and want to just stay in the jungle.

Items

Madred's Razors

UNIQUE Passive - Maim

Now deals bonus damage to monsters with every basic attack

Wriggle's Lantern

UNIQUE Passive - Maim

Now deals bonus damage to monsters with every basic attack

Attack Damage increased

Life Steal increased

Combine cost increased

These changes are currently tentative. We just want to increase consistency on Madred’s and Wriggles in order to let players plan their jungle routes better with these items. There were a lot of odd cases where junglers would accidentally steal a buff from their teammate due to a random proc, or a jungler would fall behind because they weren’t getting enough procs. Overall we had to lower the damage output in comparison to the old Madred’s and Wriggle’s (if you simply average out the old Madred’s and Wriggle’s damage by four) because of the consistency involved and the fact that it never deals “overkill” damage, where it would proc on a small creep (or on a near-dead jungle unit), thereby wasting its damage.

Wit's End

New Recipe: Recurve Bow + Null Magic Mantle + Dagger + 600 gold = 2300 gold

Attack Speed increased slightly

Revised Passive - Your attacks steal Magic Resist from the target, stacks up to 5 times

Nashor's Tooth

Combine Cost increased

Ability Power reduced slightly

Additional Passive - Your attacks deal 15 + 15% of your Ability Power bonus magic damage on hit

Malady

Removed from the game

We've moved Malady's passives to the two other Attack Speed items to further solidify Nashor's Tooth's niche role as an Ability Power focused auto-attacker item, while moving the magic shred onto Wit's End to better synergize with magic damage based fighters (even for those that don’t deal magic damage, Sunfire Cape synergizes quite well with Wit’s End). Malady has been removed as it has simply been a poor fit in the current space that it was in."

Scarizard added in, discussing the absence of Shyvana changes from the original context post:

Scarizard

"One thing some of you may notice is absent are the Shyvana buffs i'd talked about a few weeks ago.

The buffs make sense, and we're going to do them. Just not for this patch. The reason being that along with the change to Wriggle's Lantern proc'ing on every attack, Wits end reducing Magic Resistance, and lowered respawns for jungle camps - we couldn't accurately assess Shyvana's balance.

As with all of our balance changes, there is always a rippling effect. Items being buffed or nerfed can mean more success or failure with champions who buy them. Taric's nerfs saw a universal increase in performance across every support. In the same vein, each of the above changes are also buffs to Shyvana and until we can judge the effect of the item/jungle changes would have on her power level, i don't want to pull the trigger on the changes just yet. Statikk and i are looking to have Shyvana Balance changes with Patch 3.9 pending iteration after 3.8 goes live."

Xypherous also chimed in about the changes to Nashor's / Malady, who of the big hybrid items.

"In my opinion, focused hybrid itemization is kind of a misstep, overall.

The advantages of having both AP and AD ratios is that any item is good for you - not that there's a specific class of items with 30% more stats because no one can use it correctly and thus it is good for you. When hybrid items are in vogue, like gunblade - it simply leads the detriment of any champion that can use it well.

The end result of that is that once you're balanced around hybrid itemization, you have 70% of the ratios of any other champion *and* you've effectively locked yourself out from any cool AD or AP itemization, defeating the point of being hybrid in the first place."

[3.8] Improvements to the PVP.net experience on smaller resolutions
Here is Damiya with the scoop:

"Summoners,As part of the 3.8 patch, we've introduced some code in PVP.net that will automatically scale itself down to 1150x720 or 1024x640, whichever is most appropriate. The most common desktop resolutions that will see their experience impacted are:

• 1366x768
• 1280x768
• 1280x700
• 1182x864

Prior to 3.8, the client defaulted to a specific, unchanging window size; for those of you with widescreen laptops running 1366x768 or smaller footprint monitors like 1280x720, this has meant having key functionality hidden behind the Windows task bar. No more!

This change represents a shift in the player experience and we felt it was important to reach out to those of you affected to see how you feel about it, and better understand what else we can do to improve the PVP.net experience on the above-named resolutions. Please spend some time poking around on PBE once 3.8 has arrived and feel free to share your thoughts on other ways we can improve the smaller-resolution League experience."

Aatrox Ratios, Lore, and More
While he wasn't actually implemented ( again, as this was only the air client ) , we were able to see that his release skin is called "Justicar Aatrox" and peak at his lore, abilities / ratios, and game play tips.

Abilities:

Blood Well ( Passive )

When using an ability that costs Health, Aatrox stores the self-inflicted damage into the Blood Well. Upon taking fatal damage Aatrox extracts the blood from the well and recovers it as health over a brief duration.

Dark Flight ( Q )

Aatrox takes flight and slams down at a targeted location, dealing 70/115/160/205/250 (+ratio missing) physical damage to all nearby enemies and knocking up targets at the center of impact for 1/1/1/1/1 second.

Cost: 10 % of Current Health // Range: 650 // Cooldown: 16/15/14/13/12

Blood Thirst / Blood Price ( W )

Activate to switch between Blood Thirst and Blood Price.

Blood Thirst: Every third attack, Aatrox restores 20/25/30/35/40 (+ ratio missing ) Health, increased by 200/200/200/200/200% when below half Health.

Blood Price: Every third attack, Aatrox deals 60/95/130/165/200 (+ ratio missing ) bonus physical damage and loses Health.

Cost: 0 // Cooldown: 1

Blades of Torment ( E )

Aatrox unleashes and sends forward the power of his blade, dealing 75/120/165/210/255 (+ ratio missing ) Magic Damage to all enemies hit and slowing them by 40/40/40/40/40% for 1.75/2/2.25/2.5/2.75 seconds.

Cost: 5% of Current Health // Range: 900 // Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8

Massacre ( R )

On activation Aatrox draws in the blood of his foes, dealing magic damage to all enemy champions around him equal to 15/15/15% + 0.01% of their current Health.

Cost: 0 // Cooldown: 120/100/80

Lore:

"Aatrox is a legendary warrior, one of only five that remain of an ancient race known as the Darkin. He wields his massive blade with grace and poise, slicing through legions in a style that is hypnotic to behold. With each foe felled, Aatrox's seemingly living blade drinks in their blood, empowering him and fueling his brutal, elegant campaign of slaughter.

The earliest tale of Aatrox is as old as recorded history. It tells of a war between two great factions remembered only as the Protectorate and the Magelords. Over time, the Magelords won a series of crushing victories, leaving them on the brink of obliterating their sworn enemy forever. On the day of their final confrontation, the Protectorate army found themselves outnumbered, exhausted, and poorly equipped. They braced for inevitable defeat.

Just when all hope seemed lost, Aatrox appeared among the ranks of the Protectorate. With but a few words, he urged the soldiers to fight to the last before throwing himself into battle. His presence inspired the desperate warriors. At first, they could only watch in awe as this unknown hero cleaved through their enemies, his body and blade moving in unison as if one being. Soon, the warriors found themselves imbued with a potent thirst for battle. They followed Aatrox into the fray, each fighting with the furious strength of ten until they had won a most unlikely victory.

Aatrox vanished after that battle, but the Protectorate army's newfound fury did not. Their surprising triumph led to many more until they were able to finally return home victorious. Their countrymen hailed them as heroes, but though they had saved their entire civilization from destruction, darkness lingered in the mind of each warrior. Something within them had changed. Over time, their memories of battle faded, only to be replaced with a grim revelation: their acts of heroism were, in fact, brutal atrocities committed by their own hands.

Tales like these appear among the myths of many cultures. If they are all to be believed, Aatrox's presence has changed the course of some of the most important wars in history. Though these stories remember him as a savior in dark times, Aatrox's true legacy may be a world filled with conflict and strife.

"Some fight for honor, some fight for glory. It matters only that you fight. "
- Aatrox"

Game Play Tips:

Playing him Tips:

*Avoid engaging in a fight with low health unless your Blood Well is full so that you regain enough health to continue fighting.

*Building Life Steal can be very potent on Aatrox to help compensate for his health costs.

*Massacre is great at turning the tide of a battle, make sure to use it at the right moment to maximize the benefits from it.

Opponent Tips:

*When Aatrox takes fatal damage he is healed for the amount currently in his resource bar, landing a fatal blow on him while the resource bar is low will result in him reviving with a lower amount of health.

*When Aatrox casts Dark Flight towards your location, avoid being knocked up by moving away from the center of impact.

*Aatrox is auto attack reliant for most of his damage and survivability, reducing his attack speed by purchasing Randuins Omen or Frozen Heart can help reduce both of those components greatly.

New Skins
New strings added for Norse King Darius ( editors note: FUUUU ) and Ghost Bride Morgana.

Balance Changes
Make sure you read the above post on a big chunk of the changes and remember these are taken directly from the TOOL TIPS. Certain information, context, or non tool tip changes may have been missed.

Champion Changes

Akali

Twilight Shroud ( W ) cooldown lowered to 20/19/18/17/16.
Twilight Shroud ( W ) cost reduced to 60 at all ranks from 80/75/70/65/60

Annie

Summon: Tibbers ( R ) mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks from 125/175/225.
Summon: Tibbers ( R ) now reads that he lasts 60 seconds, up from 45, but does not state that his damage, health , armor, MR, and attack damage increase with rank. ( Editor Note: Likely just a tool tip change. EDIT* Confirmed tool tip change , not nerf. )

Brand

Blaze ( Passive ) changed to 8% of their maximum health over 4 seconds from 2% per second for 4 seconds.

Hecarim

Warpath - tool tip no longer states he can move through units ( editors note: uh oh! )
Onslaught of Shadows ( R ) damage increased to 150/250/350 ( +1.0 AP ) from 100/200/300 ( +.4 AP )
Onslaught of Shadows ( R ) no longer deals additional damage when he finished charging.

Karma

Renewal ( Mantra'd W ) now heals instantly for 20% of Karma's missing health then, if the link is not broken, heals Karma for the same amount. The old version only healed Karma for 25% over the duration of the tether.

Kha'Zix

Taste Their Fear ( Q ) isolated bonus damage changed to 45% at all ranks from flat 100/145/190/235/280.
Evolved Taste Their Fear ( Q ) now deals bonus physical damage equal to 8% of target's missing health. This bonus can be increased by isolation. Old ability dealt 12% of missing health only if enemies were isolated.
Void Spike ( W ) now slows for 20% for 2 seconds.
Void Spike ( W ) mana cost reduced to 55/60/65/70/75 from 60/70/80/90/100.
Evolved Void Spike ( W ) can no longer consumes passive.
Void Assault ( R ) cast again time increased to 12 seconds from 10 seconds.
Evolved Void Assault ( R ) no longer reduces damage taken while in stealth but can now be recast 4 times.

Lissandra

Ring of Frost ( W ) damage lowered to 65/100/135/170/205 from 70/110/150/190/230
Ring of Frost ( W ) mana cost lowered to 55 at all ranks from 70 at all ranks
Ring of Frost ( W ) cooldown lowered to 16/14/12/10/8 from 18/16/14/12/10.
Frozen Tomb ( R ) damage lowered to 150/275/400 damage from 150/300/450 damage.
Frozen Tomb ( R ) slow increased to 20/30/40% from 20% at all ranks

Nautilus

Titan's Wrath ( W ) basic attack bonus damage changed to 40/55/70/85/100 ( +.4 AP ) over 2 seconds from 30/55/80/105/130.

Sejuani

Permafrost ( E ) slow reduced to 1.5/1.75/2/2.25/2.5 from 2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3
Glacial Prison ( R ) stun reduced to 1.25/1.5/1.75 from 1.5/1.75/2.

Shyvana
( Editor's note: They added her old passive effects to each ability. Current passive is blank. This is not finished yet )

Twin Bite ( Q ) basic attacks now reduce the cooldown of Twin Bite by .5 seconds
Burnout ( W ) basic attacks now extend duration of burnout by 1 second to a maximum of 4 seconds.
Flame Breath ( E ) now deals 80/110/140/170/200 ( +.6 AP ) amagic damage to all enemies it passes through and debuffs them for 5 seconds. Basic attacks to debuffed targets deal 25% of Flame Breath's damage on hit.
Dragon's Decent ( R ) no longer grants bonus armor / MR, instead now generates 1 fury very 15 seconds and basic attacks now generate 2/3/4 fury.
5/20 Edit: New passive now grants her 5 bonus armor and mr, increasing by 1 per level and going up more in Dragon form.

Assault and Battery ( R ) tool tip now reads "Knockups and Knockbacks" instead of crowd control. ( Editor note: Surely this is just a tool tip change not an effect change... )

Item Changes

Berserker's Greaves

Combine cost increased to 175 from 150

Boots of Mobility

Upgrade cost increased to 675 from 650

Boots of Speed

Cost reduced to 325 from 350.

Boots of Swiftness

Upgrade Cost increased to 675 from 650.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity

Upgrade cost increased to 675 from 650

Mercury's Treads

Combine cost increased to 475 from 450.

Ninja Tabi

Combine cost increased to 375 from 350

Sorcerer's Shoes

Upgrade cost increased to 775 from 750.

Doran's Ring

Cost reduced to 400 from 475
Health reduced from to 60 from 80.

Doran's Shield

Total price reduced to 440 from 475
No longer grants armor
Health regen per 5 increased to 10 from 8
Unique Passive now blocks 8 damage from champion basic attacks up from 6.

Madred's Razors

Unique passive changed to guaranteed 70 bonus magic damage on hit to monsters from +10 true damage and 25% chance for 300 bonus magic damage on hit.

Malady
( Editor Note: Unclear, seems to be removed and mushed on to Nashor's Tooth )

Nashor's Tooth
( Editor note: Basically it gained Malady's old passive )

Combine cost increased to 850 from 430.
Ability Power reduced to 60 from 65
Has an additional, new Unique Passive: Basic Attacks deal 15 ( +.15 AP ) magic damage on hit.

Recurve Bow

Cost decreased to 900 from 950.

Spirit of the Lizard Elder

Attack damage lowered to 35 from 45.

Spirit of the Spectral Wraith

Ability power reduced to 40 from 50.

Wit's End

Attack speed increased to 42% from 40%
Total cost reduced to 600 from 850
Instead of simply granting 5 magic resist and stacking 4 times, the Unique passive now STEALS 5 magic resist from target, stacking up to 5 times.

Wriggle's Lantern

Attack damage increased to 20 from 15
Life steal increased to 15% from 10%.
Passive now deals 110 bonus magic damage to monsters on hit instead of 25% to deal 500 damage to monsters and minions.
Combine cost increased to 500 from 100.

Dominion Specific Item Changes

Archangel Staff

Crystal Scar / Dominion Specific Changes

Manamune

Crystal Scar / Dominion Specific Changes

Rod of Ages

Crystal Scar / Dominion Specific Changes

Tear of the Goddess

Crystal Scar / Dominion Specific Changes

BR server transfers now available. Free until Friday, May 31st.

2013-05-17T16:14:00.000-07:00

Server transfers to the Brazilian servers are now available and FREE until Friday, May 31st.

Here is RiotLuqi, a Brazilian community specialist, with the details:

RiotLuqi

"Starting today, players'll be able transfer to the Brazil server. This transfer is free for 2 weeks from Friday May 17th to Friday May 31st at 8:00pm PST. Use your free transfer token by heading to the in-game store and click on the Other tab. Secure your summoner name on the Brazil server by transferring today!

For the full scoop on the Portuguese-language server, transfer options and more, check out this FAQ."

Ghost Bride Morgana haunting soon

2013-05-17T16:07:00.003-07:00

It turns out that La Llorona Morgana's official name is going to be "Ghost Bride Morgana". Here is Riot's English preview of the skin, complete with some images of her beautifully spooky spell effects.

"The legend of 'La Llorona' is emerging from the river in the form of Ghost Bride Morgana. This haunting take on the Fallen Angel captures the mournful tale of the weeping bride. Tapping into a rich vein of shared cultural history, Ghost Bride Morgana is the launch skin for Latin America. Prepare to celebrate the Latin American server launch and chain yourself to this spectral interpretation of the haunting legend."

In terms of an ETA, RiotVox commented:

RiotVox

"PBE should be soonish, but in terms of when we'll see it in NA, that is pending on when the LatAM servers officially launch. Basically, we just wanted to make this announcement to reassure everyone that we, too, will be getting the skin. I know sometimes players see the announcement happen in another region and ask "are we getting it too?" We wanted to address that, and let our players know that all of our players in every region will be getting this skin!"

Inactive Name Cleanse delayed, Name Change sale extended.

2013-05-17T02:04:00.002-07:00

As announced a few weeks ago, there is currently a summoner name change going on but the accompanying inactive name cleanup has unfortunately been delayed. It's not all bad though! As a result of the delay, the 50% off name change sale has been extended!

Here is Udyr with an announcement about a the situation:

"Hi everyone,

Due to the issues with the Summoner Name Cleanse in conjunction with last night's patch (and the need to run the cleanse while the system is in planned downtime), we will have to delay the cleanse until the 3.8 patch.

We recognize that this is a disappointment to those planning to get a name on sale or people trying to get newly cleansed names, so we'll be leaving Name Changes at 50% off through the 3.7 patch and into the middle of 3.8."

He also mentioned that the tentative date for patch 3.8 is:

"Roughly end of May/early June. Obviously patch days can change in timing."

Riot Terablo also chimed in, adding:

"We hope that by giving this advanced notice we give everybody a fair chance at getting a name that becomes available. Sorry if you tried last night and failed. We only identified the scope of the issue after you guys where already back in game and started reporting it here.

We have procedures in place to ensure that next time we will spot it much sooner."

La Llorona Morgana announced on LA LoL Facebook Page

2013-05-17T00:47:00.002-07:00

The Latin American League of Legends Facebook page has officially announced ( confirming our leak ) La Llorona Morgana!

Here is a fan translation, from Spanish to English, of the facebook post:

"Launching a new server here at Riot games is always a great reason to celebrate! And just like you guys, our summoners, you're the protagonists behind our new LA servers, and we thought we should create some special content so you guys can feel at home!

We present La Llorona Morgana!

La Llorona, known by different names depending on the country is a woman who has lost her children, the reason why also varies by country. She turns into a soul who's angry feeling mix with her intense depression, fueled by vengeance and her deep sorrow which are reflected in her perpetous screech. It's said that today she can be found near rivers, lakes, valleys or dark streets, looking for her kid everywhere, and on rare occasions taking innocent ones.

Taking this great inspiration, our creative team took Morgana and molded her until she transformed into a sinister spirit who eternally looks to bring her great suffering upon others

Her elegant wedding dress is found mistreated and damaged, reminding of a lost innocence, while tons of tears run down a once delicate face.

The emblems of Morgana, in here aspect of La Llorona, both grotesque stone statues, who are both weighed down by their guilt which denies them the chance of redemption.

La Llorona is the recognition that we want to give to the Latin community. Everyone who made the switch to the LA servers during the beta phase will receive this skin for free along with Morgana if you don't own her, for a limited time.

Do you know the story of La Llorona from your country? Tell us more a out this great folk tale in the comments below!"

The original Spanish post can be found here. Don't forget to follow the Latin America League of Legends Facebook page for more information on the upcoming server.

Riot's Official Stance on Pick Order vs. Call Order

2013-05-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

Riot has provided an update in the long running Pick Order vs Call Order debate. Riot has decided to officially side with Pick Order OVER Call order in champion select, although they still encourage communication and team work over all else.

A deliciously short version of this latest statement can be best summarized by these two lines:

" For a while, we've been asked what our own official stance is on Pick Order versus Call Order and, after much consideration, we've ultimately decided to endorse Pick Order over Call Order as an underlying system"

and

" Pick Order is meant to be a last resort when settling discussions - this is why we are endorsing it and not mandating it. Communication and collaboration are still the most important things when it comes to playing ranked games, and we hope players will continue to uphold the Summoner's Code in all of their matches"

Continue reading for the full discussion, including what this means for the future of champion select, how Riot arrived at this decision, and more.

Here is Riot Socrates with the full announcement.

"Summoners,

As you all know, we value communication and collaboration above all when it comes to choosing roles in ranked games. According to the Player Behavior team's studies, teams that cooperate together have a greater chance to win. Naturally, cooperation and communication is something we want to encourage within all games of League of Legends.

That said, we do know that there have been some problems with coming to an agreement at champion select, and many players have defaulted to one of two systems: Pick Order – where players higher on the pick list have first choice of their role – and Call Order – where players believe whoever “calls” a role first gets the right to it. For a while, we've been asked what our own official stance is on Pick Order versus Call Order and, after much consideration, we've ultimately decided to endorse Pick Order over Call Order as an underlying system. There are many reasons why Pick Order works better to encourage communication and cooperation in teams:

Players with faster load times shouldn't have an unfair advantage in Call Order

Pick Order occurs naturally in the current design, so it's more intuitive

Over time, players get an equal number of opportunities to be each pick slot

Players shouldn't have to race to type a position at the start of each match

At this point we would like to stress, once again, that Pick Order should not be the first thing players turn to in determining who plays what role in ranked games. Pick Order is meant to be a last resort when settling discussions - this is why we are endorsing it and not mandating it. Communication and collaboration are still the most important things when it comes to playing ranked games, and we hope players will continue to uphold the Summoner's Code in all of their matches. If you refuse to communicate with your team and rely only on Pick Order to determine your role selection, you are still being a toxic player and this will reflect negatively upon you. By officially endorsing Pick Order, however, we are hoping this will give more structure to players and may help settle some disputes. And, of course, this isn't the only thing we're doing to address champion select as a process. For more information on our long-term plans, turn to this discussion with Lyte, status kwoh, and davin. We've also included a mini-FAQ for players who have further questions on our endorsement of this philosophy.

Happy hunting,
Socrates"

He also followed this up with a bit of an FAQ to elaborate on the decision.

"Q: How will Riot be able to enforce this?

A: The short answer is it won't be strictly enforced. We want to create an environment that encourages collaboration when creating team comps. Strict enforcement here could potentially obstruct that. However, in the event that somebody is breaking the Summoner's Code in champ select, players can use the existing reporting tools like the tribunal.

Q: I'm last pick and I have no idea how to play the role left to me – so I get reported either way. What do I do?

A: It's best to go into ranked with at least a basic grasp of how to play every role. Having said that, behavioral and game skill reporting is handled differently. Receiving an ‘unskilled player' report can't result in a ban.

Q: I ALWAYS end up last pick so this will have a significantly negative impact on me – how does pick order even get decided?

A: On average players should be seated in each pick order roughly the same number of times over a large enough set of games.

Q: So if I play with a friend who's significantly higher ranked than me, I will never have a choice in my role?

A: In this specific case, you could ask your friend to make a pick for you and then trade. More generally it's pretty rare to find a team who all insist on playing specific positions. It's worth communicating your strongest and weakest positions to your team since usually a compromise can be found."

Lyte also popped in to clarify,

"The philosophy here isn't that pick order defines everything and is king. You should still communicate with your teammates and can see if they'd be willing let you play top--in many cases, players will be happy to still swap roles with you even if they have a higher pick order"

He continued:

"Most of the player behavior team is currently working on potential solutions to Champion Select. Socrates and I were discussing our design philosophies on Champion Select in its current form and whether we felt Pick Order or Call Order was the better choice--we just felt like we should share our thoughts on the issue and generate some discussion to see what the community thought as well.

This isn't necessarily an official stance or how Champion Select will always be, we're working hard on the future solutions everyday."

In turn, Riot Socrates also chimed in:

"Our stance isn't that the player who has first pick should ignore his team and auto lock. It's that players should try to collaborate to form a team. If for whatever reason players come to an impasse and disputes arise, we want players to have some generally agreed upon set of rules to resolve the dispute in a civil way."

Customize your build with in-client item sets

2013-05-16T11:39:00.003-07:00

With patch 3.7, Riot's shipped their newest feature - custom item sets!

Continue reading for Riot's official introduction to this new feature!

Here is RiotGTez with details on custom item sets:

"The item shop has been your one-stop spot for Infinity Edges, Ohmwreckers and Doran's enchanting accessories for quite some time. Happily, you'll now have a second, in-client place to research and plan builds. The new Item Set tab lists every in-game item and lets you customize your builds for your favorite setups.

Once in the client, click on your profile and find the new Item Sets tab we've stuck in there for you. Inside the tab, you'll see three columns.

The left-hand column is where you generate new item sets and give them individual names. The second column lets you sort items exactly like you would in the in-game item shop. To create your custom item builds, you'll drag and drop an item into a block in the third column.

"What's a block?" you say. The recommended build that you see in-game is made of blocks. They're called things like "Starting Items," "Essential Items," etc. Your blocks can be re-named to whatever you want.

So you've created your top-secret builds. Now it's time to assign them to specific champs and maps. There are two tabs at the top of the third column. You created your item sets in the 'Items' tab; switch it over to 'Maps and Champions' to associate your new build with as many maps and champs as you like.

Figured out a hyper AP build for Ziggs, Yi and Zilean on Howling Abyss? Sweet. Want a tanky jungle build for Sejuani, Nautilus and Amumu on Summoner's Rift? Do it up. It's your call.

Just remember to tap that save button and your custom build will be ready for quick in-game clickery. You'll spend less time in the item shop and more time helping your team secure the W.

"

This was also followed by a brief FAQ on the new system:

"What are item sets?
Item sets are a way for you to create new recommended item pages that will show up in the item shop when you play.

How do I make item sets?
Select the item sets tab in your profile. Add a new page and start dragging items into it. You can create new blocks so that you can organize your items by offensive, defensive, jungle, or whatever you think of. When you save your page it will be available in-game through the item shop.

Does this save to my account?
Currently, item sets will only save to your local machine, but we want to get server-side saving to you soon. We know that this will be much better for players when they can use the feature across multiple computers, and we're working to deliver that. The server-side version will take some time since it requires additional platform work, and we want to make sure we don't impact service stability.

How does this work with community-made recommended item builders?
Recommended item pages created using 3rd party tools should still work. They can co-exist with the ones created using the item set feature, but you will not be able to use the Item Sets feature to edit your 3rd party sets.

Can I have more than one item set per champion?
Yes, you are able to select as many champions as you'd like to be associated with an item set. You can also opt to make your item set available for all champions if you prefer.

What does this look like in game?
The recommended tab now has a drop down. Custom item sets directly associated with the Champion you are playing will appear first in the drop down, followed by recommended items, followed by more general item sets and sets that are associated with multiple champions and maps."

New Champion & Skin Sale: 5/17 - 5/20

2013-05-16T09:55:00.003-07:00

Ahoy summoners! Are ye ready for yet another champion and skin sale? Starting May 17th till May 20th you'll be able to pick up Void Nocturne for 260 RP, Myrmidon Pantheon for 260 RP, Pentakill Karthus for 375 RP as well as Brand for 440 RP, Twitch for 395 RP and Taric for 292 RP.

Words and fancy splashes just don't make it for you? Continue reading for previews of the skins which will be up for grabs for half their price during this sale.

Void Nocturne (260 RP)

Myrmidon Pantheon (260 RP)

Pentakill Karthus (375 RP)

Gypsylord on improving Ashe's Passive

2013-05-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Lucky for us, Gypsylord taken time to clue us in to some tentative ideas for spicing up and improving Ashe's passive, "Focus".

Continue reading for the full scoop!

( Remember this is just something gypsylord isn't talking promises or guarentees , he's simply sharing something being tested internally )

Here is gypsylord's latest pass at improving Ashe's Passive:

"IMO Ashe as a whole is in a pretty good spot. She sees decent play and maintains a decent win rate across all elos while also being a niche pick in the competitive environment. Her kit has clear strengths and weaknesses and offers Ashe players many opportunities for extreme high moments.

What is NOT in a good spot is Focus, Ashe's passive. As far as the majority of Ashe players are concerned it provides one singular moment of play and power to Ashe over the duration of the entire game. This is during the level one team fight/lane engagement. For the rest of the game the Ashe player tends not to notice or care about Focus and if she does notice it she feels as though she has no way to be proactive and take advantage of the power it is providing. Not cool.

So what to do? CHANGE IT OF COURSE! Here's something CertainlyT and I just put into testing:

Ashe gains 3/6/9/12/15/18 stacks of Focus for every 3 seconds spent not attacking. At 100 stacks her next attack is guaranteed to crit. Her Focus stacks will then reset to her current Crit Chance.

Note - Attacking no longer causes Ashe to lose focus.

The goal here isn't to do a massive Focus overhaul but instead make a lighter change that turns Focus into a binary mechanic that you can plan and play around in lane. If you have full stacks of Focus you get a free crit on your next attack. If you have 90 stacks of Focus then go hide in a bush for 6 seconds, get Focus, and R+W+Crit the enemy Sona."

He also added:

"To clarify, stacks per 3 seconds are a function of Ashe's level. At level 1 she gains 3 stacks per 3 seconds. At level 18 she gains 18 stacks per 3 seconds."

He then clarified even more by responding to a few summoner questions:

Q: "so her focus stacks reset to her current crit chance, that means you have 30% crit chance then focus makes only needs to charge 70 stacks? and do the stacks function as basically 1% crit chance each?"

A: "The first part is correct. If you have 30% Crit chance Focus will start stacking at 30 and you will effectively only need to charge 70 stacks.

The second part is wrong. Focus stacks do not give crit chance like they used to. If you have 99 stacks of Focus you get +0% crit. If you have 100 stacks of Focus you get +100% crit."

Q: "This is nice, but it still does nothing for her later in the game during teamfights. Ashe's current passive does nothing for her except on her first return to lane. This one is better, but still demands that she stand around doing nothing to get anything out of her passive at all."

A: "Ashe doesn't have to be "standing around doing nothing" to stack Focus. Only autoattacks cause it to stop stacking, using Volley and other spells does not. That said you are right that it is not the best passive out there for the teamfight scenario. I would respond that it really isn't intended to be. She has 600 range, great base AS, R, and perma-slows for teamfights. Focus will however still give her the odd bonus crit in late-game Volley kiting situations."

Finally, just to sit everyone straight, he explained

"After 3 seconds of not attacking Ashe's Focus stacks will update every second.
Timeline after not attacking looks like this at level 18:
1 Sec - 0 Stacks
2 Sec - 0 Stacks
3 Sec - 18 Stacks
4 Sec - 24 Stacks
5 Sec - 30 Stacks
6 Sec - 36 Stacks
etc...

If she has 55% Crit it will look like this assuming she starts @ zero stacks.
1 Sec - 0 Stacks
2 Sec - 0 Stacks
3 Sec - 73 Stacks (55 + 18)
4 Sec - 79 Stacks
5 Sec - 85 Stacks
6 Sec - 91 Stacks
7 Sec - 97 Stacks
8 Sec - 100 Stacks, Next attack will Crit and clear Stacks."

What do you guys think?

Garena all-stars head to Shanghai

2013-05-15T20:59:00.004-07:00

With NA, EU, and Korean teams out of the way, let's meet the Garena all-star team!
Continue reading for Riot's introduction post for Garena's All-Star team.

Here is Magus with the low down on Garena's All-star team:

"The 2013 League of Legends All-Star Weekend takes place in Shanghai from May 24 to May 26. Five teams representing the pro leagues in North America, Europe, China, Korea and Southeast Asia/Taiwan will clash at the Shanghai Grand Stage.

There are five regions attending, but only the top four will claim a bye for their region's top seed into the elimination stage at the Season 3 World Championship. The region that wins it all also secures the right to send one extra team to battle at the Championship, along with bragging rights as best pro region in the world at the break.

With the tournament drawing ever closer, it's time to meet the players from Garena:
Long before a certain European Jungler began advocating fitness, Wong "Chawy" Xing Lei from the Singapore Sentinels was well known for his dedication to the gym and staying in shape. Ever the versatile pro, Chawy has alternated between Mid Lane and AD Carry for the Sentinels over the last two seasons. Heading into Shanghai, look for Chawy to break out a variety of champions in the bot lane alongside MiSTakE.

When Chen "MiSTakE" Hui Chung left the Taipei Assassins to join the Taipei Snipers, he brought with him leadership and creative shot-calling. His 4.7 KDA ratio during the Taiwan eSports League is just one aspect of his play that demonstrates his ability to stay active through all stages of the game -- even sacrificing his life for his teammates if necessary. Joined by Chawy in bot lane, it's likely MiSTakE will be vocal and intensely focused throughout the All-Star Event.

Jason "HaRleLuYaR" Koh Wei Hao will handle the jungle for the all-stars. Excited for the opportunity to represent the region in Shanghai, HaRleLuYaR will bring a potent initiation jungle style to the event. Not even 20 years old, he's been making waves for the Singapore Sentinels throughout the GPL season and will attempt to port that success over for the Garena all-stars.
Averaging fewer than two deaths per game, Kurtis "Toyz" Lau will arrive in Shanghai having won 27 out of 28 games in the GPL. His astounding 9.0 KDA ratio and 410 GPM averages leave no doubt regarding his strength in the mid lane. Whatever champion he pilots, Toyz presents a threat to every lane, often appearing without warning to jump on his victims from the brush. With Toyz in the mid lane, Azubu Taipei Assassins only lost a single game; expect the Garena All-Star Team to try and do one better.

Like his Mid counterpart Toyz, the Azubu TPA's Top Laner averaged fewer than two deaths per game. Wang "Stanley" June Tsan matched his teammate in another area as well, sporting a sterling 8.25 KDA ratio throughout the GPL season heading into Shanghai. Known for his theory-crafting, Stanley has no doubt devised a number of innovative strategies for the team to use in China. No less famous for his eclectic champion picks, All-Star Weekend promises to be a worldwide showcase for Stanley.

Check out the video above to find out what All-Star selection means to your favorite players and remember to watch the All-Star games live from Shanghai starting on May 24 at www.lolesports.com.

Did you miss a team introduction? Visit these features for more from your national team:

Click here to comment"

[ Updated - Patch back on Track ] Server Maintenance for Patch 3.7 on 5/16

2013-05-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

Update #2: Looks like the patch is back on! Here is the update from the NA Status thread.

"Maintenance will proceed as planned. Ranked queues will be disabled at 00:30 PDT"

Update: Patch has been delayed.

~~"Summoners, we have encountered an issue with the 3.7 patch. We are delaying the patch until we can be sure the patch will not cause issues"~~

Patch 3.7 is coming! On 5/16, Servers will go offline at 2:00 PDT for NA, 4:00 GMT+1 for EUW, and 2 GMT+2 for EUNE.

Here is Filthy Animals with the good news:

Filthy Animals

"On 05/16/13, starting at 00:30 PDT, ranked queues will be disabled in preparation for patch 3.7. At 02:00 PDT, the servers will be shut down and all games currently in progress will end in a draw and stats will not be recorded. We estimate the battlegrounds will be unavailable for 6 hours"

The patch should contain the five TPA skins and all the balance changes we've been seeing on the PBE over the last week or two. Expect official patch notes soon.

P.S: Before anyone even asks, Aartox is not in this patch.