League of Legends has returned to its normal update frequency, with version 14.15 expected to go live on August 1st, which is the second version of the Wraith Squad event and the summer playoff match in some regions. On July 23rd, Lead Gameplay Designer Phroxzon shared a preview of the changes to the new version and talked about the decision to make some of the changes. Specific balance changes and hero tweaks will be released tomorrow. Let's take a look at what's changed!
Hero Enhancements: Varus, Yasuo, Tyrone
Hero nerfs: Leona, Ezreal, Alora, Aurelian Thor, Sivana
Hero Adjustments: Scanna, Cassiopeia, Irelia, Akali, Won, Rais, Silas
System Enhancements: Dark Harvest, Storm Swell, Unfinalized AP Equipment, Dance of Death
System Nerf: Kraken Slayer (Ranged), Startic Electric Blade
System adjustments: Swift pace
First of all, the last version teased the footwear equipment to be changed. For a long time, defensive shoes were too strong in high-end games, but they were not popular in low-end games. As a result, in the mid lane, both sides often choose defensive shoes, which makes it impossible for both sides to kill each other, but to develop each other. At the same time, shoes are very cost-effective, leading players to prioritize shoes over Epic Gear Components, especially in high-end games.
The designers wanted to reduce the price/performance of all shoes and reduce the benefits of the Magic Resistance Widget in the early game, as the Mercury Boots were too strong compared to other options, thus increasing the value for money for the Slim Health Piece, as Tanks and Warriors often have health gear early on. Some of the magic resistance equipment that needs to be adjusted will be strengthened to compensate, but the designers expect that the weakening of the magic shoes will not have much impact on the magic resistance equipment of tanks and warriors. In addition, they wanted to maintain the structural integrity of the choice of French and cooling shoes.
Next up is the ADC ecosystem. While the designers believe that the 14.14 tweaks to individual ADC heroes, as well as the changes to absorb health, will already help, they will continue to make tweaks to weaken the ADC's early gameplay (pros mainly play in 14.13 instead of using 14.14). This tweaked includes reducing the early healing effects of the Startic Blade, Kraken Slayer, and Swift Pace, which reduces the build strength of an ADC piece of equipment.
They also reverted some of the Iron Plate Boots' basic attack percentage damage reduction, making Warriors and Tank Heroes more resilient against ADC in the later stages. The designers believe that these tweaks will have a significant impact on the combination of dual ADCs that often occur in high-pitched games.
Mage heroes also get the attention of designers. They want to make balance adjustments around Ashes of Destiny and Landry's Torment/Flame Torch, so they don't specifically target certain AP heroes. The designers believe that the current AP ecological balance is close to the ideal state, and does not want to overly weaken this kind of gameplay (especially AP junglers) because they have "different" characteristics.
The designers hope that over time, these tweaks will allow for more diversity in the jungler characters and increase the number of viable team rosters. However, they believe that some other AP equipment is not performing well, such as Astral Drive and Storm Surge, and that the current strong Landry mask users often do not choose this AP equipment, so the designers will strengthen the weaker equipment in the AP system to the level it should be.
Another change is a system change, which is the abuse of the reject button. League of Legends will make some tweaks to the Reject Queue button in Update 14.15 to reduce matchmaking sniping and destructive behavior. They will reduce the maximum number of consecutive matchmaking rejects and adjust the number of rejections for teams in the party state. They are increasing the ban on players who have repeatedly rejected the queue.
Overall, the designers think it's reasonable to think that missing the queue popup 1 time, and 2 times it could be that you went to get a snack or drink, but players shouldn't refuse to enter the queue too much so as not to affect the matchmaking experience of the other 9 players.
Finally, there are changes to the Arena mode. This release will bring a series of tweaks to the Arena mode to improve the player experience, including a tweaking of the Koi Pond map to make it less conducive to the type of statically suppressed lineup. In addition, Arena mode will add a variety of new equipment and enhancements. Due to the large number of changes to the Arena, players should check out next week's patch notes.