[ UPDATE @ 4 PM PT : Added information on the March 10th mid-patch update with Aatrox buffs!]



Today's red post collection includes the March 10th mid-update, a new video from Riot discussing 2017 Development and upcoming projects including an update to the honor system, quick gameplay thoughts from Meddler for 3/10, and more! Ascension also returns in the RGMQ this weekend.





Table of Contents

March 10th Mid-Patch Update

" Mid-Patch Updates



Aatrox Balance Update

While there's always a re-learning process when we make substantial changes to a champion, Aatrox is suffering more than usual, regardless of whether he's in jungle or top lane. We're giving the Darkin Blade a better shot at stacking Blood Well without dying in the process and upping his payoff when he commits to a fight. Base stats

HEALTH - 537.8 ⇒ 580 Q - Dark Flight

COOLDOWN - 16/15/14/13/12 seconds ⇒ 13/12.5/12/11.5/11 seconds W - Blood Price

BASE DAMAGE - 30/60/90/120/150 ⇒ 45/80/115/150/185



3/10/2017

Lucian

BUGFIX - Fixed a bug causing Q - Piercing Light's cooldown to be refunded if its primary target died during the cast time (allowing for double-Q shenanigans) Varus

BUGFIX - Varus's Q - Piercing Arrow cooldown refund against Blighted targets now properly applies at Piercing Arrow's max distance Sion

AXE TOO HEAVY - Fixed a bug that caused Sion to stand still for a brief moment after casting Q - Decimating Smash Taliyah

VISUAL BUG - Fixed a bug causing Q - Threaded Volley's Worked Ground visual indicator to last past the duration of the effect for enemies"

Riot Pls: 2017 Development

New001

"New001 talks about some of the projects the League development team is working on this year."

League Client Update - :31

Honor Rework - 1:22

Runes and Masteries - 2:28

Team Competition - 3:25

Fulfilling Player Requests - 4:47





Following the video, several Riots jumped in to answer questions!

SapMagic

"We absolutely care about performance for more than just players on lower-spec machines. In some situations, we're making more dramatic changes under the hood that will affect performance for all players. Players on low spec machines are suffering the hardest right now, so we want to make sure we're looking at optimization through that lens.

Going forward, we're thinking about how we can design the actual EXPERIENCE in a way that will be more likely to perform well. For example, we know that layers of full-screen animations tend to be rough (probably not a surprise), so we're taking that into consideration as we work on things like bringing 10 bans to regular play."





Quick Gameplay Thoughts: March 10

Meddler

"Hey all,

Happy Friday! Few short notes below.

Aatrox hotfix

All going according to plan we should be putting out a balance hotfix for Aatrox today. We concluded he was definitely in too poor a state to leave until the next regular patch and wasn't likely to recover enough just based off relearning. Changes include increased starting health (580, was 537 and had been kept low historically because of the impact of the previous revive in lane), Q CD down (13-11, was 16-12) and W damage up (45-185, was 30-150). Suspect it's likely we'll also make Aatrox changes in 7.6, though we'll need to see where these put him first of course.

Rek'Sai Timing

It looks like the Rek'Sai small update's going to be after mid-season at this point (we won't have the artist time needed available until then).

Mid-season

Speaking of which it's very likely mid-season will be patch 7.9. That could still change of course, but that's what we're shooting for.

Next new champ

The next new champ will be coming out before the next VGU. Once they're out we'll also share some details for anyone curious as to why the longer than usual gap between new champ releases and whether the circumstances that caused it are likely to crop up again or not.

Knight's Vow on PBE

We saw some reports yesterday that Knight's Vow had been reverted to its older stats and build path on the PBE yesterday. Going to be looking into that today, it's not an intended change so it's either a datamining error or we've accidentally stomped the newer version with an old file somehow."

Graves + Rumble and timing of next new champion, Meddler noted: When asked for his personal thoughts onand timing of next new champion,

"Personal opinion (haven't talked with the Live Gameplay team about those two specifically recently) is that Graves is too universally good a pick and probably too strong. Less sure on Rumble, though seems very worth watching.

Agree timing on next new champ's still vague. I don't want to undercut the release process the team working on that character have planned though, so that's about all I can offer as a result."

Meddler

"Quote:

Hey meddler,

Ever since you teased about Aurelion Sol's need for changes, I've been a bit anxious about them. Does the team have any concrete plans for him already?

Also, what about exhaust's current state? Do you think the nerfs were fair? Nothing concrete on Aurelion Sol, very unlikely we'll make any major changes at least though, direction we were exploring didn't work out as hoped.

Too early to say much on Exhaust, no major concerns yet at least though."

Meddler

"This year yes, early part of it no."

Meddler

"Quote:

Why the sudden interest in ninja tabi use? We're more interested in Ninja Tabi because Ninja Tabi are much more common. That's generally a sign something's worth paying attention to. So far it looks like Ninja Tabi are an appropriate response to multiple physical damage based enemies using flat pen (Lethality) which is strongly countered by additional armor.

Meddler

"Quote:

What is happeneing with the Karma splash updates?

You've mentioned Maokai and Sejuani a lot at this point.

Are the Karma ones still happening? Karma splash updates are still happening, not sure on timing though (that's more of a question for Reav3, though I'd imagine the answer will have to be 'when they're ready')"





Meddler

"Quote:

Do you expect the PBE Warlord's Changes to go live? Are the changes supposed to just make it terrible on bruisers while keeping it good for Crit ADCs and Jhin? A modified version's likely to go live. Main goal is to smooth out some of the extremes that using Lifesteal directly favors (e.g. how much a Caitlyn Headshot on a minion heals).

Reminders

Two limited time Ocean Week summoner icons are available through 3/17/2017 at 23:59 PT!

Continue reading for more information!The official 7.5 patch notes have been updated with the 3/10 mid-patch update, including several buffs forand bug fixes that went out on March 10th.A newis up featuringdiscussing things in the works for 2017! In the video, he discusses the League Client update, an upcoming rework to Honor system, Runes and Masteries, Team competition, and fulfilling player requests.On the talk of LCU low performance focused improvements,is back with another set of quick gameplay thoughts for March 10th , this time focusing on upcominghotfix, timing of Rek'sai's small update, mid season in 7.9, unintentional Knight's Vow changes on PBE, and more!When asked aboutand recentAs for the previously mentioned changes foralso commented on recent interest inWhen asked about the upcoming splash art updates forskins,As for the Warlord's Bloodlust changes on the PBE,To round out this red post collection, here are reminders on current promotions or limited time events!