The PBE has been updated! As we continue the 7.8 PBE cycle , today's post includes short form bios + champion select pick/ban quotes forand, additional tentative balance changes, and more!Continue reading for more information!

( Warning : PBE Content is tentative and subject to change - what you see below may not reflect what eventually gets pushed to live servers at the end of the cycle! Manage your expectations accordingly.)





Table of Contents

Rakan and Xayah continued testing - Short Bio & Quotes

Rakan and Xayah Our two new championsand continue to test on the PBE! While this new couple tests on the PBE, you can report to the below threads with comments, questions, and concerns of the heart:

As mercurial as he is charming, Rakan is an infamous vastayan troublemaker and the greatest battle-dancer in Lhotlan tribal history. To the humans of the Ionian highlands, his name has long been synonymous with wild festivals, uncontrollable parties, and anarchic music. Few would suspect this energetic, traveling showman is also partner to the rebel Xayah, and is dedicated to her cause.

“I got freedom. I got a lady. I got a cause I'd die for.”

Deadly and precise, Xayah is a vastayan revolutionary waging a personal war to save her people. She uses her speed, guile, and razor-sharp feather blades to cut down anyone who stands in her way. Xayah fights alongside her partner and lover, Rakan, to protect their dwindling tribe, and restore their race to her vision of its former glory

“Ever been stabbed by a feather?”

"I can never resist an invitation to dance."

"Fine, Ill just be over here... sharpening my feathers."





"Seriously? Seriously? Lame."





Midseason AD Itemization Changes

Riot Axes



"Hi folks,

We’ve got some tuning-level changes to AD itemization coming in Midseason. I wanted to give some context on those changes, since they’ve hit PBE today.

All changes are currently tentative and there’s a good chance you’ll see further tuning before they go live in the Midseason patch.

Armor Penetration

There’s more armor penetration/shred in the system than really ought to exist - 52% armor pen is a pretty common stopping point these days, and many champions add a Black Cleaver and/or some Lethality to that. With so much armor penetration in the system, defensive items have to be tuned to be pretty crazy before they’re worth buying at all.

We’ll be reducing the overall amount of armor that can be ignored through item purchases, and putting that power into other sources like Critical Strike itemization, the Giant Slayer effect, and big AD purchases.

Life Steal Items

Looking to balance out the Life Steal items against each other. Our assessment is that Blade of the Ruined King is a bit more powerful than an item should really be, so we’ll be trimming that a bit. At the same time, we don’t want to just balance it down to be equal with the other Life Steal items, which are likely weaker than they ought to be given the way the game is shifting. We’re looking to land all the items somewhere in the middle ground.

Look for a small nerf to Blade of the Ruined King and small buffs to Bloodthirster, Death’s Dance, and Ravenous Hydra (which has sadly fallen a bit behind its Titanic cousin :/ ).

Early Marksman Build Path

We’re testing buffs to Zeal and Infinity Edge aimed at smoothing out the first two purchases for critical strike users. We’re targeting a reasonable 1-and-a-half item spike into a fairly strong 2 item spike. This will likely just be cost adjustments to Zeal itself and to Infinity Edge, making it easier to get to IE + Zeal as a power spike than before.

Zeal Upgrade Tuning

We’re taking this opportunity to tune the four Zeal items – Runaan’s Hurricane, Phantom Dancer, Statikk Shiv, and Rapid Firecannon. The goal here will be both balancing them against each other and making their unique identities more clear and better differentiated.

On live, Runaan’s Hurricane is the best AOE damage option, has the best build path, and is often the best single target sustained damage option of the four thanks to its on hit damage. Look for a new build path more in line with the other items, plus the loss of on-hit damage in favor of a higher AD ratio on the secondary bolts - Hurricane will still be a powerful sustained AOE damage tool.

We’re currently exploring some changes to Rapid Firecannon and Statikk Shiv to sharpen their identities and to make the combination of the two more compelling – Rapid Firecannon charges Energized effects (itself, Shiv, and Warlord’s Bloodlust) faster but deals less burst damage, increasing its usefulness in long range engagements, while Statikk Shiv deals considerably increased burst damage to champions.

Phantom Dancer’s already meeting its goals pretty well, so no changes planned (except making it cost the same amount of gold as the other three.)

Executioner’s Calling

Current assessment is that Executioner’s is too powerful as a lane counter to certain champions, but the passive is an important release valve against sustain-based champions later in the game. We’re exploring ways of making it more costly to access that power early in the game, either with a direct cost increase or by making it less reliable."

Balance Changes * Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, and sometimes radical or experimental changes. Be aware that what you see below may be lacking context or other changes that didn't make it in or were implemented in an earlier patch this cycle! These are not official notes.



*: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, and sometimes radical or experimental changes. Be aware that what you see below may be lacking context or other changes that didn't make it in or were implemented in an earlier patch this cycle! These areofficial notes.

Champions Amumu

[Context]

Cursed Touch (Passive)

Effect lowered from 15% to 8% Effect changed - no longer reduced by resistances. TL;DR: "Amumu passive tuning for 7.8! The 15% true damage was reduced by resistances before, now it isn't. Nerfed down to 8% to keep it fair.."

Lissandra

[context via twitter - 1/2/3/4]

Iceborn (Passive)

Cooldown changed from 18 at all ranks to 18/15/12/9



"Fixed a bug that caused Iceborn's cooldown to not be reduced when Ring of Frost killed a unit" Ice Shard (Q) AP ratio increased from 65% to 70%

note

Mana regen growth lowered from 0.14 per sec to 0.10.

lowered from 0.14 per sec to 0.10. Riptide (E) Damage reverted from 40/70/100/130/160 to 55/85/115/145/175. Back to live value.



Xayah

Clean Cuts (Passive) feather duration lowered from 8 to 6 seconds.



Items

Short form lore entires added - expect longer from versions to hit the universe page in future!While we already heard select quote in an earlier patch,champion select and ban quote +ban quote are now on the PBE:champ select quote:Ban Quote:Ban Quote:Here'swith context & discussion on several of midseason AD itemization changes that hit PBE today:: Nautilus currently has a E mana cost nerf also on pbe]