The PBE has been updated! As we continue the 7.3 PBE cycle, today's coverage includes newthemed summoner icons, details on the newgame mode, minor tweaks for, 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

New Summoner Icons

Hunt of the Blood Moon Mode Up for Testing

NOW

ENABLED FOR TESTING!!

DefaultChar

"Hey all:

It’s the Blood Moon time of year once more, and to celebrate its arrival we’re bringing you a brand new, assassin-tastic game mode!

As you’re no doubt expecting, details below ^^

Hunt of the Blood Moon

TL;DR:

Hunt of the Blood Moon is our take on the classic Assassin Power Fantasy, compressed into a mode. Two teams of Assassins compete, sacrificing the opposition in an attempt to secure the Blood Moon’s blessing and briefly gain the power of a demon. The team most successful in gaining said favor wins!

Players: 5v5

Map: Summoner’s Rift

Mode Type: Blind Pick, with Champion Restrictions.

Game Flow/ Mechanics:

First team to obtain 300 points wins.

Earn points in 3 ways: Sacrificing Enemy Champions, Enemy Spirits, and Demon Heralds.

Enemy Champions are… fairly straightforward ☺ Find them, make them “Less alive”, and secure favor for your team (5, specifically)

Spirits of the Blood Moon will passively filter into both teams jungles. Hunt down the enemy team’s spirits and sacrifice them as well (3 pts)

Demon Heralds will periodically spawn in both. …Sacrifice them as well, and secure a grand total of 30 points.

If you are able to defeat 3 enemies without returning to base (see: “Wussing out”) or dying you’ll briefly gain the power of a demon, turning invisible and running very (very) fast for the duration.

The demon brand will break when you deal damage (or after 45 seconds), instantly doing 20% of the first target’s maximum health in true damage.

Other Gameplay Notes:

Minimap indicators in both teams’ jungles will light up to indicate the number of spirits in that half of the jungle.

A maximum of 8 will spawn at a time, so hunt them down aggressively!

Gold and Experience are flatlined, and Respawn Timers are reduced across the board.

Lane minion spawns have been disabled, and turrets are invulnerable.

At the start of the game, outer turrets are removed. 6 minutes in, the second row will collapse as well, giving you a bit more space to play around in.

We’ve removed a… not insignificant… number of items from the shop (Basically, if it’s mostly defensive, you probably can’t buy it)

Restricted Champion Pool:

For the first time in a game mode, we’re going to be using a limited pool of champions. We’ll be restricting you to a pool of 20 Assassins and Aggressive Divers;

Specifically:

Ahri

Akali

Camille

Diana

Ekko

Elise

Evelynn

Fizz

Kassadin

Katarina

Kennen

Kha'Zix

Leblanc

Lee Sin

Pantheon

Rengar

Shaco

Talon

Yasuo

Zed

In celebration of the blood moon event, we’ll also be adding 10 of these champions to the Free to Play rotation for all players (Exact details coming later :) )

This is the first time we’re experimenting with a restricted champion pool, so please keep an eye out for anything that seems odd there☺. Let us know if you run into any bugs or visual shenanigans, and if you have any feedback/ concerns definitely let us know, as anything you catch will be massively appreciated. Beyond that, we hope you have fun, and best of luck on your hunting!

-- Defaultchar"





If you'd like to watch a game of HUNT OF THE BLOOD MOON, check out our PBE autospectate stream:

Skin Tweaks





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

Reminder

several

Tactical Sweep (W) mana cost reverted to 50/55/60/65/70 from 60/65/70/75/80

mana cost to 50/55/60/65/70 from 60/65/70/75/80 Hookshot (E) stun duration increased to .75 from .5 seconds (current live value is 1 second.)

stun duration increased to .75 from .5 seconds (current live value is 1 second.) ( NOTE : This is still a nerf vs live where current value is 1)





Feast (R):

Cho'Gath no longer loses half of stacks on death.

loses half of stacks on death.

Cho'Gath can now have more then 6 stacks

then 6 stacks

Stacks beyond 6 require a champion kill.





Stacks beyond 6 have diminishing returns.





Rank 1 Ult Values PER stack -







stacks 1-6 = + 100 HP per stack









stacks 7 - 10 = +50 HP per stack









stacks 11 on = +25 HP. per stack







Rank 3 Ult Value -







stacks 1-6 = + 180 HP per stack









stacks 7 - 10 = +90 HP per stack









stacks 11 = +45 HP. per stack







[Cho'Gath still grows but seems to be a cap to how big he gets - 10]



Cho'Gath no longer gets 2 stacks from champion kill.

gets 2 stacks from champion kill.

Kills on minions and monsters no longer refunds 50% cooldown and cost.

Savagery (Q) dash range lowered by 50 units.

dash range lowered by 50 units. Battle Roar (W) Ferocity CC prevention effect removed - no longer "prevents incoming ones for 1.5 seconds,"

Thrill of the Hunt (R) duration lowered to 10/15/20 from 14/22/30





Tristana

Rapid Fire (Q)

Cooldown lowered to 18/17/16/15/14 from 20/19/18/17/16



Duration increased to 7 from 5





Vladimir

[ Reminder : Vladimir has several tentative changes c hastentative changes c urrently testing on the PBE Tides of Blood (E) reverted changes from 1/24 - [tooltip no longer 15% uncharged slow]

Notes shinkazuo with context on Rengar nerfs in today's update: "Just to give a little more context: the Q change is just the dash range, about 50 units (there were some really weird optimizations around low Q cd with players using it to dash faster around the map instead of actually walking). R duration still is VERY long, you can easily scout more than half of the map (while before you could basically cross the whole map, see everything and still have time to leap to someone). This is problematic especially in very high levels of play. Currently also looking into making his kill patter a little more healthy and with more decision making involved. We are investigating the removal of the crit when you leap to the closest target but if you do Rengar will generate full ferocity right after casting his next empowered ability (do I double emp Q to secure kill? emp Q for damage into emp W if I need to gtfo? double emp E because fuck you stand still please?) All in testing though, not to be expected for 7.3." ManWolfAxeBoss tweeted additional Cho'Gath changes are on the way for tomorrow. Meddler commented these were not likely to ship in 7.3 and are "pretty experimental."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





Several newsummoner icons were added to today's PBE:[!!The "Assassin Mode" assets seen in the 1/24 update are for the newgame mode! This mode will be in the RGMQ at launch and return if it does well. Here'sIn our experiences, the average game of Hunt for the Blood Moon only took about 10 to 12 minutes.The first team to get to 300 points - tracked by a bar at top of screen - wins. Points are earned by killing players (5), killing spirits that roam the map (3), or slaying the mighty Demon Herald (30).As mentioned in the post, one way to gain points is by killing the Demon Herald - a mode appropriate version of Rift Herald that spawns in BOTH the dragon and baron pit and kills grant 30 points!Everyone in the mode passively as the Blood Pact buff.Beside each champion you'll notice a kill counter that goes from 1 up to 3. Returning to base or dying clears these marks and getting three grants a potent temporary buff.After securing three kills without dying/returning to base and a small charge delay, you'll get thebuff, which grants invisibility and +20% of targets max health in true damage on your next attack! This buff lasts 45 seconds or until your next attack.While the buff stealths, the champion with it will glow brightly.Here's a small gallery of screenshots to preview the Blood Moon Summoner's Rift changes, which are included in the mode (and currently on practice, custom, and normal on PBE)Following his debut in the 1/24 PBE Update recall now has the proper portal vfx!hastentative changes c urrently testing on the PBE context .]