[ UPDATED ]10/10 PBE Update - Rammus Texture Update, Heimer/Xerath reworks, Updated Sivir VO/Icons, TONS of balance changes, and SO MUCH MORE!

Update 2: OH GOD RAMMUS GOT TEXTURE UPDATES TOO.

Update: 3.13 Context thread up!

The PBE has been updated with loads of new stuff, including: texture updates for Rammus, Both the Heimerdinger and Xerath reworks,  an updated VO and icons for Sivir, updated particles for Leveling up/usinga potion/last hitting, a few new summoner icons, a new loading screen border for Challenger, some of the Limited Edition skin load screen portraits , updates to the friends list, some major context on this update's Ahri changes, oodles of other balance changes, and more!
Continue reading for look at a TON of new stuff!

Rammus Texture Updates

To everyone's surprise, Rammus got a slew of texture updates in this patch. It's not quite visual update level but it certainly looks a lot better!

Full Metal Rammus did not get any updates as he has a pretty new model to begin with.

Updated "General" Visuals

Several general things got updated particles or visuals on this patch!

Potions:
Level up:



The popup when you get gold / last hit also looks different - it

Slows:

New Summoner Icons

Five new summoner icons have been added and they seem to be related to the Harrowing!

New Challenger Tier Loading Screen Border

A new loading screen border for Challenger tier has been added as the loading screen borders are returning as S3 ranked rewards.

It's the one on the far right.

"LE" Load Screen Potraits

Some strange new Load Screen Potraits for the Harrowing skins of yesteryear popped up in today's PBE Update. They are titled "LE" which I assume stands for "Limited Edition" as all of these skins are limited and no longer available. No details yet on what these are for. Turns out these are part of Riot's plan to bring back Limited skins - these will be special loading screen splashes to show that you bought them when they were first available. MORE INFO HERE.

New Sivir Icons & Voiceover

No visual update yet but a new voiceover and new ability icons for Sivir were included in this update.

Heimerdinger Rework

Heimerdinger's kit rework is here!

Here's 20thCenturyFaux with the details:

"Heimerdinger is ready for PBE. PBE is ready for Heimerdinger. It is time.
Heimerdinger players have done an excellent job of showing us what makes them passionate, and our goal with the rework was to make those elements more interactive. To that end, reinventing the Revered Inventor meant adding depth of play to all of his active skills.

Heimerdinger’s new tools are loaded with opportunities to express skill, both in ability mastery and in overall strategy. He has the tenacity to recover from his failures and the power to define the game with his successes. From his first tinkering to his fiftieth victory, Heimerdinger’s power scales with creativity.

Passive: Techmaturgical Repair Bots

• Heimerdinger gives nearby allied champions and H-28G Evolution Turrets bonus health regeneration per 5 seconds.

• 10/15/20/25/30 Hp5

Q: H-28G Evolution Turret

• Places a Turret at target location. Turret attacks and beams prioritize Heimerdinger’s targets and enemies attacking Heimerdinger. Their Health increases with Heimerdinger’s champion level and they shut down eight seconds after he moves out of the area.

• 
  

• Heimerdinger generates a Turret Kit every 24/23/22/21/20 seconds (modified by CDR), and can hold up to 1/1/2/2/3 Kits at once.

• Mana Cost: 20

• Cooldown: 1

H-28G Evolution Turret Stats

• Health: 150 (+25 / Champion level)

• Attack - Cannon: 15/22/29/36/42 (+0.125 AP) magic damage

• Attack - Beam: 50/75/100/125/150 (+0.5 AP) magic damage in a line, 12 second cooldown

• Maximum Turrets: 3

W: Hextech Micro-Rockets

• Unleashes a barrage of 5 rockets that converge towards your cursor and fan out past it. Each rocket deals 60/90/120/150/180 (+0.45 AP) magic damage.

• Enemies that are hit by more than one rocket take 20% magic damage for each additional rocket, max 105/160/215/270/325. Minions take 60% instead.

• Targeting the rockets closer to Heimerdinger increases their spread.

• Mana Cost: 70/80/90/100/110

• Cooldown: 11

E: CH-1 Electron Storm Grenade

• Hurls a grenade that deals 60/100/140/180/220 (+0.6 AP) magic damage to enemy units and slows their Movement Speed by 35% for 2 seconds. Enemies in the center of the blast are also stunned for 1.25 seconds.

• Mana Cost: 85

• Cooldown: 18/16/14/12/10

R: UPGRADE!!!

• Heimerdinger's next basic spell is free and has bonus effects.

• H-28Q Apex Turret: Places a Turret that deals 90/110/130 (+0.33 AP) magic damage with its cannon and 225/300/375 (+0.8 AP) magic damage with its beam for 8 seconds.

• Hextech Rocket Swarm: Fires 4 waves that deal 135/180/225 magic damage each. Champions and Monsters hit by multiple rockets take reduced damage, max 550/750/950 (+1.8 AP).

• CH-3X Lightning Grenade: Throws a grenade that discharges three times, dealing 150/200/250 (+0.6 AP) magic damage each time. Both the stun and slow areas are larger and the slow is improved to 80%.

• Cooldown: 100/80/60

• Mana Cost: 100

Our goal with these changes is to give Heimerdinger the tools he needs to keep being Heimerdinger, while making him a deeper, more satisfying champion to play as and against. The essence of Heimerdinger is very well-explored by his passionate fanbase, and happily has nothing to do with the elements that made him toxic: a pattern of non-engagement and low skill differentiation.

For instance, auto-aiming rockets feel good but can’t play with the other guy in creep waves. Switching that to a variable “rocket shotgun” skillshot lets Heimerdinger do more cool things while giving the other guy a chance to play too.

The Revered Inventor is a challenging theme to get right, but any good blueprint rests atop a mountain of crumpled almost-theres. We’ve learned a lot from the journey and from feedback players have given us on earlier iterations. Heimerdinger is stronger for it, and it’s our hope that this time on PBE will polish him even more.

One last thing: RAISE YOUR TURRETS!"

Be sure to read up on 20th CenturyFaux's info thread and leave your feedback on Heimer's updates here.

To save space, additional red posts on ole' Heimer will be added to the site post here.
Here's a rough video preview of his updated kit:

Better example of using Heimer's W - aiming near your feet for a wide spread and away for a narrow spread.

Turrets shutting down and shut down.

Xerath Rework

Xerath's kit rework is here! In addition to his updated abilities, he also has a few new particles and ability animations.

Here's Xelnath with the details:

"Summoners! 

The Xerath rework is here and ready for testing on the US PBE. We wanted to help better shape Xerath to fit the modern League of Legends environment, improve the character’s feel and sell his fantasy as a mage commanding unleashed power.

After listening to your feedback, we’ve made the following major changes:

• Passive: No longer grants armor, now grants % magic penetration and restores mana on basic attacks.

• Q: Can now be charged to increase the spell’s range. Mana cost and damage slightly increased.

• W: Is now a targeted AoE explosion that deals additional damage in the center and slows all enemies struck. Enemies in the center are slowed more.

• E: Is now a skillshot missile which stuns champions.

• R: Is a combination of Xerath’s old W and R.

• Immobilize yourself to gain a super-long ranged attack which deals magic damage each time you click the cursor for 3 seconds. (Max 4 shots)

Our intent is to ensure that Xerath’s core pattern is fun and engaging, but his ultimate use is a rare, powerful long-ranged attack.

Please provide feedback – our future tweaks to Xerath will be influenced by your input.

Where should we be focusing our feedback?

• Ultimate - I am particularly interested in feedback on Xerath's ultimate. It has a very unique control method that will take some getting used to.

• Spell names - this is a unique opportunity to contribute your idea for what Xerath's spells should be called. I'll be reviewing EUNE, EUW and NA for ideas!

• Range - Xerath's ult gives him ridiculous range. This is intended to be his strength. Please let me know how it feels both as user and victim.

• Relative power of abilities - I want to know if you feel like too much damage is tied up in a particular ability.

• Skin VFX - His Battlecast and Runeborn skins have new colors. Provide feedback!

• Audio - How do his new abilities sound?

Where should I not be focusing my feedback?

• Molten Xerath - This skin hasn't been updated yet.

• Xerath's model - We did not overhaul his model, just add animations for the new Arcanopulse and ultimate attack.

Xerath has been in development for a while and we feel reasonably confident in his core abilities and VFX. I do want to hear your concerns, but keep in mind, we are not very likely to dramatically change Xerath's Q/W/E visually.

Thank you guys, I am looking forward to letting you see a few iterations of Xerath before he goes live. 

-Xelnath
Wizardlock of Game Design 

P.S. Zenon the Stoic has kindly offered to help me with Xerath. Please assist him if he has any questions."

Be sure to read up on Xelnath's info thread and leave your feedback on Xerath's updates here.

To save space, additional red posts on Xerath will be added to the earlier site post here.


As for numbers and specifics, here are what is CURRENTLY in game. Be warned these numbers are extremely tentative :

Overhelming Power ( Passive ):
Xerath gains % magic penetration ( 4% at level 4/5/6, 5% at 7, 6% at 8/9, 7% at 10, 9% at 11, 10% at 12, 12% at level 13 , 14% at 14, 16% at 15, 19% at 16, 22% at 17. and 26% at 18 )

Every 10 seconds, Xerath's next basic attack restores 4% of his maximum mana. Attacking an emey champion restores 3x that amount instead.

Arcanopulse ( Q ):
Xerath charge and then fires a beam of energy, dealing 70/110/150/190/230 ( +.85 AP ) magic damage to all enemies hit. Charging the spell increases it's range.

Cosmic Strike  ( W ):
Xerath calls down a blast of arcane energy, dealing 50/85/120/155/190 ( +.6 AP ) magic damage to all enemies within the target area, slowing them by 10% for 3 seconds. Enemies in the center of the blast take 60% extra damage and are slowed by 35% instead.


Spellshere ( E ):
Xerath unleases and orb of rraw magic, dealing 100/140/180/220/260 ( .6 AP ) magic damage. The orb explodes on contact, stunning it's target for 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds.


Ascension ( R ):
Xerath ascends to his true form, briefly gaining arcane vision of a large area around himself. He becomes rooted in place and his basic abilities are disabled, but he gains 4 shots of very long distance magic artillery. Fire these shots off with left or right mouse button. The effect lasts up to 7 seconds or until deactivated.

While Ascension is active, Xerath takes 10/20/30% less damage. He cannot be moved by displacement effects, but they briefly stun him.

Xerath bombards a target area with explosive energy, dealing 150/200/250 ( .45 AP ) magic damage to all enemies hit.

Here's a video preview of Xerath's updated particles and abilities:


and here's one showing off the changes to Runeborn and Battlecast Xerath - they now have color!

Context for Ahri changes

Here's ricklessabandon with info on the 3.13 Ahri changes:

"hello all! so, we've got a pbe update coming really soon but the content post that pwyff is working on won't be ready quite in time. so! i've decided to steal a snippet from that post so we can start talking about ahri a bit early. :3 

anyway, at first i'll be around to answer any questions regarding the goals, direction, etc. once the pbe patch is live, we'll be able to talk more about specifics and any bugs that might pop up. i'm really looking forward to hearing from everyone! ♥

(pwyff's post in its entirety will be up a little bit later on.) 

Quote: 

Ahri 

Summary: Ahri's Charm has had its mana cost changed to a flat amount at all levels (higher at lower levels, lower at max level), but now increases the magic damage Ahri deals to the target. Essence Theft now heals her for a specific amount based on the number of enemies she hits with her passive-enhanced spell, as opposed to getting straight spell vamp. Fox Fire now deals less damage when every wisp hits the same target, and now counts as an area-of-effect damage source for the purposes of Spell Vamp and Rylai's Crystal Scepter. Spirit Rush's base damage and AP ratios have been reduced in addition to having its use time limit reduced. 

Context: Ahri is a champion with a lot of strengths and few weaknesses - given her high versatility and reliability, she can regularly apply a lot of general pressure upon her opponents from relative safety. Ahri’s strengths should be much better defined than they currently are. These changes give Ahri players (and her opponents) clear areas of mastery that differentiate the good Ahris from the great Ahris (heh). Our core focuses are:

• Make Ahri’s default lane patterns more clear, so both Ahri and her opponents can make plays around them.

• Make Ahri’s “all in” gameplay more closely tied with landing Charm to establish Charm as Ahri’s “kiss of death” that needs to be avoided, as well as lower her threat/presence while Charm is on cooldown.

• Keep Ahri’s core gameplay intact while trimming away strength from the low-gameplay patterns that don’t feel cunning.

Essence Theft 

- Now heals Ahri for a specific amount (scales with AP and champion level) each time her passive-enhanced spells hit an enemy 

Fox-Fire 

- Diminishing returns effect on same-target hits increased
- Fixed a bug which caused Fox-Fire to sometimes deal reduced damage to a target which should receive the standard damage amount
- Now counts as an AoE damage source for the purposes of Spell Vamp and Rylai’s Crystal Scepter 

Charm 

- Mana cost changed to a flat amount at all levels (higher at lower levels, lower at max level)
- Now increases the magic damage Ahri deals to the target by a percentage for a few seconds 

Spirit Rush 

- Base damage reduced
- AP ratio reduced
- Spirit Rush time limit decreased 

i'll post the numbers for the first iteration (version 0.01) in the post below."

and here are the changes for this PBE Update

"Ahri

Essence Theft 

• Now heals Ahri for (2 + Champion Level) +9% AP each time her passive-enhanced spells hit an enemy (from 35% Spell Vamp) 

Fox-Fire

• Diminishing returns effect on same-target hits increased to 70% (from 50%) [Best case is now: 100% + 30% + 30%]
• This puts the same-target base damages at 64 / 104 / 144 / 184 / 224 (from 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280), and drops the AP ratio for that case to 64% (from 80%)
• Fixed a bug which caused Fox-Fire to sometimes deal reduced damage to a target which should receive the standard damage amount
• Now counts as an AoE damage source for the purposes of Spell Vamp and Rylai’s Crystal Scepter 

Charm

• Mana cost changed to 90 at all ranks (from 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 / 110)
• Now increases the magic damage Ahri deals to the target by 20% for 4 seconds 

Spirit Rush

• Base damage reduced to 70 / 105 / 140 (from 85 / 125 / 165)
• AP ratio reduced to 25% (from 35%)
• These two changes put the new max damage per target values at 210 / 315 / 420 [+75% AP] (from 255 / 375 / 495 [+105% AP])
• Spirit Rush time limit decreased to 7 seconds (from 10)"

Friends List and Buddy Panel updates

Here's Riot Azmodius with details on new Friends list and buddy panel changes!

"Hey PBE Community! 

We've been working on more optimizations for the Friends List and Buddy Panel which will be deployed to PBE with today's patch.

The Friends List consists of the actual list of friends, their folders and the functions within that inner panel but does not include Recently Played or Ignore Lists. The Buddy Panel contains the Recently Played list, Ignore List, buttons surrounding the inner panel, custom status message and the Chat Room Control Panel. 

1.jpg
Our focus on these changes was mainly to address pain points and performance issues when using these features.

• Visuals updated

• Buddy tooltip updated

• Chat Room List visuals changed

• Removed Nunu Icon

• Font change

• Public and Private chat lists are both viewable at once

• Friends List Sort button moved to the Friends List header

• More bug fixes to address performance and reliability

Everything should function as it always has, but we want to make sure that these improvements are solid and don’t break the way you guys use the Friends List, Buddy Panel or any of the connecting systems. 

If you got a moment… add some friends, move ‘em around, check out the new Chat Rooms list (RIP Nunu icon). Let’s test these things A LOT and send us your feedback here. We’ll be checking on this thread regularly and reporting back to the team. 

Thanks for all your help guys!"

Balance Changes

* Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new and sometimes radical changes. The changes you see below may be lacking context or other accompanying changes that didn't make it in - don't freak out.


Ahri ( See context post above )

• Fox Fire ( W ) now reads "Enemies hit with multiple fox-fires take 30% damage from each additional fox-fire beyond the first, for a maximum of X damage to a single enemy." instead of 50% damage from each additional fox-fire
• Fox Fire ( W ) now counts as an AoE damage source for the purposes of Spell Vamp and Rylai’s Crystal Scepter 
• Charm ( E ) now reads "Enemies hit by Charm take 20% more magic damage from Ahri for 4 seconds."
• Charm ( E ) mana cost now 90 at all ranks from 50/65/80/95/110
• Spirit Rush ( R ) damage reduced to 70/105/140 ( +.25 AP) from 85/125/165 ( +.35 AP )
• Spirit Rush ( R ) recast time reduced to 7 seconds from 10.

Corki

• Missle Barrage ( R ) cooldown increased to 2 seconds at all ranks from 1.2
• Missle Barrage ( R ) base damage lowered to 100/180/260 from 120/190/260.

Heimerdinger

• Reworked see above

Xerath

• Reworked see above

Viktor

• Chaos Storm ( R ) mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks from 125/175/225.

Ziggs

• Bouncing Bomb ( Q ) -  "a change to Ziggs' Q targeting where, if the target location is out of range, he'll cast in that direction, rather than walking into range of that location to cast. Effectively this means Bouncing Bomb acts somewhat like a line skillshot. " ( More info here )
• Mega Inferno Bomb ( R ) now deals double damage to minions.

Zyra

• Deadly Bloom ( Q ) range reduced by 25.
• Rampant Growth ( W ) range increased by 25
• Rampant Growth ( W ) passive cooldown reduction reduced to 2/4/6/8/10% from 4/8/12/16/20%