4/4 PBE Update: Twitch VU and SKT T1 Zed!

The PBE has been updated and boy does it STINK! Twitch's visual update and all of his updated skins are now available for testing! Not only does he have a new look but he's also packing new VFX, a new voice over, and a sick chunk of cheese. Today's update also features a new SKT T1 Zed skin, updates to the SKT T1 Jax and Zyra skins, and several tentative balance changes.

Continue reading to check out the latest PBE content!

(Warning: PBE Content is tentative and iterative - what you see may not reflect what eventually gets pushed to live servers! Manage your expectations accordingly. )

Twitch Visual Update

Twitch's VU has sneaky sneaky-ied into the PBE and is now ready for testing!

Before we get to far, here's the feedback thread Ququroon has set up on the PBE community:

"Hey Summoners! Twitch, the Plague Rat, is now ready for PBE testing!
In this VU, you can expect to see new models, new textures, new animations, new visual effects, new sounds, new voice over, and more! This, as always, is for all of his skins as well! One of the cooler changes that we attempted on Twitch was to make all of his effects read better, and feel more satisfying from an audio/visual standpoint. 

We've made changes to two of Twitch's abilities names, to have them make a little more sense to what the gameplay actually is. Expunge has been changed to Contaminate. The previous name indicated that the poison was removed, but this hasn't been true since the gameplay update that came out a while ago. Spray and Pray, an iconic name, has been changed to Rat-ta-tat-tat. We felt that for Twitch's R, he maintains more of an "Aim and Shoot" gameplay, rather than a really frantic ability that can miss, ala Spray and Pray.

• How do you guys like the new VO? Do you feel that this properly captures his character?
• Do the gameplay QoLs aid your experience playing as Twitch? (e.g., the new range indicator on his E)
• How do you feel about the skins? Do they properly capture the fantasy that you already know it for?
• Do you like the new ability names? Do you feel that they better indicate functionality or add to Twitch's character?

Please feel free to leave your feedback in this thread regarding Twitch or any related bugs you encounter. Your feedback here will influence the changes we make, as well as aiding us in our future champion Visual Updates! 

See this thread if you would like more insight into our goals with Twitch, or just to familiarize yourself with him!http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/page/champion-update-new-breed-plague-rat"

Now on to the big cheese!

Twitch

3150 IP or 790 RP

Before and After

For his /taunt, Twitch plays his weapon like a violin.

For his /joke, Twitch eats old cheese.

For his homeguard animation, Twitch runs on all fours.

Auto attack

Each stack of his passive adds a rat head.

Six passive stacks = big rat head

Big swirl then invisible with smoke for Q

Initial swirl VFX from enemies view

Q attack speed buff

E now shoots a line to enemies that it triggers on

E on multiple targets

For his R, Twitch rears back, and starts firing giant bolts as he & his weapon are surrounded by stink

Ult buff on.

To bring the smells together, here's an in-game preview video:

Voice over & Special Interactions

As you may have heard in the video above, this new VO features special interactions for: Janna, Leona, Singed, Zac and Caitlyn's Traps.

Caitlyn Traps:

• "Must take food!"
• "D'oh, it's not even stale yet."
• "OH! That almost caught my tail!"
• "Now I have to gnaw my leg off. Oh, no, I'm good."
• "This is entrapment!"
• "Oh, not again."
• "Phew, this tastes awful!"

Janna

•  "Stop moving my stench!"

Leona

• "The only thing the sun's good for is what it does to milk."

Singed

• "Wooh, Singed, you smell nice!"
• "I have this uncontrollable urge to follow you."
• "I see why everyone chases you."

Zac

• "You remind me of home."
• "I thought this place could use a little gooping up."

Lore:

Twitch also has a new lore entry! While it's in the files, it's not visible in the client so the formatting might be a bit off.

TO "H.I.V.E. Incident Report
Code Violation: Industrial Homicide
Casefile Status: Unsolved
Investigating Agent: Rol, P. 

Team responded to report of suspicious character, criminal activity; proceeded to Sump Works, Sector 90TZ. Sector 90TZ notably absent. In its place: sinkhole, smoke, noxious fumes. Interviews with private security indicate urgent need for better private security. 

Response team entered sinkhole. Toxic runoff had melted away building wreckage. Two survivors located, one partially liquefied and dripping off catwalk. Six deceased bodies found among wreckage, three of them partial; two appear to predate incident. Suspect seems to have removed jewelry, accessories, and dental implants, then sorted them into piles by color. Causes of death include acute deceleration, caustic liquidation, and/or fatal crossbow wounds. Unclear if lab's destruction was itself the perpetrator's motive or an attempt to cover tracks. 

Survivor #1 (Ra Qintava, facility researcher) brought up for interview, but unable to provide statement due to 1) post-traumatic stress and 2) liquefaction of tongue and lower jaw. Awaiting toxin screen and prosthesis fitting. 

Search-and-rescue discovered apparent shantytown constructed from refuse. Recovered items include:
     57 waterlogged romance novels, illegible, with edits made in crayon
     108 bottles, unlabeled (possible toxic runoff or discarded shampoo remnants)
     200 pounds chewing gum (possible installation art project)
     1 jar toenails, labeled by toe/finger, date, and mood 

Survivor #2 (Valori Olant, Sludge Analyst) in recovery; regained lucidity following prolonged therapeutic electrocution. Statement transcript excerpt follows:
     V.O.: GOT TO DO SOMETHING!
     NURSE: She's lost so much blood --
     P.R.: Her co-workers lost a lot more than that --
     V.O.: IT'S STILL OUT THERE!
     P.R.: Ma'am, I need you to focus. Tell me what he looked like.
     V.O.: LIKE A RAT! (pause)
     NURSE: Like a what?
     P.R.: You mean, small? Beady-eyed? Sorta rat-faced -- ?
     V.O.: I MEAN IT LOOKED LIKE A GIANT GODSDAMNED RAT! (pause). WITH A CROSSBOW! (pause).
     P.R.: (to nurse) Can we moderate her painkillers ?
     V.O.: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING! IT'S A HOMICIDAL, PSYCHOPATHIC, GIANT FREAKING RAT!
     IN A WAISTCOAT!
     P.R.: Nurse?
     NURSE: (injecting Olant's arm with sedative) On it.
     [EDIT]
     V.O.: We were just scientists, working on refining human waste into inexpensive baby formula... [EDIT] I saw ! I don't know how else to this crazed, enormous RAT screaming at us! Kicking over vats! Spitting on our food! [EDIT] The lab was sealed. Nowhere to run. Chemicals flooded in through the sprinklers[EDIT] I woke up in the dark. Well, the acid had melted my eyeballs. I could SMELL the twitchy bastard inches from my face. It said, "NOBODY STEALS TWITCH'S JUICE!" cackled wildly, and skittered off. I can still smell it in my mind. OH MY GODS, I CAN STILL SMELL IT!! 

End transcript. At this point victim began screaming; has yet to stop.

[UPDATE: Qintava, Written Testimony]
Suspect summary, as reported:
     NAME/KNOWN ALIASES: "Twitch."
     SEX: Male(unconfirmed).
     AGE: Unknown.
     HEIGHT: 4'9" (hunched)
     WEIGHT: < 99 lbs. (wet).
     DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Is a giant rat.
     STATUS: At large; armed, extremely dangerous; DO NOT ENGAGE.
H.I.V.E - Enforcing Progress!"

Updated Skins

Now that the intro is out of the way, let's take a look at each of his five updated skins!

Kingpin Twitch

520 RP - Legacy skin

Whistler VIllage Twitch

520 RP - Legacy skin 

Vandal Twitch

975 RP

Gangster Twitch

975 RP

Medieval Twitch

Refer a Friend Reward

New Skins

SKT T1 Zed

750 RP

Here's a preview video but be warned his shadows are not correct.

Skin Updates for SKT T1 Zyra & Jax

SKT T1 Zyra, who debuted on the PBE yesterday, has had the arrow on the lower part of her costume removed.

Here's some updated in-game shots but the difference is barely noticeable.

SKT T1 Jax has also been updated - his auto attacks now have a bonk sound to match his weapon.

[ Clarity ] Aggro Display Changes

While it was also on the PBE last cycle, Here's Rayven with more info on the changes to how Aggro is displayed - it's now an icon above the health bar.

"Hey folks, we are looking for feedback on changes to the way aggro is displayed in the game.

Tl;Dr we are reducing visual noise and improving targeting by moving the aggro display from an outline to an icon above the health bar. 

The current aggro system provides feedback to players when minions and monsters are attacking them. We want to improve that awareness while also reducing the overwhelming visual noise of the outline display (orange blob of doom). 

This change should also make targeting an enemy or neutral much clearer. An outline around a unit now means targeting only rather than multiple things at once. 

We are still iterating on this and have some upcoming supporting features so try it in game and join the conversation. 

Thanks!"

See above wraith's head. 

Balance Changes

* Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, 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! These are not official notes.

Champions

Kassadin

• Null Sphere ( Q ) shield increased to 40/80/120/160/200 (+.8) from 40/70/100/130/160 ( +.6 )

• [ Context: Kassadin's current shield AP ratio on live is .3 ]

Rumble

• Flamespitter ( Q ) tooltip no longer lists that it does half damage to neutral monsters.

Twitch

• Base armor reduced to 14 from 18 
• Base HP Regen reduced to 0 from 1

• [ Note: Value pulled from files, doesn't seem to be reflected in game ]

•  Expunge  ( E ) is now named "Contaminate"
• Spray and Pray ( R )  is now named " Rat-Ta-Tat-Tat"

Vayne

• Base armor returned to 13.3 from 9.3

• [ Context: Due to her new skin, this value was mistakenly lowered in yesterday's PBE patch and has now been corrected ]

Trinkets

Soul Anchor ( New, Dominion Only Revive Trinket )

• Active: Consumes a charge to instantly revive at your Summoner Platform and grants 125% Movement Speed that decays over 12 seconds.Additional charges are gained at levels 9 and 14 (Max: 2 charges)

Miss out on previous updates from this PBE cycle? Catch up with the links below or check out THIS PAGE for a comprehensive list of the balance changes currently in this PBE cycle!

• 4/3 PBE Update: SKT T1 skins for Jax, Lee Sin , Vayne, and Zyra