[Updated] 7/16 PBE Update: Sona's yellow tips, New Summon Icon, "Tantrum" Resource Bar, and more!

[ Update: Added in Riot Repertoir's context on the Vel'Koz changes! ]

The PBE has been updated, including the return of Sona's yellow hair tips for her updated model / texture, a new looking summoner icon, resource bar files that reference a "Tantrum" resource, tentative Vel'Koz changes, and more!
Continue reading for more information!

Sona Update - Yellow Tips Return

In the 7/15 PBE Update, Sona received updates to her model and textures but was missing the yellow tips on her hair! Hair enthusiasts should rejoice as her base model now has her proper colored tips again!
Check out the 7/15 PBE Update or our combined PBE Coverage post for more info on Sona's visual and gameplay updates that are currently on the PBE!

New Summoner Icon

A new, debonair looking summoner icon was included in today's update. No details on availability.

"Tantrum"

A new "Tantrum" texture for the resource bar ( where you normally see Energy, Mana, or even Mordekaiser's shied ) was added in today's patch.



There are three different colors - Empty, Blue (calm ) , Red ( active ) , and Yellow ( warning ) . They are not hooked up or used in game and there are no other details. Guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Context on Vel'Koz changes

Riot Repertoir has posted on the PBE community regarding today's Vel'Koz changes!

"Hey guys, 

You may or may not have noticed that there are Vel'Koz changes on PBE. I just wanted to pop in and tell you guys our plan for them and a bit about our direction for Vel'Koz on the whole. 

Let's start with what our goals for Vel'Koz generally as a champion. When making Vel'Koz, one of the most important things that had to be true about Vel'Koz is that he fulfills the role of a terrifying laser face melter. On his release, I'd say it's fair to say he felt that way, but his ult often felt like there was something lacking if you actually built the primary mage offensive stat - Ability Power. I definitely understand that Vel'Koz is an effective support, and our changes try to give consideration to the fact that players are finding success playing him as a support. That said, our intention for the character was always that his R would be feared in a similar fashion to an ultimate like Fiddlestick's Crowstorm in that it should be an incredibly meaningful, powerful moment for Vel'Koz and an incredibly dangerous moment for opponents. Given how his R's damage scaled, it had that feeling in the early game, but with a full offensive build, it tended to lose that effect as games went on due to its lower Ability Power ratio. We knew this was likely going to be the case on Vel'Koz's release, but we decided to go forward with his release numbers because we saw him as a challenging character to pick up and play and high base damages on the R would provide a relatively standard experience per cast of the ability. Now that he's been out for a few months, we want to really emphasize that when he buys damage, he yields results via his ultimate, and that's why you'll be seeing the lower bases and higher ratios on his ultimate for now on the PBE. 

Again, I'd like to reiterate that we are aware that support Vel'Koz's damage will take a hit if we go through with these changes, but it is our intention that Vel'Koz's character-defining ultimate scale really well with items to better hit character highs on the ability. If taking the base damage off of a character's ultimate is the only change that moves him out of the support position, then that's probably a sign that numbers were out of whack anyway, since supports are primarily picked for their utility anyway. 

On the note of utility, we are indeed looking at reducing the slow on Vel'Koz's ultimate, but allowing it to stack on targets as well. For those of you that remember the Vel'Koz release teaser, we really want to bring out that feeling of him focusing in on a single target and evaporating him, and we think this change helps to clarify that purpose and achieve that goal without doing a mechanic like ramping damage or something of the sort. 

All other changes on Vel'Koz are aimed at just making various spell effects better match their visuals. 

That's a lot of text though! Here's what we're looking at for PBE stuff to test for now... 

W - Void Rift

• W1 missile width increased to match W2

R - Lifeform Disintegration Ray

• Range increased to 1550 from 1500
• Base damage reduced to 350/475/600 from 500/700/900
• Ability Power Ratio increased to 1.5 from 0.6
• Slow reduced to 15% from 20%
• Slow now stacks on targets up to 5 times, up from 1
• Hope this helps to clarify things, 

Repertoir "

Miss out on previous updates from this PBE cycle? Check out THIS PAGE for a comprehensive list of the new content in this PBE cycle or catch up with the links below !

• 7/15 Update - Return of Sona update, Sona Texture / Model Update, Visual Refresh for Patcher and Landing page, and more!