[UPDATED] 8/26 PBE: Azir, Renekton Model &Texture update, Ascension Assets, New Kha'Zix Skin Placeholder

[Big Update - New Info at bottom of post: A second, small update was pushed to the PBE! The Summoner's Rift update is now back up for testing and it's full of CRITTERS and the river now has ripple effects when you walk through it. We also have new AA vfx for Urgot ]

The PBE has been updated  and Azir is now available for testing! Additionally, we also have a model and texture update for Renekton, Galactic Renekton, Outback Renekton, and Bloodfury Renekton,  new summoner icons, assets for and details on the ASCENSION featured gameplay mode, and more!
Continue reading for more information, including a detailed look at our newest champion!

New Champion - Azir

Following his surprise reveal earlier today, Azir is now available for testing!

Before we get too far in, here's ZenonTheStoic with a few comments on our latest champion:

"Hello friends and testers!

Thank you very much for checking out Azir on the PBE. This release is a little unlike our normal PBE releases in that you'll see us actively iterating on the champion before your eyes. We're mostly done with what his kit does, but balance is still a huge question mark and we're aware of the bug count we have.

With that said, here's what's going to be happening over the next days:

1) Azir currently murders towers. There is a subtle price he pays for this (soldiers time out much more quickly under enemy turrets), but that price is not high enough. Tomorrow we'll try a version of Azir where the soldiers cannot attack turrets at all but instead you can spawn a soldier onto a turret to deal a chunk of damage to the turret. You have to cast your W onto the turret, that is to say walk into 400 unit range of the turret, which we hope will be risky enough for the pay-off. The idea is that if left alone, Azir will push like the crazy bird he is, but enemies should be able to punish Azir for walking this close to a tower if they stick around for the defense.

2) Azir currently suffers from a weak laning phase and then enjoys a crazy take-off point mid to late game (usually around the time he hits 40% CDR). We're happy with that curve overall, but we're looking to smooth it out a little. Coming soon[tm] (probably day after tomorrow?) we'll buff Azir's early lane (Q slow amount? Q base damage? W stab base damage?) but reduce the CDR->AS passive somewhat--at least that's our thinking after half a day on PBE. We'll do some analysis tomorrow and make the call.

3) While I've not seen this on PBE, I have seen Azir get ahead and shut down his lane opponent in internal playtests. The amount to which he removes his opponent's ability to play the game in the laning phase is worrying. If we see people learn Azir and get to this stage on PBE, we will assess if the soldier attack range (currently 400) is appropriate. If not, we'll bring it down.

Let's use this thread as the master repository of bug reports and balance feedback. There's a few bugs I'm aware of that I want to fix, such as: 

• Allies and Azir can teleport to the tower clicker
• Sometimes in a mirror matchup, certain tower clickers disappear for one Azir
• Using E outside of range procs spellcasts (sheen passive etc)
• The first soldier attack after summoning the soldier sometimes fails
• Jinx passive and Ohmwrecker do not yet work on Azir turrets
• There are circumstances in which Azir can do damage to you without being revealed in brush
• Azir's allies see the tower clicker light up when they mouse over it even though they cannot interact with it

If you have more bugs, please let us know here! Also, any and all impressions of playing as / against / with Azir are very welcome. Tell me a story about an Azir game--was he useful? Useless? Super OP? Hard to understand? Let us know! 

Thank you again for participating in the public beta program!"

Azir, The Emperor of the Sands

Stats & Abilities:

• Health: 390 + 80 per level
• HP/5: 6.0 + .55 per level
• Mana: 280 + 42 per level
• MP/5: 6.5 + .65 per level
• AD: + 2.8 per level
• Armor: 14 + 3 per level
• MR: 30 + 0 per level
• Movement Speed: 330
• Range: 525

(Passive) Shurima's Legacy

Will of the Emporer: Azir gains 2% Attack Speed for every 1% Cooldown Reduction he has. 

Disc of the Sun: Azir can summon the Sun Disc from the ruins of a turret once every 3 minutes. The Sun Disc behaves like a normal turret but disintegrates over 1 minute. Click the ruins of a turret to activate Disc of the Sun. The ruins of enemy Nexus and Inhibitor turrets are immune to this ability.

(Q) Conquering Sands

70 Mana  

10/9/8/7/6 Second Cooldown 

Azir sends all Sand Soldiers towards a target location. Sand Soldiers deal 60/90/120/150/180 (+0.6 AP) magic damage to all enemies they pass through and apply a stacking 20% slow for 1 second.

(W) Arise!

40 Mana  

1.5 Second Cooldown 

Azir summons a Sand Soldier for 9 seconds. When Azir attacks an enemy in a soldier’s range, the soldier attacks instead of Azir, dealing X [ flat damage is based on level - 50/55/60/65/70/75/80/85/90/100/110/120/130/140/150/160/170 ](+.7 AP) magic damage to enemies in a line. Soldiers attack even if Azir himself isn’t in basic attack range. 

Azir can store up to 2 Sand Soldiers at a time. A new soldier becomes available every 12/11/10/9/8 seconds. Moving too far away from soldiers deactivates them. Sand Soldiers expire twice as fast when near an enemy turret.

(E) Shifting Sands

60 Mana 

23/21/19/17/15 sec Cooldown 

Azir dashes to one of his Sand Soldiers, damaging enemies hit for 60/90/120/150/180 (+.4 AP) magic damage and knocking them up for 0.5 seconds. If Azir hits an enemy champion, he stops and gains a 4 second shield that absorbs 60/100/140/180/220 (+X) [15% of bonus Health] damage

(R) Emperor's Divide

100 Mana 

140/120/100 sec Cooldown 

Azir summons a wall of armored soldiers that charge forward, knocking back enemies and dealing 150/225/300 (+0.5 AP) magic damage. The soldiers then remain as a wall for 5/6/7 seconds. 

Enemies will be stopped by Emperor’s Divide, even if they attempt to dash over the wall, but Azir and his allies can pass freely and gain 20% movement speed for 1 second when they pass through the wall. 

Emperor’s Divide does not interact with Azir’s basic attacks or spells

and here's a video preview of all of his skills in action!

Voice:

As you may have overheard, Azir has a slew of unique VO lines for enemy champions and slaying epic monsters!

Sivir

• "You must learn respect, Sivir."
• "Accept your destiny, Sivir."
• "Rise with Shurima, Sivir, or fall beneath it."

Renekton

• "Renekton, once a noble warrior, now naught but a mad beast."
• "You have forgotten yourself, Renekton."

Xerath

• "You are but a grain of sand, Xerath!"
• "Emperors have no rivals, Xerath, Only liabilities."
• "Xerath, it is time your spark went out."
• "You have already failed, Xerath... You must now accept it."
• "Traitor! I cast you to the winds."
• "You are but my shadow, Xerath."
• "Xerath, the time of your judgment has come!"

Dragon

• "No dragon can defeat us!"
• "Even dragons look up to the sun."
• "I have no fear of dragons"

Vilemaw

• "It is you who are in my web, spider."
• "This spider will be trampled in our march."
• "You may be large, Vilemaw, but you remain an insect to me."

Baron

• "We will overcome this monster!"
• "No beast will stop us!"
• "Emperors have no need of barons."
• "What is a baron to an emperor?"

and here's his champion select quote:

Release Skin

Galactic Azir

[ Note: Galactic Azir has his own, unique passive model but it isn't quite working at the moment ]

Renekton Model and Texture updates!

Renekton has a new look on the PBE! His base, Outback, Galactic, and Bloodfury skins have all been updated with new models and textures!

Renekton 

Galactic Renekton

Bloodfury Renekton

"Yes. His newer skins were in good shape, we did just tiny texture tweaks on the newer stuff, but older skins had new geometry created for them."

New Kha'Zix Skin Placeholder

Kha'Zix has a placeholder for "Khazix_Splash_2". No in-game assets are available yet.

New Summoner Icons

Five new summoner icons were included in this patch!

New Featured Game Mode: Ascension

Here's L4T3NCY with more information on ASCENSION!

"The sands of Shurima sweep across the Crystal Scar… bringing with them our next Featured Game Mode: Ascension 

This time we’re bending the rules quite a bit for one of our most competitive game modes yet, so bear with us as we get into it! 

-- Ascension is a 5v5 brawling skirmish played on the Crystal Scar.
-- The sands have restricted movement on the Crystal Scar to just the center of the map. You’ll need to use the new ‘Golden Transcendence’ trinket to teleport to a battle platform and enter the fray.
-- Victory is points based. The first team to earn 200 points wins!
-- Points can be earned by killing enemy players (1 point), capturing Relics of Shurima (3 points) or killing an Ascended (5 points).
-- At the sandstorm’s center in the middle of the map is an Ancient Ascendant, Xerath. Defeating him grants Ascension to whomever strikes the killing blow. Ascension gives you awe-inspiring power and double points for every kill you get! This power comes at a price though... all healing effects on the Ascended are dramatically reduced, so burn fast and burn bright! 

Known issues: 

Some announcement VO sounds are missing. We’ll have these in shortly. o^_^o
Air-client background and loading screen art is still WIP. 

We’ll be making Ascension available soon™ on PBE, and as always, we want to hear your feedback or if you guys find any bugs. Let us know which champions feel strong, what strategies work best for you and of course.. who is the strongest Ascended!?"

For those curious, here are all the newly added ASCENSION strings:

"game_announcement_OnChampionAscended_blue" = "A blue team champion has Ascended!"
"game_announcement_OnChampionAscended_chat" = "champion has Ascended!"
"game_announcement_OnChampionAscended_EnemyTeam" = "An enemy champion has Ascended!"
"game_announcement_OnChampionAscended_purple" = "A purple team champion has Ascended!"
"game_announcement_OnChampionAscended_red" = "A red team champion has Ascended!"
"game_announcement_OnChampionAscended_YourTeam" = "An allied champion has Ascended!"
"game_announcement_OnClearAscended" = "The Ascended has fallen!"
"game_announcement_OnMinionAscended" = "The Ancient Ascendant has arisen!"

"game_Asc_points_text" = " X Points"
"game_Asc_tip_text_01" = "Earn points by killing enemies and capturing Relics of Shurima."
"game_Asc_tip_text_02" = "Use Golden Transcendence (Trinket) to teleport to a battle platform."
"game_Asc_tip_text_03" = "Defeat Xerath to ascend and attain great power!"
"game_Asc_tip_title_01" = "Earn Points"
"game_Asc_tip_title_02" = "Teleport into battle"
"game_Asc_tip_title_03" = "Ascend!"
"game_Asc_warphelp_text" = "Use Golden Transcendence (Trinket) to teleport to one the battle platforms!"

"game_buff_tooltip_AscBuff" = "Ascensio,. This champion has ascended!<br>Mana and Energy consumption reduced by 100% Health costs on abilities reduced by 50%+X Health +X Attack Damage +X Ability Power +X% Armor Penetration +X% Magic Penetration +25% Cooldown Reduction. Incoming healing and regeneration effects are reduced by 50%. Always visible while Ascended, even while stealthed or in brush."

"game_buff_tooltip_AscBuff_Xerath" = "Ancient Ascendant. Xerath reduces incoming damage by X%.Xerath is inedible and cannot be killed by Consume or Feast.''I am the will of man unbound by flesh.''

"game_buff_tooltip_AscWarp" = "Golden Transcendence . This unit is currently teleporting to a battle platform."

"game_buff_tooltip_AscWarpProtection" = "Phoenix Dawn. his unit has just teleported and is briefly protected.''A Champion reforged on the sun's anvil knows no fear. ''"

"game_character_enemyTooltip_AscRelic" = "Relic of Shurima.Capture this to score points for your team!"

"game_character_enemyTooltip_AscXerath" = "Xerath The Magus Ascendant. Defeat Xerath to achieve Ascension!" 

"game_item_description_3460" = "Active: Use this trinket to teleport to one of the battle platforms. Can only be used from the summoning platform.''It is at this magical precipice where a champion is dismantled, reforged, and empowered.''"

"game_item_displayname_3460" = "Golden Transcendence"

"game_item_tooltip_3460" = "Golden TranscendenceCannot be sold UNIQUE Active: Use this trinket to teleport to one of the battle platforms. Can only be used from the summoning platform. ''It is at this magical precipice where a champion is dismantled, reforged, and empowered.''"

"game_objectives_Ascension_ascend" = "Killing the Ascended = 5 Points"
"game_objectives_Ascension_kills" = "Kills = 1 Point (2 while Ascended)"
"game_objectives_Ascension_relics" = "Capturing a Relic = 3 Points"

"game_spell_displayname_AscRelicCaptureChannel" = "Capturing Relic of Shurima" 

There also seems to be a custom UI that will be used during the mode.

Voiceover Updates

Perhaps related to all this Shurima goodness, Renekton, Sivir, and Cassiopeia all have new voiceover lines!

Cassiopeia

 

 

 

Ranked Restrictions Testing

Socrates has posted up information on a new player behavior restriction, one that prevents toxic players from playing ranked at all, that is currently being tested on the PBE

"Hey all, 

For a while now, the Competitive and Player Behavior teams have been working together to develop ways to improve the quality of the ranked play experience, and we’re now ready to test a new feature on PBE. This experiment involves a feature called Ranked Restrictions. Negative players will have their in-game chat restricted, and also be temporarily prevented from joining ranked queues entirely. 

In this test, restricted players will be unable to play ranked until they've completed a certain number of games in Normal Draft queue. As with Chat Restrictions, after finishing the predetermined number of games, we’ll perform a final evaluation to make sure they've actually improved their in-game behavior. (This is to prevent negative players from merely transferring their negative behavior to another queue, AFKing for 5 games, and then jumping right back into ranked). 

Since this is a test, we’re looking for volunteers to be Chat and Ranked restricted on PBE. If you have current PBE access and would like to participate, please email lyte@riotgames.com to join in. 

As always, thanks for helping us with the PBE, and GLHF! 

-Riot Socrates"

Summoner's Rift Update Returns - Ripples, Critters, and more

The Summoner's Rift update is back up for testing on the PBE, although there appears to be a few texture bugs!

The second, small PBE patch also contained files for an "Antlermouse" critter, which I'm sure we'll eventually be able to find scurrying around the updated map. Here's a look at it's textures / model!

Here are the locations of all the in-game critters I've been able to find!


As the community has been requesting, the river now has water ripples when champions walk through it!

Urgot AA Update

Urgot has new visuals for his auto attacks!