2/18 PBE Update: Item 3285 up for testing , Katarina and Kayle Splash Tweaks, Redesigned ND Summoner icon, and more

The PBE has been updated! Today's patch includes a redesigned Nemesis Draft summoner icon, a new AP item - "Item 3285"- up for testing,  tweaks to Kayle and the new Katarina splash art, and more!
Continue reading for more information!

Table of Contents

• Resigned Nemesis Draft Icon
• Splash Tweaks
• Katarina
• Kayle
• Tristana
• [PBE] New AP Item - "Item 3285" - Available for Testing
• Miscellaneous
• Balance Changes

Redesigned Nemesis Draft Summoner Icon

The Nemesis Draft summoner icon, which was added last PBE cycle, has been redesigned.

Splash Art Tweaks

Katarina

Katarina's new splash art has received several tweaks in today's update!

Here's the new splash, including changes to the background, hair, face, hips, and more.
To go with this, Katarina's portrait has also been tweaked:

Kayle

Kayle's splash has also been tweaked - the lighting has been adjusted, slight changes to shield bubble, and her armor has more shine.

Tristana

Tristana's portrait was also slightly tweaked in today's update:

[PBE] New AP Item - "Item 3285" - Available for Testing

Here's ricklessabandon with info on a "Item 3825" - a new work-in-progress AP item that is now up for testing in today's PBE update:

"hello friends~

so, the title pretty much covered this but we've got a new ap item hitting the pbe soon! as we mentioned in the 5.2 patch notes, we've been spending some time exploring a few different options to add another "late-game mage item" into the game. we're now at the point where we want to share one of those directions with our pbe testers and see how the item is received with a wider audience. one of the goals of these explorations was to discover something that is especially exciting to a particular mage play style, and as you'll quickly notice, this item takes the basic actions of moving around the battlefield and repeatedly slinging spells and rewards them by casting its own spell into the fray! we have some initial thoughts on which play styles are in want of something like this, but more importantly we're interested in seeing what the community does with the new item.

alright, let's talk about our current timeline! this item should be on the pbe soon (tomorrow if everything checks out okay) but will not be shipping in the 5.4 patch—we've still got a bit of testing and number crunching to do on top of getting non-placeholder art and sound. if you're wondering exactly when this would be shipping, the honest answer is that right now we're focused more on getting the item into the hands of testers and confirming that we're happy with this direction than we are about shipping anything by a certain date. the classic "when it's ready" shipping date, if you will.

with all that out of the way, here are the item stats of the first pbe iteration!

Item 3285 (3100g)

• Needlessly Large Rod + Aether Wisp + 650g

• +120 Ability Power

• +7% Movement Speed

• UNIQUE Passive: Gain charges upon moving or casting. At 100 charges, the next spell hit expends all charges to deal 100 (+15% AP) bonus magic damage to up to 4 targets on hit.

Please note that this is a work in progress and that its name, as well as any art or sound assets, is to be considered placeholder. 

that should do it for the item's introduction (i'll update this post if i forgot something). looking forward to the discussion about the item!

He continued:

"it's a bit different since one of the triggers is spell casts instead of basic attacks, so the cadence depends more on which champion you're playing. 

i believe the tuning in the first iteration that should hit pbe gives 20 stacks per spell cast, and gives a little bit less from moving than statikk shiv does."

Miscellaneous 

DJ Sona's unique in-game portrait has been  added. As with the other ultimate skins, this portrait is only visible to her - allies and enemies will see the default Sona portrait.


Viktor

• [Following yesterday's odd change, the Hex Core tooltips have been fixed and no longer list  "0% CDR" - everything is now back to live.]

[New Item] Item 3285 

• Total Cost: 3100g
• Recipe: Needlessly Large Rod + Aether Wisp + 650g
• +120 Ability Power
• +7% Movement Speed
• UNIQUE Passive: Gain charges upon moving or casting. At 100 charges, the next spell hit expends all charges to deal 100 (+15% AP) bonus magic damage to up to 4 targets on hit.

• [Note: Additional context from ricklessabandon available here. This item is experimental and is not shipping in 5.4.  Name, VFX, and SFX should be considered placeholders. The name "Luden's Echo" has been removed]

"Mana Item" and "Mana Gem"

• While they were never available for testing or properly implemented, the strings and files referencing these two "items" HAVE BEEN REMOVED.

Check out THIS PAGE for a comprehensive list of the new content in this PBE cycle or catch up with the individual update links below !

• [Comprehensive PBE Content List for the 5.4 Cycle]
• 2/10 PBE Update: Zilean Kit Changes and New Ability Icons
• 2/12 PBE Update: New Katarina splash, "Relative Team Colors Option", & more
• 2/13 PBE Update: Mordekaiser and Veigar Changes, New Tristana splash, and more
• 2/17 PBE Update: Experimental Mandrake Ward, Mordekaiser Changes, Semi-Locked Camera option, and more!