Red Post Collection: Mid-year Mage Update, January Early Sales, GG, Dynamic Ranked & New Champ Select Update, & more!

Continue reading for more information!

• Champion and Skin Sale 1/22 - 1/25
• EU LCS Sprint Split Week 2
• Red Post Collection: 2016 Season, Party Rewards, LCP Epi 6: Jhin, Champion Mastery 6 & 7, Lunar Revel teaser, & more!

• 1/21 PBE Update: New Summoner Icons & Non-English Jhin VO
• 6.2 PBE Cycle Roundup

Table of Contents

January Early Sales! 

January's early sales are here! Between now and the end of the day on January 25th (PST time!), over twenty skins released in the past four to six months are on sale!

"The Early Sale is officially here! To kick things off, the following non-Legacy skins from the past 4-6 months are going on sale from January 22 00:00 PST through January 25 23:59 PST! You can read more about the Early Sale here."

January Early Sales

Speaking of sales, February's weekly sales and early sales can be found here.

Mid-Year Mage Update

"Hey all, 

The next class update will be focused on “traditional” Mages and I’m here to give you guys and gals some of the initial details. Similar to the Juggernaut and Marksman releases, these updates aim to take look at an entire class of champions and accomplish 2 primary goals:

1. Ensure the class as a whole is relevant and satisfying to play
2. Differentiate each champion within the class 

Why Mages?
Many Mages are intended to lack mobility but have not necessarily been given clear answers as to what they should do about it or why they work without it. For each sub-class of Mages (this is something we’ll dive into more in a different post) these answers will vary, but our intent is to make it clear that each of these champions is powerful in their own unique way. 

On the flip side of the coin, many of them no longer meet our evolving gameplay standards of interactivity, depth, uniqueness, etc. This is also an opportunity to go back and adjust these champions (especially some of our older ones) making them more interesting to play as, with, and against. 

Who are we working on?
Similar to the Marksman update, we’re aiming to release ~6 significant updates. The champions we are currently considering (but are still subject to change) are Malzahar, Vel’Koz, Brand, Vladimir, Cassiopeia, and Zyra. 

For each of these champions we aim for them to be 3 things: 

1. Distinct - offer a unique reason to be picked
2. Cohesive - deliver on their core thematic and gameplay fantasy
3. Healthy - balance-able and fun to play as and against at all skill levels 

Note that given the scope of these projects, we won’t necessarily solve every issue on every champion - and fortunately we won't have to since all of the champions already succeed in their own way at some of the above. 

On top of the 6, we are again looking to do a sweep across the entire class (as we did with the Marksman) to find potential tweaks that will make them more unique, interactive, and exciting to play. The smaller-scale changes done to Twitch and Lucian are good examples of this. 

What can you expect? When? 

We’ve learned a lot from our previous projects and better understand the line between something unique and something unfamiliar. Our priority is to find ways to evolve and enhance the current direction of a champion while still accomplishing the above-stated goals. 

In some ways, the feeling of change is unavoidable; we are updating these champions so things WILL be different. We’re confident that we can retain the things you guys love while adding new dimensions. 

This is all still a far ways off, so don’t expect anything soon. As you can infer from the title, we’re aiming to release these changes around mid-year and we’ve only just begun to delve deeply into these projects. 

How can you help? 

We’d love to have your guys’ feedback and opinion on the Mages before and during their development process rather than only at the tail end - especially for the “big 6” (Malzahar, Vel’Koz, Brand, Vladimir, Cassiopeia, Zyra). 

We are most interested in the following about your favorite champion: 

1. What aspect is most core or sacred to their identity?
2. What issue bothers you the most when playing them? 

This doesn’t mean we’ll be magically giving everyone dashes or any other instant remedies to all their problems (weaknesses often exist for a good reason). Instead, this information will help us understand which direction to take each champion and where the opportunities lie. 

We won’t be talking in the short-term about exact changelists since we’re still in such a state of flux, but we hope you guys are as excited as we are about the updates ahead!"

Following the post, several Rioters hung around to discuss the changes and answer questions!

To start us off, Meddler shared where they are looking to improve each of the big six listed above:

"Statikk and the other folks working on the mage update will be talking in detail about why these particular champs. At a high level our goal with these class updates is to increase distinction between characters. With the mage update especially we're also looking at some champions that are distinct, but when functional aren't healthy for the game or are in an ok spot already but have a fair bit of untapped potential for differentiation. 

• Ought to bring more distinct things to a team: 

• Vel'Koz - Really distinct to play as, cohesive, feels fair to play against. Doesn't bring enough distinct to a team though, so lacks a clear strategic niche or specialized tool offered. Goal with him will be to offer clearer situations where he's the right pick when you want AP poke.
• Brand - Pretty similar to Vel'Koz overall, in that he lacks a clear enough niche, so primary gameplay argument for picking him is when he's the most damaging AOE mage. Needs a somewhat more distinct toolkit basically. 

• Distinct, but have significant game health challenges: 

• Vlad - Does distinct things, but can be really unhealthy. Work on Vlad's going to involve a lot of 'how do we preserve the core of what he does while adding ways to play against him'. 

• Malz - More game health issues than anything else. Counterplay's not great in particular, with Malz needing to just click on you and kill you given his squishiness, immobility, lack of reach, vulnerability to item system counters. Has a lot of distinctive stuff going on though. 

• Untapped potential/Confused identities: 

• Cass - Confused identity, unclear niche (sustained damage almost marksmen like pattern, versus poison spreading potential, versus stacking power, versus counter initiator etc). Work on Cass will need to start with constructing a clear picture of what her concept should be (suspect that'll include stripping out the stacking gameplay, though that's a guess). 

• Zyra - Does reasonably distinctive things, but has the potential for quite a bit more. Also ends up either a strong bully or struggling to function a bit too often. 

Finally, as with the marksman update in preseason, we'll also be making some small tweaks to a number of other mages at the same time as these bigger changes (things like the Q reset on Twitch for example)."

As for why Fiddlesticks isn't getting larger work, Statikk  explained:

"Fiddle is also a champion we considered, but ultimately felt wasn't the right fit. 

To do a quick rundown on our perception: 

1. Distinct - Fiddle is extremely distinct on the roster. Playing as and against him offer unique experiences.
2. Cohesive - Fiddle is decent in terms of cohesiveness. He has a somewhat niche thematic as a terrifying scarecrow, but it's understandably cool. It could probably be pushed a bit further especially in terms of the satisfaction from all his base spell (Drain, Terrify, and Dark Wind).
3. Healthy - This is debatable, but Fiddle is certainly not the largest health problem in the game. Tactically, his spells' gameplay could probably be more robust in terms of interactivity (counterplay). Strategically though, there are many ways to deal with Fiddle whether through vision, knockbacks, stuns, etc. 

Fiddle is certainly a bit dusty and old-feeling, but that means he may be more in need of a visual / polish pass more than anything. It's not like he wouldn't benefit with some more significant work, but he's a champion that we feel can be a put in a decent spot even with just some minor number tweaks."

When asked about Galio and why he isn't a part of this update, Riot Scruffy added:

"Galio is in a similar situation to swain. This type of 'group update' where each character gets roughly 1 skill change wouldn't do Galio justice. 

He needs the full deal."

He continued:

"The big high level thing is that he is really underdelivering on mythical antimagic gargoyle. We could do so much better in many ways."

When asked about Malzahar's changes with respect to AD and AP build's voidlings, Repertoir noted:

"The hope is that Voidlings can be a meaningful source of damage and gameplay for Malzahar regardless of build."

Riot Repertoir continued:

"Quote:

I am fully aware that Malzahar is considered by 99.9% of summoners to be a mid laner, but whatever you do to him, please be wary that are a few of us that play Malzahar in the jungle (you can check my match history ;) ).

I can't guarantee voidlings will be exactly the same as they are now, but this perspective is something I'm trying to strongly consider when working on Malz."

When asked about where Ryze falls into all this, Meddler  noted:

"Quote:

Where's Ryze on this list? I feel that his rework really missed and made his kit toxic in that it's unfun to play against and is heavily dependent on ping to use to the best extent. For a 450 ip chammpion, he's also way more mechanically intensive than he should be. If you mess up his combo during his supercharged state, you are punished immensely.

We're going to try and tackle Ryze before the mid year, we think he's enough of a problem we need to act sooner . Unclear whether that'll mean some degree of rework or just significant balance changes."

When asked about Swain and why he isn't on the big six list, Statikk Permalink

"Swain was definitely very high on our "want to do" list. What it really came down to is that we feel he really needs a full-on rework (gameplay, thematics, visuals) similar to Sion or Poppy in order to really deliver on an awesome version of Swain. 

A large reason why we have chosen the current 6 is based off our confidence that we can deliver a solid update given the more limited scope they will get being as a part of a class update. We're being a lot more careful about over-reaching since it's definitely bitten us in the past."

Meddler added:

"Quote:

Does this mean we're going to have to wait a year or two, or even longer, to see anything significant to Swain? Is he to become the new Yorick, left at the bottom of the list for an unknown amount of time? I really hoped this would be his year.

Really substantial change for Swain's likely to be quite a way off yeah (highly unlikely this year, can't predict so usefully beyond that). We do think he'd benefit a lot from a full overhaul, he's certainly not in Taric, Yorick etc tier though, they've got significantly bigger problems than he does."

As for why they are taking a crack at Vladimir in the updates, Meddler explained:

"Our main problem with Vlad is his Q. It's a low CD, targeted, resourceless spell that restores health. It doesn't have much interesting decision making for Vlad, if it's ever strong early he just shuts a lot of people out of lane and the main ways to deal with it are to either sustain even more or to punish Vlad really hard when he trades. 

Vlad's also got a bit of a 'stat check' issue, where he'll just reliably outclick a lot of opponents 1v1 without sufficient avenues for being outplayed. That's not ideal, it's a lesser issue though since it doesn't kick in until later in the game when 1 v 1 counterplay is less important than team v team counterplay."

As for why Xerath isn't on the list, Riot Repertoir commented:

"Quote:

Xerath. This champ's in a weird spot right now

what did you guys think about him?

I'm interested to know why you think Xerath is in a weird spot. Is it because of the state of the meta-game? Or is it that there's something he's failing to deliver that he seems to be intended to be doing? 

As far as what we thought, Xerath seems to be up to par in Distinction, Cohesiveness, and Health. I've seen some people argue his gameplay is too similar to Lux to be considered distinct, but we actually see Xerath as more of an extreme range DPS mage, whereas Lux is more of an extreme range burst caster that relies heavily on catching squishies out and killing them with quick full combos."

When asked about Vel'Koz being on the big six list, Statikk explained:

"Quote:

Don't you dare touch Vel'koz! He's perfect.

Vel'Koz is a great champion, but he honestly lacks Distinctness. He has some hints here and there of uniqueness (Q targeting, true damage from Deconstruct, etc.) but none of them are pushed to a point where it truly differentiates him. 

Don't worry, even within the 6, the amount of change each champion will see is pretty drastically different."

Statikk added:

"Quote:

Honestly I think Vel'Koz is completely fine the way he is. His abilities are unique enough and his true damage gives him his own identity, I think he is already pretty distinct from other mages.

I think you guys will be pleasantly surprised, we're pretty aligned on where there is potential for Distinctness in Vel'Koz's kit. We just don't agree that he's there just yet."

Riot BelugaWhale added:

"We hear all of you on Vel'koz, and our opinions on him are actually very similar to yours. We love his combos, his geometry, death laser, and true damage. There is very little likelihood that his abilities will be changed in how they are used (with possible exception of his W), or his play significantly altered. 

However we also want players in a draft to see their comp, their opponent's comp, and pick Vel'koz thinking "this would be a great game specifically for Vel'koz" rather than simply "this would be a great game for any long range mage with a lot of AoE". For scope context, currently the plan for Vel'koz is much more along the lines of Caitlyn, who also kept essentially her entire kit, but had it unified around headshots."

Meddler also chimed in on Vel'Koz, noting:

"Quote: 

On VelCoz, if you change him he will keep his q e r right?
His w and passive might need work but those are champion defining abilities.
Q: What is the scale of the velcoz rework?
Q2: Will he keep Q/R?

We're not going to be ready to talk details of what will/won't change for quite a while. It's likely that Vel'Koz's changes will be at the small end of the spectrum though, he's fundamentally solid apart from his lack of distinct enough outputs (what he does isn't distinct enough, how his does it is very distinct though)."

Meddler continued:

"We understand there are a number of people that don't want changes to Vel'Koz and as discussed think there's a lot about Vel'Koz that's already really good. Not disputing or ignoring that sentiment. We believe though that every champion needs to bring a distinct purpose to the their team and that Vel'Koz doesn't deliver well in that regard. That makes him a great candidate for some work - good generally, but with a specific problem area that brings him down overall. 

In terms of scope the changes to most of these changes are unlikely to be large, do expect them to be bigger than 'hardly noticeable' though."

When asked for any more details on Zyra, Riot Repertoir commented:

"Quote: 

for zyra I hope for a new Passive and more plant interaction

We haven't yet started work on Zyra other than ideation, but one of the things we tended to be excited about was more plant interactions, like she brings the forest alive around her. Not sure where that means we're going to take her, but I am excited to see what the team comes up with."

When asked if there are any plans for Heimerdinger or Anivia, Statikk commented:

Heimer didn't make it far. We feel he is really Distinct and Cohesive as the turret dude, and mainly lacks in terms of game Health (mastery and counterplay surrounding turrets in particular). Similar to Fiddle though, he has huge strategic weaknesses and strengths that opponents and allies can play around. He is still a prime candidate to get some tweaks and tuning with the sweep though. 

Anivia was actually very close to being selected. Ultimately though, Anivia is already pretty Distinct (all her spells outside of E are pretty unique), Cohesive (frost phoenix), and fairly Healthy. We think Anivia can shine even with something as little as a ramping effect based on how long enemies remain in her R (this is all hypothetical off the top of my head...) and few other additional number tweaks.

As for Swain and Syndra, Meddler noted:

"Quote:

Wouldn't Syndra and Swain fit better here than Vel'koz, who's basically artillery and Zyra who's a support mage then? Since Syndra mostly focuses on picks and Swain is a sustained damage mage?

We talked about both Syndra and Swain. Conclusion was Swain needed bigger work (full rework), while Syndra would be ok with adjustments in regular patches (passive probably)."

 Riot Repertoir continued, commenting a bit more on Syndra:

"Quote:

You guys planning on doing anything to Syndra? I think she has her niche and doesn't need any changes, and I was just curious what you guys think of her atm.

If I recall correctly, Syndra made it pretty far through the selection process, but I believe we determined that she either needed a ton of work to really spice things up on her, or that we could give her a little love on the mechanics side closer to release and still get pretty good mileage. As these projects tend to fall in between these two amounts of work, we ultimately passed on her in favor of others."

Meddler continued, referencing where Lux, Xerath, and Ziggs are at:

"Quote:

Why did you leave out the long range mages: Lux, Xerath, Ziggs? 

They all have similar abilities and don't really have distinct niches. Especially Lux and Xerath who are both long range, combo, burst mages. Ziggs is more siege focused and less combo-burst, but it doesn't really feel like a very clear niche.

We decided we'd be best off focusing on a couple of sub types of mage here, which are basically sustained damage mages and pick mages. Artillery mages (Xerath, Ziggs etc with really long range) and supportive mages (Ori, Karma etc) are groups we might tackle later, though it wouldn't surprise me if there was more value in tackling a different group instead (assassins or some types of tank instead). 

As far as Lux/Xerath/Ziggs go I do think there's a bit more overlap there than's preferable, particularly between Lux/Xerath on pick/burst a dude and Xerath/Ziggs on clear waves/poke champs repeatedly. Lux does bring a more supportive kit than the others though, Ziggs gets more area control/mobility but gives up reliability against champions, and Xerath's got phenomenal backline access. As a result there's an ok current state distinctiveness wise. Potentially means they might just need smaller adjustments, rather than larger scale work, to pry them apart a bit."

As for the viability of some mages in support roles and maintaining that with the update, Statikk explained:

"Quote:

Here's the thing about Zyra, her identity should stem mostly from her plants.
When she's played as a support her strength comes almost entirely from her snares and her knock-ups. Her plants more or less become a forgotten part of her kit. They're more or less just there to give vision. Their damage becomes negligible and they just don't contribute to her kit at all. 

If her identity is going to be shifted more towards plantmancer (I definitely think this is the correct way to go) then her support role is going to fall off. The plants just aren't useful as a support, so if emphasis is put on them she'll move somewhere where they are useful, which is somewhere where she can itemise more damage.

Really good point. We don't intend to destroy Support playstyles, but truthfully many of these champions' fantasies and gameplay manifest best in a role where they can get gold and be the primary threat for their team. 

We're very aware that Zyra, Vel'Koz, and even Brand to some extent all have identities in the Bot Lane."

As for adding "mini games" to champions in these reworks, Meddler commented:

"Quote:

Just out of curiosity, what made you guys approach "mini-game" mechanics in the first place? Some of them are awesome to me, as I really enjoy the Bard chimes, as he is a spirit that collects relics, and the Hunt with Kindred, while I do believe some of them missed their mark, like with Skarner. I would just like to know what made you guys decide to go down that path. :)

We think mini games, when well done, can feel like a really fun, natural part of a champion's playstyle in a way that expresses their personality/theme. Draven axe catching for example taps into his show off nature, Bard's chime collecting fits well on a weird dude that wanders and saves things etc. If the minigame doesn't feel compelling, or doesn't fit with the champion it's on however then yeah, that can feel pretty jarring. I'd agree Skarner's an example of that - if he had a reason to really want to defend the crystals in the jungle it might be another matter (e.g. if they contained others of his kind, frozen, that could eventually come out late game and join his fight)."

Riot Repertoir added:

"Quote:

but perhaps you can incorporate zyras passive with her seeds to make her THE counter engage mage.

The more we work on these group champion projects, the more I think we tend to find that if someone already has something going for them (like Zyra an "counterengage mage"), it's usually a good idea to start ideation with how we might be able to crank that current strength up to 11." 

Dynamic Ranked & new champ select: What’s wrong, and what’s next

Here's Riot NaKyle with the latest on the Dynamic queue and new champion select issues:

"UPDATE 1/22 PST Evening:

Hey everyone, 

Based on learnings from yesterday’s failed test in Vietnam, we’ve been improving our internal load test. This will allow us to better vet fixes before shipping them to live. We plan on internally testing the queue over the next two days, which unfortunately means you shouldn’t expect Dynamic Ranked or new champ select in Normal Draft this weekend. If tests perform well, we will look to roll out to one affected region (to be decided) on Monday. If that is stable and successful, we will roll out to all affected regions until service is fully restored."

ORIGINAL POST PST 1/21 EVENING:

Hey everyone, 

We wanted to share an update on new champ select and Dynamic Ranked ahead of the weekend. We understand it’s been a frustrating week, and are committed to getting Dynamic Ranked and new champ select up and running again. 

Let’s talk about the problem: new champ select and Dynamic Ranked runs on a brand new backend that performed well (after initial hiccups) during live tests in North America and Turkey. However, when we rolled it out live at the beginning of the 2016 Ranked Season, the high volume of games played knocked the new service down in some regions. 

We haven’t pinpointed a solution yet, but once we have a fix we’re confident in, we’ll be extremely deliberate in rolling new champ select and Dynamic Ranked back out to the game. The last thing we want is to return the feature to you, only for it to need to come down again. When we do have a fix, we’ll start in one region, and if successful, roll out to other affected regions. 

We wanted to share a couple answers to questions we’ve seen: 

Q: Do my ranked games count?
A: The placement games played in Dynamic Ranked and/or Solo/Duo queue do count and will transfer when Dynamic Ranked returns 

Q: What about Party Rewards?
A: Party Rewards Weekends will be extended to compensate for Dynamic Ranked and new champ select’s downtime 

We’ll continuously update this post as service long as new champ select and Dynamic Queue remain down. Thank you for your patience."

He added:

"After making improvements to how new champ select and Dyanmic Ranked handles high volumes of games, we attempted a fix last night in Vietnam (1/21 PST). The queue showed some improvement, but ended up failing again The team's been digging into those test results since late last night, learning from them and applying them to our next test. That's the absolute latest."

[NOTE: I'll update this section with any additional information as it becomes available.]

Heads up! Mobile app Android beta beginning soon

"TL;DR: We’re going to release an app that makes your friends list mobile, and we need smart and attractive* players with Android phones to test it as part of a persistent beta. Email invites will be sent out within the next couple of weeks to NA and OCE players. 

SO WHAT IS THIS APP ABOUT?
League is better when you play with your besties, but it’s not always easy to organize games with friends. The League Friends app lets you get a conversation going with buddies (or mortal enemies) even before they've booted up their gaming rigs. It's one of many thingswe're launching in 2016 to make playing with friends easier. 

AND YOU NEED TESTERS?
Yep, we're building a persistent beta for the League Friends app, and players who join will get early access to all updates of the app a little bit before we release them publicly. We're not closing the beta once version 1.00 goes live; you'll be asked to test future updates as well. 

HOW DO I GET IN ON THE BETA?
We'll send out email invites to a limited number of North American and Oceanic players sometime during the next few weeks. If you get an email and have an Android device, just click the link to sign up. Only players who get the email will be able to participate, so those who didn’t get an invite won’t be able to sign in. Also, you're more likely to get an invite if you have a history of playing with friends and a verified email address. 

WHAT HAPPENS IF I GET INTO THE BETA?
Members of the beta will be expected to report any bugs and give general feedback about the app. This is for serious testers, not looky-loos, rubberneckers, or drive-by beta-browsers—we'll use Keeper's Verdict on testers who aren't contributing. 

We'll update this thread to let you know when we've sent out our beta invite emails within the next couple of weeks. 

*FACT: all League players are beautiful people 

FAQ 

Q: Why is the beta only open to NA and OCE players?
A: We're trying to keep the beta small in scope, and limiting the beta to players from a couple of regions helps eliminate unnecessary testing variables on our end. 

Q: Rito, why no iOS version beta?
A: We're only doing an Android beta testing because Android offers the sort of beta tools that we want to use. If you've got an iOS device, you'll still be able to get the regular version of the app as soon as it's available. 

Q: Can I give my invite to a friend?
A: No, sharing the link doesn’t forward the invite. Only players who received an emailed invite from us will be able to sign into the beta app and participate in the test. 

Q: How long does beta last / when is the live launch?
A: We don’t have an exact date right now, but if all goes well, we’re looking at a few weeks to a month, or so. We’ll be squashing bugs, ensuring stability, and listening for beta tester’s feedback before we launch. 

Q: Lots of regions will get the app once it’s ready for release, right?
A: Yep, the League Friends app is launching in all League of Legends regions except for China and Southeast Asia. We’ll roll it out to NA and OCE first, followed by the rest of the regions over the following weeks after that if everything goes smooth. 

Q: What OS versions does the app work with?
A: The app works with devices using iOS 8.3 or newer or Android 4.1.1 or newer (API 16). 

Q: No Windows Phone version?
A: No Windows Phone version. Basically, there just aren't enough League players with Windows Phones to justify supporting the app on an ongoing basis. 

Q: If I’m in the beta, where can I leave feedback and report bugs?

A: Bugs reports can be submitted through the app, as can feedback—go to the settings tab and select "Bugs and Feedback." Discussions about the beta can be held on the NA or OCE mobile app discussion board."

They've also opened up a Mobile App Discussion board.

Reinboom on Warlord's Bloodlust 

While we saw some significant Warlord's Bloodlust changes tested during the 6.2 PBE, those changes will not be going to live and a new version will be tested during the 6.3 PBE!

Here's a few small comments from Reinboom's Twitter:

[1] "Will try another version of Warlord's with the 6.3 PBE. Trying to make the crit portion feel better (last one missed on that). Details:"

[2] "On champion hit, gain 10-30% Life Steal for 2 attacks. A Critical Strike from these attacks extends this for 2 attacks. ? second cooldown."

ricklessabandon on Alistar 6.3 PBE Changes

ricklessabandon has also tweeted out on an Alistar change he will be putting up on the PBE for testing in the next PBE cycle (6.3):

[1] "small teaser for the alistar change i want to put on the pbe in the 6.3 cycle: 

want to try buffering pulverize input if cast during headbutt"

[2] "i.e., "you can't mess up the combo anymore" 

will likely need to pair this with other adjustments"

[3] "it is a buff proportional to how much you mess up the combo and/or don't take risks due to the chance of it messing up"

[4] "yeah, he needs to be looked at in general regarding coordinated play"

Hecarim E+R Bug fix in next patch

Following a front page reddit thread on a bug between Hecarim's E and R, iniquitee noted it should be fixed in the next patch:

"Thanks for the report - this is quite disruptive to Hecarim's pattern. We were able to identify the issue quickly and will have it fixed in the next patch or earlier. We're working on root causing the problem to figure out where it came from."

Kindred Bug during EU LCS

For those who may have missed it, there was a Kindred bug in 1/22's EU LCS match between VIT and OG where Kindred's E killed an unfortunate Lee Sin from about 50% HP.

Here's Riot Wrekz with more info on the bug:

"Hello everyone, 

We have looked into this issue and found the bug. I'm really glad people caught this and brought it to our attention. It's really unfortunate that the first time we've seen this was on the LCS stage. I had a lot messages waiting for me this morning. It turned out to be pretty tough to track down because of how rarely it would happen. 

We have a fix ready and it will be going into the 6.3 patch. 

This issue has been around since release and is a freak edge case, we do not believe it is exploitable. As a result Kindred will not be disabled on live at this time. 

Thanks everyone! Wrekz"

Penrif added:

"Essentially what happens here is that there is a small window after the 3rd strike of Kindred's E where additional strikes receive the bonus damage from the E. 

In the match, there are two minion autos that land right after the 3rd strike of E. They both triggered the bonus damage, dealing considerably more damage than they should."

Socrates on Ranked Placements

Following concern about where folks are being placed after completing their 10 placement matches to start of the 2016 season, Riot Socrates tweeted out:

"Seen a few posts on players saying they seeded low. Most players can expect to seed about a tier lower than where they ended the season."

[NA] Link to Amazon and unlock FREE Starter Bundle!

"For a limited time, sign up for League of Legends through Amazon (or link an existing account) and get a FREE Starter Bundle, which contains the following goodies: 

• Ashe
• Annie
• Warwick
• Garen
• Ryze
• Nunu
• Master Yi
• Sivir
• 10 Win XP Boost
• 4 Win IP Boost

This offer will be available from January 22nd to February 5th, 2016, so click here to take advantage and unlock free stuff! 

Offer available to players on the North American server only."

/ALL Chat | What's Your Secret OP?

We also have a new episode of /ALL Chat!

"Preseason is over. Season 2016 has begun! ALL Chat wants to know what secret weapons from the past few months you’ve spent prepping and priming to unleash on your opponents? Is Malphite your go-to ban? Kindred jungle red ganks slaughtering your foes? So much new OP, so little time. 

Also, what’s in the box?!"

 Check out the video description for links to all the content featured in this /ALL CHAT episode!

GG - Welcome to the 2016 Season

Riot has put up a short video to ring in the start of the 2016 Season with a GG!

"2016 brings an all-new competitive season, see you on the Rift! GG!"