5/16 PBE Update: Chemtech Tryndamere, New Summoner Icons, Kindred & Rek'Sai changes, and more!

After an extended downtime and maintenance, the PBE has been updated! As we kick off the 7.11 PBE cycle, tonight's update includes a new Chemtech Tryndamere skin, several new summoner icons, Rek'Sai and Kindred changes, and more!
Continue reading for more information!

Table of Contents

• New Champion Skin
• Chemtech Tryndamere
• New Summoner Icons
• New Item Icons - Abyssal Mask and Guardian Angel
• Miscellaneous
• Balance Changes
• Context & Notes

New Champion Skin

New Summoner Icons

A handful of new summoner icons hit the PBE today, including two with mysterious matching designs.




CLN (LAN): Silver Crows

LCK: Ever8 Winners

CBLoL: ProGaming e-Sports, T Show

LPL: Dan Gaming

OPL: Team Regicide

TCL: Çilekler, P3P eSports

 CLS (LAS): Born to Kill



CLS (LAN): Isurus Gaming

NA LCS: Team Liquid, Cloud9, FlyQuest

OPL: Tainted Minds, Sin Gaming

TCL: BAU SuperMassive

CBLoL: Pain Gaming

LPL: LGD Gaming

EU LCS: Misfits

New Item Icons - Abyssal Mask and Guardian Angel

Abyssal Scepter has been renamed to Abyssal Mask and has a brand new item icon!



Guardian Angel also has a new item icon.

Miscellaneous 

• A few more interesting new mission related assets added.

Kindred
[Changelist/Context.]

• Mark of the Kindred (Passive)

• Dance of Arrows (Q)
• No longer gains base damage per stack of passive.
• [new] Now grants Kindred 10/15/20/25/30% attack speed for 4 seconds on cast, increased by 5% per stack of Mark of the Kindred
• AD ratio changed from [20% total AD] to [65% bonus AD]
• Base Vault speed increased from 400 to 500

• Wolf's Frenzy (W)
• Can now direct Wolf to a position within 500 units of Lamb before creating the hunting territory. Wolf can go over walls while travelling in this way. This range does not scale with Mark Of the Kindred stacks. 
• Wolf now deals magic damage instead of physical damage
• Wolf now deals an additional 1.5% of the target’s current health per attack as base damage, increased by 0.5% per stack of Mark of the Kindred 
• AD Ratio changed from [40% total AD] to [20% bonus AD].

• Mounting Dread (E)
• Wolf's attack type changed from physical to magical.
• Base damage lowered from 40/75/110/145/180 to 40/60/80/100/120.
• Missile Speed of Wolf's attack increased from 1600 to 2000
• AD ratio changed from [20% total AD] to [80% bonus AD]
• % health damage changed from [5% max health damage] to [8% Missing Health damage, increased by 0.5% per stack of Mark of the Kindred]
• [new] Jaws of Death :: Wolf’s attack critically strikes targets below 15% health for 50% more damage. Critical Strike chance increases the % health threshold for this critical strike to occur by 0.5% per 1% crit chance.

Maokai

• Sap Magic (Passive) - Cooldown and heal values adjusted.

• Cooldown changed from [30/25/20 at lvl 1/9/15] to [30/25/20 at lvl 1/6/11]
• Healing changed from [10-130 + (4.5-10.5% max hp )] to [10-70 + (5-13.1% max hp)]
• OLD:  10/30/50/70/90/110/130 +[4.5/5.5/6.5/7.5/8.5/9.5/10.5% max HP] at 1/6/9/11/13/15/17.
• NEW: 10/20/30/40/50/60/70 + [5/6.35/7.7/9.05/10.4/11.75/13.1% max HP]  at 1/6/9/11/13/15/17.

• Sapling Toss (E):
• Damage lowered from [25/50/75/100/125 + 2% per 100 AP] to [25/45/65/85/105 + 1% per 100 AP]
• [Sapling movement speed adjusted]
• Brush duration changed from [30/40/50/60/70 seconds] to [30 seconds + 2.5 seconds per 100 bonus HP]

Rek'Sai
[Changelist/Context]

• Health growth lowered from 90 to 85
• Fury of the Xer'Sai (Passive):
• Fury generation changed from [5 per attack, 10 per UB ability, and 2.5 per extra enemy hit] to [25 fury generated for all attacks and unburrowed abilities.]

• Health regen time lowered from 5 seconds to over 3 seconds.
• Health regen value changed from (25 per level) to (5 + 10 per level).
• OLD : 25-450
• NEW: 15-185

• (Q):
• Queen's Wrath:
• Damage increased from [15/25/35/44/55 (+ 20% bonus AD)] to [15/20/25/30/35 + (40% bonus AD)].
• Prey Seeker :
• [new] Now has a 40% bonus AD ratio.
• Damage changed to physical from magical.

• Un-burrow (W):
• Knock up targeting changed from AoE to to Single closest..
• [new] now knocks back other units 250  range away from Rek'Sai
• Knock up duration changed from [0.5-1 sec based on Proximity] to 1 second.
• Knock up Immunity changed from 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 to 10 at all ranks.

• (E)
• Furious Bite:
• Damage changed from [80/90/100/110/120% AD] to [50/60/70/80/90 + 85% bonus AD]
• Scaling per point of fury removed.
• Tunnel:
• Cooldown lowered from 26/24/22/20/18 to 26/23/20/17/14
• Cooldown after use changed from 10/9/8/7/6 to 10/8/6/4/2

• Void Rush (R) - reworked!

Range: 1500
Cooldown: 100:80:60 

"Passive: Dealing damage to enemy Champions Marks them for the next 5 seconds.

Active: Rek'Sai lets out a harrowing scream before burrowing underground seeking out a marked target. Moments later she leaps from underground, dealing 100/250/400 (+140% Bonus AD) physical damage plus 20/25/30% of their missing health."

• Indicator for R mark:

Zac

• Stretching Strikes (Q) damage changed from 40/60/80/100/120 to 50/70/90/110/130

• Elastic Slingshot (E) damage lowered from 80/130/180/230/280 to 80/120/160/200/240

Abyssal Mask

• Renamed from Abyssal Scepter.
• Item icon updated.

Thornmail

• All Changes Reverted in second update - back to live functionality. Axes had noted the previous change went to the PBE early and was experimental/concept.

• No longer scales with 25% bonus armor.
• [new] Now inflicts Grievous Wounds on the attacker for 1.5 seconds

Context & Notes

IF YA SMEEEEELLLLLLOOOAAALLLLLLLUULLL.... WHAT THE WIP... IS CONTEXTIN'

1) Meddler is back this morning with his most recent edition of quick gameplay thoughts for May 16th, including several changes that will be hitting the PBE soon (abridged to only include PBE sections):

"Morning all! 

Quite a few words below today so let's jump right in. 

Usual Disclaimers 

These posts will often contain talk about future work we're doing, or planning to do, that isn't yet guaranteed to ship. The nature of the work could change or, depending on what we discover, projects mentioned may get put delayed or even stopped.
If you'd like to see a Tweet whenever a new one of these posts goes up: https://twitter.com/RiotMeddler 

More 7.11 Balance Changes 

Context on some balance changes in testing: 

• Rumble 

Looking at game health and roughly power neutral changes. Moving some power into Overheat AAs out of Q, reducing W duration slightly to reward specific timing more versus cycling for Heat. Testing out some improvements to auto attack feel as well (potentially animation improvements and/or a bit of extra range/movement speed while Overheating). 

• Malzahar  

Changes in testing last patch cycle are back, both changes to Voidlings and putting some damage into the beam, not just pool, on the R. These felt close to there last patch, we ended up delaying them because of how late the beam change went in though and how little testing it consequently got.  

• Kindred   

Detailed write up of changes by Wav3Break can be found here:
https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/nJbMhriw-upcoming-kindred-changes-looking-for-feedback 

TLDR is we're looking to shift power to late game, improve overall satisfaction. Marks now grant bonus effects on abilities rather than damage on auto attacks (Q gives AS, W gets current health % damage from Wolf hits, E increases missing health damage). Every 4 marks Kindred also get increased AA range (currently 50 the first time, then 25 each set of four thereafter). 

• Caitlyn 

Headshot no longer stacks multiple times per attack with Hurricane. Caitlyn's lacking in clear enough weaknesses and one she should have is lower single target DPS late game than most marksmen with similar builds. Hurricane's currently making it so her teamfight single target damage is higher than we suspect it should be however, at the same time also constricting her build paths. Testing a change as a result. 

• Ninja Tabi 

Trying a test where we reduce the % reduction on auto attacks (down to probably 10% from 12%), but also make that reduction apply to on hit effects as well. One of the things making BotRK particularly effective at present is that its proc damage isn't affected by the Tabi reduction. 

• Ahri 

Almost certainly needs a nerf. Direction not certain yet, two main ones being considered being higher Q mana cost (hit waveclear/pressure early) or shifting damage from W/R into E. 

Zac VO Threshold 

We're adjusting Zac's voice so it doesn't start getting higher as he loses health until he's below 30% health (rather than the current 60%). Its an effect we think should happen less frequently than it currently does (a 'Zac is pretty low' thing, not a 'Zac's somewhat hurt' thing). That just missed the 7.10 patch cutoff, should be in for 7.11 though. If you're on the PBE and playing around with it feedback much appreciated. 

2) Wav3Break is looking for feedback on the set of Kindred changes included in tonight's update:

"Hi everyone! 

We’re looking to make some Kindred changes in the near future and I wanted to get some feedback from you guys before we put the full list on PBE. 

Overall Goals:  

• Increase satisfaction on Kindred's basic abilities 

• Increase Kindred’s ability to kite and deal damage like a marksman, particularly in the late game  

Guiding/General Thoughts: 

• We originally intended Kindred to be a champion that a team could rely on to bring a marksman-like carry to their late game without having to run one in a lane. Ultimately this has not panned out exactly as intended. Thus we are moving their 

• kit a bit more towards this direction in an attempt to better fulfill this design intent.
• Current Kindred players are attached to their live play-style of snowballing and looking for smaller skirmishes to succeed. We don’t want to remove this pattern of play from them, but we are looking to exchange some power here to let them access longer range on their attacks and abilities. 

• As a jungler, Kindred needs to be a threat in the early game or they will always fail to provide a baseline amount of pressure for their team to have a fair shot at winning. With this in mind, we are aiming to keep their early game power relatively similar/slightly stronger in exchange for a weaker mid game but stronger late game.  

Current Change List:  

Q - Dance of Arrows 

• No longer gains base damage per stack of Mark of the Kindred 

• Now grants Kindred 10/15/20/25/30% attack speed for 4 seconds on cast, increased by 5% per stack of Mark of the Kindred 

• AD Ratio :: Changed from 0.2 Total AD ratio >>> 0.75 Bonus AD Ratio 

• Base Vault Speed :: increased from 400 >>> 500  

W - Wolf’s Frenzy 

• Can now send Wolf to a position within 500 units of Lamb before creating the hunting territory. Wolf can go over walls. 

• Wolf now deals magic damage instead of physical damage 

• Wolf now deals an additional 1.5% of the target’s current health per attack as base damage, increased by 0.5% per stack of Mark of the Kindred 

• AD Ratio :: 0.4 Total AD ratio >>> 0.2 Bonus AD Ratio  

E - Mounting Dread 

• Damage Type of Wolf’s Attack :: Changed from physical >>> magic 

• Base damage :: Reduced from 40/75/110/145/180 >>> 40/60/80/100/120 

• Missile Speed of Wolf’s attack :: Increased from 1600 >>> 2000 

• AD Ratio :: 0.2 Total AD ratio >>> 0.8 Bonus AD Ratio 

• % Health Damage :: Changed from 5% max health damage >>> 8% Missing Health damage, increased by 0.5% per stack of Mark of the Kindred 

• Jaws of Death :: Wolf’s attack critically strikes targets below 15% health for 50% more damage. Critical Strike chance increases the % health threshold for this critical strike to occur by 0.5% per 1% crit chance. 

Passive - Mark of The Kindred 

• No longer grants Lamb bonus % current health damage on her basic attacks 

• Now amplifies all of Kindred’s basic abilities per stack as outlined above 

• Every 4 marks increases Kindred’s basic attack, Dance of Arrows and Mounting Dread’s cast range. The first 4 marks increase their ranges by 75, while every 4 marks after increase their ranges by 25. 

Everything listed is subject to change from your feedback and testing so candid feedback is most appreciated!"

3) Riot Sotere with changelist and context for Rek'Sai Changes for 7.11:

"Hey Party People, 

In a few brief hours Rek'Sai's update will be on PBE. The aim of the update is to bring Rek'Sai back to her roots. Rek’Sai has a great fantasy, but we don't think her gameplay has been fulfilling that promise to players for some time. Rek’Sai should be a void predator that enemies fear at all points throughout the game. When she's nearby, she should be a distinct and individual threat. 

Rek'Sai has been a slow burn passion project for our team for awhile, and we had a few set goals in mind that defined our changes: 

Goals:  

• Make Rek'Sai more of a Diver, with individual threat against the opposition's carries 

• Tone down elements of her kit that let her excel in professional play and leave her underwhelming in normal play 

• Give her higher moments of success 

• Ensure that her melee pattern has more distinct success and failure cases 

• Allow Rek’Sai to dance in and out of fights, relying on her tunnels and regeneration to survive, not baseline tankiness 

We’re holding off on revealing the full changelist, as it'll be uncovered over the next couple of days. Much of the tuning is still in flux, but the bigger directional changes will likely remain consistent. 

Directional Changes: 

• Fury of the Xer'Sai (P) :: Fury now generates more quickly, but regeneration per point of Fury is down. Overall regeneration should be quite a bit higher if she has access to enemies. 

• Queen's Wrath and Prey Seeker :: Rek’Sai’s primary damage abilities now scale significantly better with bonus AD. However, Queen's Wrath will do less base damage. Rek’Sai is a land shark who mercilessly hunts her prey, and we want her damage output - and itemization - to represent that fantasy. 

• Burrow / Un-burrow :: Now only knocks up one enemy target at a time. 

• Tunnel :: Cooldowns scale down better over game time. Specifically, we want to significantly increase Rek’Sai’s ability to re-enter tunnels, giving Rek'Sai better options for escaping the same way she entered - or re-joining a fight after she’s left. 

• Void Rush :: Her ultimate is all brand new. It no longer allows her to travel cross-map to an existing tunnel. Instead she leaps at enemy champions she's recently done damage to, dealing decent base damage with an execute mechanic. 

Conclusion and Caveat: 

As with all our projects, Rek'Sai will be subject to tuning and followup changes. Moreso than most, she'll hit PBE without fully completed art/sound/mechanics. We'll be brushing those up over the PBE period. Feedback on them is appreciated but we are already well aware have more work to do. 

I'll be checking back in here over the next couple of hours to answer more specifics for those curious. We're all excited for you guys to get to try out Rek'Sai on PBE and soon, on Live!" 

4) RiotAxes with context on the Thornmail changes that debuted in the first deployment but have since been reverted:

"That wasn't intended to go to PBE :( 

I was spiking out a concept for an item that you can buy to ensure you aren't just a lifesteal battery for enemy carries; Grievous Wounds was the easiest quick-and-dirty implementation that would give good learnings. 

Still interested in some version of this direction. This precise list isn't going to work for a couple of reasons, so no promises. "

5) 2) Context from 20thCenturyFaux  on 7.11 PBE's tentative Zyra changes:

"Happy to give context. Our goal here is to improve the early level laning experience against Zyra without harming her experience or changing her play later in the game. It's easy to have the changes sunset as Zyra gains levels, the challenge is making 1 hit plants work for Zyra in lane from levels 1 to 5. 

The main controls on Zyra's plants are fun, power, and frustration -- getting a good exchange rate. If we can make plants less frustrating for the enemy, we can get more power and fun. The same HP that lets plants survive at all lategame makes fighting them in lane crazy. Fixing this bit of derp buys us a fair bit. 

So what do we buy? Plant damage! Plants are core to Zyra's identity and we've just made them cheaper. We spend that power back into the plant system, giving Zyra a bigger garden and so conditionally more damage-- about 50% more plants overall in lane. The linked article is missing that bit of the changes -- Garden of Thorns is much more likely to spawn two seeds at once when Zyra is low level. 

For Zyra, it's functionally equivalent to making the plants squisher and more dangerous. For enemies, it lets them play too -- the plant damage starts higher and it's more often smart to fight them some. Balance wise, our intent is to keep her at current power levels, so further changes are likely to be along those lines."