5/9 PBE Update: Pulsefire Caitlyn login theme, various skin tweaks, and more!

The PBE has been updated! As we continue the 7.10 PBE cycle, tonight's update includes a Pulsefire Caitlyn login theme, several tentative balance changes, and more!
Continue reading for more information!

Table of Contents

• Pulsefire Caitlyn Login Theme
• Skin tweaks - PF Caitlyn + Ward, Brolaf + Chroma
• Miscellaneous 
• Balance Changes
• Context & Notes

Pulsefire Caitlyn Login Theme

A new login featuring the upcoming legendary tier Pulsefire Caitlyn is now on the PBE!

Skin tweaks - PF Caitlyn + Ward, Brolaf + Chroma

Base:

Brolaf Rose Quartz - Number changed from 3 to 8.

Miscellaneous

• LCU assets have been added for Doom Bots / The Teemoing

• Cassiopeia's tail updated - From RiotMEMEMEMEME ~

"Ssssssssssssnaaakeeee - Work to hook up, and smooth out the Dragon Tech on Cassiopeia's Tail will be hitting 7.10 PBE today."

Fizz

• Seastone Trident (W):
• Passive's AP ratio increased from 33.3% to 40% 
• Active's AP ratio increased from 33.3% to 40%
• Charged Active's AP ratio increased from 100% to 120%
• Damage changed from 25/40/55/70/85 to 20/30/40/50/60

Graves

• End of the Line (Q):
• Initial damage lowered from 55/70/85/100/115 to 40/55/70/85/100
• Initial first hit bonus AD Ratio increased from 75% to 80%
• Second damage changed from 80/125/170/215/260 to 80/110/140/170/200
• Second damage bonus AD ratio changed from 40/60/80/100/120% to 40/70/100/130/160%

• Collateral Damage (R) cooldown increased from 100/90/80 to 120/100/80

Heimerdinger
[NOTE: Heimerdinger currently has a large set of changes on the PBE, focused around using W/E to charge turret beam attacks.]

• H-28G Evolution Turret (Q):
• Turret cannon AP ration lowered from 35% to 30%
• Turret Beam Attack charge time changed from 50 seconds to 90 seconds.

Lee Sin

• Movement speed lowered from 350 to 345.
• Dragon's Rage (R) cooldown increased from 90/75/60 to 110/85/60

Malzahar
[Previous W and Voidling changes reverted - more Malzahar changes likely to return in 7.11]
Maokai

• Bramble Smash (Q) mana cost changed from 45/50/55/60/65 to 50 at all ranks

• Sapling Toss (E): 
• Mana cost changed from 60 at all ranks to 60/65/70/75/80

• Damage changed  from 45/70/95/120/145 to  25/50/75/100/125

• Target max health damage increased from 6/6.5/7/7.5/8% to 8% at all ranks.

Zac
[Dated changelist/context]

• Attack damage growth increased from 3.375 to 3.4
• Stretching Strikes (Q):
• Base damage lowered from 50/70/90/110/130 to 40/50/60/70/80
• [New] Damage now has 4% health scaling
• "Collision AoE size increased from 200 to 300
• Q's long range smack range increased from 100 to 125
• From Shrieve:

• "Q2 Passive Blob Generation: previously Q2 would spawn a second blob only if each attack hit a unique champion, now spawns as long as it hits a unique unit"

• "Q2 Targeting: redirects Q2 attacks to a non-grabbed target when multiple enemies are stacked on top of one another (i.e. jungle raptors)"
• "Spell Queuing: smoother queuing E when slamming targets together, W can be cast during Q2 and while slamming targets together"

• Elastic Slingshot (E):
• Knockup Duration: now scales from 0.5 to 1.0 second based upon how long Zac charges before release.

• Let's Bounce (R):
• Time to full charge time increased from 1 second to 1.1 seconds.
• [Full charge slow duration seems to be increased - 0.5 seconds to 1 second.]

Talisman of Ascension

• Base health regen increased from 150% to 175%
• Total cost increased from 2400 to 2425 (due to Nomad's increase)

Nomad's Medallion

• Base health regen increased from 25% to 50%
• Recipe change:
• Faerie Charm replaced by Rejuvenation Bead. 
• Total cost increased from 850 to 875

Eye of the Oasis

• Base health regen increased from 100% to 125%
• Total cost increased from 2400 to 2425 (due to Nomad's increase)

Sterak's Gage

• [Tooltip fix in relation to 7.9 changes]

Context & Notes

see joe, the context doesn't lie and they spell WIP for you at sacrifice. 


1) Meddler is back with his quick gameplay thoughts for May 9th, including mention of some 7.10 Yorick improvements, Malzahar's PBE work shifting to 7.11, and more!

"Morning all, 

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 

Yorick subtle improvements 

Mentioning these since they're harder to datamine. We've got some useability/subtle feel good stuff going for Yorick in 7.10, with Mist Walkers no longer perishing if they're too far from Yorick, Yorick's Q spawning a grave even if there are 4 out already and replacing the last one (instead of just not spawning) and the Maiden benefiting from R rank ups even if she's already summoned. Balance wise we don't really have any room to buff Yorick significantly, we do want to give him a bit of love though, hence the focus on things that are more feel improvements than power. 

More things we're particularly keeping an eye on post mid-season 

In addition to the updated tanks, Rift Herald etc as previously mentioned there are some additional things we're now specifically tracking for possible work in 7.11 including:

• Thresh - Mid season's been kind to the chain warden. Belief is that that's the impact of the revised Ancient Coin in part, which gives him needed mana, reduces chances he costs his ally in lane CS with Targon's and gives him more E procs to harass with than Targon's does. Old coin offered most of those benefits too, but suspicion here is that new Coin's a better choice on him overall than the old.
• Sunfire Rushing Tanks - We're seeing a number of tanks who'd previously been in reasonable spots balance wise struggle a bit more after the Sunfire changes. That's not unexpected, indicating they had problems laning that Sunfire was covering up. Likely direction there is to adjust individual kits so they function more appropriately, rather than using Sunfire as a generic solve.
• Other items on watch - Death's Dance, BotRK, Banshee's and GA are all getting a lot of observation too. They're not necessarily in bad spots, but they're certainly worth tracking more than average at the least (high usage rates + high impact moments). 

Delaying Malz changes to 7.11 

We've got a few larger adjustments underway at the moment to Rammus, Malz and Heimer. The Rammus and Heimer ones should be good to go in 7.10, we'll be holding the Malz ones till 7.11 (probably) however to take a bit more time to work on those. One likely change is adjusting the R so its damage is split between pool and beam, which amongst other things gives better counterplay when there are multiple enemies around (ability to interrupt) and therefore hopefully allows us to put a bit more power into its ratio. 

Elemental Dragons 

At some point (next year seems most likely) we'd like to try adding another elemental dragon to the rotation if we can find one that's distinct from the other in terms of the gameplay it rewards, has at least an ok thematic fit, and doesn't excessively favor particular team comps. Curious to hear if anyone's got any strong suggestions? We've got some ideas kicking around of course, but also really interested in hearing other viewpoints."

2) RiotShrieve on Zac changes coming soon - note that this list varies slightly vs the 5/9 PBE numbers:

"Hey guys just wanted to give an update to some of the changes that are being tested internally. We had a couple games with them on Friday and they went pretty well. We'll be testing them more next week. 

Stretching Strikes (Q) 

• Base Damage: reduced 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130 >>> 35 / 45 / 55 / 65 / 75
• Damage Scaling Based upon Zac's Max Health: 4% (NEW)
• Slow Duration: .25 >>> .5 seconds (hotfixed during 7.9)
• Collision Damage AoE Size: 200 >>> 300
• Q2 Bonus Attack Range: increased 100 >>> 125 (300 total)
• Q2 Passive Blob Generation: previously Q2 would spawn a second blob only if each attack hit a unique champion, now spawns as long as it hits a unique unit
• Q2 Targeting: redirects Q2 attacks to a non-grabbed target when multiple enemies are stacked on top of one another (i.e. jungle raptors)
• Spell Queuing: smoother queuing E when slamming targets together, W can be cast during Q2 and while slamming targets together

Elastic Slingshot (E)

• Base Damage: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 >>> 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (hotfixed during 7.9)
• Knockup Duration: now scales from .5 >>> 1 second based upon how long Zac charges before release (NEW)

Also there should be a bug fix for minions and monsters when being thrown; before they acted like kicked minions from Sion E (as in not dying until the end of the throw)."

3) Pulsefire Ezreal updated VO special interactions.