Red Post Collection: Rek'Sai & Kindred Changes, Dev on Unusual Playstyles, Elementalist Lux sale through 5/22, & more!!

Table of Contents

• Ping muting, surrender at 15, and more on the way 
• Rek'Sai Changes for 7.11
• Quick Gameplay Thoughts: May 16 
• Upcoming Kindred changes
• /Dev Diary: Meddler on Unusual Playstyles in League
• Elementalist Lux on sale through May 22nd
• Fan Contribution to MSI 2017
• Quick Hits - Ghostcrawler Q&A on 5/25, Rek'Sai in 7.12, & more
• Reminders

Ping muting, surrender at 15, and more on the way 

"If you’ve been question-mark pinging (? ??? ??) us about the ability to mute pings, it’s happening. There’s also a new option to unanimously surrender at 15 in all non-RGM queues. Both features launch today. Also, an update to the ‘On my way’ ping rolls out later this summer. Let’s dig in!

Launching in 7.10 

Ping muting 

The new ping-mute button axes standard pings, smart pings, and the newer HUD pings. Find it on tab menu, right next to the chat-mute button. The chat-mute button works the same way it always has, cutting out chat as well as extracurricular animations and emotes. You’ll need to hit both buttons to stop all comms because that ultimately gives you a little more control over your game. 

Unanimous surrender@15 

You can now save five minutes on games that really, really didn’t go your team’s way. Prompt a surrender vote at 15 minutes, and if the whole team agrees, you’re outta there. Surrender at 15 is now live on all non-RGM queues. 

It’s worth noting that surrendering at 15 is a full-on surrender, and definitely not a /remake.

Launching later this summer 

On my way ping update 

Right now, teams don’t have a good way to quickly agree on the next objective. An update to the ‘On my way’ ping allows teammates to get on the same page for flanks, ganks, or objectives. 

Turn up your volume and check this video out to hear it in action:

Say your team picks off two baddies. You ‘On my way’ ping the nearest enemy tower, and your jungler thinks it's time to throw at Baron. Luckily, the support agrees with you and tosses another ‘On my way’ at the tower. That second ping triggers a new sound effect that builds a melody with your first ping at the location. This sound can build up to five times, scaling up with team cohesion around an objective. Sorry jungler, it’s tower time. 

We’re aiming to launch this feature after working out a few more details. Let us know what you think!"

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!" 

"Quote:

It sounds like you guys want her to be partly skirmisher with her jumping in and out of fights.

Yah. If you want to go along with our function terminology she's probably a Vanguard now. We want to move her into the Diver space, with her leaning more towards Skirmisher than any other output."

"Quote:

Can she still be CCed out of her tunnel? What differentiate her feel from nocture other than she is tankier than him? 

Also, is there any word on Asol's soft rework? I really like the champ, he is probably the most unique champ in the game but he is so unhealthy to play as.

She has to mark the targets she wants to hit, so doesn't have near the same level of target access as Nocturne. Also she gives her team extra vision, whereas Nocturne removes his enemy's. Her interaction in her regular tunnels is unchanged. Edit to add: She also moves towards the location of her target, not on top of the actual unit so she can potentially miss her ultimate if the opposition flashes, for instance. Less target access, less reliability on it. She already has a decent combo pattern and interesting angles of access without her ultimate, so she should be expected to rely on it less. 

I think we've taken a step back from ASol's soft rework. We had some moderately promising directions but nothing was a slam dunk. So I am pretty sure he's back to the drawing board."

"Quote:

Rek Sai isn't a tank though 

The entire point of this rework is to get her back to an AD diver.

Yah, the hope is to make her less of a tank. To be fair, the other mentioned champions play more like fighters than tanks in my opinion."

"Quote:

Well, I am happy to see reksai getting some work done! I bought her a month or so ago and saw her scalings were...off...and it was near impossible to get the true damage from her E,even in the jungle unless you slow yourself down in the process 

Is there any rounded dates for the patch rek'sai will be in? 

her unborrow will only knock up one person now,will it be what's closest to the center or will it prioritize champions? 

And her ult...The description is kinda confusing. "Instead she leaps at enemy champions she's recently done damage to, dealing decent base damage with an execute mechanic" 

recently done damage to? is it kinda like a mix of garen where they get marked for a bit and twisted fate where when you ult you get sight of the marked people,then ult again to select your target? or is the range kinda like a vi ult but with a prerequisite to go off

Un-burow will prioritize champions and also can be prioritized manually if you attack a particular unit. 

Range on the ultimate is ~1500 and has the prerequisite of dealing damage to them first."

"Quote:

Well Reksai was a tank or Jaggernaut?

Diver. She's likely not carry like damage outputs. She should be focused on threatening and killing enemy carries."

"Quote:

Hey Sotere how do you feel this might affect lane Rek'Sai, and do you feel this capture the vision that BeatPunchBeef originally had for her

My expectation is this will likely be neutral for lane Rek'Sai. I don't think she's GREAT at present, nor will this make her so. She can no longer get a lot of free backs with tunnels. Her regeneration and personal threat is higher (in large part due to her ultimate). So basically a wash. Playtests have had her surviving up there, but not really excelling. 

Pretty sure it aligns closely with his vision. He helped out substantially with our first couple of iterations. When we were working together we really wanted to make Tremor Sense feel a lot more rewarding. We had some problems giving her high moments focusing on that direction, so shifted to modifications of her ultimate instead."

"Quote:

Just how low is the CD on tunnel going to go?
If you push it too low, you just create the Lee Sin problem again, where all control of ability to engage and disengage a fight lies in one character's hands.

Gets down to 14, and she tends to build more CDR. Think there's still a decent cost to it, and it's a lot more punishable than other movement abilities."

Quick Gameplay Thoughts: May 16 

"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. 

Unusual Playstyles Video

For anyone that hasn't seen it we put out a video yesterday talking about our thoughts on unusual playstyles in LoL and how we should be supporting or adjusting them etc. Short version is we love seeing new things get discovered and played, believe whether not not someone's trying to win is what matters and have sometimes had to adjust some builds/champs because while they were inventive they were really unhealthy for the game (lack of counterplay as with AP Trynd etc). 

Thoughts on such playstyles and how we should approach them much appreciated. Feedback on my delivery in the video would also be really welcomed. Video's not a format I've dealt with much yet, so thoughts on what could be better, what works, what doesn't etc would be great if you're so inclined. It's not something I take to as naturally as some Rioters but it's certainly something I'd like to improve at (really useful skill to grow)."

"Quote:

We know you see Zac as a bit on the weaker side, but what are your toughts on current Maokai and Sejuani? 

Sejuanis still getting banned and Maokai is being built as a full ap support, and im wondering how you will react to this. i feel like people are wasting bans on sejuani myself tough

Maokai - too much power in Saplings, early in particular, not enough in Q. Moving some around as a result, get healthier play. 

Sej - Suspect she may still be too strong, not acting just yet though (needs more time to settle). "

"Quote:

Yo my dude wus good son let me get to the biz wasup wit Ohmies? Been garbo, still garbo, will always be garbo wit dat passive. Yall peeps gotta stop playin too much. Ohmwreck needa go home. Put that boy to sleep.

It's very likely we remove Ohmwrecker, at least in its current form, this pre-season."

"Quote:

Woah but isn't it a RAF reward

The name is yeah, we'll want to shift it to something else as a result. That could be another item in a way that makes it clear it has different functionality (e.g. Fist of Ohmwrecker), a mastery, a champion ability etc."

"Quote:

For ninja tabi, is that for all on-hits or just physical ones?

All on hits is the intent, not sure if it's hooked up to affect everything yet though. Depending on just how powerful that then proves to be might need to make other adjustments to compensate too."

"Quote:

Hey Meddler can I ask for your own personal opinions on Ziggs. Just because he's your own champion

I think he's in a reasonable spot at present? Both mid and bot have ok counterplay, strengths/weaknesses. He's been problematic sometimes in the past when he'd just stall out games with endless waveclear, shifting some of his power from waveclear to turret taking and the changes to Baron buff a while back seem to have addressed that fairly well though."

"Quote:

Both are unhealthy. Also tank Fizz gets nerfed on the upcoming patch.

Yep, tank Fizz has issues too, working on him."

"Quote:

So you're nerfing Caitlyn and not touching Lucian???

We're also looking at Lucian this patch cycle."

Upcoming Kindred changes

"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!"

"We are testing Wolf with magic damage to make their damage curve a bit less smooth in terms of growth when finishing Black Cleaver/benefiting from other armor shred effects around mid-game. 

Sorry if the Mark scaling was a bit unclear. I'll look to update the post to be better about communicating that when I can."

"Looking to put this on PBE early this week. Most likely tomorrow. 

Her optimal build is still pretty difficult to solve even internally. Warrior is definitely a better go to as a jungle item in most situations though! I expect her to like Hurricane less and like Statikk Shiv more. BoTRK and Black Cleaver are still very potent as well. 

Black Cleaver is definitely less powerful with Wolf dealing magic damage but given how difficult it is for her to build Last Whisper, I expect that she will still build it quite often. 

I think IE is very potent on her in this current iteration, but the times where you can look for it might be a bit scarce. The payoff may be well worth it though. Generally, I'm currently theory-crafting something like: 

Warrior -> Boots -> Zeal Item -> Black Cleaver/BotRK/IE Slot -> Situational."