6/12 PBE Update: Aatrox Champion Update, God-King Darius and Garen, new icons, & more!

The PBE has been updated! As we kick off the 8.13 PBE cycle, today's patch includes the Aatrox update, new God-King Darius and Garen skins, brand new collection tabs for both icons and wards, new summoner icons, a few details on the upcoming VS event, and more!
Continue reading for more information!

Table of Contents

• Aatrox Champion Update
• Aatrox, the Darkin Blade
• Stats & Abilities
• Voiceover
• Lore
• Updated Skins
• New Skins
• God-King Darius
• God-King Garen
• New Summoner Icons
• Icon/Wards Collections
• VS Event Strings
• Miscellaneous
• Balance Changes
• Context & Notes

Aatrox Champion Update

Following his gameplay trailer and update reveal, Aatrox's champion update has landed on the PBE including a new kit, updated visuals, and a new splash art!

Aatrox, the Darkin Blade

Stats & Abilities

• Base HP: 580
• HP Per Level: 80
• HP Regen Growth: 0.05
• Base MR: 32.1
• MR Per Level:
• Base AD: 60
• AD per level: 5
• Base Armor: 33
• Armor Per Level: 3.25
• Attack Speed: .651
• Attack Speed Growth: 1
• Base Move Speed: 345
• Attack Range: 175

Deathbringer Stance (Passive):

"Aatrox's next basic attack gains 50 extra range and deals [8 - 16%] of the target's Max Health as physical damage (max: 400 against monsters), and inflicts Mutilator for 3 seconds. 

Cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds when Aatrox casts a spell or hits a champion with the Blade of The Darkin Sword.  

Mutilator - Reduce all healing and shielding on the target by 40%."

• Full Value: 8/8.47/8.94/9.41/9.88/10.35/10.82/11.29/11.76/12.24/12.71/13.18/13.65/14.12/14.59/15.06/15.53/16 %

The Darkin Blade (Q):

No Cost
16/15/14/13/12 sec Cooldown

"Aatrox slams his greatsword down, dealing 15/30/45/60/75 (+64/68/72/76/80% total AD) physical damage. The Darkin Sword may be re-cast 2 additional times, each one increasing in damage. 

Each strike can hit with the Blade, briefly knocking enemies up and dealing more damage. 

Deals [55 - 100% based on level] damage to minions.
Deals an additional 20% of your Attack Damage (+x) to monsters and doubles knockup duration."

• Q damage increased by 25% per cast  - Q1/2/3 = 100%/125%/150%
• Each Q that hits with the blade end (visible on indicator) deals 50% more damage than usual.

Infernal Chains (W):

No Cost
18/17/16/15/14 sec Cooldown

"Aatrox smashes the ground, dealing 30/40/50/60/70 (+40% Total AD) physical damage to the first enemy hit and slowing by 15/20/25/30/35% for 1.5s. 

Champions or Large Monsters have 1.5s to leave the impact area or be dragged back and damaged again. 

Deals double damage to minions."

Umbral Dash (E):

No Cost
3/2.5/2/1.5/1 sec Cooldown

"Passive: Aatrox heals for 15/16.25/17.5/18.75/20% of physical damage he deals. 

Active: Aatrox lunges, briefly gaining Attack Damage. 2 charges. 

Umbral Dash can be used during his other spell casts without interrupting them."

• Active AD: 15/25/35/45/55
• Recharge Time: 20/18/16/14/12

World Ender (R):

No Cost
160/140/120 sec Cooldown

"Aatrox reveals his true demonic form for the next 12 seconds, fearing nearby minions and gaining:

• Increased movement speed for the first 1 second, and when not in combat with champions or turrets.
• Increased Attack Damage.
• A Blood Well that steadily stores health, allowing him to Revive if he takes lethal damage."

• Movement Speed: 120/180/240

• Increased AD: +30 AD

Voiceover

Updated VO:


and here's Aatrox's various special interactions, including responses to mastery emotes!

Lore

New short form lore entry added to Aatrox's champion page:

"Once honored defenders of Shurima against the Void, Aatrox and his brethren would eventually become an even greater threat to Runeterra, and were defeated only by cunning mortal sorcery. But after centuries of imprisonment, Aatrox was the first to find freedom once more, corrupting and transforming those foolish enough to try and wield the magical weapon that contained his essence. Now, with stolen flesh, he walks Runeterra in a brutal approximation of his previous form, seeking an apocalyptic and long overdue vengeance."

Look for more on the Universe page soon.

Updated Skins

Aatrox's previously released skins have been updated to go along with his new look and their splash arts have been modified to include the new blade and wings.

Justicar Aatrox

Sea Hunter Aatrox

Mecha Aatrox

Along with the base model changes, Mecha Aatrox's chroma have also been updated:

Here's a preview video featuring updated Aatrox and his skins, look for individual videos closer to launch!

New Skins

As previewed, new God-King themed skins Darius and Garen skins are now on the PBE. According to the special media preview, these legendary skins will be for a VS 2018 event.

"God-King Darius is an ancient bringer of carnage; a descendant of primordial deities long forgotten in the shadow of Demacia. Slaughtering monarchs and gods alike, he seeks to end the false world of unity and peace, ushering in an age of endless war only the strongest will survive."

Here's Riot LoveStrut with a PBE Bugs & Feedback Thread for God-King Darius:

"God-King Darius sees the world of kingdoms and empires as a false reality. There’s no use for rulers when only strength and war matter. Will you fight alongside the Wolf? 

Dire Details 

• New model and textures: God-King Darius takes the Wolf as his crest, incorporating the dire wolf motif into his armor and battleaxe.
• New VFX: Shadow magic and the Wolf’s spirit empower his abilities.
• New SFX and VO lines: Wolf howls, deadly swings, and VO fit for a God-King.
• New animations: Every animation has been changed, including a special transforming axe swing for his Q.

God-King Darius is now available on PBE! We always love hearing your feedback and feelings! All bug reports and thoughts help us make these skins even more awesome, so please keep 'em coming! 

Thanks, cuties! <3"

"God-King Garen stands as the last descendant of a primordial race of divinities, and the final bulwark against the end of civilization. He rules his vast kingdom of Demacia with an iron fist, jealousy protecting his people as a self-styled messiah, while rooting out and destroying all who would oppose him."

Here's Riot LoveStrut with a PBE Bugs & Feedback Thread for God-King Garen:

"God-King Garen demands loyalty at all costs in exchange for his resolute protection. Unite under the one true king of Demacia, or perish. Will you fight for the Lion? 

Prideful Points 

• New model and textures: God-King Garen takes the Lion as his crest, imbuing the lion elements into his armor and greatblade.
• New VFX: Divine magic and the Lion’s spirit empowers his abilities.
• New SFX and VO lines: Lion roars, powerful slashes, and VO fit for a God-King.
• New animations: Every animation has been changed, including a special double-bladed spin for his E. 

God-King Garen is now available on PBE! We always love hearing your feedback and feelings! All bug reports and thoughts help us make these skins even more awesome, so please keep 'em coming! 

Thanks, cuties! <3"

New Summoner Icons

Two new summoner icons are now on the PBE. No release details yet but these icons appear to be related to the upcoming Dark Star Cho'Gath release in 8.13:

Miscellaneous 

• After debuting in 8.12 PBE, the cursor update returns for PBE testing. See this thread for more info.

• Dark Star Cho'Gath continues testing on the PBE for release in 8.13 after debuting in the last cycle. Look for the splash art to hit the PBE soon!

• Another batch of skin bios have been added! Here's Hextech Annie for example:

"A scientific prodigy even among the intellectuals of the Hextech renaissance, Annie's beautiful, living warbears are among the most prized innovations of the era. Her most mysterious creation, Tibbers, is always close at hand -- her confidant, friend, and monstrous bodyguard."

Kindred

• Wolf's Frenzy (W) - 
• [New] Passive Effect added:

"Passive: As Kindred move and attack they build stacks of Hunter's Vigor, up to a maximum of 100. At full stacks Lamb's next basic attack drains up to [34-102 (based on level) health from the target, based on Lamb's missing Health." 

• [Removed] Wolf's Frenzy no longer reduces monster attack speed by 50%

Context & Notes

1) Here's Meddler's quick gameplay thoughts for June 8th, including a look at some planned changes for  this cycle [8.13]:

"Hi folks, 

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 

Botlane 

We’re monitoring a lot of stuff in bot lane right now, particularly performance of different groups of champions (crit ADCs, versus non crit ADCs, versus non ADCs etc). Seeing a lot of upheaval as people experiment with different builds and picks, with some champs still struggling so far. Should have some extended thoughts on that and possible changes in response first post of next week. 

Edit: Adding a bit extra at time of posting. 

If, as some folks are claiming, crit ADCs are in a terrible spot and should never be picked anywhere, we'll definitely we'll address that. Our goal is to have them be a decent (not mandatory, but decent) option in bot lane at a minimum. Certainly seeing some concern they just won't have a home at all, which is a very understandable worry. Still working to distinguish which of the different positions being argued are accurate though. As above, hoping to have more concrete thoughts next post. 

Banner of Command 

As you might have seen we’re going to remove Banner from the game in 8.12, at least for the short-medium term. It's an item that's pretty consistently been either a poor choice or, when strong, been unhealthy for the game overall. Not impossible some heavily revised version returns someday, likely in a preseason or midseason if so. No immediate plans for that however. 

Kindred W 

As a follow up to Kindred's 8.12 buffs we're also potentially returning the Heal on W for 8.13. Change is just going into testing now, so it's not a certain thing yet. Tentative plan is to remove the monster AS slow and replace it with a heal that scales with Kindred's missing health. 

While we're working on the W already we're also hitting a couple of notable bugs with it. The first is that some of Wolf's visual effects aren't playing properly when he hits, making the skill less satisfying to use and a bit harder to follow. The second is that Wolf's Attack Speed isn't scaling properly with item purchases. 

Rageblade 

Changes to Rageblade are likely in 8.13, we're still sorting out the details though. We've got a range of opinions internally on exactly what Rageblade should/shouldn't be and how close it is to that state. We need to talk through a bunch of stuff as a result, things like how much it should be a rush item versus a later-in-the game multiplier for on-hit builds, how much AP scaling it should/shouldn't have (does it remove distinction between AP and on-hit builds too much?), what sort of price point it should sit at etc. 

Some other 8.13 work 

Some of the other stuff we're also working on during 8.13 below.

• Ornn - Continuing work from 8.12 that wasn't ready to ship.
• Ashe/Xayah - Looking at their kit specific interactions with crit, now that IE's changed.
• Karma - Likely she'll be one of the most in need of work post 8.12 heal/shield changes. Penciling her in for a look as a result.
• Pyke - Looking at whether AD purchases are appropriately rewarded, or whether he's too skewed towards building tank/utility when played optimally (open question, not a firm statement)
• Ongoing assessment of the state of bot lane.
• There'll also be a range of additional champion buffs/nerfs that happen a bit later in the cycle, so this isn't a comprehensive list. Likely includes a Trynd buff, potentially a Singed nerf."