Surrender at 20: 6.5 PBE Cycle

[UPDATE: Hey! 6.5 will be headed to live servers morning of March 9th!]

This mega post was last Updated on 3/6 with a few end of cycle corrections and formatting!

( With the release of patch 6.4 to live on February 25th, we started the new 6.5 PBE cycle. )

Previous PBE Cycles in 2016

Below you will find a comprehensive list of new content, balance changes, and whatever else is included in the current PBE cycle! Be aware that these changes are extremely tentative, there is a possibility that things you see below will be changed or even reverted prior to the live patch.

( Note: As the cycle continues, some images may be outdated! )

(Warning: PBE Content is tentative and iterative - what you see may not reflect what eventually gets pushed to live servers! Manage your expectations accordingly. )

New Skins

Patch History

New Skins

To kick off the 6.5 PBE cycle we have three new champion skins - Death Blossom Kha'zix, Elderwood LeBlanc and the crafting system exclusive Hextech Annie skin!

Death Blossom Kha'Zix

975 RP

[Q evolve]

[W evolve]

[E evolve]

[R evolve]

Here's RiotKateyKhaos with a Bugs & Feedback thread on Death Blossom Kha'Zix:

"Death Blossom Kha'Zix blossoms onto the Rift!

Death Blossom Kha'Zix will be 975 RP and includes the following!

New model and textures for all pre-evolved and evolved forms!

New particles for all pre-evolved and evolved forms!

New SFX for his wings (fluttery bug sounds!) and recall animation!

New recall animation where he's swallowed up by a flower!

Death Blossom Kha'Zix is now available to play on PBE!

Please note that PBE content is still a work in progress! We always find bug reports and feedback super helpful, as well as constructive feedback, so feel free to comment in the thread below! Likewise, if you’ve got any questions, post ‘em here, and we’ll do our best to answer them.

*Prices on PBE subject to change."

Elderwood LeBlanc

1350 RP

[R version of abilities]

Here's Nurse Flan with a Bugs & Feedback thread on Elderwood LeBlanc:

"Elderwood Leblanc has been re-imagined as a trickster fairy! She's a fancy magical forest dweller with a flower/butterly motif!

As a little aside, internally we call the little blue bird on her horn, Chuchu! haha

Completely new model (fairy!)

New particles for abilities! (petals and sparkles!)

New recall! (she flutters around!)

New audio for abilities and recall! (magical!)

Some new animations - her wings flutter for her W and R-W, plus her recall!

Set to be 1350RP* (pricing always subject to change)

As players who get the first look at this in-progress skin, it would be wonderful to hear your thoughts and feelings on the new Elderwood skin! The feedback and bugs you leave here will help us get a better idea of things we may still have to take a look at. :]

See you on the Rift!"

Hextech Annie

[Obtainable exclusively thought crafting- Hextech Annie, crafting and gemstones. Obviously, will not be available until the Hextech crafting system is released on live. ]

This HEXTECH ANNIE skin is planned to be exclusive to the upcoming HEXTECH CRAFTING system, obtainable by acquiring 10 rare gems through chests!

Once you have the 10 rare gems, you can just right click the rare gem in your Hextech Crafting inventory to make the Hextech Annie skin!

Here's Mirross with more info:

"Hi all!

Everyone’s favorite combo of sugar, spice, nice, and plenty of burning is getting a new skin as part of hextech crafting and loot. In order to secure appropriate testing for Hextech Annie, we’re putting her and her hextechnically-augmented Tibbers on PBE early, but don’t expect her to debut with the launch of hextech crafting and loot.

Featuring an all-new model, textures, animations and particle effects as well as new sounds, Hextech Annie is intended to be available exclusively through hextech crafting and the loot system by acquiring 10 gemstones either in normal chests and promotional chests through rare drops or by picking up special promo chest bundles (which’ll guarantee a gemstone drop). Gemstones are rare loot drops that can be crafted into a chest and key bundle or saved to combine to craft Hextech Annie.

Promo chests will only be available at limited times and may have different content inside compared to normal chests. For testing on the PBE, we’ve unlocked Hextech Promo Chest bundles in the store so players can pick up Hextech Annie as soon as possible. During this test, buying one of the 10-chest bundles guarantees a gemstone in addition to the gemstones you can find in the chests themselves.

As we mentioned at the beginning, Hextech Annie won’t be available at the launch of hextech crafting and loot. We’ll test her on PBE before testing her release to live servers in Turkey (where we’ve been testing hextech crafting and loot for a little while now). When hextech crafting and loot debut on all live servers, Hextech Annie will follow shortly after.

Lastly, we’re pretty sure everyone’s used to this by now, but please keep in mind the promo chests have been heavily discounted for testing on PBE, and the drop rates of items in the chests may also change before we go live.

Leave your feedback on the skin or even the idea of a free, exclusive skin in hextech crafting below, and we’ll see you on the PBE battlefields!

Mirross"

New Ward Skin

The new Hextech Ward skin is now on the PBE for testing!

Hextech Ward

[Only obtainable through Hextech crafting.]

New Champion Ability Icons

New ability icons for Cho'Gath have been added!

[Passive, Q, W, E, R]

"LookToTheStars" ARAM Announcer Teaser

[UPDATE: This is a teaser for AURELION SOL, our next champion!]

A several new VO lines have been added to the ARAM announcer - file is titled "LookToTheStars"!

These new lines are from AURELION SOL and play over the announcer VO in ARAM map. While not a full set of announcer lines, these will trigger on things like turret kills, victory, etc.

"Oh look, another battle for survival."
"Boring me is dangerous, so make this interesting."
"You call that an entrance? Hmph. Just wait..."
"Oh look.. Swords and maagggiiicc."
"Aw, your little tower fell down."
"Turrets? I destroy mountains...those are bigger by the way."
"Bravo. You survived against an enemy that is barely mediocre .

Non-English clips - KR / BR / FR

Shop Visual Update

[NOTE: According to DontHassleDaHoff , this won't be going out to live in 6.5!]

A visual update for the in client shop is now up on the PBE!

Before we take a closer look, here's DontHassleDaHoff with more information from the PBE boards:

"Aloha!

We're making some visual changes to the store and wanted to give you a heads up before everything goes live. We made the whole package visually match the client, Champ Select, and Hextech Crafting, which means a few buttons and bars got moved. Most notably, you’ll see that the navigation bar has moved from its old spot on the left side of the store to the top (see below).

Other changes include:

A more streamlined navigation bar

A Gameplay menu featuring Runes and Boosts,

An Accessories menu, including Wards, Icons, Chests and Keys

A new Account Icon in the upper right, where name changes can be made

A new RP button (ohhh fancy)

We hope you dig it. Let us know what you think. Thanks!"

Here's a small gallery of the visual updated shop, including the new purchase & confirmation screen! Note that Chroma packs are now available under skins rather than only in bundles.

[NOTE: For those who might not be acquainted with the PBE shop, all content is typically priced at 1 IP for testing purposes. Additionally, some art or assets such as splashes may be missing!]

Miscellaneous

[Missing Tile/centered splash assets for several recent skins added this cycle.]
The Swain and Pantheon tile art assets have been corrected to use the current versions of their splash art - they both use their default art (S/P) rather than the different regional art for Pantheon and the unreleased Swain art.

With the Hextech Annie testing, a new "promotion chest" hextech crafting chest is up in the PBE shop. This chest has slightly different loot tables and a new purple look.

The CBLOL 2016 JAYOB summoner icon has been updated to a Operation Kino icon.

Balance Changes

* Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, and sometimes radical changes. The changes you see below may be lacking context or other accompanying changes that didn't make it in - don't freak out! These are not official notes.

Champions

Gnar

Mini Gnar Base attack damage increased to 51 from 48.
Mega Gnar base attack damage increased to 57 from 54

Hecarim

Devastating Charge (E) knock back distance also now scales based on how far Hecarim has traveled during E.

[NOTE: I believe knock back is 250 to 450 from ~300.]

Jarvan IV

Golden Aegis (W) cooldown reduced to 12 seconds from 20/18/16/14/12
Cataclysm (R)

Mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks from 100/125/150
Now does damage to all enemies in the circle instead of only target.

Kog'Maw

Attack speed growth increased to 3.5 from 1.5
Caustic Spittle (Q)

Mana cost reduced to 40 at all ranks from 60

Bio-Arcane Barrage (W)

No longer grants passive 15/20/25/30/35% attack speed.
Now also deals 10/15/20/25/30 flat magic damage while active.

Nautilus

Riptide (E) damage lowered to 55/85/115/145/175 from 60/95/130/165/200

Pantheon

Heartseeker Strike (E)

Active damage lowered to 80/130/180/230/280 (+3 bonus AD) over three strikes from 80/140/220/260/320 (+3.6 bonus AD)

[Tooltip has changed. It now lists damage over three strikes vs listing an damage of each strike. Also now lists damage to champions and mentions it does reduced damage to minion/monster rather than damage it does to monster/minion then double to champiions.]

[NOTE: Damage to minions/monsters roughly the same.]

Grand Skyfall (R)

Mana cost reduced to 100 at all ranks from 125.
No longer refunds (85) mana if R is cancelled.
Cooldown when cancelled increased to 30 seconds from 10 seconds.

Renekton

Slice and Dice (E) - both Slice and Dice now generate fury, rather than just Dice

E1 (Slice) now generates 2 fury for each non champion hit and 10 fury for each champion hit, up to a maximum of 30 fury.
E2 (Dice) fury generation reduced to 2 for non-champion hits down from 2.5

Dominus (R)

Health bonus changed to 250/500/750 from 200/400/800
Now gains 25 range while R is on (doesn't stack with W)**

Sejuani

Flail of the Northern Winds (W) ["AA reset for her W updated so it feels less clunky"]
Permafrost (E) damage increased to 80/105/130/155/180 from 60/90/120/150/180
Glacial Prison (R) [has a new range indicator that includes explosion radius.]

Soraka

Starcall (Q) -

Mana cost reduced to 40 at all ranks from 70/75/80/85/90
Cooldown lowered to 5 seconds from 7/6.5/6/5.5/5 seconds.
All enemies hit are slowed rather than only those in center.
Enemies in center no longer take 50% extra damage.
[NEW MECHANIC] "If Starcall damages a champion, Soraka gains Rejuvenation for 4 seconds, which restores up to 14-22 (+10% AP) health per second and grants 15% movement speed when not moving toward enemy champions."
Updated tooltip:

"Calls down a star from Soraka to a target location. Enemies standing in the explosion radius take 70/110/150/190/230 (+.35 ) magic damage and are slowed by 30/35/40/45/50% for 2 seconds.

If Starcall damages a champion Soraka gains Rejuvenation for 4 seconds, which restores 14/16/18/20/22 (+ 10% AP) health per second and grants 15% movement speed when not moving toward enemy champions."

Astral Infusion (W) -

Heal value lowered to 80/110/140/170/200 from 120/150/180/210/240
[REMOVED] No longer heals Soraka on champion Q hit.
[NEW MECHANIC] "If cast while affected by Rejuvenation, Soraka will grant her target its benefits for 3/3.5/4/4.5/5 seconds".
Updated tooltip:

"Restores 80/110/140/170/200 (+.6 AP ) health to another champion ally.

If cast while affected by Rejuvenation, Soraka will grant her target its benefits for 3/3.5/4/4.5/5 seconds.

Cannot be cast if Soraka is below 5% health."

Ally buff duration 3/3.5/4/4.5/5 seconds based on Q rank!

Talon

Shadow Assault (R)

Cooldown increased to 100/80/60 from 75/65/55
Mana cost increased to 100 at all ranks from 80/90/100.

Urgot

Base damage increased to 54.05 from 52.05
Terror Capacitor (W) duration down to 5 seconds from 7 seconds.

Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser (R) now terrifies nearby enemies for 1.5 seconds after swapping!

Excessive Force (E)

damage increased to 10/30/50/70/90 from 5/20/35/50/65
Mana cost reduced to 40/45/50/55/60 from 60 at all ranks.

Items

Enchantment: Devourer

Stacks given for Rift Herald kill reduced to 2 from 5 **

Guardian Angel

Total cost lowered to 2700g from 2900g.

Combine cost reduced to 1180g from 1380g.

Now notes restores greater of 700 HP or 30% of maximum health rather than just 30% max hp.

Continued Testing/Unreleased Content

Below are few features that have been testing on the PBE for multiple cycles! Unfortunately we do not currently have release date estimates!

[NOTE: Some of the screen shots below might be slightly out dated!]

CLUBS testing on PBE!

As mentioned in the 2016 season announcement, Riot is currently working on the CLUBS feature and it is up for PBE testing! While originally introduced as private chatroom updates, CLUBS are :

"Clubs are player-named (names must be unique), player-organized, and player-controlled social groups. The idea is to help you grow the amount of available friends at any given time so you can head to the Rift with the right teammates, every game. "

As mentioned above, you can either make your own club or be invited to one! Once created or invited, you'll have access to the club's chat room and can display their tag.

Club creators or a member promoted in the club (as designated by the symbol next to your status circle) can also serve as moderators by removing unwanted members.

By clicking the CLUBS tab, you can switch your default club if you are in multiple clubs and you can toggle on and off displaying your clubs tag!

Once you join a club, your default clubs tag will show up in various places! On the PBE, I've made the club "Surrender at 20" with the tag FF20. As you can see in the screenshots below, this tag displays on lobbies, chatrooms, and in-game!

Hextech Crafting & Loot

[NOTE: No global release date yet! Socrates has noted it will test on TR for several weeks prior to wide launch.]

The new Hextech Crafting and Loot system is now on the PBE for testing! Check out the 2016 season announcement to get acquainted with the new system!

Here's a short video previewing the new system:

You can access the new crafting system by pressing the gem looking button next to shop and profile.

In short the new system allows you to earn and/or purchase chests and keys then open them for loot! Keys can be earned by winning matchmade games or purchased in the shop. Chests can be earned by getting S ranks in matchmade games (limit of 4 per month, 1 per champ per season) or purchased in the shop - more details available here.

Opening chests awards loot - unlocks, champion shards, skin shards, ward skins shards, summoner icons, rare gems, and more. Note that you CAN acquire multiple shards for the same champion or for content you already own. You can get shards for any tier of champion or skin, as well as shards for legacy skins!

Once you have a shard- champion or skin - you can combine it with the appropriate essence - champion or cosmetic - to create a permanent unlock for that content! In the screen shot below I need 580 champion essence to make my Trundle champion shard into a permanent unlock of Trundle. unfortunately, I don't yet have enough essence yet!

To get more essence, you can DISENCHANT any of your shards into essence based on their normal value. Below I can disenchant Kennen, who is normally 880 RP, for 290 champion essence.

With my new champion essence in hand, I can now create a permanent Trundle unlock!

If you'd simple like to try out content, each individual champion or skin shard can be redeemed for a temporary 7 day rental of content by selecting "Activate rental" on the right click drop down. This only requires a shard and does not consume any essence.

You also have the option of REROLLING three permanent skin unlocks or three shards to obtain a random permanent unlock for that type of content. You will always reroll into an unowned champion or skin!

In the shot below I'm rerolling 3 skin shards and end up creating a new permanent skin unlock for Workshop Nunu!

The permanent skin unlock goes into your inventory where you can redeem it to permanently unlock the skin, RE-ROLL it again, or simply disenchant it for more essence. Permanent unlocks have a gold border rather than the teal border for shards.

Unlike skin unlocks, Champion permanent unlocks go right to your account rather than hanging around in your inventory.

You can also open up a RARE GEM that, in addition to also including a random shard, will give you a free chest and key! *NOTE: Socrates mentioned these may be for something else.

As you can only earn four chests a month, you can track how many you have left to earn on your profile page:

As you can only earn 1 chest per champion per season, you can track who you have earned a chest with so far on your champion page:

While things may change, here are a few notes on current values:

Disenchants yield essence equal to ~33% of the normal RP price for the content

Example: 975 RP skin will disenchant into 322 cosmetic essence.

It currently takes the content's RP cost minus 300 to upgrade a shard into a permanent piece of loot.

Example: Gnar costs 975 RP. To upgrade Gnar's shard into a permanent unlock, it will take 675 champion essence.

For Hextech Crafting and Loot - Looks like a few new assets added for various types of chests including "New Player" "Day One" and "Promotion".

Introductory message for the Hextech crafting and loot system added, which includes granting the user a free chest containing a skin shard, ward skin shard, and some essence.

Be sure to check out the Hextech Crafting & Loot announcement page for more information, as well as all the red posts over on the Hextech Crafting and Loot Q&A! Bug reports for Hextech crafting can be left in this PBE boards thread.