More on Masteries and Summoner Spells

 Continue reading for more information regarding the upcoming S3 updates to the masteries and summoner spells, including a look at a new gold generating mastery in the utility tree, a hint for something new on Heal, and explanations of why Surge and Promote are being removed.

 More on Masteries
While responding to a post asking if there would be any updated or new masteries to help supports earn gold, FeralPony revealed something new, "Pickpocket"

"We won't be doing Synergy as there are a few issues with it that Morello talked about in a previous post. Most of the gold pressure reduction is going to be outside the mastery changes through a number of smaller adjustments (gold flow changes, items like the Sight Stone Xypherous revealed earlier etc).

 The one mastery we are adding specifically gold related in Utility is a mastery called "Pickpocket" that grants gold upon attacking an enemy champion. This will allow active supports a bit more gold while harassing their opponents, while also being useful for other character types that spec into deep into Utility."

 He then addressed a few player concerns about this delightful new mastery

[ Doesn't this just make ranged supports more viable and punish melee supports? ]: "Good point! Currently we have different gold amounts for Ranged and Melee champions, and we'll continue to adjust these values as needed. We want to reward melee champions for the additional risk they take in any engagement from this master"

[ Does this mean more attack speed = more gold?? ]: "There is a cooldown before the effect can triggered again."

More on Summoner Spells
Whilst answering a question about ever implementing a purely passive summoner spells, Roku hinted at an upcoming change for Heal

"I'd be a bit hesitant for a purely passive Summoner Spell...because clicking buttons and seeing effects is a really fun thing. You lose gameplay and balancing levers when making a purely passive spell (cooldown, uptime, etc)

However, Heal might gain a purely passive component to slightly benefit the person that picked it."

Roku also took time to explain the problems they had with Promote and Surge, two summoner spells added to replace other outdated spells last season.

"Yes - we do admit that they didn't work well.

Promote was OK for its intended use - but we feel like as a strategic choice it is better fit on an item. This allows us to control the effect in many different ways than a Summoner Spell does (who buys it, when it becomes available in a game, and how much cost you're paying for the effect).

As for Surge - we definitely missed the mark. Originally Surge was envisioned as a team oriented spell, something similar to old Rally. After a few iterations it had to be toned down, but we didn't want to make the user feel worse for taking it. As it stands now, it does come down to which spell is going to give you more damage - Ignite or Surge. In an overwhelming majority of cases, Ignite will actually give you more mileage even if Surge sounds better. This becomes especially true later in the game as Ignite ignores armor / magic resist. Surge was fun to cast, and had good synergy with a particular couple champions - but a majority of the time it was actually a trap. There were some fun aspects of it - turret pushing, clever edge case uses, and getting bigger, but it overall was a false choice."