Red Post Collection: Preseason Mastery Discussion, Cait / Sona / Pantheon VU ideas, Galio changes testing in 3.15, Olaf's balance, and more!

This morning's red post collection features details and discussion on the preseason mastery changes,  a brief chat about ideas regarding a Caitlyn, Sona, and Patheon VU, an "update" on the previously discussed Galio changes, and SmashGizmo's thoughts on Olaf now that his updates have had a while to brew.
Continue reading for more information!

Recent News

In case you missed it, we were graced with both a reveal of a new Popstar Ahri skin and a late night PBE patch last night featuring all sorts of goodies. Be sure to catch up on them!


Preseason Mastery Changes on the PBE

As you may have noticed in our coverage of the 11/4 PBE update, the preseason mastery changes are now up for testing!

Here's FeralPony with an overview on the changes:
"Hey folks! This is FeralPony wanting to give you guys a quick heads up on the Mastery Changes coming to PBE so there aren't any surprises when it happens! It's very possible that changes will come to these masteries as we move forward with the Pre-Pre Season as it chills on PBE for a bit. So everything is of course subject to change! Though as usual feedback is welcome and appreciated. Also apologies in advance if I messed up the format I'm getting used to this new forum just like you guys :) 
So without further delay!  
Offense 
Tier 1
  • Feast (1 Rank) - Each time you kill a unit restore 2 health and 1 mana
  • Fury (4 Ranks) - Gain 1.25/2.5/3.75/5% increased Attack Speed
  • Sorcery (4 Ranks) - Gain 1.25/2.5/3.75/5% Cooldown Reduction
  • Butcher (1 Rank) - Deal 2 additional damage versus minions with basic attacks and single target spells (does not included Damage over time effects or Area of Effect spells)
Tier 2
  • Doubled Edge Sword (1 Rank) - Melee: Deal an additional 2% damage and receive 1% additional damage. Ranged: Deal and recieve an additional 1.5% damage
  • Brute Force (3 Ranks) - +4/8/12 Attack Damage at level 18 (+0.22/0.44/0.66 per level)
  • Mental Force (3 Ranks) - +6/12/18 Ability Power at level 18 (+.33/.66/.99 per level)
Tier 3
  • Spell Weaving (1 Rank) - Damaging an enemy champion with an auto attack increases your spell damage by 1% stacking up to 3 times. (Max 3% damage increase)
  • Martial Mastery (1 Rank) (Req Brute Force) - +5 Attack Damage
  • Arcane Mastery (1 Rank) (Req Mental Force)- +8 Ability Power
  • Executioner (3 Ranks) - Increases damage dealt to champions below 20/35/50% health by 5%
Tier 4
  • Blade Weaving (1 Rank)(Req Spell Weaving) - Damaging an enemy champion with a spell increases your basic attack damage by 1% stacking up to 3 times. (Max 3% damage increase) This cannot be trigger more than once per second
  • Warlord (3 Ranks) -Increases Bonus Attack Damage by 2/3.5/5% 
  • Archmage (3 Ranks) - Increases Ability Power by 2/3.5/5% 
  • Dangerous Game (1 Rank) (Req Executioner)- Killing a champion restores 5% of your missing health and mana
Tier 5
  • Frenzy (1 Rank) - Critical hits increases your attack speed by 5% for 3 seconds (stacks up to 3 times)
  • Devastating Strikes (3 Ranks) - +2/4/6% Armor and Magic penetration
  • Arcane Blade (1 Rank) - Your basic attacks also deal bonus magic damage equal to 5% of your Ability Power
Tier 6
  • Havoc (1 Rank) - 3% Increased Damage 
Defense 
Tier 1
  • Block (2 Ranks) - Reduce incoming damage from champion basic attacks by 1/2
  • Recovery (2 Ranks) - +1 health per 5 seconds
  • Enchanted Armor (2 Ranks) - Increase your bonus Armor and Magic Resistance by 2.5/5%
  • Tough Skin (2 Ranks) - Reduce damage taken from neutral monsters by 1/2, This does not effect lane minions
Tier 2
  • Unyielding (1 Rank)(Req Block) - Melee - Reduce all incoming damage from champions by 2 Ranged - Reduce all incoming damage from champions by 1
  • Veteran Scars (3 Ranks) - +12/24/36 Health
  • Bladed Armor (1 Rank) - Enemy monsters that attack you bleed dealing damage equal to 1% of their current health each second.\nThis does not work against lane minions.
Tier 3
  • Oppression (1 Rank) - Reduces damage taken by 3% from enemies that have impaired movement (Slows, snares, taunts, stuns, etc)
  • Juggernaut (1 Rank)(Req Veteran Scars) - +3% Maximum Health
  • Hardiness (3 Ranks) - +2/3.5/5 Armor
  • Resistance (3 Ranks) - +2/3.5/5 Magic Resistance
Tier 4
  • Perseverance (3 Ranks) - +1/2/3% of your missing health every 5 seconds
  • Swiftness (1 Rank) - Reduce the effectiveness of slows by 10%
  • Reinforced Armor (1 Rank)(Req Hardiness) - Reduces damage taken by critical strikes by 10%
  • Evasive (1 Rank)(Req Resistance) - Reduces damage taken by 4% from Area of Effect magic damage
Tier 5
  • Second Wind (1 Rank)(Req Perseverance) - Increase all sources of incoming healing by 10% when below 25% health
  • Legendary Guardian (4 Ranks) - +1/2/3/4 Armor and 0.5/1/1.5/2 Magic Resistance for each nearby enemy champion
  • Runic Shield (1 Rank) - Start the game with a 50 health shield. This shield regenerates each time you respawn
Tier 6
  • Tenacious (1 Rank) - Reduces the duration of crowd control effects by 15% 
Utility 
Tier 1
  • Phasewalker (1 Rank) - Reduces the casting time of Recall by 1 second
  • Fleet of Foot (3 Ranks) - +0.5/1/1.5% movement speed
  • Meditation (3 Ranks) - +1/2/3 mana regen per 5
  • Scout (1 Rank) - Increases the cast range of wards and trinket items by 10%
Tier 2
  • Conjuror (1 Rank) - Summoned units, traps, and cloness have 10% increased duration. This does not work on wards
  • Summoner's Insight (3 Ranks) - Reduces the cooldown of Summoner Spells by 4/7/10%
  • Strength of Spirit (1 Rank)(Req Meditation) - Gain Health Regeneration equal to 10% of your Mana Regeneration
  • Alchemist (1 Rank) - Increases the duration of your potions and elixirs by 10%
Tier 3
  • Greed (3 Ranks) - +.5/1/1.5 gold every 10 seconds
  • Runic Affinity (1 Rank) - Increases the duration of shrine, relic, quest, and neutral monster buffs by 20%
  • Vampirism (3 Ranks) - +1/2/3% lifesteal and spellvamp
  • Culinary Master (1 Rank)(Req Alchemist) - Your health potions are upgraded into Biscuits that restore 20 health and 10 mana instantly upon consumption
Tier 4
  • Wealth (1 Rank) (Req Greed)- +40 Starting Gold
  • Bandit (1 Rank) - Melee: Grants an additional 15 Gold on Champion kill or assist Ranged: You gain an 3 gold each time you attack an enemy champion. This cannot trigger on the same champion more than once every 5 seconds
  • Expanded Mind (3 Ranks) - +2/3.5/5% increased maximum mana
  • Inspiration (2 Ranks) - +5 experience every 10 seconds while near a higher level allied champion
Tier 5
  • Scavenger (1 Rank) (Req Bandit)- +1 Gold each time an ally kills a nearby lane minion
  • Intelligence (3 Rank) - +2/3.5/5% Cooldown Reduction and reduces the cooldown of Activated Items by 4/7/10%
Tier 6
  • Wanderer (1 Rank) - Gain 5% increased movement speed out of combat"

FeralPony also followed up by answering a number of questions.


When asked about offensive, tier 3 spell weaving and what exactly will proc it, he commented:
"Only spell weaving would proc for Gangplank and Ezreal's Qs as they are treated as basic attacks - They lifesteal, generate on-hit effects etc. Spell weaving would work on anything that spellvamps. Including Udyr's  R. 
I would have to double check but I do not believe the bonus damage from Teemo E or Leona  Q would trigger it."

Regarding the tier utility, tier 2 Conjuror mastery, and if it increased the duration of Teemo streams, he noted:
"And yes 11 minute Teemo traps. We'll need to get some testing to see if this mastery is actually fun or just simply abusive on some characters - Yorick I'm watching you. o_o 
I'm okay with pulling it if it becomes a problem."

When asked about the defensive, tier 5 Runic Shield mastery and how low the value on it seems, he commented:
"It used to be slightly stronger and not refresh at all. There was a lot of desire to be able to get the shield more than once a game so we added the respawn mechanic and cut some of its strength. Unfortunately the more you make it refreshable the more you have to weaken it. 
After you water it down enough it doesn't really feel impactful or worth it anymore. Top that off with shields being really hard to read at low values it detracts a lot from this skill overall. The reason I really liked this mastery is two-fold. One - it gives some strategic value if you know you're going for a level 1 invade/fight. Two - it provides defensive junglers who normally come out of their first clear too low to gank an option to mitigate part of that weakness on their first clear. Weakening it but making it apply more often conflicts with both of those use cases."
He also noted:
"You are correct. The respawn also helps function as a very small anti-snowball mechanic."

As for the utility, tier 4 Bandit mastery, he noted:
"Melee supports tend to still get a lot of assists and benefit a lot from the additional gold. It's well worth the point. 
As for form swappers if they swap their range type they benefit from the mastery of the form they are currently in. 
Example - It is possible to attack a champion from range as Nidalee to get the 3 gold then shift into cougar form to kill them and get the 15 bonus kill gold."
He continued on the Bandit mastery, explainingthe difference between the ranged and melee modes:
"Those effects have very different gold generation curves. You are correct that it is a lot easier to hit an enemy champion 5 times, but that statement is only true in the early laning phase. As the mid-late game moves on the ranged version becomes naturally weaker and the melee version much stronger. I've actually had to tone down the melee version several times due to the crazy amount of gold it was generating."

When asked if the defensive, tier 2 Bladed Armor mastery will ever actually kill a monster, he replied:
"The damage is based off current health so it'll never kill a monster"

As for the range on utility, tier 4 Inspiration's range, he noted:
"Standard aura range - 900 iirc"


Cait VU discussion

When asked for his THOUGHTS on a Caitlyn visual update, IronStylus shared:
"She's not slated anytime soon, but my personal wishlist goes something as follows: 
- Jayce-ify her just a bit, so that she feels somewhere in line between Vi and Jayce himself. Example, higher fashion. Cait is classy, I think she can fill the high-fashion niche a little better. 
- Make her look the part of "Sherlock" to Vi's "Watson". I'd like her to feel juxtaposed, not just accidentally different. Meaning that Caitlyn should be put together, snazzy, fashionable, precise, while Vi is obviously punky and more eclectic. 
- Not necesarilly tone down the hat, but give it some flair or maybe a bit of function. Piltover high-fashion rather than Willy Wonka.

Again, personally, this is just me, but I'd like to see a bit of this injected into her:
https://www.google.com/search?q=lady...=1920&bih=1069

So yeah. Again, not any time soon, and just personal feels, but I think she could use some tightening. Plus.. her walk cycle is a bit goofy and she has noodle arms :P"
He continued, commenting on Caitlyn's legwear or lack of:
"How about transitioning it into sort of a half-coat type thing? I like to think Piltover is more clever than just a miniskirt. Hence me curious about how to fashion her up in potentially unconventional ways."
He continued:
"I'm fine with skin showing. I like that piece of fan art with the reverse open V at the bust line. I think that's very high fashion and something that Caitlyn would choose to wear. Sort of like how Motoko from Ghost in the Shell has weird outfit combinations but.. ya know.. reasons.."
When asked about her weapon specifically, he mused:
"Great question. What comes to mind for me is actually a very, very fancy rifle version of a Graves type shotgun. I actually designed Graves' gun waaaay back in the day and I'd probably apply similar principles. A magical component as some sort of accelerator, with some clockwork-type movement, rather than powder based shells."
When offered the suggestion of her rifle changing shapes when she uses different abilities, he commented:
"We've talked about that idea a bit, and I'm 100% for it. That's honestly not as difficult to do as.. let's say.. cloth."

He also commented on Hextech as a theme:
"We sorta need to solidify what hextech is actually. Right now it's.. somethingsomethingbluemagicsomethingsomething. I think we need to find away to make it actually make sense mechanically. Piltover and Zaun obviously use it in different ways. It'd be fun to see how it manifests in each and powers their respective technology."

Sona VU?

When poked about the idea of a Sona visual upgrade in the distant future, IronStylus replied:
"As far as I'm concerned she just needs model/texture/animation fidelity updates. No change in theme, just execution"

Updates on Pantheon VU ideas

When asked if anymore thought had been put into a VU for Pantheon following the discussion a while back, IronStylus commented:
"On the radar, but probably way far out. We have some concepts floating around by passionate Pantheon players so there's some fun being had. I think a couple of floating goals are that he should feel more substantial and just a dude who looks like a Spartan. Additionally, to find a way to make him feel unified in the prevailing Diana/Leona Targon look. However to be fair they need to be unified a bit as well."

3.15 earliest for testing Galio Changes

When asked for an update on his previously mentioned Galio changes, ricklessabandon commented that we likely won't see them until 3.15 hits the PBE:
"hi! 
yeah, i'm looking into scheduling for the next patch now. so far it looks like i can fit in something minor (similar to what i did with morgana last patch) and then maybe do implementation work for galio if i don't have many emergent tasks for the 3.14 patch. so that's where he is on my end. you're right about considering the seasonal changes though—i likely won't be able to get anything to pbe until a lot of that settles down, so even if he was 100% ready for pbe i'd probably need to hold him back a patch until the first wave goes out.

tl;dr - sorry, no real updates. galio on pbe is currently 3.15 at earliest even if i finish up work on him before then."

Thoughts on Post rework Olaf

When asked about this thoughts on Olaf's viability now that his updates have had a while to brew, SmashGizmo commented:
"It seems he's seeing some picks and bans in the NACL and ALCS, mostly centered around using him as a counter to Jax, and his pick rate and win rate in all queues both seem to have gotten markedly better with this last patch. It's early to say anything definitive about his current balance state, but all the early data from this patch is leaving me optimistic that he's somewhat close to a good spot. 
From my personal experiences in solo queue, I'm finding that I have trouble being effective vs. Jarvan, Nidalee and Vayne and that's frustrating me due to their popularity in my games, but I feel very powerful when those characters aren't present.

I think his jungle is hurting a little bit right now, but I do think it's playable and I think the upcoming pre-season changes will help him out in the jungle considerably. Right now he's just having trouble hitting the level of farm he needs out of the jungle."

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