Surrender at 20: 3/4 PBE Update: Elderwood Bard & Secret Agent Xin Zhao splash, New Duck, Luden's Echo updates, & more!

The PBE has been updated! Today's late night update includes splash art for Elderwood Bard & Secret Agent Xin Zhao, a set of new summoner icons, updates for Luden's Echo, a duck, and more!

Continue reading for more information!

(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 Splash Art

New Splash Art

Splash art for both Elderwood Bard and Secret Agent Xin Zhao, two of our upcoming skins in patch 5.5, has been added!

Elderwood Bard

Check out the comprehensive 5.5 PBE cycle post for a better look at Elderwood Bard!

Secret Agent Xin Zhao

Check out the comprehensive 5.5 PBE cycle post for a better look at Secret Agent Xin Zhao!

New Summoner Icons

Three new summoner icons were added in today's update, including a new icon featuring everyone's favorite spatula wielding manatee! No details on availability.

Bard's Lore

Bard's short form lore entry has been added:

"Bard travels through realms beyond the imagination of mortal beings. Some of Valoran's greatest scholars have spent their lives trying to understand the mysteries he embodies. This enigmatic spirit has been given many names throughout the history of Valoran, but titles such as Cosmic Vagabond and Great Caretaker only capture a fleeting aspect of his true purpose. When the unknowable structure of the universe is threatened, Bard steers all existence away from utter annihilation."

For more on our upcoming champion Bard, check out our comprehensive post for the 5.5 PBE cycle.

Luden's Echo Updates

Luden's Echo (formerly item 3285) has received a few updates in today's PBE patch, including a shiny new icon and it's own bouncing purple vfx for when it procs!

Here's a preview video of the new effects in action:

Over on twitter, ricklessabandon has confirmed this new item will be going to live in 5.5.

Miscellaneous

Model, texture, and animation files for a cute little duck (file path:"Sru_Duck" ) are included in today's update.

There are also several files referencing "MinionSpawn" and various particles. Looks like nothing is hooked up in-game just yet.

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

Bard

Cosmic Binding (Q) cooldown changed to 11/10/9/8/7 from 10 at all ranks

Kassadin

Riftwalk (R):

Range reduced from 550 to 500 [vs 450 on live]

Mana cost reduced to 50 from 60

Cooldown changed to 6/4/2 from 7/5/3

[WARNING: These Kassadin changes still appear to be only in the AIR client only and not in-game.]

Nautilus

Titan's Wrath (W) shield value scaling increased to 9/11/13/15/17% of his max health from 7/9.5/12/14.5/17%
Titan's Wrath (W) damage increased to 30/40/50/60/70 from 15/30/45/60/75

[Note: Still reduced vs the live value of 40/55/70/85/100]

Riptide (E) cooldown increased to 7/6.5/6/5.5/5 from 6/5.5/5/4.5/4

[Note: Still lower vs the live value of 10 seconds at all ranks]

Shyvana

Flame Breath (E) tool tip updated - basic attacks against debuffed targets deal 2.5% of maximum health up from 2%.

[Note: This change has been on the PBE for a few patches but the tooltip was only updated today. Live value is currently 2%, Previous PBE value was 3%. Current PBE value is 2.5]

Sion