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Mid Year Mage Updates - Brand Direction 

"Hello world! 

In keeping with the Vel’Koz and Malzahar posts, I’m here to talk about everyone’s favorite fire-haver, Brand! As with other mage update posts, this isn’t a changelist; there won’t be numbers or specific mechanics in here. This is about our thinking on the champ-- What we like about him, what we don’t, and what we’re hoping to accomplish with the update. For myself, I started playing Brand as he released -- the good ol days when his DoT had full return from spellvamp. Brand is the epitome of epic fire mage, and we mean to see him succeed in the modern faster-paced game. 

We’ve been keeping an eye on Brand threads for a while and got a lot of extra discussion during the update post. Players seem to identify with two main souls in Brand—an explosive mage who burns people to the ground and a slow burn mage who eventually kills even the beefiest targets. Both of these work reasonably well on live -- there’s nothing in his kit that presents an unfulfilled fantasy as, say, Voidlings do on AP Malz. His core combo gameplay is fun and engaging. 

Trouble is, Brand’s basic kit doesn’t have enough special stuff--he needs to have the best damage numbers to compete. Because of his lane dominance and difficulty surviving teamfights, if he’s not overtuned he has a hard time existing in a world of dashes and blinks. When he first came out, % max health damage was much more special than it is now. The Rylai’s + Liandry’s combo is the closest he gets; aside from those items, if there’s a reason to pick him, it’s typically because he currently deals the most damage. We feel the main thing he needs is a special contribution to the game, one that keeps with his theme of exploding enemies’ hitpoints. 

Here’s where we think he’s at. Stuff that’s good:

• Simple spells with room to express skill thanks to his combo system.
• % max health damage means he kills anything eventually -- an strength that goes well with his low mobility and moderate range.
• Twin souls – a burst mage with a respectable sustained damage pattern.
• Good counterplay and interaction -- Brand already has clear weaknesses that make room for epic strength, because his opponents have ways to act against him.

Stuff that’s less good:

• Outside of Liandry/Rylai, there’s not much reason to pick Brand over other AoE mages unless he simply deals more damage than they do. Tough to balance.
• R acts like a violent slot machine, that unpredictability frustrates both Brand and his opponents. It tries to be controllable, but it often isn’t in practice.
• Great at obliterating individuals or pairs, but the fire fantasy could go farther—he doesn’t often get to burn everyone. Burning the world is a major thing for him.
• A bully in lane inherently due to passive and W, forcing him to fade into irrelevance unless he gets enormously fed.

Here’s what we’re trying to get out of the Brand changes:

• Brand should still play like Brand. He’s fun and surprisingly deep.
• Brand can still do Brand things—annihilates squishies when ahead, jungle ganks against him have big 1v2 turn potential, strong kill potential in lane (if less bullying).
• There’s a unique reason to pick Brand and it’s expressed in damage. Brand is a combo AoE fire man who explodes things. This will only become more true.
• The damage Brand deals should not require luck.

That’s all the thoughts for the initial post. I’ll be away for a few hours – parents are here to visit, I’m showing them around the office – but I’ll be around to reply later today and off and on over the weekend. 

Good hunting, 

20thCenturyFaux"

"Quote:

Can we also acknowledge the brand support niche- it is viable and should be addresed in the update.

Definitely. We're balancing for mid but ensuring support stays strong."

"Quote:

Are you looking at his E? It is probably the biggest contender for 'least interesting skill in the game' at the moment. It basically only exists so that you're not really giving anything up to set your passive up against a single target, and even if you do want to use E's bonus when the passive is up, you're probably gonna W first.
Also: What are your ideas for things he could do that other mages couldn't?

E's a tricky one. It's sort of a backup singer on Brand's kit--less exciting, but serves as glue to hold the rest together. On top of that, every time we try making E more awesome it gets mandatory to cast it in teamfights, which typically involves putting Brand way closer to danger than he'd prefer to be. We could just delete the spell and make a brand new one, but that'd take power budget--power that's got to come from somewhere else on the kit. Tricky!"

"Quote:

Is spellvamp being reworked along with this mage rework?

I think we're looking at the way you get spellvamp from items, but I'm not systems team so I can't shed much light on it."

"We are aware of the issue with Elise. This is not a problem with your client, this is something that is bugged. Thank you for taking the time to post this and we are trying to fix the situations as soon as we can." 

"HEADS UP: Elise isn't playing most of her sound effects in spider form. We're fixing ASAP but opting NOT to disable (non-game warping bug)."

Patch Chat with Playtest - Patch 6.4

"Hey all,

Welcome back to Patch Chat! We’re Riot’s Playtest Team, a group of high ranking League players whose job it is to play the hell out of things (lane tests, competitive testing, etc) and give actionable, objective feedback to designers. 

Every two weeks (concurrent with the release of patch notes), we’re going to be hosting a discussion here on the state of balance on the current patch. Take this opportunity to ask us any questions about the state of the game because, as we said, it’s our job to analyze it from all angles. 

Today, we’ve got a grab bag of topics for you, with a follow-up on our sleepers post from last patch, predictions on the jungle meta after the Runic Echoes nerfs, and what the hell is happening to all of our beautiful markspeople. 

One More Sleeper 

Last week we put top lane Nautilus front and center in our predicted sleepers, and it seems like many other players had the same idea, waking the Titan of the Depths from his slumber. His play rate spiked by 125%, and his win rate climbed another percent, to just above 54.5%. Did you pick up top lane Nautilus last week? Tell us about it in the comments! 

But there’s another best-kept secret just on the horizon, and it’s more than just OK. How do you deal with a meta where ADCs can go top, jungle, and bot all at the same time? Rammus, of course! With all that AD, this armordillo has powerballed to the top and is poised to take on all comers. 

With the exception of Malphite, Dr. Mundo, Nautilus, and Vladimir, 16 of the 20 most-played top laners are AD-based. And while a few of them have the potential to bully, the notorious trio of snowballers, Renekton, Darius, and Riven, are all sitting below 50% win rates. 

Rammus may have a weak laning phase but, with no bullies around to punish him, he’s taking his lunch money and cashing it in for some serious armor that most top laners and ADC’s can’t crack. 

Rumble in the Jungle 

The jungle has been more than a little mercurial lately, with juggernauts, devourers, and mages - oh my! - dominating the top 10 in both win rates and play rates, leaving tanks and warriors out in the cold. 

Udyr? Let’s not forget that he’s getting his own personal nerfs! 

Once the runic echo nerf hits live, however, we expect those AP junglers to take a decent hit, which means that the devourer junglers that aren’t nerfed (sorry Xin Zhao) will probably take the throne. My top bets? Master Yi and Shyvana. 

Those champions have proven harder to deal with than expected, thanks to massive mixed damage: physical (auto-attacks), magical (Devourer/Guinsoo’s), and even true (Master Yi). But if you can’t join ‘em, beat ‘em. Devourer junglers are weak gankers early on, and early pressure junglers have a chance at snowballing lanes out of control.
But one champion has been absolutely burning up the jungle: Rumble. Everybody’s favorite scrapper is getting some serious changes, so we sat down with playtester (and former LCS player) Nicholas “Nickwu” Smith for his opinions on the new and improved Rumble. 

I think this should be a pretty big playstyle change; it’s definitely a buff, but his win rate may drop to start as people figure out how to play it. 

Rumble has more leeway on heat. For example if he gets up to 80-heat or so, he no longer has to ult immediately or wait for his heat to go down; he can drop one E for the slow, then ult, then finish off with the second E. 

Rumble’s poking game is also definitely stronger now, but it’s not as secure as other poke champions. Like, if I’m playing Nidalee, those spears have sick range; I can sit back and throw spears and if I hit a fatty one, that’s money. If not, I’m not at risk. Rumble's low-ranged poke leaves him open to picks, but the strength of his counter initiation with Equalizer gives him some serious options to punish opponents who think he's an easy kill. 

Of course, he should also still find a place in top lane, and these changes should buff him up a few percent, but he probably still won’t be a top-tier top laner thanks to his steep mastery curve. 

What do you think? What new junglers will rise to the top? 

Hitting the Mark 

Our ranged auto-attackers are getting some serious changes in this patch, but two champions’ changes really stand out. 

Jhin, The Virtuoso 

Jhin has struggled in solo queue, despite already seeing LCS play. 

After his games on the champion, Nickwu thinks that Jhin should feel significantly better on 6.4, thanks to an underappreciated change: 

The biggest change to me is probably the Movement Speed. Since every auto-attack matters, moving around and picking the right auto-attacks will feel more fluid. On a character that absolutely needs to hit his autos at the right time, Movement Speed cannot be underestimated. 

Deathfire Touch already does big damage on Jhin, thanks to his ludicrous bonus AD. Making his ultimate single-target will allow him to cash in some huge snipe shots in the late game, but might not be relevant in teamfights if you’re already getting the Deathfire Touch off on earlier auto-attacks. 

There’s some nice usability buffs in there two; traps and the root are both easier to use, which should ease some player frustration. 

Finally, Jhin’s passive is brought into consistency on towers. You already expect your 4th shot to be a fatty crit, so this should make Jhin feel more consistent when taking towers. 

Caitlyn - The Sheriff of Piltover 

Thanks to her synergies with Hurricane, Statikk Shiv, and Rapidfire cannon, Caitlyn has been seeing success in mid game teamfights and turret sieges. Traps are already especially potent around turrets, and this trap change is a buff that exaggerates Caitlyn’s strengths. We should see her dominate in fights around turrets and epic monsters. Maxing W increases Caitlyn’s highs, and will make it much harder for teams to claw their way back into the game when Caitlyn abuses her early game strength to get a lead. 

What do you think? Who are your sleepers for 6.4? Are AP junglers still going to be strong on 6.4? Is Jhin OP or situational? Tell us below in the comments and feel free to ask any questions you have for Playtest Team at Riot, whether they be about balance or what exactly our job is! We will be around for the next few hours and will try to answer as many questions as possible. 

Ben “Cezium” Burkhardt
Adam "Afic" Cohen
Isaac “Azael” Cummings-Bentley
Shawn “I Am The IRS” Currie
Miles “Daydreamin” Hoard
Scott “Sickoscott” Hong
Mattias “Gentleman Gustaf” Lehman
Nicholas “Drecker” Shapiro
Nicholas “Nickwu” Smith
Blake “Ex Shepherd” Soberanis
Trevor “ThEntropist” Thernes"

[LAN/LAS] Fiesta de Máscaras

Helmet Bro: The Animated Series - Garen