4/4 PBE Update: New Champions Xayah and Rakan, Conqueror Karma, Cosmic Blade Master Yi, and more!

The PBE has been updated! As we kick off the new 7.8 PBE cycle, today's update includes two new champions; Rakan, the Charmer and Xayah, the Rebel, the new Conqueror Karma and Cosmic Blade Master Yi skins, MSI in-game content, and more!
Continue reading for more information!

(Warning: PBE Content is tentative and subject to change - what you see below may not reflect what eventually gets pushed to live servers at the end of the cycle! Manage your expectations accordingly.)

Table of Contents


New Champions - Xayah and Rakan

The 7.8 PBE cycle includes not one but TWO new champions now up for testing -  Rakan, the Charmer and Xayah, the Rebel! For gameplay designers, BeatPunchBeef worked on Rakan and EndlessPillows worked on Xayah  - src.
While this couple tests on the PBE, you can report to these threads with comments, questions, and concerns of the heart:

Xayah, the Rebel

[Shared recall with Rakan]

Stats & Abilities


Stats:
  • Health: 545
  • Health Growth : 80
  • Mana: 340
  • Mana Growth: 40
  • Attack Speed: ---
  • Attack Speed Growth: 3.3
  • Attack Damage: 56
  • Attack Damage Growth : 2.2
  • Attack Range: 525
  • Movement Speed: 325
  • HP Regen Per Second: 1.2
  • HP Regen Per Second Growth : 0.15
  • Mana Regen Per Second: 1.65
  • Mana Regen Per Second Growth: 0.15
  • Armor: 24
  • Armor Growth: 3
  • Magic Resist: 30

Clean Cuts (Passive):
After using an ability, Xayah's next 3 basic attacks will hit all targets along their path and leave a Feather for 8 seconds.  
The main target of her empowered attack takes full damage and on-hits while other targets take 50% damage. Xayah can store up to 5 empowered attacks. 
Lover's Leap - Xayah and Rakan can recall together. 

Double Daggers (Q):
[Range
50/50/50/50/50 Mana
10/9/8/7/6 sec Cooldown 
Xayah throws two knives dealing 80/120/160/200/240 (+100% bonus AD) physical damage and leaving two Feathers. Targets hit after the first take 50% damage.

Deadly Plumage (W):
[Range
60/55/50/45/40 Mana
16/15/14/13/12 sec Cooldown 
Xayah creates a storm of blades for 4 seconds that grant her 30/35/40/45/50% attack speed and cause her basic attacks to strike an additional time for 20% damage.  
If Deadly Plumage strikes an enemy champion, Xayah gains 30% movement speed for 1.5 seconds. 
If Rakan is nearby he will also gain the effects of Deadly Plumage.
[Marker and effect shared with Rakan]


Bladecaller (E):
40/40/40/40/40 Mana
12/11/10/9/8 sec Cooldown 
Xayah calls all Feathers back to her, dealing 50/60/70/80/90 (+60% bonus AD) (+0.5% increased to total damage done for each 1% crit strike chance**) physical damage to enemies they pass through (Increased by Critical Strike Chance). 
Hitting an enemy with 3 Feathers roots them for 1 second. 
Minions take 50% damage from Bladecaller.

  • "Also, each feather past the first deals 10% less damage, with a floor of 10% at 10 feathers (100%, 90%, 80%, 70% ... 10%, 10%, 10%)" -src.
  • Crit scaling is "0.5% increase to total damage done for each 1% critical strike chance" -src.


Featherstorm (R):
[Range
80/90/100 Mana
140/130/120 sec Cooldown 
Xayah leaps into the air becoming untargetable. She then rains down daggers which deal 100/150/200 (+100% bonus AD) physical damage and leave behind a line of Feathers. 
Xayah can move while in the air.

Voiceover

Here's the full Xayah voiceover, including numerous special interaction and unique VO lines when around Rakan.

(Look for a special interactions video soon!)

Lore

Typically we see short bios for in client and full bio's added later to the champion's universe page. Until we get full lore entries on our two new champions, a story on Vastaya can be found here.

Currently there is but a small placeholder line:
"Xayah is a murderous bird person."

Release Skin

To go with Cosmic Dawn RakanXayah's release skin is Cosmic Dusk Xayah!

 Cosmic Dusk Xayah

1350 RP
Here's Riot Time Wizard with a bugs & feedback thread for Cosmic Dusk Xayah:
""Rakan's light is the only light I'll tolerate." 
Cosmic Dusk Xayah and her beloved Cosmic Dawn Rakan bring their star-crossed dance to the Rift. 
Cosmic Dusk Xayah is set to be 1350 RP* and includes: 
  • New model and texture - Dark. Nebulous. Mysterious.
  • New particles - All shades of the twilight.
  • New sound effects - Enchanting, celestial sounds.
  • New recall animation - Xayah commands her crescent daggers into a 4-pointed star, creating an astral portal. 
Cosmic Dusk Xayah is now available to play on the PBE! As always, we'd love to hear any thoughts or constructive feedback, so please feel encouraged to share them with us!"


Rakan, the Charmer

[Shared dance with Xayah]

Stats & Abilities


Stats:
  • Health:  510
  • Health Growth : 85 
  • Mana: 315
  • Mana Growth: 50 
  • Attack Speed: --
  • Attack Speed Growth: 3
  • Attack Damage: 62
  • Attack Damage Growth : 3.5 
  • Attack Range: 300
  • Movement Speed:  335
  • HP Regen Per Second: 1.0
  • HP Regen Per Second Growth : 0.1
  • Mana Regen Per Second: 1.75
  • Mana Regen Per Second Growth: 0.1
  • Armor:  24
  • Armor Growth:  3.9
  • Magic Resist:  30

Fey Feathers (Passive):
Every [40-16] seconds, Rakan gains a [33-254] (+90% AP) health shield. Rakan's basic attacks and spells on enemy champions reduce this cooldown by 1 second. 
Lover's Leap - Xayah and Rakan can recall together. 
  • Cooldown: 40/40/37/37/34/34/31/31/28/28/25/25/22/22/19/19/16/16 
  • Shield: 33/46/59/72/85/98/111/124/137/150/163/176/189/202/215/228/241/254

Gleaming Quill (Q):
[Range
60 Mana
12/10.5/9/7.5/6 sec Cooldown 
Flings a magical feather that deals 70/115/160/205/250 (+50% AP) magic damage to the first enemy hit. 
If the feather hits a champion or epic monster, Rakan restores [23-150] (+70% AP) health to himself and nearby allies after 3 seconds or when he touches an ally.
  • Heal: 23/30/38/45/53/60/68/75/83/90/98/105/113/120/128/135/143/150

Grand Entrance (W):
[Range
50/60/70/80/90 Mana
18/16.5/15/13.5/12 sec Cooldown 
Dashes to a location. Upon arrival Rakan spirals into the air, dealing 70/110/150/190/230 (+50% AP) magic damage and knocking up enemies for 1 second.
[Marker for using W on Xayah]

Battle Dance (E):
[Range
60/70/80/90/100 Mana
20/18/16/14/12 sec Cooldown 
Flies to an allied champion, granting them a 50/85/120/155/190 (+80% AP) health shield for 3 seconds. 
Can be re-cast at no cost once within 5 seconds. 
Battle Dance's cast range is increased when cast on Xayah.

The Quickness (R)
[Range
Cost: 100 Mana
120/110/100 sec Cooldown
Gain 50%  movement speed for 4 seconds. 
Touching enemies deals 100/200/300 (+50% AP) magic damage and charms them for 1/1.25/1.5 second(s) the first time they're hit. The first champion charmed grants Rakan 150% decaying movement speed.

Voiceover

Here's the full Rakan voiceover, including numerous special interaction and unique VO lines when around Xayah.

(Look for a special interactions video soon!)

Lore

None yet! Typically we see short bios for in client and full bio's added later to the champion's universe page.  Until we get full lore entries on our two new champions, a story on Vastaya can be found here.

Release Skin - Cosmic Dawn Rakan

To go with Cosmic Dusk Xayah, Rakan's release skin is Cosmic Dawn Rakan

Cosmic Dawn Rakan

1350 RP
Here's Riot KateyKhaos with a bugs & feedback thread for Cosmic Dawn Rakan:
""Is my... is my hair on fire?!" 
Cosmic Dawn Rakan and his darling Cosmic Dusk Xayah bring their star-crossed dance to the Rift! 
Cosmic Dawn Rakan is set to be 1350 RP* and includes: 
  • New model and texture - Bright! Radiant! Distracting!
  • New particles -With all the colors of a perfect sunrise!
  • New sound effects - Magical, celestial sounds!
  • New recall animation - Rakan plays around with the sun before inevitably becoming one with it! 
Cosmic Dawn Rakan is now available to play on the PBE! As players who experience this content firsthand, your constructive feedback is appreciated. Feel free to leave it in the comments below! If you have any questions, you can also drop them below and I'll do my best to answer them! ^-^ 
* Prices subject to change."

New Champion Skins

Two new champion skins have debuted this cycle, including Conqueror Karma for MSI 2017 and the new 1350 RP tier Cosmic Blade Master Yi!

Conqueror Karma

Here's Riot Katana with a feedback thread for Conqueror Karma including context on the skinline changes and MSI relation:
"Hey there! 
I’m Riot Katana, a product manager with a focus on esports in-game content. With Conqueror Karma hitting PBE as the first member of a new skin line, I wanted to give a bit of backstory as to how she came about and what changes you can expect to esports skins this year. 
Last year we mentioned that the Challenger skin would contribute to the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational prize pool [LINK] just like Championship Zed for the World Championship. We were super excited about this new opportunity and when we began exploring the Challenger skin for this year, we discovered some weaknesses that we wanted to level up: 
  • The theme was a bit unclear - Many players didn’t realize these skins were connected to esports because they didn’t line up with a major event visually or in timing
  • A start of season launch didn’t make as much sense as MSI 2017 - When we created the Challenger skin line we had never even held an MSI, so the start of the esports global season seemed like a natural fit. As MSI’s identity developed over the last few years, it made more and more sense for the spirit of our second largest event to shape the skin. We don’t want to significantly overhaul two skins that a lot of players enjoy as-is, so we decided to make the change going forward, but not alter Ahri and Nidalee. 
All of this is to say that we thought we could do better, and that bringing the skin more in line with our Mid-Season Invitational would create a more meaningful and commemorative esports skin. 
We took this opportunity to rethink Challenger down to its core thematic. We revisited the color scheme and armor design and lined it up more with what you’ll see year over year during MSI. You’ll also see a darker undertone in the design and new name - “Conqueror,” a nod to the regional clashes and the struggle for one region to rise to the top during MSI 2017. 
Conqueror Karma will now contribute to the MSI 2017 prize pool instead of its Challenger predecessor, but we hope you’ll be even more excited about the new direction. As we continue to iterate on how to make the best skins possible for esports, expect to see some information on our plan for the 2016 SKT Worlds Winner’s Skins soon! (Hint: Bang’s concept art is spot on) 
FAQ: 
Will there be any more Challenger skins following the previous designs?
Currently there are no plans to create more Challenger skins, but the idea is not completely off the table. 
Will previous Challenger Skins (Ahri and Nidalee) still return during esports events?
Yes, we will still consider the past Challenger skins as esports skins even though we aren’t planning to make more at this time. You’ll still see them hit the store during MSI and Worlds. 
Why did you choose Karma to be this year’s Conqueror skin?
We consider a lot of factors when we choose esports skins candidates. With our new launch timing, we pick esports-resonant champions by considering play rates from the most recent major international tournament (i.e. Conqueror looked at Worlds play rates, and Championship will look at MSI play rates). We also consider how well the champion will fit the thematic of the skin line (sorry guys, probably no Championship Teemo anytime soon) and their recent or upcoming skins. 
We consider a lot of factors when we choose esports skins candidates. With our new launch timing, we pick esports-resonant champions by considering play rates from the most recent major international tournament. Using Worlds play rates to choose Conqueror and MSI play rates to choose Championship gives us the best opportunity to capture a moment of esports history while still giving us enough time to develop a high quality skin. 
We also consider overall champion popularity, how well the champion will fit the thematic of the skin line (sorry guys, probably no Championship Teemo anytime soon), and their recent or upcoming skins."
LoL Esports tweeted out that Conqueror Karma will contribute to the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational prize pool.

Cosmic Blade Master Yi

1350 RP
Here's Riot KateyKhaos with a bugs & feedback thread for Cosmic Blade Master Yi:
"Cosmic Blade Master Yi channels the power of the stars to fight in the cosmos and on the Rift! 
Cosmic Blade Master Yi is set to be 1350 RP* and includes: 
  • New model and texture - Decked out in white and blue attire, complete with golden armor!
  • New particles - Astral blues and constellations for all abilities!
  • New sound effects - Cosmic VO processing, along with meteoric metal sound effects for all abilities!
  • New recall animation - Master Yi readies himself before blinking through space! 
Cosmic Blade Master Yi is now available to play on the PBE! As players who experience this content firsthand, your constructive feedback is appreciated. Feel free to leave it in the comments below! If you have any questions, you can also drop them below and I'll do my best to answer them! ^-^ 
* Prices subject to change."

New Ward Skin

Along with the new Karma skin, a new Conqueror Ward skin is also now on the PBE.

Conqueror Ward

X RP

New MSI Content -  Summoner Icons, Emotes, & more

In addition to Conqueror Karma, a slew of Mid-Season Invitational cosmetic content has hit the PBE - including summoner icons, in-game emotes, Summoner's Rift Decals, and Base decorations.

A large batch of MSI summoner icons are now on the PBE. With a total of 27 icons, there is a base MSI icon and a set of light and dark icons for each region. No details on availability yet.








There is also another set of MSI related in-game emotes - 13 total and one for each region. The assumption is these are related to the icons (like Worlds). No firm details yet.
         

We also have in-game regional base banners, which are typically seen on stream:
         

MSI 2017 Summoner's Rift decals added - as with many esports events, expect these MSI logos to appear a various places on the map during the event.

New Hextech Crafting Assets

A new asset for a new type of hextech crafting chest is also on the PBE. This chest would appear to be Esports/MSI related given the crest in the middle.

Balance Changes

Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, and sometimes radical or experimental changes. Be aware that what you see below may be lacking context or other changes that didn't make it in or were implemented in an earlier patch this cycle! These are not official notes.

Howling Abyss
[Context]
Minions
[Full changelist from ManWolfAxeBoss]
  • Super minions:
    • Base armor increased from 30 to 100
    • Base damage increased from 180 to 306
    • Minor tweaks to gold scaling
    • Now grants a 20% out of combat move speed buff to nearby minions and champs
  • Melee/Ranged minions:
    • Minor tweaks to gold/HP scaling
  • Aura
    • Now Grants 3 gold on nearby enemy minion death
  • Items
    • Gold per 5 items removed
  • Health Relics
    • Change from flat base + level scaling to base + level scaling +2% per 1% missing HP ratio
  • Minion/Waves
    • Minions now spawn 15 seconds sooner (45 second start)
    • Cannon minion now spawns on first wave
    • Cannon minions spawn every other wave instead of every 3rd
    • Waves spawn every 25 seconds instead of 30
  • Assists
    • Assist timer on champion kills increased from 10 to 20 seconds
    • Assist timer on tower kills increased from 10 to 30 seconds
  • Recall
    • Fixed recall tooltip


Champions
Aatrox
  • Blood Thirst / Blood Price (W):
    • Blood Thirst - Heal increased from 30/45/60/75/90 to 40/55/70/85/100
    • Blood Price - damage increased from 45/80/115/150/185 to 60/95/130/165/200

Ivern
[Context - other tentative changes being considered for testing.]
  • Movespeed lowered from 330 to 325
  • Friend of the Forest (P) channel time increased from 2.5 to 3 seconds.
  • Brushmaker (W) range lowered from 1600 to 1000.

Malzahar
  • Base armor lowered from 20 to 18. 
  • Voidling HP lowered from 3 to 2

Shen
[Context 1 & Context 2 ]
  • Twilight Assault (Q):
    • Empowered attacks now also deal 15 base damage.
    • Empowered attacks bonus damage to non champions removed - 30/50/70/90/110.
  • Shadow Dash (E):
    • Energy cost lowered from 180 to 150
    • [Width increased slightly*]
  • Stand United (R) :
    • Base shield value lowered from 250/550/850 to 175/350/525
    • [new] Shield now scales up based on missing health of target, up to 160% of base Value (280/560/840).
      • [Meddler noted this value is comparable to live at 40% allied health.]
    • Cooldown increased from 180/150/120 to 200/180/160

Context and Notes

Below are several red posts providing context on changes in today's PBE update and looking forward into 7.8:


1) Here's Meddler with quick gameplay thoughts for April 4th, including  a few comments on changes we can expect for 7.8 including Ivern, HeimerdingerShen, ARAM, and more:
"Morning all! 
Exciting day today, we finally get to put our latest champions onto the PBE and have you folks see them in action. More on them from the champion team to come very shortly, thoughts from me on some other stuff below.  
Twisted Treeline 
Nothing guaranteed yet, but we'll be trying to get a bit of work on TT in during the 7.8 cycle if possible. We prioritize SR balance over TT work, given mid-season's coming up quickly though there's less value in hitting balance on some champs that are going to be meaningfully affected the patch after anyway. Possible we might have some time to hit some stuff on TT as a result.  
Ivern 
Speaking of treelines we'll be taking a pass at Ivern in 7.8. Love the dude, but he's a bit too good at some things which makes it tough for enemies to interact with him/his team. Things we're testing include: 
  • Slightly longer passive application channel duration 
  • Created brushes not hidding epic monsters within them (too much objective control power, though you can still create a wall of brush blocking them off of course and hide vision of them that way) 
  • Shorter cast range on created brush (it's 1600 at present, which is a bit nuts) 
  • Higher E CD (whoops, typo'd this the first time)    
Mid-Season Approaching 
Couple of weeks now until mid-season stuff hits PBE. I'm not certain on exact timelines but we'll be talking at least slightly before that about the changes, what our goals are etc. Some of the crit changes we were hoping to ship didn't work out alas, so we'll have some changes to other AD items but not those. Will certainly take the time to talk through what we were going for, why we concluded we shouldn't ship the changes and whether we might go back to them at some point though. 
Stretch goal for 7.8: Heimer 
No details yet on possible changes and there probably won't be anything on PBE for a little bit at least, we're hoping we'll be able to put a bit of time into Heimer though. 
Shen 
We've got some changes for Shen in testing that we think we'll be shipping some for of in the next patch. Goal there's to reduce the discrepancy in effectiveness between organized play on really low latency environments and regular play, reduce situations where Shen's strong in one context while ok or even weak in the other. As a result we'll be looking at things like:  
  • Ult shield strength scaling with the allied target's missing health, lower base health values. Organized play tends to use offensive ults on really healthy allies a lot more, regular play more defensive clutch saves. 
  • Increased E width. The difference in reliability between very low and normal latency circumstances looks to be too high and we think that width's part of the reason. Current width also creates some situations where it looks like it hit but didn't, so this potentially of double value as a change. 
  • Removing bonus damage to non champions on the Q. Organized play gets a lot more value from wave pushing power throughout the game. Hitting this looks like a good place to remove power from that context as a result, potentially allowing it to be reinvested elsewhere.  
Whoops, forgot something. We've also got ARAM changes coming in 7.8 
ARAM's intended to be a notably faster game mode than SR, some (not all) games can really stall out though. We've got some ARAM changes on the way as a result aimed to improving those stalled out games, with changes to stuff like super minion stats, slightly more cannon minions, slightly faster spawning waves etc. Those should be hitting PBE today too, feedback on them much appreciated!"

2) Riot Katana tweeted the Conqueror Karma skin will be legacy and available during Worlds & MSI. 7.8 will be the MSI patch.

3) ManWolfAxeBoss tweeted context on today's ARAM changes as well as a preview of tomorrow's TT changes:
"Tentative ARAM and TT changes for 7.8. ARAM on PBE today, TT tomorrow."

4) Wav3break commenting on the Shen PBE changes -
"Shen's Q no longer does bonus damage to minions, but now has a base magic damage component on top of the % damage. This base magic damage is intended to be reliable for last hitting in early lane but not be as good for shoving the wave out pre-Tiamat/Bami's Cinder purchase.

We will be making adjustments to how the base damage component scales over the game, but Shen's net damage versus champions will be increased as a fall out of this change. 
Will also be adding bonus damage to monsters back into the Q so that Shen's jungle clear isn't disproportionately nerfed by this change."

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