Red Post Collection: 3/21 Mid-Patch Update, March Bundles, Ask Riot, & More

Posted on at 2:47 PM by Aznbeat
Today's red post collection includes details on a mid-patch update for Kai'Sa, March bundles, a new Ask Riot on hard to balance champions, the Patch Chat for patch 8.6, & more!
Continue reading for more information!



Table of Contents


3/21 Mid-Patch Update

A small mid-patch update went out on 3/21 for Kai'Sa:
"3/21 Kai'Sa Balance Update 
Base attack damage decreased. Q cooldown increased. 
"Last patch, we gave Kai'Sa some reactive buffs to give players more room to learn her kit. Now that players have had time to understand her strengths and weaknesses - and how to play around them - we're pulling some of those props back out. There are other buffs shipping for Kai'Sa this patch, and we think those changes are a better direction overall for her strength profile."
Kai'Sa
  • BASE ATTACK DAMAGE 65 ⇒ 63
Q - Icathian Rain
  • COST 45 mana ⇒ 55 mana"

March Bundles

Here's Riot Evaelin with the bundles for this month:
"Grab these limited-time skins bundles now through 3/29/18 at 11:59 p.m. PT. 
Kai’Sa Counters Bundle - 50% off at 2772 RP(5066 RP if you need the champions) 
Skins included:
  • Cosmic Dusk Xayah
  • Firecracker Jinx
  • Dark Star Varus
  • Monarch Kog’Maw
  • Headhunter Caitlyn
Champions included:
Silence! Bundle - 50% off at 1610 RP (2885 RP if you need the champions)
Skins included:
  • Cosmic Reaver Kassadin
  • Shadow Prince Malzahar
  • Creator Viktor
Champions included:
Get Back Here Bundle - 50% off at 2024 RP (3786 RP if you need the champions)
Skins included:
  • iBlitzcrank
  • Worldbreaker Nautilus
  • Bioforge Darius
  • Blood Moon Thresh
Champions included:
Brush Dwellers Bundle - 50% off at 1721 RP (3126 RP if you need the champions)
Skins included:
  • Headhunter Rengar
  • French Maid Nidalee
  • Firefang Warwick
  • Death Blossom Kha’Zix
Champions included:

Ask Riot: Hard to Balance Champions


Here's this week's new Ask Riot, covering what Kai'Sa eats, Esports in HD, and more:
"Let’s talk what Kai’Sa eats, watching esports in HD, and champions that are difficult to balance. 
Have you thought about offering the possibility to watch competitive league of legends with higher res? Like 2k or 4k

Thanks for the great question. High-res broadcasts—YES! Absolutely on our road map, but it’s a little complicated and there are a few things to consider. First topic is bitrate versus resolution, and each have important roles in contributing to viewing experience. We live in an exclusively digital world, so the total bits/second is really important because it relates directly to the perceived crispness and detail of the Rift, especially during constant complex motion and champion ability particle effects. We hope you have noticed a marked quality increase in the last year. This is because we are now approved by the major platforms to dramatically increase the bitrate and have installed new equipment that can handle 1080p60 gameplay. 
Next is resolution, which is tied to your question. Sure, we’d love to kick it up to 4k but there are a bunch of serious considerations. First is that the game itself is not natively in 4k, so we’d be up-converting from the start. We are investigating higher-res options but they’re not native yet. Second, without sufficient bitrate from YouTube and Twitch, there would be a huge 4k frame but look like a big mess. 4k also requires 4x the bandwidth to send to you at home and a lot more onsite with the number of cameras we have. Finally it also requires an overhaul of our control room switcher and equipment. 
So yes, we are excited to see progress on resolution and are in fact testing it behind the scenes as we speak, but we are not ready to adapt it to bigger events like Worlds quite yet. Some of our studios are looking at UHD, so stay tuned because I promise we will get there in not too distant of a future. 
Global Head of Esports Content 
What are considered the most difficult to balance champions?

It really depends. It’s not too difficult to balance a champion for any singular group of players. What makes things difficult is when the needs of one group of players is very different from the needs of another. In LoL, we can usually break this down into three main groups: average skill players, very skilled players, and pro players/teams. Players of average skill tend to optimize around the basics of the game, but they aren’t coordinated and are error-prone. Very skilled players tend to be fully aware of most nuances and optimizations available to them, but still aren’t incredibly coordinated (in other words, high level solo queue). Pros are similarly hitting most of the individual skill optimizations, but, unsurprisingly, also benefit from being highly coordinated between teammates. We want to provide an experience that feels balanced for all three groups, so the champions that become “difficult to balance” are the ones that thrive in one of these groups and not the other(s). 
Ryze is a common example of being dependent on team coordination as well as mastery of the champion’s inputs (i.e. hitting his buttons correctly in any given circumstance), so it can be difficult to get him into a state where he feels balanced for pros but still useful to solo queue players of all levels. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the things that would need to be done to make Garen a powerful option in pro (or even high skilled solo queue play) would likely mean he’s disgustingly powerful for most players. 
RIOTREPERTOIR
Lead Live Gameplay Designer 
What does kai’sa eat while in the void? Does she eat void creatures she kills? Also, what does she drink?

Her creature can sustain her through what it kills, but that isn’t really pleasing to her. Luckily, after she first fell down there as a child, there was enough left behind from others in the catacombs—water skins, rotting fruit, etc.—that she could scavenge. But now that she can get out of the Void, she likes eating what she can find around Shurima, like animal protein, fruit and vegetables… but the suit has to feed too or she could become the meal. 
Oh, and she never would turn down a peach. 
COOLRADIUS
Narrative Writer

Thanks for reading this week’s Ask Riot. Have a question? 
Head over to Ask Riot and sign into your League account. Check out the Pro Tips, then ask away. 
We promise to read every question, but we can’t guarantee they’ll all get answers. Some questions may already be answered elsewhere, and some won’t be right for Ask Riot. This isn’t the best place to announce new features, for example, and we might skip conversations on issues we’ve talked about in depth before (though we can clarify individual points). 
We are listening, though, so keep asking. We’ll make sure your questions are heard by the Rioters working on the stuff you’re curious about."

Patch Chat with the Playtest Team - 8.6 


Here's Riot Novalas with the Patch Chat with the Playtest Team for Patch 8.6:
"Hey everyone and welcome to Patch 8.6, the second "It's Definitely Not Mid-Season, but here's a pretty big Patch!" patch. As a quick note, we'll be experimenting with a new type of patch chat for Patch 8.7 where we'll be hosting the chat on the PBE forums. But let's focus on 8.6! 
I’m Riot Novalas & I’m a QA Analyst on Riot’s Playtest Team, a group of high elo players who work on Core Gameplay playing new champions, reworks, balance tweaks, items, and map updates before they’re released. It’s our job to test the changes that our designers come up with and ensure that we’re introducing positive changes to League in terms of both balance and fun. 
Patch Chat serves as an opportunity for us to talk about the patches that come out every two weeks. 
You can find information on the most recent patch by following this link:
https://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/patch-86-notes 
Prepare to conquer or be conquered. With this patch, two new runes have been introduced; Conqueror, a keystone that excels in elongated skirmishes. Bruisers will be quite fond of this one. We also have Chrysalis, a rune that gives you extra starting HP but turns into stats after you get 4 takedowns. Also, say goodbye to Iron Skin & Mirror Shell. They're deadzo. 
Aside from runes, we have a reshaping to Duskblade. Duskblade now deals less damage; in exchange, you can now one-hit wards that you see with the Duskblade passive. Graves, Kayn, Kha'Zix, Miss Fortune, Nocturne and more have received compensation buffs since they were heavily reliant on Duskblade. 
Additionally, we've got plenty of buffs and nerfs to various champions, buffs to summoner spells like Ignite, itemization reshapes and buffs/nerfs, and a new (old) item introduced into the game: Shurelya's Reverie! 
Ask us ANYTHING about 8.6. We're here to answer questions about your favorite champions, inquiries about runes, or maybe how often we execute to jungle camps! Let's talk about the best users for the new runes, play pattern shifts for assassins, or our thoughts on meta shifts this patch! 
Disclaimer: We have no insight on upcoming/future skins.
  • Chris “Auberaun” Roberts
  • Christy “Riot Ender L” Frierson
  • Nick “Riot Endstep” Frijia
  • Sigmundur “GangIeri” Helgason
  • Arnor “Riot Hjarta” Halldorsson
  • Rob “Riot King Cobra” Rosa
  • Miktat “Riot Koyuncu” Koyuncu
  • Brian “Riot Madness Heroo” Pressoir
  • Nabi “Riot Novalas” Barak
  • Dan “Riot penguin” Hardison
  • Robert “ROBERTxLEE” Lee"

Quick Hits

  • Riot Stellari noted an issue with the bundled GGMF icon not changing the profile background in client and that it will be fixed soon.
"There's a bug currently where the GGMF portrait icon isn't giving the background - working to fix that right now!"


  • Here's Riot August sharing tentative Gragas buffs hitting the PBE soon.

"Some PBE buffs we're testing for Gragas' AP scalings. May end up reverting, but wanted to see what a stronger AP build looks like 
Explosive Cask (Q) AP ratio:: .6 >>> .7 
Drunken Rage (W) AP Ratio:: .3 >>> .5 
DR is now increased by an additional 8% for every 100 AP."

  • Here's Riot August sharing tentative Lux buff headed to the PBE on ~3/23:
"Lux buff going to PBE tomorrow for testing.Wondering if we can make the reset mechanic on the R feel like it works better with how the kit plays. 
Final Spark (R) Reset % on Kill:: 10/30/50% >>> 30/40/50%
Now triggers on enemy champs who die within 2 seconds of being hit by R."


Reminders 

To round out this red post collection, here are a few reminders on current promotions or limited time events!
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