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The big changes in League’s mid season update
Tank reworks, new items, more stats and a Rift Herald that runs down lanes are all coming to LoL.
Big changes are afoot in League of Legends
© Riot Games
Tanks are getting some tweaks
Some of the more underused tanks are getting a bit of a rework. Sejuani, Maokai and Zac are all being changed pretty significantly, which might mean they are used a little more often in pro play. Sejuani’s changes make her more useful when her ult is down, which has been her main issue of late. Permafrost now allows all melee allies apply frost stacks to foes with basic attacks, once a foe hits the max stats she can stun them and if she attacks them while stunned they take big damage. Frost Armour has also been buffed and the other abilities have been changed to help stack up those frost stacks.
Maokai is being changed to make him a little more unique. Riot thinks this will make him a more situational pick, but this should help as he was never really that good at doing anything specific. There are some small changes to his main kit, such as Saplings being more effective in brushes and a slight change to Sap Magic, but the real change is to his ult. Nature’s Grasp now becomes a mass lockdown ability. It sends out a massive wave of roots that will root the first champion hit. This means that if you hide behind an ally it won't root you, but if you stand side by side it will. It travels at a slow speed, but a big Nature’s Grasp can now easily turn any fight.
Finally we have Zac, who is becoming more than a initiation machine. Stretching Strike has basically been doubled up, so if the first strike hits onto an enemy his next attack will also grab onto a foe. Once two opponents have been grabbed they are smashed into each other. It looks pretty cool and could have some big impacts if used well. His ult is also getting a few changes. If you now charge up the ability for at least a second, then he grabs enemies stood in his puddle, and jumps them to a target location. Yeah it really is as cool as it sounds.
New items to make you survive longer
Defensive items are never really that fun to purchase but sometimes you have to. However there are times when we feel like none of the items available really fit exactly what we need. Fortunately Riot feels the same way, so are adding a couple of new items to the mix. Gargoyle Stoneplate will give you some extra armor and magic resist as standard, but if three enemies are nearby these resistances are buffed. Its active ability will allow you to gain health and size but lose some damage, the health gain is increased if three enemies are close by.
The next item is the Adaptive Helm, which makes getting hit by the same spell a lot less painful. It grants some bonus health and regen along with some magic resist and cooldown reduction, but it is the passive that makes this item worth it. Taking any kind of magic damage from a spell will make the Helm reduce the amount of damage you take from the same spell if it hits you again during a brief time period. This means that if you are getting bursted down by the same spell multiple times in a fight, you have something to negate that.
New end game stats
This is a smaller change but one that we are really quite excited about. The end game screen now has the option to display more stats, meaning we can prove that we were actually doing something during the game when our ADC says we were a bad support. Now damage mitigated on self, damage to towers, vision score and crowd control score can all be seen at the end of the game, giving those who maybe don't deal as much damage in team fights something to shout about once the action has finished.
The Rift Herald is now awesome
Arguably the change that could impact pro games the most is the new Rift Herald. Whereas before, one player would get a decent buff now they can pick up the Herald’s Eye when she is killed. Holding this will grant Empowered Recall until it times out after a few minutes. However, if the eye is used, the Rift Herald will return to the Rift, but will be on your team. She will charge down the closest lane and start hitting the towers. Fortunately, she won’t go after champions at all, but she can take down structures if you aren't quick at dealing with her. Hitting her eye still does more damage, but she is also susceptible to CC when in lane and the less health she has the less damage she does. It’s a big change, and one that sounds a little clowney on paper, but we think this will make the Rift Herald much more useful.
Everything else
There is of course a lot more on the way as well as these changes. General things in the game are being made clearer with some cool new particle effects, while more items will tack stats. New support quests for the Ancient Coin, Relic Shield and Spellthief's Edge allow supports to use a skill point early, nab an extra shield or get a movement speed buff respectively. Even Guardian Angel is getting a bit of a boost. Further down the line, we have the 10 ban system to look forward to, along with the Honor system update and some kind of new amateur tournament functionality. It all sounds very exciting and means that League could look very different come the end of the year.
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