Welcome to the 2017 Preseason Spotlight.
Assassins aren't the only ones
getting changes this preseason.
This spotlight is about all the other changes
hitting the Rift.
Plants are bringing new life to the jungle,
and we've got a suite of changes to stealth,
as well as armor pen and support items.
First up, we're introducing a series of interactive plants
we're calling the living jungle.
Each plant has a chance to spawn in a number
of predetermined locations throughout the river and
jungle, and destroying them gives you a unique effect.
Blast Cones only grow in the jungle's quadrants,
knocking away any nearby units when destroyed.
They're useful for creative getaways
following a successful invade or simply
hopping over jungle walls.
Scryer's Bloom grows on the ramps between
the jungle and the river, releasing pollen
across the map away from the attacker when destroyed.
This pollen reveals enemy units and wards,
allowing you to clear vision and take control of the area.
Lastly, Honeyfruit grows exclusively in the river,
dropping a bushel of restorative fruit on the ground.
Each fruit restores health and mana, but at the cost
of a minor slow to the champion feasting.
Taking a look at the rest of the jungle,
we've decided to remove the bonuses from smiting monsters.
These buffs did a lot of good,
especially in the early game, but weren't holding up
as interesting choices to make throughout the game.
For the many junglers who relied on specific buffs to clear,
we've made a tuning pass to the jungle's inhabitants
and added a heal to Smite
to help make ends meet in their absence.
Finally, we made some minor changes to the camps
to accentuate their beautiful personalities.
You'll find more baby raptors and krugs to fight,
Gromp's developed an attitude problem,
and the little bufflings that used to live with Red and Blue
have grown up and left the nest.
You already know that we're updating assassins,
but while we're on the subject of people
who sneakily murder you,
we're rethinking the way vision and stealth interact.
Stealth can now be divided into two categories:
Invisibility and Camouflage.
Invisibility is the stealth you're used to.
While Invisible, enemies can't see or target you
until the effect ends.
Camouflage is the alternative version of stealth.
It makes you unseen to the naked eye and stealth wards,
unless you get too close to an enemy champion.
Evelynn's passive, Shadow Walk, is a perfect example
of Camouflage, and now a few other
champions have the ability as well.
Vision Wards are being replaced with Control Wards.
In addition to granting vision, Control Wards
reveal and disable enemy wards and traps,
helping you clear and control an area
as long as you're willing to defend it.
Control Wards will reveal camouflaged champions
but will not reveal invisible ones.
Let's talk armor pen.
Flat armor penetration is gone,
and we're introducing a new stat called Lethality.
It's pretty much the same, but it scales
with your opponent's level, bypassing more armor
the higher their level is.
This'll make you slightly less bursty for
lower-leveled opponents, but gives you a little
extra power when you're falling behind.
We're also busting out two new items for assassins:
Edge of Night and Poacher's Dirk.
Edge of Night grants attack damage, Lethality,
out of combat movement speed, and magic resist,
but you really wanna buy it for it's active, Veil.
When activated, you'll briefly channel to gain a spell shield.
The other new item is the jungle-focused Poacher's Dirk,
which transforms into a full-blown Serrated Dirk
after you've stolen enough large monsters
from the enemy's jungle.
We're also adjusting a few other Assassin items.
Duskblade now grants Lethality
and out-of-combat movement speed
and it's trading it's old passive in for two new ones:
Blackout and Nightstalker.
Blackout grants you true sight when
you've been spotted by an enemy ward,
and Nightstalker grants you bonus true damage when
you attack after being unseen.
It's the perfect tool for turning the lights out,
and then tunring their lights out.
For supports, we've got a change to
Aegis of the Legion aimed at making it more of a
situational item, instead of the must-buy it is today.
After eight whole years, it no longer
grants passive magic resist to nearby allies.
By nerfing Aegis, we've made room for
two new support items: Knight's Vow and Redemption.
Knight's Vow grants defensive stats and the ability
to designate an allied champion as your partner.
When near your partner you'll gain armor
and movement speed, redirecting a portion of their
damage taken to yourself, and then healing for
a portion of the damage they deal.
Redemption passively boosts the power
of your heals and shields.
It also comes with an active effect
that lets you target any area on the map.
After a delay, it heals allies and
damages enemies in the area.
You can even cast it while dead.
No, really, you can do that.
If you're still watching, we know what you want.
You're here for the mastery changes.
We saved the biggest change just for you.
We're replacing Strength of the Ages with
a new keystone: Courage of the Colossus.
It grants you a shield when you
inflict hard crowd control on an enemy.
And that's it.
That's the big mastery change.
That's the one.
Thanks for watching the 2017 Preseason spotlight.
There are some smaller changes we didn't cover here
so take a look at the full list if you're craving more details.