Changes to Rumble, Twisted Fate, Nunu, and the introduction of Custom Item Sets in this episode of the Patch Preview.
Pwyff: Hey summoners,
I’m your host, Pwyff, here to discuss some of the big changes and updates coming with this patch.
Joining me will be two of our developers, rjcombo and Morello. I’ll kick things off with rjcombo to discuss our custom item sets.
Can you tell us what this new feature’s all about?
rjcombo: Custom item sets are pretty much exactly what they sound like, and this has actually been one of the most requested feature by players for the item shop.
We've built a new interface into the summoner profile of PVP.net that allows you to create custom item builds.
Those builds will then appear in the recommended tab in the item shop in-game.
When you're creating a build, you can associate it to a specific champion, or multiple champions, or even all champions, as well as which maps they can be used on.
So if you like to play AP Master Yi or AD Kennen, for example,
you can easily configure a set of AP or AD items for those champions, instead of having to manually search for them in the middle of a game.
Another benefit of this feature is the ability to browse the full item shop in PVP.net, even if you’re not configuring an item set at the time.
I’d also like to add that, for now, the item sets are stored on your local machine only, but we’re committed to adding server-side storage in the future.
Once that happens, you’ll be able to log in on any computer and still have access to your item sets.
Pwyff: Awesome! Very exciting times for all of the AD Kennens and AP Gangplanks around the world. Thanks for coming out, rj.
rjcombo: Sure thing. Thanks for having me.
Pwyff: Alright, let’s shift this discussion over to balance changes.
We’ll start with Rumble.
Known for being a huge bully in lane, we’re toning down a lot of Rumble’s base spell damage,
but we’re giving him bigger incentives to stay in the Danger Zone.
What will this do for him overall?
Morello: Rumble’s meant to be a bully, and we wanted to keep that identity while fixing some his balance concerns.
We also wanted to really clarify the decision points between being in the Danger Zone and overheating.
Now, more of Rumble’s gameplay is going to be about trying to manage to stay right in that Danger Zone sweet spot more often.
This means Rumble’s Danger Zone management is a bigger differentiation of skill between players,
but it also gives him a window of vulnerability when fighting against Rumble.
Pwyff: Another strong champion we’re targeting is Twisted Fate.
Stacked Deck is trading its passive cool-down reduction for more attack speed,
and Destiny is getting an increased cool-down at early and mid-levels.
TF is notorious for his high skill cap and ability to apply incredible early to mid game global map pressure,
so it seems that most of these changes are focused on lowering some of that power. What was the thought process here?
Morello: I really wanted to take the time to highlight the TF changes today, because depending on your level of play or your experience,
TF might be seen as wildly overpowered, or not a worry at all.
By removing the CDR on Stacked Deck,
we can take away the appropriate amount of power from TF to nerf him, without hitting a bunch of his core abilities.
It was necessary for us to nerf Destiny; because TF’s great global map pressure – especially early to mid-game – is just insane.
Other ultimates skills with this kind of map presence typically have very long cooldowns, and there’s no reason TF’s should be any different.
Pwyff: We’ve made a number of small changes to our stronger AD Carries, but I want to focus specifically on Caitlyn,
who’s been a dominant pick for some time.
With this change, we’re lowering Caitlyn’s base attack speed and we’re no longer letting her build headshot stacks while attacking turrets.
These nerfs are directly targeted at Caitlyn’s incredible sieging power in early game,
but some would argue that’s always been one of her specialties.
Was she just too good at her job?
Morello: That’s exactly right.
I mean, Caitlyn is a good siege champion and that’s the role she needs to be sitting in, but she was simply too good at it.
Caitlyn already has unusually high range, great poke, and fantastic disengage.
These strengths are enough to carry the character, but when building headshots on towers,
she could indefinitely zone out enemy laners, and she does need some kind weakness for enemies to capitalize on.
The reduced attack speed means she’ll now start losing in extended trades with other AD carries
– a really valid and appropriate weakness for a sniper.
Pwyff: Let’s move over to our big jungler upgrade in Nunu.
With Nunu, all of our changes are focused on Consume, but they present a pretty big rework overall.
Now Nunu’s Consume deals a lot more damage, but we’ve significantly reduced the heal it provides.
Additionally, whenever Nunu uses consume on a jungle monster, he gains a timed bonus depending on which one he chomps.
Let’s get straight to the point here: this looks like a big hit to top lane Nunu, but also a significant buff for jungle Nunu.
Was that the intention?
Morello: For anybody who’s seen top lane Nunu, none of this is going to be a surprise to you.
You’ve seen the infinite sustain, you’ve seen the infinite damage
– he’s just going to bully you out of lane and you’re not going to get to interact with him.
That’s the definition of a balance problem. At the same time, we wanted to bring jungle Nunu back.
He’s a cool jungle character, and Consume is just asking to be used in the jungle.
That being said, Consume as it was really didn’t have a lot of gameplay or depth to it,
so we wanted to add a lot of ways you can make cool and interesting decisions with it, while giving jungle Nunu the power he needs to compete.
Pwyff: Well, that all we have for this week. Morell, thank you so much for coming out.
Morello: Thanks for having me guys.
Pwyff: And thanks everyone else for tuning in. We’ll see you next time.