League of Legends Patch 9.22 is coming to the live servers, but new changes have hit the PBE servers, according to Riot’s gameplay designer Mark Yetter.
Yetter revealed some of the alterations that Riot is making on the PBE before League’s preseason starts. Most notably, Riot is targeting Lethality and Energize items.
Lethality items
- Set bonuses removed, stats buffed.
- [New item] Umbral Blade: Cheap item that takes on the blackout passive from Duskblade and focused on utility (cost: 2,400, 50 AD, +10% cooldown reduction, +10 Lethality, Blackout passive).
- Duskblade blackout effect is removed but has now Grevious Wounds on the Nightstalker damage proc.
This item could heavily counter healing by granting more access to the Grevious Wounds effect. It could also be a good fit for the kit of the upcoming champion, Senna, and make her more powerful.
Lethality will be reworked for season 10, though. It’ll mostly change the way assassins are played. It’s unclear exactly how the Umbral Blade will impact the meta, but it might be used by many champions on the PBE.
Energize items
- Tuning on some items.
- Zeal now has 25 percent critical damage chance and is built from Cloak of Agility (instead of Brawlers Glove). Now costs 1,400.
- Critical damage change of the Cloak of Agility is now 25 percent instead of 20 percent.
- Brawlers Glove is removed from the shop.
These changes will impact the speed at which a crit-oriented ADC can build essential items. Zeal, which is necessary to build the majority of attack speed items, will become more expensive by 200 gold. Once built, however, it’ll be more powerful.
As always, however, PBE updates are subject to change before hitting the live servers. But players can now test them and give feedback to Riot.
