Artwork by ShenZe YANG.
\nThis is the largest Wild Rift patch so far! You might be wondering, why I usually post these patch articles late. I wait for the patch to come live so I can attach screenshots of features so that it would be a more clear breakdown.
\nTo summarize this patch, Galio awakes, lots of nerfs and buffs, a lot of new tank items and item changes, ARAM, preference queue, and a server for Americas.
\nThe game is out for open beta in Americas, Hong Kong and Macau.
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Galio is an anti-mage tank who can be played either in the mid lane or in the support position. His ult is supportive in nature and has a near global presence. Also, a good thing to note is that this is the first champion with a “taunt” ability in game. A taunt is a status effect inflicted on the enemy which makes them unable to attack any other target except the one taunting, so very supportive in nature(again) and a boon for tanks.
\nIt will be interesting to see him in the meta, especially since Malphite and Alistar are also quite dominant, a lot of knockups in the game.
\nHe will release on 1st April along with these skins.
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You do not always get the role you want to play in ranked matches. This is an attempt at improving that. You can set the roles you are the most confortable at.
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This does not guarantee that you will always get your most preferred role, but it will certainly improve the chances. As you find a match, it will show you which role you were assigned and the common champions of that role. If you do not play the assigned role, it might constitute as “trolling” and increases your chances of getting reported, but worry not, this is still only in testing and you might not be penalised for it just yet.
\nThis is not replacing the current ranked system yet and will be in testing for a period of two weeks. Based on how successful it is, it will be implemented later. Most events will not count for this mode, but you will be given more blue emotes if you do choose to test ths mode out, allowing you to buy more champions.
\nI recommend every one to test this mode out. It does not affect your rank and would allow you to play whatever champion you main more often than not. Even if it’s not perfect it will pave the way for a preference queue.
\nI have been waiting for this a long time. It’s a single lane, team fight only mode, where you get assigned a random champion and you have to constantly brawl it out with the enemy. It is incredibly fun, and pretty chill.
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Keep in mind you cannot recall, so you only get items when you spawn or die. Going out of the fountain means you can no longer buy. If you do not like the champion assigned, you can choose another and the one you rejected, goes to the bench and can be selected by some of your team mates. So if your friend is really good at a champ but you got him/her instead, you can reroll ad send the champ to the bench so your friend can pick it up. Pretty neat!
\nBalance in Aram mode
\nYes, since it’s a single lane, some champions are inherently stronger than others. In general, those with huge AOE abilities straight out dominate this mode. Of course, it’s just a casual mode but Riot has taken some steps to balance it out for engage heavy champions like assassins, warriors and tanks. There are two special spells given for this mode.
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Mark/Dash: This is a must for meele champions especially if they dont have a gap closer. Given that there’s only one lane, poke champions really have an easy time doing what they do, but with the introduction of this spell, it makes engage champions much more viable.
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Clarity: Since you cannot go back to the fountain, this will be one of the major sources of mana.
\nMy thoughts on ARAM
\nI usually always test out these new modes in mobas. They are usually a lot of fun and keep the game fresh. AoV and MSW has already implemented his mode and it works very well on phone! Usually mages and AOE damage characters dominate it and yes, it is a bit unbalanced but maybe Riot will give special patches for the champs in ARAM, special buffs or nerfs, assuming its successful.
\nI will surely test ARAM out and write an article about it once I have gotten a chance to play it.
\nThe season wil start on Season 2 begins April 2 at 18:00 UTC!
\nThe reward for 10 wins and reaching Gold is the Glorious Jinx skin.
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This is a seasonal pass in which you have to complete certain missions to unlock certain rewards. You can speed the process up by buying the pass. It is similar to Seasonal passes in PubG, Xenial Codex in AoV or seasonal Pass in MSW.
\nThe reward for the pass will be Hexplorer Jax. Gotta say, it’s a neat skin!
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Price of Wild Pass
\n| Wild Pass type | \nPrice | \n
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| Basic | \n590 Wild Cores. | \n
| Elite | \n990 Wild Cores. | \n
| Levels | \n150 Wild Cores each. | \n
Testing for 120Hz phones will commence.
\nOfficial support for Brazilian Portuguese, Latin American Spanish, and Arabic.
\nWinged moonplate
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Icons: Charming Poro; Rebel Poro; Trickster Poro; Hextech Jaximus; Jax Unleashed\n\nEmotes: The Slow Clap; Much Rage; Just Peachy; OHMAIGOSH; Forgotten Birthday; Super Shisa; Choncc Chortle; Retreat!\n\nIcon Borders: Hexplorer Passage\n\nRecalls: Recall Port\n\nBaubles: Whoopsie; Trusty Shovel; Bright Idea\n\nRift Emblems: Hexplorer History; High Tech Hexplorer; The Great Demacia; Noxian Power \n
Wild Rift Journey starts after completion of Wild Rift Academy.
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Gain extra blue emotes to test out position queue.
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Why another Darius buff? I have no idea why God King Darius is getting a buff. 🌚
\nThis will make the champion flow much smoother than before. If you hit those five stacks on someone and pop sprint, there isn’t gonna be much that the enemies can do anymore. Before it was possible to lock Darius down with CC and burst him instantly. Who knows we might even see Darius use his ult for the C immunity then pop sprint to escape when stuck in a bad spot?
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The nerf on his Cleave is not as much as that on his third ability. That cooldown is insane! In a 1v1, this is the highest source of his damage. But, almost ALL of his main items are buffed. Sunfire Aegis, which gives him HP now instead of armor(HP is even better for his ultimate), Warmog’s, even Thornmail! I think he will be in a good spot. His late game will be just as incredible as it was before.
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Another nerf that everyone will cheer for. No one will deny that she was overtuned, in any elo. Even early-game a full Zed combo did not kill her. Now assassins will surely have an easier time killing her.
\nBut for those who are genuinely good at the champ will still be able to do wonders. Her late game is just as insane and the ult damage and second skill poke is intact!
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No more support Pantheon. His utility is greatly reduced. The cc in his first skill now goes over to his ult. The radius of the spear is not too much and will take some practice to aim. This will feel like a completely different Pantheon from what we saw on his release.
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Huge rework! Will become the main item for all tanks that engage and cc. Think, Blitzcrank, Leona. It has great Health/Mana/Ability Haste.
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Ability Haste: 10 → 20 (due to Tear gaining 10) Direct Ezreal buff
\nDoes not have mana anymore. reduced gold pricing accordingly. Champs that aren’t mana heavy and love to spam the Sheen passive will reach their power spikes much sooner! Think Nasus, Camille.
\n[REMOVED] Mana: 300\nCost: 1100g → 900g\n No longer builds out of Sapphire CrystalItems affected by the Sheen change have reduced prices as well.
\n[REMOVED] Mana: 300\nTotal Cost: 3050g → 2950g\n Now builds from Sheen (900g) + Aether Wisp (950g) + 1100g[REMOVED] Mana: 300\nTotal Cost: 3733g → 3533g\n Now builds from Sheen (900g) + Stinger (1200g) + Phage (1100g) + 333g[REMOVED] Mana: 300\nTotal Cost: 2700g (unchanged)\n Combine Cost: 600g → 800g (due to Sheen changes)\n Builds from Sheen (900g) + Glacial Shroud (1000g) + 800gThis is a great item for all champs that love mobility. Darius, Janna, even some support tanks. Go to item for tankines and mobility.
\n[NEW] Passive - Relentless: +5% movement speed\nTotal Cost: 2900g (unchanged)\n Now builds from Winged Moonplate (900g) + Chain Vest (1000g) + 1000gApplying CC on enemies will trigger this as well. Alistar, Leona, Braum and Blitzcrank are happy.
\n[ADJUSTED] Passive - Thorns: Upon being hit by a basic attack on-hit, reflects 25 (+ 10% bonus Armor) magic damage, while also inflicting Grievous Wounds on the attacker for 3 seconds. Immobilizing enemy champions also inflicts them with Grievous Wounds for 3 seconds.\n
This is a huge buff to the item, especially jungle tanks and well deserved. Mundo and Amumu might have faster clears after this. The old item did not scale well into the late game at all. It did a set amount of damage. Sunfire Aegis will do damage based on the percentage hp of the tank. This is a great change. On a side note, Rammus is gonna release soon, he will love this change.
\nCombine cost: 350g → 650g\nTotal cost: 2650g → 2950gArmor: 50 → 55Health: 650 HP → 700 HPReplaced with Force of Nature. Force of Nature is the go to item for Magic resistance.
\nChampions with high attack speed found it very easy to kite. This change will make it harder. This is a direct nerf to high attack speed, kiting marksmen like Jinx, Xayah and so on. that means marksmen that do not rely on attack speed like Jhin and Ezreal will rise to prominence in the next patch. Not to mention there is now an item that reduces attack speed.
\nAttack Speed's effect ratio on attacks' windup time: 100% → 50%\n\nWindup time = base windup time / (1 + attack speed) → base windup time / (1 + attack speed × 50%)\n
Three new pings added
\nRemoved question mark for toxicity reasons. LOL.
\nWe might receive email now if report was succesful.
\n\n\nYou can now equip the same emote in multiple autofire slots, because there’s never a bad time to spam the galaxy brain poro.
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Galaxy Brain poro is my favorite poro.
\nGame invites
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Support for 120Hz.
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| Date | \nEasy | \nMedium | \nHard | \n
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| April 1 - April 7 | \nMiss Fortune, Olaf, Tryndamere | \nGragas, Leona, Lulu, Pantheon | \nDiana, Ezreal, Orianna | \n
| April 8 - April 14 | \nAmumu, Sona, Nami | \nVayne, Kennen, Darius, Ahri, Tristana | \nLee Sin, Yasuo | \n
Apart from the ones already mentioned these are the new skins.
\nCorgi Corki
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Draven Draven
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Fuzz Fizz
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iBlitzcrank
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Marauder Olaf
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Gaming Pharaoh notes rundown video is entertaining as always. Many thanks to Shurkou for letting us embed his video on here.
\nPatch Notes from a challenger ADC main, iTzSTU4RT. His insights are really useful, as this patch mainly touches the duo lane meta. If you aren’t already subscribed, do it!
\nAs a Jinx main, this will surely hurt Hellsdevil. But his Darius and Nasus will be even more insane now! Watch his reaction to the new patch.
\nReally excited for the new modes and Galio. We are looking at a tank meta. The much awaited Orianna and Alistar nerfs are finally in place which will mean the meta will change quite a lot in the coming months. I felt that the supports needed seperate special items of their own to compensate the gold difference. With these new buffed items, I think supports might be in a better spot for dealing with solo queue now.
\nGoodluck on the Rift, friend!
\nHave anything you would like to add? Let us know what you think about these changes!
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