Riot are trying to make deep utility a “more appealing” option in League of Legends

League of Legends

The League of Legends public beta environment is where all its wonderful or wonky balance fixes make a nest first. Early this week players noticed that utility-focused champions, who provide benefits to their team outside of damage, were being fed mana in a different fashion. And that has profound implications for their casting over the course of a match.

Riot said their plan was to make plunging deep into the utility mastery tree more rewarding – but acknowledged the possibility that some players might lose out.

Meditation was a first-tier mana regen upgrade available early on to utility champions – but Riot have both made it significantly more powerful and stuck it deeper in the mastery tree. Its original place is now taken by Expanded Mind, which provides a flat bonus for players who start with a piddly mana pool.

Riot lead champion designer Andrei van Roon, who goes by the fitting handle Meddler, is keen that players investing heavily in utility masteries consider it a worthwhile effort. Meditation will now be “one of the key distinctions between deep utility and other routes” – and caster supports and utility-focused mages should benefit most.

“There’s a definite risk that’ll leave going 9 points into utility as too unrewarding and we might need to do some work on that too,” said van Roon, in a comment spotted by Reign of Gaming.“First thing we want to address is getting 21+ points in utility into a better spot however.”

These things don’t always work out: the most recent mastery tree revamp was aimed at making utility a viable option for more than just supports, but it wasn’t to be. Do you think these tweaks might change one of the best free games on PC for the better?