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League of Legends pre-Season 3 patch out now

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Patch note time. Yesterday we ran down the changes coming to League of Legends for Season 3, and found them “sweeping”. Where to begin? Jungling revamped to provide more viable heroes and a more satisfying late game? 23 new items designed to drive greater tactical choice and “player self-expression”? Or the end of “cookie-cutter” mastery builds?

Fortunately, Riot have drafted in Joshua ‘Jatt’ Leesman and Ryan ‘Morello’ Scott to get us started. Check in with them below.

The patch notes have arrived on the official LoL site in full, as if to announce: ‘Homie, we major’. See any specific changes that might affect the way you play?

Summoner’s Rift

  • Gold adjustments
    • Ambient gold gain increased to 16 per 10 seconds from 13 per 10 seconds – gold gained from farming lane minions and jungle monsters have been slightly reduced to compensate
    • Melee Minion
      • Base gold value reduced to 20 from 22
    • Ranged Minion
      • Base gold value reduced to 15 from 16
    • Siege Minion
      • Base gold value increased to 40 from 27
      • Scaling gold value based on time increased to 1 from 0.5
    • Minion gold values now update more often on a 90 second interval instead of 180
  • Kill and Death streak adjustments
    • Kill Streak bonus now caps at 500 Gold, down from 600 Gold.
    • Kill Streaks and Death Streaks now accelerate faster by roughly 50%.
      • Example: A player with a 4 kill streak will be worth 500 gold – compared to before which required an 8 kill streak.
      • Example: A player with a 4 death streak will be worth 126 gold – compared to before which required a 6 death streak.
  • Assist Gold
    • The bonus gold added for multiple players participating in a kill has been reduced to 150% from 158%.
  • Jungle
    • Overview
      • Initial difficulty of all jungle camps has been increased
      • Camp difficulty and rewards have been re-distributed more into the large monster in each camp
      • Scaling difficulty and rewards of the primary jungle camps have been significantly increased
      • Overall rewards have been re-distributed between the 3 primary jungle camps (Wolves, Wraiths, Golems) to better match their difficulty and convenience
      • New jungle items have been added to the store and old jungle items have been adjusted
    • Leashing has been changed
      • Jungle monsters now attack the closest target rather than chasing their original target
      • Whenever jungle monsters switch targets it counts as a “leash” – the maximum amount of leashes after which jungle monsters will reset has been increased to 10 from 3
      • Jungle monsters now deal 50% bonus damage to non-champions (ex: Malzahar’s Voidlings, Shaco’s Jack in the Box)
    • The “Banking” system that caused jungle monsters that have stayed alive for a long duration to have slightly increased rewards has been removed
    • Giant Wolf
      • Base Health increased to 900 from 550
      • Health per minute increased to 40 from 31
      • Base Attack Damage increased to 35 from 24
      • Attack Damage per minute increased 0.7 from 0.44
      • Base Gold increased to 44 from 40
      • Gold per minute increased to 0.65 from 0.43
      • Base Experience increased to 153 from 128
      • Experience per minute increased to 2.3 from 1.5
      • Movement Speed reduced to 443 from 510
      • Critical Strike damage reduced to 150% from 300%
    • Wolf
      • Base Health reduced to 300 from 360
      • Health per minute increased to 25 from 16.5
      • Base Attack Damage reduced to 8 from 14
      • Attack Damage per minute increased to 0.43 from 0.286
      • Base Gold reduced to 4 from 5
      • Gold per minute increased to 0.081 from 0.054
      • Experience per minute increased to 0.32 from 0.2136
      • Movement Speed reduced to 443 from 510
      • Critical Strike damage reduced to 150% from 200%
    • Wraith
      • Base Health increased to 750 from 400
      • Health per minute increased to 39 from 28
      • Base Attack Damage increased to 35 from 25
      • Attack Damage per minute increased to 0.75 from 0.5
      • Base Gold reduced to 25 from 33
      • Gold per minute increased to 0.72 from 0.48
      • Base Experience reduced to 103 from 105
      • Experience per minute increased to 2.1 from 1.4
      • Attack Range reduced to 300 from 650
    • Lesser Wraith
      • Base Health reduced to 250 from 275
      • Health per minute increased to 18 from 12.1
      • Base Attack Damage reduced to 10 from 17
      • Attack Damage per minute increased to 0.33 from 0.2195
      • Base Gold reduced to 3 from 4
      • Gold per minute increased to 0.054 from 0.036
      • Base Experience reduced to 15 from 22
      • Experience per minute increased to 0.16 from 0.1064
    • Big Golem
      • Base Health increased to 1000 from 950
      • Health per minute increased to 48 from 37
      • Attack Damage per minute increased to 1.6 from 1.05
      • Base Gold increased to 45 from 40
      • Gold per minute increased to 0.8 from 0.38
      • Base Experience increased to 137 from 117
      • Experience per minute increased to 2.4 from 1.55
      • Movement Speed increased 350 from 300
      • Attack Range increased to 150 from 100
      • Magic Resist reduced to -10 from 0
    • Golem
      • Base Health increased to 500 from 450
      • Health per minute increased to 37 from 25
      • Attack Damage per minute increased to 1.3 from 0.84
      • Gold per minute increased to 0.23 from 0.15
      • Experience per minute increased to 1.6 from 1.08
      • Movement Speed increased to 350 from 300
      • Attack Range increased to 150 from 100
      • Magic Resist reduced to -10 from 0
    • Ancient Golem
      • Base Health increased to 1500 from 1350
    • Lizard Elder
      • Base Health increased to 1500 from 1350
    • Young Lizard
      • Base Health increased to 300 from 250
    • Dragon
      • Base Health increased to 3500 from 3200
      • Health per minute increased to 240 from 220
      • Attack Range reduced to 350 from 500
    • Baron Nashor
      • Base Health increased to 8800 from 8000
      • Health per minute increased to 140 from 125
    • You can find full details on the jungle changes in the Pre-Season 3 website, located here.


Twisted Treeline

  • Increased low level death times and slightly decreased high level death times
  • Reduced the amount of experience split by two and three nearby players
  • Clarified the mana regeneration bonus on the altar tooltips
  • Tweaked Altar vision rules
    • Neutral altars will no longer grant vision
    • Stealthed champions can no longer capture altars
    • Evelynn will be revealed if within 300 distance of a capturable altar (this is to allow her to capture altars without expending spell cooldowns to forcibly remove herself from stealth)
  • Items
    • Blackfire Torch
      • Reduced magic penetration from 20 to 15
      • Decreased maximum charges from 25 to 18
      • Decreased the duration of the burn effect from 3 to 2 seconds
      • Increased the delay between charge gains from 1 to 1.5 seconds
      • Increased the burn amount from 1.67% to 1.75% of max health per second
      • Fixed a bug that caused the first tick of burn to not consume a charge
    • Grez’s Spectral Lantern
      • New Recipe: Cloth Armor + Vampiric Scepter
      • Total Gold Cost: 1250 (combine cost: 150)
      • +25 Attack Damage
      • +20 Armor
      • +12% Life Steal
      • Unique Passive: Your basic attacks against minions and monsters have a 20% chance to deal 200 bonus magic damage.
      • Unique Active: A stealth-detecting mist grants vision in the target area for 10 seconds (1 minute cooldown).
    • Temporarily disabled Lord Van Damm’s Pillager (conflicts with new Black Cleaver)
    • Temporarily disabled Wicked Hatchet (conflicts with new Executioner’s Calling)
    • The following new Season 3 items are disabled:
      • Hunter’s Machete
      • Madred’s Razors (reworked)
      • Spirit Stone and its upgrades
      • Liandry’s Torment
      • Homeguard Enchant
      • Ohmwrecker
      • Sightstone
      • Ruby Sightstone
      • Runic Bulwark

Crystal Scar

  • Increased global mana regeneration aura from 1.5% to 2% bonus regeneration per 1% of mana missing
  • The following new Season 3 items are disabled:
    • Hunter’s Machete
    • Spirit Stone and its upgrades
    • Liandry’s Torment
    • Homeguard Enchant
    • Ohmwrecker
    • Sightstone
    • Ruby Sightstone

Proving Grounds

  • The following new Season 3 items are disabled:
    • Hunter’s Machete
    • Spirit Stone and its upgrades
    • Homeguard Enchant
    • Ohmwrecker
    • Sightstone
    • Ruby Sightstone
    • Crystalline Flask

General (Stats)

  • Basic Cost for Stats
    • Attack Damage has generally been made cheaper by roughly 5 to 10%.
    • Attack Speed has generally been made more expensive by roughly 20%
    • Armor and Magic Resistance has generally been made more expensive by roughly 10 to 20%
    • Basic items have had their statistics and gold values adjusted to match.
  • Premiums for Tier 3 items
    • Gold premiums on Tier 3 items have generally been reduced across the board. This means that the deeper the build tree – generally the less statistics the item gives or the more expensive it will be compared to before.
  • Penetration Changes
    • % Penetration now applies before Flat Penetration. This means that combining the two statistics will amplify the effect of both – compared to live which reduced the effectiveness of both.
    • Last Whisper’s Armor Penetration reduced to 35% from 40%
    • Void Staff’s Magic Penetration reduced to 35% from 40%
    • Haunting Guise Magic Penetration reduced to 15 from 20
    • Sorcerer’s Shoes Magic Penetration reduced to 15 from 20
  • Movement Speed
    • Movement Speed bonus on all Boot items has been reduced by 25
    • Base Movement Speed on all champions has been increased by 25

Items

  • Removed
    • The following items have been removed and items that build out of them have had their recipe changed:
      • Meki Pendant, Regrowth Pendant, Force of Nature, Ionic Spark, Moonflair Spellblade, Cloak and Dagger, Elixir of Agility, Leviathan, Soul Shroud, Heart of Gold, Madred’s Bloodrazor
  • Reworked
    • The following items have been changed and have had their passives and statistics modified:
      • Malady, Phantom Dancer, Zeke’s Herald, Guardian Angel, Lich Bane, Eleisa’s Miracle, Randuin’s Omen, Deathfire Grasp, Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Tiamat, Black Cleaver, Tear of the Godess, Archangel’s Staff, Manamune, Executioner’s Calling, Morello’s Evil Tome, Warmog’s Armor, Avarice Blade, Aegis of the Legion, Hextech Gunblade
  • New Items
    • The following items are new and will be available on Summoner’s Rift:
      • Jungle-Focused: Hunter’s Machete, Spirit Stone, Spirit of the Ancient Golem, Spirit of the Spectral Wraith, Spirit of the Elder Lizard
      • Support-Focused: Shard of True Ice, Mikael’s Crucible, Banner of Command, Twin Shadows
      • Attack-Focused: Runaan’s Hurricane, Zephyr, Sword of the Divine, Mercurial Scimitar, Liandry’s Torment, Statikk Shiv
      • Defense-Focused: Frozen Fist, Ohmwrecker
  • Boot Upgrades
    • All Tier 2 boots can now be upgraded further with an enchantment for a gold cost – All Tier 2 boots share from the same pool of enchantments.
      • Enchantment – Alacrity: Increases Movement Speed by 15.
      • Enchantment – Furor: Dealing damage to a champion with a single target attack or spell grants you a movement speed boost that decays over 2 seconds.
      • Enchantment – Distortion: Your Ghost, Teleport and Flash cooldowns are reduced by a percentage.
      • Enchantment – Captain: Allied champions moving towards you gain a movement speed boost. Additionally, nearby allied minions gain a large movement speed bonus.
      • Enchantment – Homeguard: Being at fountain instantly restores your health and mana. Additionally, you gain a very large movement speed boost that decays over 8 seconds. This passive is disabled if you are in combat.
  • You can find full details on the items in the Pre-Season 3 website, located here.


Summoner Spells

  • Barrier
    • Now available on Summoner’s Rift and Crystal Scar
    • Cooldown increased to 210 seconds from 125
    • Shield amount reduced to 95 + 20 per level from 100 + 25 per level
    • Improved Barrier increases the shield amount by 20 instead of reducing the cooldown by 20 seconds
    • Shield duration reduced to 2 seconds from 4 seconds
  • Clairvoyance
    • Duration increased to 5 seconds from 4
    • Cooldown reduced to 60 seconds from 70
    • Radius reduced to 1200 from 1400
    • Improved Clairvoyance now maintains sight on units revealed by Clairvoyance for 5 seconds instead of extending the duration by 2 seconds
  • Clarity
    • Now restores 40% maximum Mana to you and nearby allies
    • Improved Clarity now increases the Mana restoration by 25%, up from 20% (total 50% max Mana to you and allies)
  • Exhaust
    • Now reduces Attack Speed by 50%
    • Movement Speed reduction reduced to 30% from 40%
    • Now reduces all damage dealt by 30% from 70% for attacks and 30% from abilities/items.
  • Flash
    • Cooldown increased to 300 seconds from 265
    • Improved Flash is now calculated after other Summoner Flash cooldown reductions
  • Heal
    • Health restored per level reduced to 15 from 25
    • Amount allies are healed for increased to 100% from 50%
    • Improved Heal now increases your champion’s max Health by 5 per level instead of increasing the Heal amount by 10%
    • Cooldown increased to 300 seconds from 270
  • Ignite
    • Cooldown increased to 210 seconds from 180
  • Promote
    • Disabled
  • Revive
    • Now always increases your movement speed after reviving
    • Improved Revive now grants bonus Health after reviving instead of a temporary speed boost
  • Surge
    • Disabled

Masteries


Runes

  • Runes have been renamed to be more representative of their actual function (e.g. Mark of Desolation renamed to Mark of Armor Penetration)
  • Lesser Mark of Armor Penetration
    • Armor Penetration reduced to 0.72 from 0.93
  • Mark of Armor Penetration
    • Armor Penetration reduced to 1 from 1.29
  • Greater Mark of Armor Penetration
    • Armor Penetration reduced to 1.28 from 1.66
  • Lesser Mark of Magic Penetration
    • Magic Penetration reduced to 0.49 from 0.53
  • Mark of Magic Penetration
    • Magic Penetration reduced to 0.68 from 0.74
  • Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
    • Magic Penetration reduced to 0.87 from 0.95
  • Lesser Glyph of Magic Penetration
    • Magic Penetration reduced to 0.35 from 0.38
  • Glyph of Magic Penetration
    • Magic Penetration reduced to 0.49 from 0.53
  • Greater Glyph of Magic Penetration
    • Magic Penetration reduced to 0.63 from 0.68
  • Lesser Quintessence of Armor Penetration
    • Armor Penetration reduced to 1.42 from 1.85
  • Quintessence of Armor Penetration
    • Armor Penetration reduced to 1.99 from 2.59
  • Greater Quintessence of Armor Penetration
    • Armor Penetration reduced to 2.56 from 3.33
  • Lesser Quintessence of Magic Penetration
    • Magic Penetration reduced to 1.11 from 1.21
  • Quintessence of Magic Penetration
    • Magic Penetration reduced to 1.56 from 1.69
  • Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration
    • Magic Penetration reduced to 2.01 from 2.18
  • Lesser Mark of Hybrid Penetration
    • Armor Penetration reduced to 0.5 from 0.56
    • Magic Penetration increased to 0.34 from 0.32
  • Mark of Hybrid Penetration
    • Armor Penetration reduced to 0.7 from 0.74
    • Magic Penetration increased to 0.48 from 0.44
  • Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration
    • Armor Penetration reduced to 0.9 from 1
    • Magic Penetration increased to 0.61 from 0.57
  • Lesser Quintessence of Hybrid Penetration
    • Armor Penetration reduced to 0.99 from 1.11
    • Magic Penetration increased to 0.77 from 0.72
  • Quintessence of Hybrid Penetration
    • Armor Penetration reduced to 1.39 from 1.55
    • Magic Penetration increased to 1.09 from 1.01
  • Greater Quintessence of Hybrid Penetration
    • Armor Penetration reduced to 1.79 from 2
    • Magic Penetration increased to 1.41 from 1.3

PvP.Net 1.72

  • Recommended Items no longer appear in the Champion detail pages. This change does not affect the information displayed on the League of Legends website or the in-game store.

Champions

  • Hecarim
    • Base Attack Damage increased to 59 from 56
    • Attack Damage per level increased to 3.2 from 3
  • Nautilus
    • Titan’s Wrath shield amount increased to 100/150/200/250/300 from 80/130/180/230/280
  • Rammus
    • Base Armor increased to 25 from 21
    • Base Health Regen increased to 8 per 5 seconds from 6
  • Sejuani
    • Base Armor increased to 24 from 21
    • Northern Winds duration increased to 6 seconds from 5

Spectator:

  • Retreat pings will now be team colored in spectator mode.
  • Target pings will now only last 6 seconds in spectator mode.
  • Directed camera algorithms have been improved.

General:

  • Fixed a bug that causes projectile-based skillshots to not appear when fired out of the fog of war (ex: Nidalee spear)
  • The Nexus turrets in The Crystal Scar and Proving Grounds will now kill invulnerable units.
  • Updated all bots’ items, masteries, and summoner spells to account for Season 3 changes.
  • Improved bots’ summoner spell logic and made usage consistent across all bots.
  • Fixed how custom game TT bots adjust to players’ laning decisions.
  • Spells that target your own champion will now put an outline glow around your champion.
  • Unbound default key bindings for ‘Toggle Health Bars’ and ‘Toggle Minion Health Bars’
  • Champion passives will now display their cooldown time over the passive icon.