Welcome back Nomsy enthusiasts...and the rest of you I guess.
We've got a big patch today, but don't be fooled by its length! Most of our word count comes from an Attack Damage rebalance. It may look intimidating, but it impacts a largely invisible system in order to dampen the impact of basic attacks from 3-star units whose power should come from spells instead of autos. General rebalancing of auto attacks is a theme throughout this patch, but there are also power changes to our Legendary Dragons that’ll make them feel more LEGENDARY, and a few nice quality of life system changes.
Wow, lots of changes going on in this patch, but the most important one is right here: Rodger “MinionsRpeople2" Caudill ⇒ Rodger “Riot Prism" Caudill
Don’t let the name change fool you, I’ll still be memeing and dreaming with you along the way—so let’s get to it!
Rodger “Riot Prism" Caudill
Mid-Patch Updates
AUGUST 2ND, MID-PATCH UPDATE
We’ve got a larger than usual mid-patch update to allow for more diverse boards both in the early and late game as we head into more competitive tournaments (and ranked climbing for the rest of us).
TRAITS
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see these Astral changes on the horizon. It doesn’t take an astrologist to predict these changes. You don’t need a telescope to toggle your vision onto these Astral adjustments. Okay, like the Astral togglers who place units to hit Astral 9 before their roll down, I’m done here.
Nomsy is weaker in Stage 2 but will be stronger later with investment, breaking even at 35 snacks (halfway through two-star Nomsy).
Bugfix: Players can no longer toggle between Astral tiers during Planning Phase
Astral 9 Orb Item Drop Rate: 75% ⇒ 45%
Guild base Attack Damage bonus from Talon: 5 ⇒ 8
Trainer Nomsy Base Health: 400 ⇒ 225
Trainer Nomsy Health per Snack: 20 ⇒ 25
UNITS
Earlier in this patch, we gave Jinx more Mana on her Chompers refund, increasing her magic damage over the course of the fight through additional casts. Now that she has that extra chomp, we’re taking some of her Attack Damage to keep her rage in check.
These two 10-cost Dragons are crowding out the skies in late game boards. By putting them more in line with other late game carries, we provide more room for diverse boards.
Jinx Bugfix: Ragewing Jinx no longer receives Rage from her Ability while enraged. She will now receive the Rage after the enrage effect ends.
Jinx Attack Damage: 65 ⇒ 60
Sylas max Mana nerf: 60/130 ⇒ 70/140
Aurelion Sol Black Hole Damage: 400/700/5000 ⇒ 375/625/5000
Aurelion Sol Black Hole time until increased size and damage: 15 sec ⇒ 18 sec
Aurelion Sol Black Hole increased damage amplification after 18 sec: 33% ⇒ 15%
Zz’Rot Portal is buying too much time as a discount frontliner for our high ramp, high damage late game carries. We’re giving our favorite mini purple people eater a light early game nerf that will become more noticeable as the carries get to carrying capacity.
Morellonomicon Ability Power: 50 ⇒ 40
Zz’Rot Portal Health by Stage (1-2/3/4/5+): 1500/1800/2100/2500 ⇒ 1350/1600/1900/2250
Hyper Roll Zz’Rot Portal Health by Stage (1-4/7/8+): 1500/2100/2500 ⇒ 1350/1900/2250
Patch Highlights
System Changes
ITEM DISTRIBUTION
With how many times I've seen players lose to Krugs while open forting, they better be packing.
Krugs (Stage 2-7) is now guaranteed to always have at least one item
ARMORY TIMERS
Clock’s a-tickin’.
Armory selections (Tome of Traits, Ornn Items, Radiant Items) now have their own timer displayed so you know how long until it will choose for you!
Large Changes
Large, like the amount of physical damage coming from auto attacks this set—an issue we will be dealing with this patch in our AD rebalance section.
TRAITS
Nerfing the most Talonted member of the Guild. We’ve always treated Attack Damage and Ability Power as equal, but since every unit attacks, Attack Damage matters a lot more. So now we’re treating the Attack Damage bonus from Guild differently than the Ryze Ability Power bonus.
Tempest has seen a lot of play as a two piece splash trait for crowd control, but the extra board-wide damage on top of that has turned that splash into a tsunami. For those who weather the storm to reach Tempest 6 and 8, your efforts will be rewarded with quite a bit more damage.
Previously, Warrior has relied on low-probability-but-high-impact empowered attacks that could one shot an enemy carry. With this change, these empowered attacks will happen more often, but won’t (literally) randomly one-shot a carry.
The Legend nerf was one of our final additions to this patch after seeing Legend comps emerge a bit too powerful during PBE and simulations.
Nami gets less healing and more feeling (pain) for your opponents.
Nami Ebb and Flow Healing: 275/300/325 ⇒ 175/200/225
Nami Ebb and Flow Damage: 100/150/200 ⇒ 150/200/250
UNITS: TIER 3
Alongside the buff to Dragonmancer, this oughta make my Zoo comp (bird, bear, ram) flip my opponent’s board faster than they can flip me the bird—I mean, flip my bird.
Anivia Mana buff: 45/90 ⇒ 40/80
UNITS: TIER 5
30 cost units should feel worth their weight in gold, but 2-star legendary Dragons aren’t really burning a hole in your pocket. With a series of buffs to their level scaling, you can expect these Dragons to hit like a sack of 30 gold to the face—ouch!
As the only strong legendary (tier 5) Dragon prior to this patch, we’re improving Ao Shin’s health pool to allow him to cast before being bursted (that increases by 80% upon being starred up). With a more reliable cast, we’re raining in the power of Ao Shin’s ability.
Aurelion Sol Health: 900 ⇒ 1000
Aurelion Sol max Mana buff: 40/90 ⇒ 0/60
Aurelion Sol Black Hole Damage: 350/475/5000 ⇒ 400/700/5000
Aurelion Sol Black Hole time until increased size and damage: 20 sec ⇒ 15 sec
Aurelion Sol Black Hole increased damage amplification after 15 sec: 50% ⇒ 33%
Ao Shin Health: 900 ⇒ 1000
Ao Shin Lightning Rain Damage: 240/400/2500 ⇒ 210/400/2500
Ao Shin Mana reduction: 20 ⇒ 10
Shyvana Health: 1200 ⇒ 1000
Shyvana Armor & Magic Resist: 55 ⇒ 70
Shyvana NEW: Flame Breathe deals flat magic damage rather than percent max Health damage
Shyvana Flame Breathe Damage: 1200/1800/30000
Shyvana NEW: Shyvana can no longer be affected by crowd control during her dive bomb
Zoe starting Mana nerf: 50/100 ⇒ 30/100
Zoe Final Spark Damage: 425/650/9001 ⇒ 375/575/9001
Similar to how we treated Talon in Guild, we are nerfing our premiere Attack Damage item, because all units utilize AD.
Even with all the AD nerfs this patch, Morellonomicon just needs to be stronger. Right now Sunfire Cape feels like the only viable way to combat healing, so we’re adding some base stats in hopes of seeing players finally combine that Belt and Rod this set.
Thief’s Gloves is our most fun item. Let’s make it more fun.
More More-ellonomicon (Radiant) Ability Power: 50 ⇒ 80
Thief’s Gloves odds of getting better item combinations at Level 6 and higher have been increased
AUGMENTS
We are rebalancing a number of our Soul/Crown Augments by adjusting the items or units they give.
While one of our most exciting Augments, Cruel Pact has been a bit of a trap card (strikethrough) Augment. It's still our skydiving Augment as you pound your Health into the ground for levels, but now it comes with a parachute to help you avoid that 0 Health impact.
Gadget Expert has been strong the whole set, especially when taken early. With a full item of power, plus bonus damage, we're shipping a nerf that should remind you that Gadgets (and Gizmos) were so last set.
Luden’s Echo early game has too high of a power ceiling, especially when paired with Mage openers, or something like Blue Buff Ezreal.
Most Shimmerscale compositions run units from outside the trait as their carry, so we're adjusting Reckless Spending to benefit those use cases. By spreading your Shimmerscale items across your team, you'll also be able to empower more units with this change. To compensate for those extra use cases, we are reducing the power of the damage amplification buff.
Cruel Pact REWORKED: Now costs 6 Tactician Health (up from 4 Health) to buy 4 XP, but you restore 3 Health per turn
Devastating Charge base Damage: 75 ⇒ 85
Gadget Expert bonus Damage: 40% ⇒ 33%
Gear Upgrades base bonus Increase: 200% ⇒ 250%
Heroic Presence max Health percent Damage: 6% ⇒ 7%
Luden's Echo I Damage: 60/80/100/120 ⇒ 40/70/100/130
Luden's Echo II Damage: 85/110/135/160 ⇒ 55/90/125/160
Luden's Echo III Damage: 120/160/200/240 ⇒ 90/140/190/240
Ricochet bounce damage reduction: 50% ⇒ 33%
Reckless Spending buffs Shimmerscale champions ⇒ Buffs Shimmerscale champions and all champions holding Shimmerscale items
Reckless Spending Damage amplification: 50% ⇒ 40%
Assassin Crown grants an Infinity Edge ⇒ grants a Hand of Justice
Cavalier Crown grants a Sunfire Cape ⇒ grants a Redemption
Guardian Crown grants a Gargoyle Stoneplate ⇒ grants a Sunfire Cape
Revel Crown grants a Statikk Shiv ⇒ grants no item
Scalescorn Crown grants a Giant Slayer ⇒ grants a Hand of Justice
Shimmerscale Soul grants a Kayn ⇒ grants a Volibear
Tempest Crown grants a Hand of Justice ⇒ grants a Statikk Shiv
Small Changes
Small, like the overall impact of the incredibly lengthy changelist in the Attack Damage Rebalance section below this section.
TRAITS
Going through and buffing our underperforming chase traits to make sure they’re worth the chase. Jade and Revel are also receiving nerfs for their more splashable and easy to hit breakpoints.
Since a lot of Astral units get three-starred by the time you hit Astral 9, the vertical is significantly impacted by our AD rebalance (section below this one), so we’re giving Astral 9 a pretty fun buff that relies of the new James Webb images to discover more prizes from the stars.
Astral 9 Orb Item Component drop frequency: 30% ⇒ 75%
Guardian Shield Health ratio: 30/45/65 ⇒ 30/50/75%
Continuing the trend of making magic damage carries do less auto attack damage and more ability damage by increasing Ashe’s Volley casts at the cost of some attack speed.
Ashe Attack Speed: 0.75 ⇒ 0.7
Ashe max Mana buff: 50/100 ⇒ 40/90
UNITS: TIER 3
Illaoi Health: 800 ⇒ 750
Sylas Mana nerf: 60/120 ⇒ 60/130
UNITS: TIER 4
Very small Idas buff, with a Sy’fen buff that’s actually a nerf to our dodge items, but a buff to the sanity of Sy’fen players around the world.
Idas Golden Scales damage reduction: 35/50/300 ⇒ 35/55/300
Idas Golden Scales self heal: 450/550/2500 ⇒ 450/600/3000
Sy’fen NEW: Sy’fen’s bite after charging can no longer be dodged. Tooltip has been updated to specify this.
Sy’fen Tooltip Fix: Now correctly states that Sy’fen charges toward the farthest enemy within 2.5 hexes (used to incorrectly say 2 hexes)
UNITS: TIER 5
Preventing the Bloodharbor Ripper from just being the Bloodharbor RIP.
Pyke Armor & Magic Resistance: 30 ⇒ 40
ITEMS
Because there are multiple ways to get Ornn Items (Portable/Living Forge, or time traveling and playing Fates), there’s a chance you can get multiple copies of these Ornn items. We want you to live the dream of being able to place two Infinity Forces on your carry, or two Anima Visages on your tank. And if you do manage to pull this off, send screenshots of your triumph!
Anima Visage is no longer unique
Infinity Force is no longer unique
Randuin’s Sanctum is no longer unique
AUGMENTS
Having your 8-cost Dragon transform into a 5-cost Legendary unit feels as bad as losing 3 gold. Recombobulator is one of our most fun Augments, so we’re removing the feels-bad moments from the equation.
AFK you can no longer move items while AFK is active
Electrocharge I Damage: 60/75/90/105 ⇒ 50/70/90/110
Electrocharge III Damage: 115/145/180/220 ⇒ 115/155/195/235
Featherweights III Attack & Move Speed: 55% ⇒ 60%
Jeweled Lotus Critical Strike Chance: 20% ⇒ 25%
Recombobulator: Dragons can now only transform into other Dragons, and non-Dragons can only transform into other non-Dragons. Tooltip has been updated to reflect this
Trade Sector+ Gold: 5 ⇒ 8
Attack Damage Rebalance
With the changes below, we are addressing how Attack Damage (AD) scaling on 3-star units has created issues with TFT's balance, as well as power fantasties both present and past.
Too much of a 3-star unit's power has ended up in their damage from auto attacking. With every star level, units gain 80% more AD, leading to situations like a 3-star Nami or Vladimir dealing much more physical damage than intended. The source of power (and excitement) for these champions should come from their spells (they are Mages after all), so we’re pulling back on this AD scaling so we can focus more on scaling their unique abilities.
After all is said and balanced, 1-star units will be a bit stronger, 2-star units will be mostly unchanged, and 3-star units will do much less auto attack damage but more ability damage.
Amount of Attack Damage per star level: 80% ⇒ 50%
The sections below outline the specific changes made to each unit’s AD and Ability as needed
UNITS: TIER 1
In addition to the AD rebalance, we're giving a bit more of Nidalee's AD up for adoption so Nidalee rerollers can adopt a new strategy—don't worry, she'll find a new home on my board now that she won’t be contested every game.
Senna Last Embrace bonus Magic Damage: 300/400/500 ⇒ 275/425/600
Sett Attack Damage: 50/90/162 ⇒ 65/98/146
Sett Knuckle Down Attack Damage ratio: 150% ⇒ 170%
Skarner Attack Damage: 50/90/162 ⇒ 55/83/124
Tahm Kench Attack Damage: 70/126/226 ⇒ 80/120/180
Taric Attack Damage: 60/108/194 ⇒ 70/105/158
Vladimir Attack Damage: 40/72/130 ⇒ 40/60/90
Vladimir Transfusion Damage: 250/300/350 ⇒ 275/325/375
UNITS: TIER 2
Some of these units (such as Nami and Lillia) won’t be getting an AD increase at one star since they’re already strong casters, or have been compensated with a spell buff.
It’s worth noting that with Ashe’s changes in the small section, she will be more impactful as a caster, so maybe try her out as the Dragonmancer Hero in a 2-cost reroll comp?
Ashe Attack Damage: 45/81/146 ⇒ 50/75/113
Ashe Volley Damage: 90/125/175 ⇒ 125/175/225
Braum Attack Damage: 40/72/130 ⇒ 50/75/113
Gnar Attack Damage: 40/72/130 ⇒ 50/75/113
Gnar Mega Gnar Attack Damage: 40/70/130 ⇒ 50/80/150
The Xayah adjustment below is intended to be a larger nerf for her. Despite two patches of nerfs, Guild Xayah continues to thrive. Part of this comp’s power comes from Talon’s consistency which is getting hit here and in the Traits section above (see Large Changes).
Making clutch Rune of Allegiances more automatic. That was a car joke, by the way.
Players with a full bench can now open orbs containing Units sent by Rune of Allegiance if it would result in a Unit starring up.
Bug Fixes
Removed the Mana icon in Blue Battery
Glamorous Gauntlet (Radiant Jeweled Gauntlet) now shows the bonus AP in yellow text
Bless this tooltip: Blue Blessing (Radiant Blue Buff) now states that it grants 50 starting Mana
Star Bardian: Astral shop odds are now affected by Bard and High-End Shopping
Varus no longer stops attacking when his tendrils spread out of his primary target
Manazane and Radiant Blue Buff now work with Ragewing units
Umm what?: Summoned units no longer become invincible when their owner surrenders mid combat
Cannoneer emblem no longer causes Swain to stop using his spell, and no longer sometimes replaces Elise, Sy’fen, and Shi Oh Yu spells with the cannon shot
Dodging the VFX: Shen dodge VFX now plays at 1 star
Yasuo’s 3rd slash will now deal damage to units that are immune to crowd control
Fixed most (hopefully all) of Corki’s spell fizzling. Fixing fizzles is always tricky and Corki has been especially tough, but hopefully we’ve gotten rid of most of his fizzles. If you still see any fizzles, please let us know
Fixed an issue allowing 3 Trait Augments to be offered together
Trainers can no longer gain extra Snax under specific circumstances
Sy’fen will now cast his Ability while under the effects of Edge of Night and Zhonya’s Paradox
Mages will now retain the proper amount of Mana with Axiom Arc if they kill units during their first cast
Fixed Radiant Spear of Shojin’s Mana gain VFX
If Zoe’s target dies during her first cast and her 2nd Mage cast is Daisy, she will now spawn Daisy at her own location instead of not spawning Daisy at all
Units should now properly try to star up after Recombobulator transforms them
Arena lighting now properly updates when traveling between Arenas
Too bright: Radiant Morellonomicon now burns for the intended 2 percent Health per second rather than 4 percent
Rodger “Riot Prism" Caudill