Big changes coming in League of Legends for Twisted Treeline and Dominion

At over 500 pages of replies from concerned League of Legends players, the largest “WTF is up with Dominion” post on the forums has finally received a reply from Riot, and that reply reveals some pretty grand plans for anything that isn’t the classic 5v5 Summoner’s Rift map.


“Dominion’s fun (it’s fast). So is Twisted Treeline. But they both share one key problem – League of Legends is competitively balanced for Classic gameplay on Summoner’s Rift. Our original goal was to create rulesets that would result in balanced experiences across all game modes with the same champion stats. We’ve experimented with itemization, game pacing, map features, and other design elements. While we’ve had limited success here, there’s still room for improvement, so we’re going to take the plunge: in the near future™, we’re going to be implementing map-specific balance changes for individual champions.” - Game Designer RiotNome

Yep, you read that right. Riot is currently developing the technology to balance champions for specific game modes in League of Legends. That sounds like a tremendous undertaking, but Riot seems to be up to the task, admitting that building maps around champion balance, and creating and removing items for specific maps just hasn’t done the job.


“This is going to take a few patches to implement, but we’re actively working on the tech, and we’re already got a bunch of specific balance changes in mind that we’re iterating on. We’re sure there will be lots of questions regarding the initiative, so we’ll announce more specifics when the time comes. I’ll actually be joining the live design team to head up map-specific balance for TT and Dominion. Remember that this is just the foundation for support – we’ve got some other tentative plans that we’re exploring to enhance both maps farther down the line!” – RiotNome

Basically, don’t expect this change tomorrow, or likely in the near future. Riot simply felt that it was time to let the playerbase know that they do have a plan for non-5v5 maps, and that a solution is in the works.

My question to you, dear reader, is will this fix the problems game modes like Dominion and Twisted Treeline face? The answer seems to be a simple yes, but can Riot keep up with balancing over 100 champions differently in different game modes, and will there be confusion among the playerbase when changes are made? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Author :  Troy Blackburn

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Report Claims DOTA 2 Tops League of Legends, Riot Calls BS

DOTA 2 Declared the Champion

It’s not just players who have drama in the MOBA world. Now two popular games seem to be the focus of an uproar as DOTA 2 was recently dubbed “the most played PC game of 2013″ in a report that was put together and published by DFC Intelligence. The report stated that DOTA 2had surpassed League of Legends as the most played “core” PC game this year according to hours played. The data was supposedly gathered using XFire and other unnamed intelligence gathering sources.

When the first story first began making the rounds skeptics immediately began poking holes in the report. DFC was claiming DOTA 2 was the most played PC title in the world, but it wasn’t even number one on XFire, the only source that was actually named in the report. Nor is it number two. You have to go all the way down to number 6 to get to DOTA 2 on Xfire’s most played list.League of Legends sits atop the XFire “top ten” rankings with a sizeable lead over even the second place Call of Duty 4. Add to that the fact that XFire users only represent a portion of PC Gamers, and you can see where doubt about the validity of the report began to seep in.

On top of that, common gamer sense tells you that it is highly unlikely that an unlaunched beta game is going to surpass what is considered one of the most popular games in the world. As easy as it actually is to get into the DOTA 2 beta, that is still a barrier, and as we all know, any barrier to entry is a giant STOP sign for a lot of gamers.

Riot Fires Back

After all the skeptics had their go at the DFC report, Riot decided it was time to step in and let loose with some information of their own. 500,000 concurrent users daily is what they lead off with. So far according to Steam, DOTA 2‘s highest concurrent user number so far peaked at just under 326,000. That’s quite a difference in itself. Oh, and that 500,000 per day that Riot was talking about…that’s just on the EU West League of Legends server.

“You can see how we would have some issues with the accuracy of this report,” said a Riot Games spokesperson in a statement to GamesIndustry.biz.

DFC Backtracks

What has followed since the initial release of the report is DFC Intelligence’s owner David Cole making a statement to PCGamer in an attempt to clarify his company’s report and findings.

“The thing with us is we are getting core gamers in North America and Europe only. LOL has a ton of users in markets we don’t track,” Cole said in his statement to PCGamer.

“Riot is actually going to give us some actual numbers so we can compare,” Cole continued. “LOL does have a lot more users and we may have underestimated LOL. Thing is, we have never seen anything like it, so have been pretty conservative. But Dota 2 is still big.”

So basically, what he’s saying is PR speak for ‘we didn’t actually have the proper data to compare numbers between these two games but we released a report about it anyway’. My words, not theirs.

Since clarifying DFC’s findings, the original press release for the report has been pulled.
The Sad Truth

You can argue all day long which game is better, but for right now there’s not much doubt about which one is bigger, and that’s League of Legends. DOTA 2 is definitely in a position to give LoLa run for its money, but it isn’t quite time for that. Let’s at least wait for DOTA 2′s release before we worry about who is king of the mountain.

Besides, at the end of the day, deep down in places we don’t want to talk about, we all know that the “most played” PC games are things like Candy Crush or Farmville. We “core” gamers just pretend to live in a world where those games don’t exist.

Author: Troy Blackburn

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League of Legends - Sejuani rework

Sejuani is getting a new look and some skill reworking in League of Legends. Gone is the metal bikini and in its place is a set of armor more likely to be worn by a warrior from the frozen Freljord. The lore focus in LoL is definitely on the frozen lands right now, and Sejuani champions the fight for her people.
Abilities:

Passive: Frost Armor – Damaging an enemy with an ability or basic attack grants armor and reduces movement-slowing effects on Sejuani. If Sejuani already has Frost Armor, its duration increases.

Q: Arctic Assault – Bristle charges forward, knocking enemies into the air and dealing magic damage. The charge ends after knocking an enemy champion into the air.

W: Flail of the Northern Winds - Sejuani’s next basic attack deals bonus magic damage to the target and enemies near it. She then begins to swing her flail, dealing magic damage to nearby enemies over time. If this ability is reactivated, she immediately starts swinging her flail.

E: Permafrost

Passive: Abilities and basic attacks apply Frost to enemies.
Active: All nearby enemies with Frost take magic damage and are slowed.

R: Glacial Prison - Sejuani throws a frost-forged bola in a line. If the bola hits an enemy champion, it shatters, stunning the target and nearby enemies. If the bola reaches its maximum range, it shatters and slows enemies. All enemies in the shatter area take magic damage.

Gameplay:

In the jungle: Sejuani’s still a riding CC machine out of the jungle in League of Legends. In the early game, Frost Armor keeps her health high while she tears through jungle camps with Flail of the Northern Winds. The combination of Permafrost and well-timed Arctic Assault from the brush can quickly lock down an enemy for a kill. Once she has a point in Glacial Prison, the additional stun makes Sejuani’s ganks even deadlier.

Mid game: Heading into midgame, Sejuani makes an excellent split-push champion, pressuring lanes with Flail of the Northern Winds, then using a combination of her other abilities to escape enemy ganks. Her full arsenal of crowd-control makes chasing or being chased a frightening prospect for the opposing team; her passive armor allows her to wade into the front line of skirmishes, secure in the knowledge that her teammates can pick targets off at leisure.

Late game and teamfights: One of the most imposing initiators in League of Legends, Sejuani can use Glacial Prison to force a fight near an objective, or hunt down retreating foes with Arctic Assault. As a strong source of magic damage, Sejuani makes a great tank to complement an AD heavy lineup. Her charge can break up a channeled ultimate or wreak havoc on the enemy team’s positioning. All the while she’ll absorb huge damage and protect the squishier members of her team by forcing opponents to engage on her with her impressive crowd-control.

Lore:




Sejuani was weaned on hardship and reared on barbarity. Where others succumbed to the harshness of the Freljord, she was tempered by it until pain became power, hunger an encouragement, and frost an ally in culling the weak. Through her ordeals, she learned that to thrive in the endless winter, one must become just as cold and unforgiving. In Sejuani’s eyes, her followers either have the mettle to endure or the right to die. Once she has conquered the Freljord, she knows that those who survive will form a nation to be feared.

As a child, the leader of the Winter’s Claw watched her tribe’s numbers slowly dwindle. Cold and starvation took all but the most resilient. She was the only one of her siblings to survive to her tenth year, leaving Sejuani sure that she too would die in misery. In desperation, she sought spiritual counsel from her tribe’s mystic. But the seer did not foretell Sejuani’s death. Instead, she prophesized that Sejuani would one day conquer and unite the divided tribes of the Freljord.



Armored with absolute faith in her destiny, Sejuani pushed herself to extremes that would have killed anyone without her will to endure. She walked into blizzards without food or furs and trained while frigid winds raked her flesh. She clashed with the strongest warriors of her tribe, one after another, until her legs gave out beneath her. When she assumed leadership of her tribe, Sejuani commanded her warriors to follow her example. Under her rule, the tribe grew stronger than they had ever been.

In the end, it was an offer of peace – rather than an act of war – that began Sejuani’s campaign of conquest. On the first day of winter, envoys from Ashe’s tribe approached Sejuani’s camp bearing a gift of Avarosan grain. Ashe’s intent was clear: if Sejuani united with her tribe, the Winter’s Claw would never go hungry again. To Sejuani, the gift was an insult. In Ashe’s tribe, she saw men and women, slight and soft, who preferred to farm instead of fight. Her contempt for them was absolute.

Sejuani gathered her people and set the grain alight. She proclaimed that Ashe’s offer of charity would bring only weakness. Stripping the envoys of their supplies, Sejuani sent them back with a message: the Winter’s Claw would prove to the Avarosan that only the strong deserve to survive in the Freljord. As the grain burned behind them, Sejuani rode out with her warband to inflict the first of many painful lessons to come.

“I was cut from the ice, shaped in the storms, hardened in the cold.” — Sejuani

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League Of Legends - Lissandra, the Ice Witch Revealed

Lissandra is a flexible, mana-efficient mage with abilities that emphasize crowd control, kiting and mobility over raw damage.

Abilities

  Iceborn (Passive): After a brief cooldown, Lissandra's next ability costs no mana. Hitting an enemy with movement impairing abilities reduces Iceborn's cooldown.

  Ice Shard: Lissandra throws a spear of ice that shatters on contact with the first enemy struck, dealing damage and slowing their movement speed for a short duration. Enemies behind the struck target also take damage.

Ring of Frost: Lissandra freezes the area around her, dealing damage to nearby enemies and rooting them for a short duration.

Glacial Path: Lissandra casts a slow-moving, long-range ice claw in a line, dealing damage to all enemies in its path. Re-activating Glacial Path teleports Lissandra to the claw's current location.

Frozen Tomb (Ultimate):
On enemy cast: Lissandra freezes an enemy champion, damaging and stunning them briefly. Dark Ice emanates from the target, dealing damage and slowing nearby enemies.
On self-cast: Lissandra encases herself in ice, rooting herself in place briefly and becoming untargetable and invulnerable. Dark Ice emanates from Lissandra, dealing damage and slowing nearby enemies.



Gameplay





Mid lane: Lissandra's mobility and crowd control skills make her an ideal choice for aggressive, roaming mid play. By shoving the lane with her AoE abilities, the Ice Witch can create the space she needs to make a move on top or bottom lane. The long range blink from Glacial Path lets her get the drop on enemies from unexpected angles by jumping terrain or by circumventing typical ward locations. Once the ambush has been sprung, Lissandra's potent combination of slows, roots and stuns allows her to stick to an opponent and close out the kill.

Top lane: Lissandra's passive allows her to be much less dependent on blue buff compared to many of her AP counterparts, making her an excellent, self-sufficient choice for top lane. Despite her low base durability, the long range blink on Glacial Path helps Lissandra stay safe by pulling off daring escapes. If she's caught in a gank, Lissandra can freeze her would-be killers in place with Ring of Frost before disappearing over terrain with a well-placed Glacial Path.

The area of effect damage on Ice Shard also allows Lissandra to guard turrets even when pressured, or press the lane in an attempt to lure enemy junglers into a counter-gank. When an opponent takes the bait, Lissandra can cast Frozen Tomb on herself, ensuring her own survival as she uses her other abilities to set up kills.

Team fights: Lissandra isn't the type of mage who immediately blows up high-value targets, but instead has the potential to lay down impressive amounts of damage and crowd control on grouped up opponents. The AoE aspect to Ice Shard keeps enemies pinned down through repeated area damage and slow effects while she waits for the opportune moment to unleash her full combo. Once she sees an opening, Lissandra can use Glacial Path to close in and lock down a high-value target with Frozen Tomb. If the opposing team starts to focus her, Lissandra can instead use Frozen Tomb on herself, juking the initial burst before escaping with Ring of Frost.

If you're looking for a mage who favors crowd control, mobility and kiting over raw burst damage, Lissandra is sure to make a welcome addition to your lineup.



Story



Lissandra’s magic twists the pure power of ice into something dark and terrible. With the force of her black ice, she does more than freeze – she impales and crushes those who oppose her. To the terrified denizens of the north, she is known only as “The Ice Witch.” The truth is much more sinister: Lissandra is a corruptor of nature who plots to unleash an ice age on the world.

Centuries ago, Lissandra betrayed her tribe to evil creatures, known as the Frozen Watchers, in return for power. That was the last day that warm blood ran through her veins. With her corrupted tribesmen and the strength of the Watchers, she swept across the land like a terrible blizzard. As her empire spread, the world grew colder and ice choked the land. When the Watchers were defeated by ancient heroes, Lissandra did not lose faith and swore to prepare the world for their return.



Lissandra worked to purge all knowledge of the Watchers from the world. Using magic to take human form, she masqueraded as numerous seers and elders. Over the course of generations, she rewrote the stories of the Freljord, and so the history of its people changed. Today the fragmented retellings of the Watchers are seen as children’s tales. But this deception wasn’t enough – Lissandra also needed an army.

She set her sights on the noble Frostguard tribe. Lissandra knew corrupting the Frostguard would take centuries, and so she launched her greatest deception. She murdered and stole the identity of the Frostguard leader. Then she slowly began to warp the tribe’s proud traditions. When her human form grew old, she faked her own death and then murdered her successor to steal her identity. With each generation, the Frostguard grew more insular, cruel and twisted. Today, the world still sees them as a noble and peaceful tribe that guards against evil creatures like the Ice Witch. In truth, they now serve the witch and long for the glorious return of the Watchers.

Lissandra knows that on that day nations will fall and the world will be reborn in ice.

“Close your eyes and let the cold take you.” - Lissandra

Credit : League Of Legends

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League of Legends - Karma Rework Abilities Reveal

Riot released more information regarding the Karma rework in League of Legends, and this time we finally get a peak at her new ability set, and some thoughts from the developers on what is currently wrong with Karma, and how the rework will address those issues.


First, the new ability kit. The new Karma kit rework isn’t live on the League of Legends PBE test server right now, but should be up for testing at some point this week.

Karma’s New Ability Kit



Passive: Gathering Fire – Hitting enemy champions with Karma’s spells and basic attacks lower Mantra’s cooldown.



R: Mantra – Empowers Karma’s abilities, adding an extra effect to the next ability cast.



Q: Inner Flame – Skillshot that deals magic damage and slows enemies in an area.

Empowered by Mantra: Soulflare – Increases damage and leaves behind a zone that slows and, after a brief delay, explodes for AoE damage.



W: Focused Resolve – Enemy-targeted tether that deals damage over time. If the tether is unbroken after a short duration, the tethered target is rooted in place.

Empowered by Mantra: Renewal – Deals bonus damage and heals Karma for the duration of the tether.



E: Inspire – Shields an ally and grants them a short speed boost.

Empowered by Mantra: Defiance – Enemies near the shielded ally are damaged while nearby allies are shielded and granted a short speed boost.

This is what Rioter Scarizard had to say about Karma’s League of Legends rework:

Old Karma had issues. What were they?

Karma’s kit was in a weird place, but her ultimate was especially problematic. Her base abilities didn’t feel impactful and only felt effective when supercharged by Mantra. On top of that, when Karma had two charges of Mantra, we had to make both of them weaker to compensate for players double casting empowered spells.

The changes we made to Karma’s kit focused on making each decision fun and meaningful while giving her abilities the focus they needed to perform her intended role. We kept the “empowering”-type gameplay of Mantra, but instead of waiting around for it to recharge, Karma’s basic attacks and abilities now lower Mantra’s cooldown. This rewards aggressive play so you can “buyback” her ultimate. Also, we gave Mantra a single charge to pump extra power into each cast. We also made sure Mantra empowers Karma’s abilities in drastically different ways, leading to more impactful decision-making and a better feeling of accomplishment when you pull off the right move at the right time.

Why was she hard to place in team comps?

Karma had the offensive tools to support her team in small skirmishes but not the powerful defensive abilities she needed to protect a team. Also, her all-purpose abilities are so broad they never felt like the right choice in any situation. All in all, Karma lacked direction.

Why isn’t Karma fun?

The effectiveness of Karma’s abilities relied too heavily on your teammates knowing all their nuances. No matter how hard you were carrying with Karma, your teammates had to be just as good with her for you to be super effective. When an ally’s confused about whether or not he should run from or pass through your Spirit Bond, we probably made a mistake.

What did we like about Karma?

Despite all the Mantra hate we’ve got going on, we actually think the concept is pretty kickass. It’s unique and character-defining to old Karma, and augmenting her abilities with an immense surge of Ionian will is visually and thematically fun. We also liked how Karma could turn the tables on her opponents with abilities that provided defensive bonuses and had hidden offensive power. Finally, Spirit Bond’s “clothesline” gameplay is really cool, but it’d work better on a tank champion that has an easier time jumping into the fray.

Karma’s new role

Originally envisioned as a support, Karma’s fringe successes actually came from players using her in the top or mid lanes as an AP burst mage with support abilities, much like Zilean or Morgana. We like this direction and want to encourage you to boost both her offensive and support abilities by building AP. We also want to make sure she can hold her own as a solo or with a lane partner.

Finally, we’ve updated her skills so allies are reliant on Karma, but Karma’s not reliant on them. She’s got enough power at her fingertips to feel strong as a mage or as a support without teammates having to work in perfect concert for you to be effective.

Final Thoughts

Karma has always had one of those kits that was set up to allow her to fill multiple roles, but even so there was never a true sense of direction with her, and as the devs have stated, her abilities had so much utility and range of option that they were never really the best choice in any given situation, especially if your teammates did not understand how Karma works. With the rework Karma looks to have a determined purpose in League of Legends that can change slightly depending on what team role she is going to fill. Each ability has been cleaned up and simplified without taking away her great utility. I’m glad they decided to keep some version of her Mantra empowerment, as that is sort of her defining ability. It will be a lot of fun to try Karma out on the League of Legends PBE once her rework goes live, and it looks like she should be in a much better place. Her reworked ability kit also looks like it will be much simpler for the dev team to tweak going forward, allowing them to keep Karma well balanced and viable, which is great for any champion.

 Author : Troy Blackburn

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Headhunter Nidalee Preview

Check out the brand new skin for Nidalee, available on the PBE!

Headhunter Nidalee Skin

Splash Art








Model

Prowl (Passive)

Javelin Toss (Q)

Bushwhack (W) Cast Animation

Bushwhack (W)

Primal Surge (E) Cast Animation

Primal Surge (E)

Aspect of the Cougar (R)

Takedown (Cougar Q)

Takedown (Cougar Q) Impact

Pounce (Cougar W)

Swipe (Cougar E)



Headhunter Nidalee comes packed with spinning hologram effects and will be available for your standard 975 RP!

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Gladiator Draven has been released now !

Gladiator Draven has been released now. We have introduced the skin in previous PBE. Gladiator Draven is available now for 975 RP in the League of Legends store.


The chanting grows louder. Gladiator Draven, spattered in blood, throws his glowing blades into another helpless fool. Fiery effects adorn his deadly abilities and as Draven spins his axes faster, sparks and embers fly from their freshly-forged edges. Anyone deemed worthy of death from his ultimate bears witness to a mighty spectacle: two mighty axes ablaze as they churn through the ground for another brutal kill. His enemies eviscerated, Draven prepares for his return to base and turns to the crowds to hear their roar of approval one last time they are most definitely entertained.

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