Wild Rift v2.1b patch notes: 3 new champions, Path of Ascension event, balance changes

In what will be the final patch of v2.1 and eventual North/South America release Wild Rift is introducing yet more characters, a new event, and making some much-needed balance changes to characters.

Three new characters are joining the roster and will be tied into the new Path of Ascension event which also kicks off today.

They are Leona, Diana, and Pantheon. Players will be able to unlock them through the Path of Ascension or purchase them through the store.

Diana joins the fray in Wild Rift v2.1b. (Picture: Riot Games)

There is also a host of new skins to purchase including ones for the three new champions as well as a new PROJECT skin collection with features skins for Ashe, Leona, Vi, Yasuo, and Zed.

Balance changes in v2.1b

For balance changes the developers firmly have their sights set on some of the games more overpowered midlanders with Aurelion Sol, Yasuo, and Tristana just some of the characters set to be nerfed.

Turrets are also getting a buff in the early game as doubling up on lanes was proving to be too successful early on.

Full details below.

Champions

Aurelion Sol

Aurelion Sol is still way too strong even after the Liandry’s nerf. While we are nerfing his most powerful rune (Conqueror) we feel he needs an additional tune down to his mid-game strength to be more in line with other champions.

(P) Center of the Universe

• Star base damage: 18/26/34/42/50/58/66/74/82/90/98/106/114/122/130 → 15/21/27/33/40/47/54/61/70/79/88/97/108/119/130

(2) Celestial Expansion

• Base damage: 25/35/45/55/65/75/85/95/105/115/125/135/145/165 → 25/32/39/46/54/62/70/78/89/100/111/122/138/154/170

(Ult) Voice of Light

• Cooldown: 65/55/45s → 80/65/50s

Soraka

Soraka is a bit weaker compared to her counterparts. Giving her some more star power to help her shine as a healer and silencer.

(2) Astral Infusion

• Base heal: 80/110/140/170 HP → 80/120/160/200 HP

(3) Equinox

• Cooldown: 22/20/18/16s → 20/18/16/14s

Tristana

Giving Tristana a small buff to her mana and (2) Rocket Jump slow to make sure she is rewarded more consistently for jumping in.

Base Stats

• Base mana per level: 33 → 41
  • Mana @ level 15: 762 → 874

(2) Rocket Jump

• Slow duration: 1/1.5/2/2.5s → 1.5/2/2.5/3s

Yasuo

Yasuo overly benefited from the Blade of the Ruined King changes last patch. At the same time, his defensive stats are too high given his passive shield and mobility. Taking a good chunk out of his base Armor and health to help his opponents capitalize on his mistakes more. We’re also adjusting his dash speed to better match his pace from League PC.

Base Stats

• Base armor: 40 → 35
• Base health: 650 → 570

(3) Sweeping Blade

• Dash Speed: 1200 + Movement Speed → 900 + Movement Speed

Ziggs

Ziggs’ Mega Inferno Bomb is pretty hard to hit sometimes, especially when it’s flying across the map, so we’re giving it a slight area-of-effect buff. On the other hand, he takes down turrets too quickly, so we’re pulling back a bit on his Satchel Charge execution.

(2) Satchel Charge

• Tower destroy threshold: 25/30/35/40% tower HP → 20/25/30/35% tower HP

(Ult) Mega Inferno Bomb

• Outer AoE size radius: 4 → 5
• Inner AoE size radius: 2 → 2.5

Items

Locket is too strong as a first item and completely nullifies the lethality of early game team fighting. We’re taking a large swing at its early power and price to curb it from being purchased too quickly.

Locket Enchant

• Price: 500g → 800g
• Shield Amount: 140 to 420 (120 + Level × 20) → 70 to 420 (45 + Level × 25)

Runes

Conqueror

After evaluating more usage data, we’ve found that Conqueror is hyper overperforming on ranged AP champions when compared to other choices. It’s also slightly strong in general for other ranged champions so we’re selectively nerfing its maximum output on ranged champions by a small amount too.

• AP per stack: 4 to 12 (based on champ level) → 3 to 9 (based on champ level)
• Maximum stack Adaptive Damage bonus: 10% on ranged champions → 7% on ranged champions

Systems

Backdoor Bonus

Though we think backdooring should be viable in some situations, late game backdooring is becoming too easy. We’re removing the mechanic where the turret defense backdoor bonus lessens in the late game.

• “Backdoor bonus” tower damage reduction: 66%, then 33% at 18 minutes → 66% through the whole game

Lane Swaps

We’re seeing an overwhelming amount of lane swaps to force 2v1 lanes in competitive play. We don’t think this is the most intuitive or healthy playstyle, so want to address it sooner rather than later. To maintain clear phases of the game, we think laning should last at least a few minutes in the early game, so we’re giving turrets more defensive power if a full team tries to take ‘em down.

Before patch 2.1b

• During the first 3 minutes, all outer turrets gain 50 bonus Armor/Magic Resist
• During the first 3 minutes, turrets gain additional defensive bonuses when multiple enemies are nearby:
  • 3 champions in total: 40 Armor/Magic Resist
  • 4 champions in total: 80 Armor/Magic Resist
  • 5 champions in total: 120 Armor/Magic Resist

Patch 2.1b changes

• During the first 3 minutes:
  • Solo (Baron) lane outer turret gains 90 bonus Armor/Magic Resist
  • Mid lane outer turret gains 90 bonus Armor/Magic Resist
  • Duo (Dragon) lane outer turret gains 40 bonus Armor/Magic Resist
• During the first 3 minutes, turrets gain additional defensive bonuses when multiple enemies are nearby:
  • 2 champions in total: 10 Armor/Magic Resist
  • 3 champions in total: 100 Armor/Magic Resist
  • 4 champions in total: 200 Armor/Magic Resist
  • 5 champions in total: 300 Armor/Magic Resist

Chat Detection

We’re rolling out improved chat evaluation that is ramping up to catch a majority of detected languages, which means you might run into more players who’ve received text or voice restrictions. Over the upcoming months, we'll continue to improve both our detection, and the languages we support.

For the rest of you: Keep reporting players who are behaving in a disruptive way. Each report is sent into our behaviour systems to review, and having the reports helps us continue to improve our machine learning models and get better and better at dealing with disruptive behaviour.

Free-to-play Champion Rotation

Mar 18 - Mar 24: Corki, Darius, Graves, Katarina, Malphite, Nami, Shyvana, Soraka, Varus, Ziggs

Mar 25 - Mar 31: Akali, Draven, Jarvan IV, Jax, Rakan, Sona, Wukong, Xayah, Xin Zhao, Zed