Patch 0.9.2 Notes

Mar 15, 2020

Patch 0.9.2 brings the second big batch of balance and card updates for Open Beta, including several full reworks—check out the new Kalista and Mageseekers roster. We’re also continuing our efforts to improve game pacing and feel, and making tweaks to Expedition archetypes.

Note: We’ve moved our standard publish time for the patch notes (and most other articles) up to 10 AM PT (was 11 AM PT).

Dev Notes: State of the Beta

Just a repost this time, but in case you missed it: check out Design Director Riot Umbrage weighing in on the current state of Open Beta and what’s up next for LoR.

Card Updates

Context courtesy of RubinZoo, Live Design Lead

Champions

Followers & Spells

The Watchlist

Elise / Frenzied Skitterer

We’ve previously mentioned keeping an eye on Fearsome units as a whole, so consider this an addendum directed at specific cards. Elise and Frenzied Skitterer are both durable, versatile, and evasive threats we’ve seen used in a larger number of decks than we think is healthy. We want to take it slow when powering down regions and avoid over-nerfing cards, so we’re hoping the changes to other Shadow Isles tools reduce the effectiveness of these spiders. For now, we’ll continue to monitor the strength of these two and make additional changes in the future if needed.

Glimpse Beyond

Glimpse Beyond is an efficient card advantage tool that doubles as a synergy play in many Shadow Isles decks. We’ve decided to watchlist Glimpse, as the card advantage combined with the ability to soft-“Deny” strikes or certain spells can be frustrating to play against. That said, we’re hoping it can stay at its current cost, as Glimpse Beyond is a pivotal core card for Shadow Isles and its synergies. Similar to Elise, our tuning options here are constrained given Glimpse’s low mana cost design, and any change at all may end up severely nerfing it. If we see indications that Glimpse is overly problematic even after the other Shadow Isles changes settle, we’ll reconsider.

Shadow Assassin

Shadow Assassin is the most played card in Legends of Runeterra, and for good reason. Reasonable Elusive stats plus free card advantage make this card a near auto-include for Ionia and a frequently “splashed” card for other regions. We’ve discussed and tested out number-based changes (such as 1|2, 2|1 or 4c 2|2), but none of them left the Assassin in a spot that felt right. For now, we decided to watchlist Shadow Assassin and continue to monitor her for potential changes in the future.

Game Pacing & Feel

Last patch, we improved the feel and speed of basic moments you encounter every game. We’ve made further progress in 0.9.2, and are also tweaking specific cards and interactions that we’ve heard are especially rough on both your turn timer and your sanity. Highlights include:

• Continued general improvements, including smoother blocking and clearer action cues as you play units and spells.
• A variety of Poison Puffcap animations take less time and can overlap with one another, for beautiful rolling waves of mushrooms.
• Draven’s Spinning Axes take less time when both created and cast.
• Level 2 Hecarim’s buff visuals are significantly faster, especially across many Ephemeral allies.
• Eager Apprentice, Inspiring Mentor, and Tortured Prodigy now take a more appropriately short amount of time for their simple effects.
• The discard animation is now faster and clearer, and opponent discards now properly reveal the card before disintegrating.

We’ve also made a first step toward improving turn timers. We have more work and tuning to do here, but the kind of frustrations players were experiencing in some scenarios (not getting to finish actions, not getting to act at all on their turn, etc.) was unacceptable, so we’ve immediately shipped some quick fixes. Next up, we’re looking at early game turns that go too long, late game turns that are over too quick, and the frustration of being “roped” turn after turn by opponents who aren’t actually playing the game. Keep telling us about the worst-case scenarios you’re encountering.

• Casting a burst spell now puts some time back on your turn timer.
• You’ll now get some extra time on your turn after your opponent casts spells on theirs (to guard against a bunch of your opponent’s end-of-turn Burst spells eating away your turn).

Expeditions Archetypes

Demacian Steel has continued to be one of the strongest archetypes, so we’re removing a solid card that fits in another archetype and replacing it with something more situational.

• Added: Mobilize
• Removed: Back to Back

Noxian Might has proven too reliable at taking huge chunks of the enemy’s Nexus with cheap, aggressive units backed by similar spells, so we’re removing an efficient burst spell in favor of one that will give the opponent an opportunity to react.

• Added: Guile
• Removed: Elixir of Wrath

Shroom and Boom is an archetype that can be very strong when everything comes together, but it’s still a little inconsistent overall. We’re removing a slower Elusive unit in favor of a spell that synergizes with cards like Eager Apprentice and Assembly Bot while providing blockers to buy time for the shrooms to work their magic.

• Added: Scrapdash Assembly
• Removed: Amateur Aeronaut

Spellbound more directly revolves around casting spells that cost at least 6 mana due to the new Mageseeker changes, so we’re replacing a spell that’s just a little too cheap with one that fits the bill.

• Added: Back to Back
• Removed: Detain

Relentless has been helmed by Garen on the Demacia side, which has helped him become the most played champion in Expeditions. To mix things up, we’re replacing him with Lucian, who has a Rally effect on both his champion spell and his Level 2 form. We’re also replacing a unit that saves your other units with one that makes them easier to trade to better support Lucian’s level up.

• Added: Lucian, Laurent Duelist
• Removed: Garen, Brightsteel Protector

Battle Scars has still been underperforming, so we’re removing some of the more inconsistent utility cards in favor of ones that are more directly powerful. (Note: The first two swaps were communicated in the 0.9.0 patch notes but didn’t make it in until now.)

• Added: Might, Alpha Wildclaw, Avarosan Marksman, Battle Fury
• Removed: Blood for Blood, Bull Elnuk, Kindly Tavernkeeper, Starlit Seer

Shadows and Dust is simply more dependent than most archetypes on having a solid, cohesive deck since Ephemeral units get stronger the more you’re able to commit to them.

• Increased the chance that Shadows and Dust will appear in Wild Picks when it’s your primary archetype.

Total Recall has been struggling to find enough consistent damage sources that can finish off an opponent, so we’re removing one of its weaker cards in favor of an additional Elusive unit.

• Added: Amateur Aeronaut
• Removed: Golden Crushbot

Arachnophilia could use a little more flexibility in how its spiders clash with much larger enemy units.

• Added: Elixir of Wrath

Language Support

We’ve added additional language support to LoR—more to come. New players should be correctly auto-detected, while existing players can swap languages in their login screen settings.

• Spanish (LatAm) now supported.
• Portuguese (Brazil) now supported.

Bugfixes

• Players should now be able to edit/save decks even if they’re at the deck maximum.
• Players should no longer occasionally get stuck in full art view when receiving a friend challenge.
• Plaza Guardian and Scuttlegeist no longer revert to their full mana cost after being summoned.
• The Rekindler is now highlighted in hand when it will successfully revive a champion.
• Black Spear and Shunpo can now target allies.
• Dawn and Dusk should no longer occasionally cause pink streaks when cast.
• Accelerated Purrsuit’s resolution animation should now play correctly.
• Spinning Axe VFX cleaned up.
• "I survived" effects on units should no longer activate when units are dealt 0 base damage.
• Miscellaneous crash fixes.
• Miscellaneous card font fixes.