With an eye to the heavens, the final major balance and content patch of 2.1 is here. Explore the majesty and might of Targon through three of its most iconic champions: Leona, Diana and Pantheon. Explore their stories in the Path of Ascension event, and pick up some fun rewards along the way. Finally, we’re taking a swing at a couple of powerful midlaners, and nerfing backdoor victories now we’re starting to see organized competitive teams make frequent use of that strategy.
One more thing: we’re keeping an eye on Katarina’s initial low winrate, but we want to make sure players are adapting to her playstyle and controls before making any changes. Enjoy patch 2.1b!
New
Champions
Leona, The Radiant Dawn
Imbued with the fire of the sun, Leona is a holy warrior of the Solari who defends Mount Targon with her Zenith Blade and the Shield of Daybreak. Her skin shimmers with starfire while her eyes burn with the power of the celestial Aspect within her. Armored in gold and bearing a terrible burden of ancient knowledge, Leona brings enlightenment to some, death to others.
(P) Sunlight
Damaging spells afflict enemies with Sunlight for 1.5 seconds. When allied Champions deal damage to those targets, they consume the Sunlight to deal additional magic damage.
(1) Shield of Daybreak
Leona uses her shield to perform her next basic attack, dealing bonus magic damage and stunning the target.
(2) Eclipse
Leona raises her shield to gain Damage Reduction, Armor, and Magic Resist. When the duration first ends, if there are nearby enemies, she will deal magic damage to them and prolong the duration of the effect.
(3) Zenith Blade
Leona projects a solar image of her sword, dealing magic damage to all enemies in a line. When the image fades, the last enemy champion struck will be briefly immobilized and Leona will dash to them.
(Ult) Solar Flare
Leona calls down a beam of solar energy, dealing damage to enemies in an area. Enemies in the center of the area are stunned, while enemies on the outside are slowed.
Diana, Scorn of the Moon
Bearing her crescent moonblade and clad in shimmering armor the color of winter snow at night, Diana is a living embodiment of the silver moon’s power. Imbued with the essence of an Aspect from beyond Targon’s towering summit, Diana is no longer wholly human, and struggles to understand her power and purpose in this world.
(P) Moonsilver Blade
Every third strike cleaves nearby enemies for an additional magic damage. After casting a spell, Diana gains attack speed for her next 3 attacks.
(1) Crescent Strike
Unleashes a bolt of lunar energy in an arc dealing magic damage. Afflicts enemies struck with Moonlight, revealing them if they are not stealthed for 3 seconds.
(2) Pale Cascade
Diana creates three orbiting spheres that detonate on contact with enemies to deal damage in an area. She also gains a temporary shield that absorbs damage. If her third sphere detonates, the shield gains additional strength.
(3) Lunar Rush
Becomes the living embodiment of the vengeful moon, dashing to an enemy and dealing magic damage. Lunar Rush has no cooldown when used to dash to an enemy afflicted with Moonlight. All other enemies will have the Moonlight debuff removed regardless of whether they were the target of Lunar Rush.
(Ult) Moonfall
Diana reveals and draws in all nearby enemies and slows them. If Diana pulls in one or more enemy champions, the moonlight crashes down onto her after a short delay, dealing magic damage in an area around her, increased for each target beyond the first pulled.
Pantheon, The Unbreakable Spear
Once an unwilling host to the Aspect of War, Atreus survived when the celestial power within him was slain, refusing to succumb to a blow that tore stars from the heavens. In time, he learned to embrace the power of his own mortality, and the stubborn resilience that goes along with it. Atreus now opposes the divine as Pantheon reborn, his unbreakable will fueling the fallen Aspect’s weapons on the field of battle.
(P) Mortal Will
Every few spells or attacks, Pantheon’s next spell is empowered.
(1) Comet Spear
Pantheon either thrusts his spear or throws his spear in the chosen direction.
(2) Shield Vault
Pantheon dashes to a target, damaging and stunning them.
(3) Aegis Assault
Pantheon sets his shield, becoming invulnerable to damage from the front and striking repeatedly with his spear.
(Ult) Grand Starfall
Pantheon composes himself and then leaps into the air, landing at a chosen location as a comet.
Skins
All skins will be released throughout the patch.
Barbecue Leona
Dark Valkyrie Diana
Full Metal Pantheon
Dragonslayer Pantheon
Infernal Diana
PROJECT: Ashe
PROJECT: Leona
PROJECT: Vi
PROJECT: Yasuo
PROJECT: Zed
Events
Path of Ascension
What awaits you on Targon’s peak? Find your path. Make the climb.
Runeterra’s tallest peak, Mount Targon seems to pierce the very heavens. Little wonder, then, that it has played an eternal role in the celestial dance, both mythic and modern, a cornerstone of the sun, the moon, and the stars themselves. Countless have attempted to scale its sheer face in search of glory or wisdom, but the few who have succeeded speak not a word of their journey.
Your time has finally come to join these fearless mountaineers in ascending Targon’s treacherous crags. Yet one question remains: which aspect of the heavens will you champion?
Cosmic Calendar
The stars align over the following days:
Start – March 16th, 2021 / 00:01 UTC
End – March 28th, 2021 / 19:59 UTC
Pick Your Path
Three paths stretch before you to Targon’s summit.
Will you follow the Aspect of the Moon, joining Diana in her moonlit quest for truth, no matter the cost?
Or will you align yourself with the Aspect of the Sun, becoming a radiant pillar of faith like Leona herself?
Then again, perhaps you’ll cast your lot with the Aspect of War, another mortal to aid Pantheon in his endless battle with divinity itself?
Choose carefully! For once you set foot down your chosen road, there is no turning back.
Note: The objective Win a match with Pantheon on your team/Win a match with Leona on your team/Win a match with Diana on your team requires a win with every one of these champions, and can therefore be achieved in a single game.
Aspect of the Moon (Diana, Scorn of the Moon)
Aspect of the Sun (Leona, The Radiant Dawn)
Aspect of War (Pantheon, The Unbreakable Spear)
Store
Diana, Leona, and Pantheon are now for sale in the store, along with the following skins: Dark Valkyrie Diana, Barbecue Leona, and Full Metal Pantheon.
Each champion will also boast one more skin before the event is through, so keep your eye on the store!
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 behavior 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 behavior.
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