Red Post Collection: Mid-Patch Updates, QGT: 7/23, Ask Riot, Vex's Release Date?, & More

• Red Post Collection: Patch 11.15 & TFT Notes, Into Tomorrow TFT Cinematic, Dev Blogs & More
• Akshan, the Rogue Sentinel in 11.15
• Sentinels of Light Event Content Part 2
• 7/22 PBE Update: Sona Update, New Summoner Icon, & More
• Champion & Skin Sale: Week of July 26th
• 7/26 PBE Update: Summoner Icons & Loot Assets
• 7/27 PBE Update: Splash Tweaks, Skin Bios, Tentative Balance Changes & More
• 7/28 PBE Update: Icon Tweaks, Loot Assets, & Tentative Balance Changes

Hi everyone, I’m Jag. Before I became the Lead Game Designer on Summoner’s Rift Team, I was a Champion Designer, and the last project I worked on there was Akshan (with Riot Twin Enso). I’m here to talk about him a bit. 

Akshan is a mid lane marksman assassin, built to play aggressive early on in the game by roaming and skirmishing. His intended strengths include:

• Strategic flanking and target access due to stealth and mobility from grappling hook.
• Long range kill pressure with ultimate.
• Unique utility by reviving slain allies.
• Highly self-sufficient due to built-in shield and ability to choose engagements.
• Strong burst damage, particularly when snowballing.
• Windows of top tier roaming from increased movement speed when hunting Scoundrels.

His intended weaknesses include:

• Access to revive requires killing an enemy (often the most dangerous one)
• Weak reactive defenses, particularly against aggressive melees that can bodyblock his grappling hook.
• Worst-in-Marksman-class sustained DPS.
• Worst-in-Marksman-class attack range.
• Damage falls off significantly with game time.
• Extremely unreliable damage in teamfights.
• No crowd control, and very low value to the team when behind.

But that’s not what you’re here for; you’re here to ask “do you have any idea exactly how powerful this revive is?” 

To which I’d answer—of course not. 

And that’s the point. 

Our job as champion designers is to make new champions that excite players in unique and novel ways. You, the players, decide through your champion picks whether we succeeded when making a new champion: Whether they're worthy of pouring hours into discovering and optimizing. To go a step further, I feel our best champions are ones who can only be optimized by the community. If our teams can perfectly optimize a champion through internal playtests alone, there's not enough substance. Watching the community finally get to play a new champion is the most exciting part of the project for me, when players discover the ins and outs and the new mains show us something new. 

So, no, we're not exactly sure how powerful this revive is. Sometimes Akshan will resurrect a single ally who will proceed to instantly run it down again. Sometimes he'll solo turn a game by killing a Scoundrel that just got a Quadra Kill, reviving his entire team to march forward and take the Nexus. We know just how much potential this mechanic could have, and that drove us to put constraints on this effect (like clearing all Scoundrel marks after taking down the first one), but we won’t know exactly how much power it affords until we get to see live data. 

The follow-up question here is “Why would you do something so risky?” And our answer is because every new champion design owes you something unique, exciting, and new. Even when the new unknown factor isn't as loud as a revive, you deserve more than 1-to-1 repeats of champions in the same role with the same patterns and builds. Without taking risks, we wouldn’t have a support with a resetting execution ultimate, or a marksman that has to stop to reload, or a wind samurai that deflects bullets. Beyond that, one of League’s core identities is change, and that applies to how we design, not just what we design. We put stuff out there and sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail. When we fail, we’ll make changes to keep trying and keep iterating until we get there. 

The last question we heard a lot is “Why should Akshan have this revive instead of someone more support-y? I’d rather have more combat power.” The first answer, in terms of what led our exploration into the team utility space, is that it matches who Akshan is as a person. He’s a complex hero on a journey to find a way to be a part of the world. He’s lived his whole life on his own, but now wants to live in a way that lets him connect with people and help them, even if doing that could severely cost him. 

Of course, it has to go beyond that—the revive has to make sense in terms of gameplay. Players talk a lot about champions that are not just fun to play as, but also fun to play against. We summarized those in the two lists up top and expect a lot of followup conversation will focus there, but I also want to talk about designing Akshan as a champion who's fun to play with. 

League is a cooperative game. Winning requires teamwork. When designing an exceptionally selfish character archetype (the overlap of Assassin AND Marksman), finding a way to let them contribute to the team that aligns with the exact way they want to play was an incredible challenge. It's really important that when you see Akshan deep in enemy territory looking to hunt down the enemy Scoundrel instead of grouping with everyone else, you know he's still part of the team, and you can root for him to succeed because you know he's there for the team. 

Tying it all back, that idea of hunting scoundrels to help your team rather than just padding your KDA is one of the key ways Akshan offers something unique. To riff on that one Henry Ford quote, "if I had asked [assassins] what they wanted, they would have said [kill squishies better]." No champion appeals to everyone, but I truly believe some of you are going to love playing this marksman-assassin who wants to help his team. That's a new experience for League. And that's why it's worth it."

Ask Riot: Vex's Release Date?

"Welcome to Ask Riot 

Today we’re talking about Vex, Akshan, and Prestige Pantheon. 

Also, please send us all your questions! Each question brings the Ruination closer makes the Sentinels stronger. 

When is Vex coming out? 

As long as everything goes as planned, Vex should be coming out in September. We're working on getting her source of power (aka her shadow) just right in game, which is why she's releasing a bit after the Sentinels of Light event. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy getting to know the gloomy yordle who holds a special place in our goth kid hearts <3 

(In case you missed it, Vex is part of the Rise of the Sentinels story that you can play through in the client right now!) 

Reav3, Lead Producer of Champions Team

Are Prestige skins canon? Does Prestige Ascended Pantheon's existence mean Atreus is now some kind of super being in the lore? 

Prestige skins are not canon. They're "what-if" style executions that try to answer the question: What might the biggest, most epic victory look like for this champ in this thematic? 

All the Prestige skins do this, but it's an especially topical question for Prestige Ascended Pantheon, since the Sentinels of Light event is based in core Runeterra canon. The real way the story ends is [[SPOILERS, GO PLAY RISE OF THE SENTINELS!]]. For Prestige Ascended Pantheon, we get to see Atreus kick Ruined Pantheon's butt and become more powerful than ever before as a result. That kind of self-actualization is a big part of what makes Atreus feel strong, and talks to the core themes that make him awesome. That’s the kind of space Prestige gets to explore. 

Riot Wilkingham, Sr. Manager Narrative Editing

How do you pronounce Akshan? 

You’ve come to the right linguistics nerd! Akshan is pronounced /ɞkʃən/. The first vowel is not often heard in US English, but is common around the world. 

For folks without that vowel sound as a common feature of their speech, it can help to triangulate: The sound is more open/emphasized than the /ə/ sound (the second vowel in the name Akshan), but more closed/centered in the mouth than the /ɐ/ sound (the vowel US English speakers generally hear in “not”). Shaping the vowel is a bit like reserving enough space for a gumball in the very center of your mouth and filling that open space with the vowel sound. 

And just in case phonetics isn’t your one true calling, here’s a sound clip. 

Riot Wilkingham, Sr. Manager Narrative Editing 

Have a question? Head here, drop your question in the box, and ask away."

Sentinels of Light Event Updates

The Sentinels of Light event continues in the client! The final chapter is now available to unlock, and the Chapter 3 recap video is now available (spoilers ahead!):

• Issue 3

• Issue 4

• Issue 5

TFT News

The TFT mid-set update, Dawn of Heroes is now on live servers! A b-patch was released, here's the details from the patch notes:

"Mid-Patch Updates 

July 28th, Balance Changes

With summer break next week (yes, Devs need breaks too), patch 11.15 will last three weeks concluding August 11th with patch 11.16. Thanks to y’all who played PBE and shared your thoughts, we’re seeing one of the most balanced mid-sets releases. That being said, to ensure a smooth three week patch period during the break, we’re hitting the brakes on some of the overperformers. 

Hyper Roll 

Because Abomination scales with the stage number, and Hyper Roll has more stages, the Monstrosity was scaling more than intended. So we’re taking the ‘Sigh’ out of ‘Sigh-on’ by making the Monstrosity begin scaling 3 stages later than in Standard.

• Abomination 3: Stage 3 ⇒ Stage 6
• Abomination 4: Stage 4 ⇒ Stage 7
• Abomination 5: Stage 5 ⇒ Stage 8

Champions

• Hecarim Spirit of Dread Healing: 350 ⇒ 200/225/250
• Irelia Attack Damage 70 ⇒ 65
• Irelia Defiant Dance Damage Reduction Cap: 90% ⇒ 80%
• Sejuani Max Mana Nerf: 0/60 ⇒ 20/80
• Soraka Max Mana Nerf: 30/70 ⇒ 40/80
• Miss Fortune Make It Rain Damage: 250/400/750 ⇒ 250/375/700
• Lucian Attack Damage: 75 ⇒ 70

Items

• Archangel’s Staff Mana Ratio: 45% ⇒ 40% 

Bug Fixes 

It’s actually a suspense novel.

• Tome of Traits: Fixed an issue with Tome of Traits that allowed for more control over the outcomes than intended."

Sentinel Little Legends and Sentinel Initiative

 New Sentinel Little Legends are coming soon - "Sentinel Starter Bundles bring new Little Legends while the Sentinel Initiative gives us ways to give back!"

"With all the excitement around the Sentinels of Light, it’s no wonder a group of Little Legends are scrambling to get in on the action via starter bundles coming with patch 11.16. And while they're not fighting Viego, make no mistake—Sentinel Craggle, Flutterbug, and Hauntling have set off on an adventure to find their own noble quest! They just haven’t figured out what that quest is yet. 

Whether you’re looking to add Flutterbug cosplaying as Senna, or Craggle doing their best Galio impression, let’s dive into how you can add the Sentinel Little Legends to your collection. The Sentinel Little Legends are available in starter bundles containing Little Legends eggs from all over the Convergence, making them the perfect pick-up for new and veteran collectors alike! There’s quite a lot in these bundles, so check 'em out below:

The Sentinels starter bundles are available starting patch 11.16 and will be around indefinitely. Now that we’re done talking about all those heroic Little Legends, let’s talk about what you can do as a heroic human-sized human! 

The Sentinels Initiative Continues! 

If the Sentinels are bringing light to Runeterra, and the Sentinel Little Legends are on a quest to find a quest in a post-chaos world, then you might be wondering: What can I do to make tomorrow a little brighter?

Wow, what a thoughtful question, dear reader! In fact, all you have to do is... well, what you've already been doing! Playing games of TFT, that is. Starting back on July 8th and ending August 9th, 3-starring any unit (1 to 3-cost = 1 point, 4-cost = 2 points, 5-cost = 5 points) grants points that’ll contribute to the Charity Drive Pool. Every time we hit an increment of a million points together, there will be a donation of an extra $100K—up to $4M total! And it's not just TFT getting in on this initiative—check out how other Riot games are contributing below!

While our efforts aren’t going towards combating Viego, the Social Impact Fund does combat deep systemic issues through Education, Opportunity, Citizenship, and Sustainability, which is worth a lot more considering Viego isn’t real (just look at those abs). So, if I didn’t just break your heart revealing Viego’s Runeterra-bound existence, let’s hit the Convergence together and reroll to better our own world!"

• Saloon Showdown | A Teamfight Tactics Fairy Tale
• "Armed with the Radiant Guardian Angel sword, the Fearless Fellowship heads west to save the High Noon Saloon! Or... was it east? Is there a map?  Follow the Fearless Fellowship as they make their way to High Order Squink’s saloon to fight off the remnants of the Reckoning. It’s a tall task to take on, but our brave squad is ready for anything!"

• A High Noon Jamboree | New Content Reveal - Teamfight Tactics
• "Tonight’s show at the High Noon Saloon is a special performance from the Fearless Fellowship and friends. Grab a drink, take a seat, and enjoy tunes from the saloon bard—on the house!"

Miscellaneous

• Riot Codebear noted ranked would be back on the PBE to test a new feature:

Turning ranked on in PBE 11.16 to test a new Social Leaderboard feature for Ranked Solo/Duo and Flex Example Below:

• Here's the latest art blast on Artstation for Sentinels of Light/Ruined King art:

• The Riot Games Music twitter showed off K/DA's gold record for POP/STARS:

• Riot Jag provided a preview of changes for 11.16:

11.16 Full Preview is here!

Again, reminder that this patch will hit live 1 week later than normal.

Other Games

• Here's the latest from the @PlayRuneterra twitter:

• Here's the latest from the @WildRift Twitter: