Red Post Collection: Galio Discussion, more on Skarner, Lucian Tidbits, and more!

Posted on at 11:45 PM by Moobeat
Tonight's red post collection features discussion on Galio and the small changes for him that recently hit the PBE, more from Riot Scruffy on Skarner's tentative update, a few Lucian related tidbits now that he's released, and more!
Continue reading for more information!

Galio Discussion
As you may have noticed, a few Galio changes popped up on the PBE earlier today. ricklessabandon as quick to hop on the forums and chat about these in context to his previously discussed changes.
"yes, i'll be doing some work on galio in an upcoming patch (specifics aren't set yet). since i've already started to take a look at him, and i won't be able to get in my changes until sometime after 3.11, i went ahead and put in a mana/cooldown buff for idol of durand on the pbe for testing as a 3.11 change.

(please note that the change on the pbe is totally subject to change.)"
He continued:
"it's not going to be a full-blown rework, but i do want to give him a new passive (while putting magic resist scaling directly into his kit) and then shift a few things around. i really want to get some changes on the pbe shortly after 3.11 goes live (i.e., when the pbe starts testing 3.12 content). once that happens, i'll be really excited to hear from everyone about how he feels."
More Skarner Discussion
( Note: This is an on-going discussion on future Skarner changes. Read up on the previous posts here: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4, 5, 6)

Riot Scruffy continued his Skarner discussion today, this time commenting on the the movement of his attack speed steroid from his W to his Q.
"I see some comments about how moving the attack speed from W to Q is a nerf. From what we have seen (and what we intended) this is a buff to his consistency and a slight buff in overall stats. 
The old W gave 30/35/40/45/50% while his shield was up (0-6s).
The new Q gives 4/5/6/7/8% per stack up to 12/15/18/21/24% max.

There are a few reasons why the attack speed on Q has been more consistent and powerful for Skarner. 
-Skarner players level Q before W typically, gaining the attack speed earlier in the game. This is also great for his jungle clear times, and early lane dominance (if he's laning). 
-The attack speed buff is no longer reliant on his shield. In late game fights or duels, Skarner's shield was only up for ~3s. 24% attack speed all the time is stronger than 50% attack speed for 3s out of every 18s.

I'm glad you all are holding these changes to a high standard. I too want to see Skarner back into common play."
He continued:
"The attack speed numbers on Q were actually much higher in the earlier iterations of the new kit. He was totally OP in our playtests, and dominating in every phase of the game. 
Skarner's damage doesn't come from his auto attacks primarily. The reason, as many of you experienced Skarner players know, that Skarner scales very well with attack speed is because of the -1s (0.5 on minions) that it applies to his spell cooldowns.

The exact numbers aren't final, but the 1% nerf on his base attack speed is a direction that we tried out and liked. We thought it was much cooler for Skarner to have slightly lower base attack speed and potentially scale up to higher numbers once he has been fighting for a few seconds.

In his pre rework design, he has tremendous attack speed IF he can keep his shield up. This can create some optimization confusion for a few reasons: 
-Should I use my shield to block damage? This is ideal use of the shield mitigation, but it will break. 
-Should I use my shield when I am not taking damage for the attack speed? This is great for the attack speed buff, but the shield has provided me sub optimal mitigation.

Moving the attack speed to Q has remedied this confusing element of his kit. 
Additionally, a lot of the feedback on Skarner was that he has a very feast or famine gameplay. In one case, Skarner is ahead and he has a huge attack speed buff that is further increasing his lead. In the other, Skarner is losing and he can't even use his attack speed buff because the shield is broken very quickly.

With this problem in mind, the change does intentionally lower Skarner's attack speed in the best case scenario (shield is up for full duration). But the changes also bring an increase to the average attack speed and lower the standard deviation.

I'd like to continue to discuss the merits and problems with the proposed changes, and I have been seriously considering every argument made. Also, I don't have any exact dates for when he will be on the PBE yet, but I will let you know as soon as I find out.

Edit: The E still has it's old cast time, but it has extended range and a slow so if you hit, you can easily reach the target."
Lucian Tidbits
Now that Lucian is out, the forum is filling up with various questions and tidbits concerning our latest champion!

First off, Riot shared an official video of Lucian's login music, which was co produced with The Crystal Method!
"Music is a powerful tool for creating instant connections between new champions and players. From Vi's punky licks, Diana's solemn song and Draven's epic chants, we're always looking for new ways to bring you awesome audible action. Our newest collaboration takes our love of music another step further. 
Check out the full-length track that accompanies Lucian's short animated login story on YouTube now."

Kungfu Gopher also commented on why Lucian seems to be missing ghouls at point blank range during this login screen.
"It's all about the art of misdirection. He's lulling the ghouls into a false sense of security.

Fun fact though: Take a look at the actual splash art (not the login screen). Lucian doesn't miss. ;) I felt it would be a little distracting to have a ghoul's head eternally exploding over and over again on the login screen so ultimately we decided to just have him shoot past them. "
Ransom, one of the creative designers, also revealed which of Lucian's guns used to belong to his wife, Senna.
"Hey guys - just spoke to Runaan, the writer on Lucian's story. (You may know her from building her item Runaan's Hurricane.) She says that in game, the gun in Lucian's right hand - the less ornate white one - is his. The gun with the more intricate design is Senna's. 
Man, I'm tearing up just typing this. ;__;

I only work on happy champions, you know!"
Towers with items!?
The earlier PBE update also featured towers wielding items showing thier displayed their various abilities instead of having it all crammed into the a buff icon.

Here's Xelnath with more information:
"Hey guys, 
Your friendly neighbor predator/designer here. Just wanted to let you know that I recently added some *cosmetic only* items to towers. 
These tower items convey the mechanics of what towers have always done in a condensed way. What do you think? Are they helpful?

(P.S. I left a couple of red herrings in the data for the data miners. Focus on what you actually see in game, not websites. )"
More information on these changes can be found here.

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