Surrender at 20: 7/18 PBE Update: Guqin and Arcade Sona updates, new Sona Ult VFX, lots of balance changes, and more!

[ Update: Fearless has posted a context thread for the latest Sona changes! ]

The PBE has been updated! Sona has received several changes in today's patch, including the return of the treble & bass clef to her dress, updates for Guqin Sona and Arcade Sona, more changes to her rework, and new VFX for her ult! We also have a reminder that Headhunter Caitlyn is still in the works and TONs of tentative balance changes for champions like Eve, Graves, Kog'Maw, Lee Sin, Vayne, & more!

Continue reading for more information!

(Warning: PBE Content is tentative and iterative - what you see may not reflect what eventually gets pushed to live servers! Manage your expectations accordingly. )

Sona Updates

Lots more updates to Sona went out in today's PBE patch! Just to recap, base Sona and all of her skins have received model and texture updates during this PBE cycle, in addition to a gameplay rework that features new visual effects! While not quite a full VU, this is more than astandard TU.

Sona's base model has been updated again! She now has her trebles and bass clefs back on her clothing instead of random symbols seen in previous versions.

Guqin Sona was updated with a new model and texture in today's patch!

Guqin Sona

Arcade Sona's textures were also updated, changing up the colors a bit.

Arcade Sona

[ Not sure what I did to break the joysticks in that old shot, will update when pos ]

For those concerned about Arcade Sona's unique visual effects, Ququroon noted they will be updated and will be on the PBE soon:

"Absolutely. We're not looking to remove anything from that. The Arcade VFX are being updated to the new kit, and should be in soon."

Sona's ultimate, Crescendo, also has had it's visual effects updated! While it was originally updated with her kit updates last PBE cycle, it is now brighter and has more sparks coming off of it.

Old ( vs New comparison

[ Official ] Vayne Bug Fix Context

RiotJag with info on a Vayne bugfix that went out, resulting in some compensation buffs:

"Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that we put out a bugfix on PBE for Vayne where her Tumble had a higher bonus AD ratio while she had Final Hour active. Since we wanted to fix the bug without actually reducing the power of the champion, we compensated by increasing the bonus AD she gets for Ulting, making this mostly a power-neutral change, not a buff or nerf.

As an aside, she's getting some small AS per level buffs. Nothing huge, but a few more Silver Bolts procs never hurt anyone."

[ Reminder ] Headhunter Caitlyn is still on the PBE

As it is coming up a lot, I just wanted to remind everyone that Headhunter Caitlyn is still on the PBE being worked on.

Riot Ve1vet with a bit of context on the delay:

"Cait isn't canceled, just delayed a bit due to the model/texture changes. The splash has to have parts of it re-painted to accommodate those changes. NO WORRIES xD!"

Here's a few up to date screen shots of Headhunter Caitlyn to hold you over.

Name Tag Display

In an earlier patch this cycle, the option to change your name tag display - either showing you the usernames of your allies any enemies or just their champion names - was added!

Newest Sona Update

Here's Fearless with an update on tonight's Sona changes and an up to date changelist for the rework!

"Hey all!
More updates for Sona. The main goals here were to address the frustrations with universally increased cooldowns, give Sona more to do in lane and in team fights, while maintaining some high impact play making space.

Change Highlights:

Q - Hymn of Valor

Cooldown reduced to 8 from 10 seconds.

Bolt Damage reduced to 40/80/120/160/200 from 50/100/150/200/250

Attack Bonus reduced to 20/30/40/50/60 from 40/50/60/70/80

Mana cost increases reverted to live values.

E - Song of Celerity

Cooldown increased to 12 seconds from 10 seconds

Bugfix - AP scaling now as the full intended effect. Previously was not increasing ally or self buffs correctly.

The Q changes should give Sona more windows to fight and feel active in her lane, while E is to preserve the high moments the ability can have now that it's functioning as intended.

Questions for feedback:

What mode were you playing in?

How many games have you played with the Sona Update?

What was your laning experience like?

What was your team fight experience like?

Are there things you would want to do differently in future Sona games?

What strengths and weakness do you feel Sona has from your play experience?

How did you feel about the updated Ult particles?

Full changelist below, as it's been quite a while:

Passive

Q Passive does 50% bonus damage (reduced from 100% bonus damage)

Q - Hymn of Valor

Cooldown increased to 8 seconds from 7 seconds
Damage decreased to 40/80/120/160/200 + (50% AP) from 50/100/150/200/250 (+50% AP)

Aura now grants 20/30/40/50/60 (+25% AP) bonus magic damage to allies on next attack

No longer grants AP/AD

Aura lasts 3 seconds, extended by 0.5 seconds for each ally tagged

W - Aria of Perseverance

Cooldown increased to 10 seconds from 7 seconds

Initial cast now heals Sona plus lowest health nearby ally for 25/45/65/85/105 + (20% AP) down from 40/55/70/85/100 (+25%AP)

Heals now scale with the target's missing HP +1% healing for each 1% missing health (max 50/90/130/170/210 + (40% AP))

Mana cost increased to 70/75/80/85/90 from 60/65/70/75/80

Aura now grants a shield that blocks 40/60/80/100/120 + (20% AP) damage and lasts for 1.5 seconds.

No longer grants Armor/MR

Aura lasts 3 seconds, extended by 0.5 seconds for each ally tagged

E - Song of Celerity

Cooldown increased to 12 seconds

Initial cast grants Sona a boost of 13/14/15/16/17% + (7.5% AP) Movement Speed that decays down to the ally boost

Aura now grants allies 10/11/12/13/14% + (3.75 AP) Movement Speed that lasts for 1.5 seconds.

Aura lasts 3 seconds, extended by 0.5 seconds for each ally tagged

Sona's Movement Speed buff is also extended by 0.5 seconds for each ally tagged

R

Initial cast unchanged

Each rank of ult now increases the power of Sona's auras, as well as the self boost of Song of Celerity

+10/20/40 Magic Damage for Hymn of Valor

+10/20/40 Shield for Aria of Perseverance

+2/4/6% Movement Speed for Song of Celerity

Thanks All!"

Balance Changes

* Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, and sometimes radical changes. The changes you see below may be lacking context or other accompanying changes that didn't make it in - don't freak out! These are not official notes.

Champions

Braum

Glacial Fissure ( R ) knock up time reduced to 1/1.3/1.5 from 1.5 at all ranks
Glacial Fissure ( R ) slow field amount reduced to 40/50/60% from 60% at all ranks

Evelynn

Hate Spike ( Q ) base damage lowered to 30/45/60/75/90 from 40/60/80/100/120
Hate Spike ( Q ) AP coefficient now scales per rank .35/.40/.45/.50/.55 from .45 at all ranks
Hate Spike ( Q ) bonus AD coefficient now scales per rank .50/.55/.60/.65/.70 from .50 at all ranks.
Hate Spike ( Q ) mana cost lowered to 12/18/24/30/36 from 16/22/28/34/40

Graves

Buckshot ( Q ) enemies hit with multiple bullets now take 40% damage from each additional bullet, up from 35%
Collateral Damage ( R ) initial damage increased to 250/400/550 from 250/350/450
Collateral Damage ( R ) explosion damage increased to 200/320/440 from 200/280/360

Hecarim

Rampage ( Q ) mana cost reduced to 24/26/28/30/32 from 24/28/32/36/40

Janna

Tailwind ( Passive ) range increased to 1000 from 800

Kog'Maw

Base HP lowered to 400 from 440
HP Per level increased to 88 from 84
Caustic Spittle ( Q ) MR/Armor shred changed to 12/16/20/24/28 from 20/22/24/26/28

LeBlanc

Distortion ( W ) mana cost lowered to 80/85/90/95/100 from 80/90/100/110/120

Lee Sin

Safeguard ( W 1 ) shield duration lowered to 2 seconds from 4 seconds
Cripple ( E 2 ) no longer lists that it reduces attack speed ( which was 20/30/40/50/60% )

Lucian

Relentless Pursuit ( E ) no longer lists it reduces slow effects

Lulu

Glitterlance ( Q ) no longer lists it's minimum slow decay % AP ratio of .13 AP

Whimsy ( W ) movement speed duration lowered to 3/3.5/4/4.5/5 seconds from 5 seconds at all ranks

Nami

Base movement speed lowered to 335 from 340
Ebb and Flow ( W ) cooldown increased to 10 seconds from 9 seconds

Sivir

On The hunt ( R ) movement speed bonus reduction time increased to 2/4/6 seconds from 2/3/4 seconds

Sona

[ Remember, Sona has a rework on the PBE! These changes are relative to her new kit not her live values! Check out our PBE summary for a complete change list. ]

Hymn of Valor ( Q ) mana cost lowered to 45/50/55/60/65 from 55/60/65/70/75
Hymn of Valor ( Q ) cooldown reduced to 8 seconds from 10 seconds.
Hymn of Valor ( Q ) damage lowered to 40/80/120/160/200 from 50/100/150/200/250
Hymn of Value ( Q ) attack bonus damag reduced to 20/30/40/50/60 from 40/50/60/70/80
Hymn of Celerity ( E ) cooldown increased to 12 seconds from 10 seconds
Crescendo ( R ) now lists "Song of Celerity also gains increased power in Sona's self Buff"

Tristana

Rocket Jump ( W ) slow duration now 1/1.5/2/2.5/3.0 from 2.5 at all ranks
Explosive Shot ( E ) dot damage lowered to 80/125/170/215/260 from 110/150/190/230/270

Vayne

Attack speed per level increased to 4 from 3.1
Final Hour ( R ) bonus AD increased to 30/50/70 from 25/40/55

[ Context: R bonus AD Increased as the result of a bug fix. More info here ]

Vel'Koz

Life form Disintegration Ray ( R ) damage reverted back to 500/700/900 ( .6 AP ) from 350/475/600 (1.5 AP )
Life form Disintegration Ray ( R ) slow reverted back to 20% from 15%
Life form Disintegration Ray ( R ) slow reverted back to no longer stacking

[ Context: Looks like all R changes reverted back to live values ]

Items

Blackfire Torch

Unique active cooldown increased to 90 seconds from 60 seconds.

Miss out on previous updates from this PBE cycle? Check out THIS PAGE for a comprehensive list of the new content in this PBE cycle or catch up with the links below !

Reminder: The Summoner's Rift update is currently on the PBE for testing!

[ Click here for a better look! ]

7/18 PBE Update: Guqin and Arcade Sona updates, new Sona Ult VFX, lots of balance changes, and more!