/dev: New Items in Patch 3.1

Hey! Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Sean “Zekramen” Mason, your friendly neighborhood designer on the Systems and Balance team for Wild Rift. I’m excited to talk about the new fighter items we released in patch 3.1. We felt that the fighter item system as a whole could use a tune-up and we’re excited to see all the new strategies that emerge on the Rift during this patch.

This update included two new items along with a rework to Death’s Dance. Let’s dive in!

DIVINE SUNDERER

With the introduction of Divine Sunderer, Attack Damage-focused champions now have an additional Spellblade option that competes with Trinity Force. When picking Divine Sunderer over Trinity Force, you’ll be trading raw damage and mobility for higher health, sustain, and the ability to better face off against tanky foes.

Mundo will always go where he pleases, but Divine Sunderer can give you an assist when you’re trying to stop the mad man in his tracks.

• Total Cost: 3300g
  • Builds from Sheen (900g) + Jaurim’s Fist (1200g) + Kindlegem (1000g) + 200g
• 400 Health
• 20 Attack Damage
• 20 Ability Haste
• UNIQUE PASSIVE—Spellblade: After using an ability, your next attack within 10 seconds will deal 10% of target’s maximum health as bonus physical damage (7% if the attack is ranged). If the target is a champion, heal for 7% of the target’s maximum health (3% if the attack is ranged). (1.5s cooldown)

HULLBREAKER

Split-pushing your way to victory, hasn’t been the most viable option for players. So we wanted to introduce an item that would help with that and give you another way to close and play out your games.

Hullbreaker is the perfect item if you're the type of player who wants to split-push a lane, mowing down towers left and right with your buffed-up minion friends. It grants you and your minions resistances as well as bonus damage to structures. It also gives you a hefty dose of attack damage and health, helping you excel in duels against anyone who tries to disrupt you on your split-pushing journey. We know Hullbreaker will have more synergy with some champions like Jax and Tryndamere compared to others, but we're excited to see who else you'll try this item on.

Let’s go break some hulls…err towers!

• Total Cost: 3000g
  • Builds from B.F. Sword (1500g) + Jaurim's Fist (1200g) + 300g
• 300 Health
• 55 Attack Damage
• UNIQUE PASSIVE - Boarding Party: While no allied champions are nearby, gain 10 − 50 armor and magic resistance (based on level) and deal 20% bonus damage to structures. Nearby large minions gain 50 − 170 armor and magic resistance (based on level) and deal 200% damage against structures.

DEATH’S DANCE

Before this patch, Death's Dance excelled at allowing fighters to have solid damage and sustain during long teamfights and scrappy skirmishes in the Jungle. That playstyle suits fighters well; however, we feel that its ability to counter all damage types with one item isn't very healthy for the game or fair to the shopkeepers; supply and demand is real on the Rift, y’all.

To promote interesting build diversity, we've reworked Death's Dance's passive to counter physical damage only while also further rewarding tenacious players who like to stay in the fight.

• Total Cost: 3000g
  • Builds from Chain Vest (900g) + Caulfield’s Warhammer (1200g) + 900g
• 35 Attack Damage
• 40 Armor
• 15 Ability Haste
• UNIQUE PASSIVE - Cauterize: 35% of physical damage received (15% if the equipped champion is ranged) is dealt to you over 3 seconds as true damage instead.
• UNIQUE PASSIVE - Dance: Champion takedowns cleanse Cauterize’s remaining damage pool and restores 15% of your maximum health over 2 seconds.

We’re excited to hear your feedback, so please share any of your clips, new builds, and VODs with us. Like always, we’ll be keeping a close eye on the impact of these items and will make adjustments if necessary.

That’s all for the changes to the fighter item system in 3.1! We have many more exciting updates to share with you in the near future, but I don’t want to go and start runening the surprise. Until then, see you on the Rift!

- Riot Zekramen