Wild Rift Patch Notes 2.5a

Eyes up, targets locked. Caitlyn and Jayce join Wild Rift in a few days time! We’re pausing balance updates soon in prep for the Horizon Cup, and there’s something spooky going on in the skins department. Here’s Patch 2.5a!
Game Updates
Ben Forbes, Nick Frijia, Sean Mason

It’s the spooooookiest season, but we brought backup. Caitlyn and Jayce are headed to Wild Rift to add some firepower from downtown—and you can give them a helping hand in the Hextech Heist h-event in a few days’ time.

We’re taking a look at some of 2.5’s most reliable champ picks and putting them back in line. We’ve also got some changes coming to the Last Whisper family of items, and buffing up some key Magic Resist mainstays.

This patch marks the last major balance patch before the Horizon Cup, Wild Rift’s first international tournament! As such, we’ll be keeping the game stable for the next few weeks in order to give our first crop of pros time to practice and prepare for the matches ahead.

Our future will be bright. Welcome to Patch 2.5a!

Reminder: content will be released throughout the patch.

NOV 2 HOTFIX

We’re addressing one unhealthy strategy where teams can end the game too quickly with two Rift Heralds. Coordinated teams, this one’s for you!

RIFT HERALD

  • Hold duration: 240s → 210s
  • Nexus damage: 100% of base damage → 50% of base damage

NEW

NEW CHAMPIONS

CAITLYN, THE SHERIFF OF PILTOVER

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Renowned as its finest peacekeeper, Caitlyn is also Piltover’s best shot at ridding the city of its elusive criminal elements. She is often paired with Vi, acting as a cool counterpoint to her partner’s more impetuous nature. Even though she carries a one-of-a-kind hextech rifle, Caitlyn’s most powerful weapon is her superior intellect, allowing her to lay elaborate traps for any lawbreakers foolish enough to operate in the City of Progress.

Caitlyn will be released on November 9 at 00:01 UTC.

JAYCE, THE DEFENDER OF TOMORROW

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Jayce is a brilliant inventor who has pledged his life to the defense of Piltover and its unyielding pursuit of progress. With his transforming hextech hammer in hand, Jayce uses his strength, courage, and considerable intelligence to protect his hometown. While revered throughout the city as a hero, he hasn’t taken well to the attention heroism brings. Still, Jayce’s heart is in the right place, and even those who envy his natural skills are grateful for his protection in the City of Progress.

Jayce will be released on November 9 at 00:01 UTC.

SKINS

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Releasing October 28 @ 00:01 UTC:

  • Bewitching Janna
  • Underworld Twisted Fate
  • Underworld Wukong

Releasing Nov 9 @ 00:01 UTC:

  • Jayce Brighthammer
  • Headhunter Caitlyn

ACCESSORIES

You can earn or purchase accessories from a bunch of different sources. Please check the relevant page in game for more information on how to get ‘em!

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Baubles: Jack-o-Nyantern

Emotes: Your Doom Was Expected!; P-P-P-Poker Face; Hmm… Perplexing; ???; ???

Icons: Unraveling the Mystery; Unstoppable Sleuths; ???

All accessories will be released throughout the patch.

EVENTS

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The ??? event begins November 7 at 00:01 UTC.

HEXTECH HEIST

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Jayce's pocketwatch has been stolen! Help Caitlyn track down the culprit and solve the case.

The Hextech Heist event begins November 9 at 00:01 UTC.

PSA: Due to the impending Horizon Cup, this will be Wild Rift’s last major balance patch for a few weeks to keep the game stable for our first international tournament! New content is still on the way, but expect balance changes throughout November to be for emergencies only.
CHAMPION CHANGES

AKSHAN

As players have gained mastery over Akshan, he has been revealed as a stronger pick than he appeared on previous patches. We like keeping the bulk of Akshan’s power in medium-range combat, so we’re siphoning a small amount of power out of his ultimate to make it a little harder for him to pick enemies off after fights for easy revives.

COMEUPPANCE

  • Minimum bonus AD ratio: 12.5% → 10% based on missing health
  • Maximum bonus AD ratio: 50% → 40% based on missing health

DARIUS

Darius has been one of the most dominant picks in Elite level play for some time. To promote champion diversity in the Baron Lane, we're reducing his ability to heal away damage during trades and skirmishes.

DECIMATE

  • Heal: 15 - 45% based on enemy champions hit → 12 - 36% based on enemy champions hit

GALIO

While Galio’s support presence was recently nerfed, we’re seeing him get stronger in mid due to the input buffering changes (how his abilities interact with Flash and Protobelt Enchant) in Patch 2.5. This time, we’re further chipping away at his ultimate to address his omnipresence and dominance in pro play.

HERO'S ENTRANCE

  • Cooldown: 120/100/80s → 130/115/100s

GRAVES

Graves has spiked in both power and popularity over the last few patches as the metagame has become extremely favorable for him. We’re taking away some of the defenses he gets for free in order to limit how easy it is for Graves to farm up a few items and carry without fear of dying.

base_stats

  • Base health: 610 HP → 570 HP
  • Armor per level: 4.3 → 3.9
  • Base mana regen: 15 → 12

KAI'SA

Kai'Sa has been a dominant pick in highly skilled play as well as coordinated play. We're cutting down on her trading power, burst, and waveclear by lowering the base damage on Icathian Rain, but leaving her scaling intact so she can still perform her role later in the game.

ICATHIAN RAIN

  • Base damage per missile: 50/70/90/110 → 40/60/80/100
    • Max single-target damage:: 112.5/157.5/202.5/247.5 → 90/135/180/225

LUCIAN

Lucian is still underperforming in the Dragon Lane despite recent buffs, so we're increasing the damage of The Culling to bring him in line with other marksmen.

THE CULLING

  • Bullet damage: 15/35/55 → 20/40/60

NAMI

Nami’s been at the top of the support food chain for quite a while, and we’re looking to bring her down just a touch to let other supports shine. This small nerf to Tidal Wave will make it a bit more punishing to fish for picks and should open Nami up to be a bit more vulnerable to all-ins, which should be her primary weakness as a healing enchanter support.

Tidal Wave

  • Cooldown: 80/70/60 → 90/80/70s

TRYNDAMERE

Since the release of his rework, Tryndamere has been overperforming in the jungle. We're pulling back on the bonus attack speed gained from his passive to reduce the power of his early ganks and tone down his late-game power spike.

Battle Fury

  • Attack speed from attacking enemy champions: 50/55/65/75% → 45/50/55/60%

GAMEPLAY CHANGES

ITEMS

BLACK CLEAVER

Black Cleaver has been underperforming in comparison to other options like Trinity Force and Death's Dance in every slot for most fighters. We don't want to swing too far in the opposite direction, so we're cautiously giving it a light buff to help it compete.

  • Attack damage: 35 → 40

LAST WHISPER

Last Whisper and its upgrades offer extremely powerful anti-armor itemization for physical damage carries. While this is their intended output, they are currently so effective at their purpose that tank defenses are being invalidated by penetration even relatively early in the game. We are reducing the efficiency of these items, particularly Mortal Reminder, and adding per-level scaling to the armor penetration to ensure that tanks have a sufficient window of time to use their defenses before carries scale into a place to cut them down.

  • Armor penetration: 15% → 10%

MORTAL REMINDER

See Last Whisper for context.

  • Armor penetration: 30% at all levels → 16-30% based on champion level
  • Attack damage: 45 → 40
  • Combine cost: 650g → 800g
    • Total cost: 2950g → 3100g

SERYLDA’S GRUDGE

See Last Whisper for context.

  • Armor penetration: 30% at all levels → 16-30% based on champion level
  • Combine cost: 500g → 600g
    • Total cost: 3000g → 3100g

FORCE OF NATURE

Magic resistance choices for tanks are not quite sufficient when tanks are dealing with significant magic damage threats. We're buffing up the magic resistance on Spirit Visage and Force of Nature slightly to make them more powerful when dealing with magic damage, particularly enemy compositions with multiple threats.

  • Magic resist: 45 → 50

SPIRIT VISAGE

See Force of Nature for context.

  • Magic resist: 45 → 50

FREE-TO-PLAY CHAMPION ROTATION

Oct 28 - Nov 3: Amumu, Brand, Jax, Miss Fortune, Rakan, Soraka, Tryndamere, Varus, Veigar, Xin Zhao

Nov 4 - Nov 10: Akali, Corki, Evelynn, Fizz, Leona, Malphite, Lulu, Rammus, Teemo, Varus