Patch 1.14 brings with it an all new experimental Lab, the debut of Friend Spectate, and a hefty set of balance changes headlined by updates to seven Champions. We’ve also got some metagame data to share!
Metagame Snapshot
We’d like to start periodically sharing some of the metagame data we use to inform our balance updates over time, with a few key goals in doing so:
- Provide more visibility on the overall metagame framework within which we decide on balance changes.
- Highlight the variety of competitive strategies available to explore at any given time (assuming we’re doing our jobs right).
- Share some cool deck ideas!
While we’re excited to share this data, there are definitely some presentation & digestibility challenges (our internal tools output isn’t pretty by default), so we’ll try to set all the expectations we can. What you see below isn’t necessarily a final format, and we may vary what exactly we present or focus on over time. For now, we’re looking to share this kind of data about once a month, though we may experiment. Similarly, we’re trying this out as a part of the patch notes but aren’t necessarily set on that. Let us know what you think!
Various things to keep in mind:
- Snapshot data looks at decks used in Platinum, Diamond, and Masters, across all four of LoR’s regional shards.
- Snapshot data includes only the most played “meta-decks” (essentially a pile of largely similar decks with some variations), exclusive of the scattered smaller population of decks that don’t fit significantly popular patterns (generally these fluctuate at around 40% of total decks).
- This means the play rates below should be read as “among meta-decks,” while the win rates are inclusive of all decks.
- The general bar for meta-decks is 3%+ play rate or 50%+ win rate.
- For now, we’re not planning to go too deeply into all the minute implications of the data in each snapshot. At a high level, 55% win rate and 15%+ play rate are our normal benchmarks for corrective balance, but we obviously do a lot of work outside those numbers as well.
- Here’s how to read the deck summaries below:
- Regions | Champions | Most distinct unifying card (on average)
- Deck codes represent one of the most common examples of each meta-deck
For this initial metagame snapshot, we’ve actually got two!
- First, we have a snapshot of the metagame over the week prior to Patch 1.13, where we adjusted Lee Sin and Make it Rain.
- Second, we’ve got a special shortened snapshot looking at the metagame since the K/DA cards started to hit the stage. It’s also an example of the latest data (~1 week old) you can expect to see in these snapshots, as that’s right around when we have to lock patch notes for publication.
Metagame Snapshot: Patch 1.12 | Oct. 21-27, 2020
|
Deck + code |
Play rate |
Win rate |
|
Ionia + Targon | Zed + Lee Sin | Sonic Wave CIBQEAICBEYQGAQCAMDASBQDBENSGKJTLRRAGAICAIEACAYCCQAQGCKVAEAQEAQF |
11.13% |
53.13% |
|
Freljord + Shadow Isles | Tryndamere + Trundle | Warmothers Call CICACAYFAIBAGAICAYBQCBIBDUUAKAIBBQLSCJZJAEBQCBIPDE3ACAIBAE2A |
10.26% |
53.50% |
|
Bilgewater + Noxus | Miss Fortune + Gangplank | Legion Grenadier CIBQEAIDEUUAGAQDAMCAKBICAYLCAJR2HQBQCAQGFUAQGBQGAMAQGAQPG4AA |
10.23% |
53.14% |
|
Noxus + Piltover & Zaun | Draven + Jinx | Arena Battlecaster CIBQCAYECICQCBAMDQTSQLIGAEBQOCIUEMTTOAICAECACDIA |
9.48% |
52.02% |
|
Bilgewater + Targon | Soraka + Tahm Kench | Star Spring CIBAIAYGAQDQQDYIAMERWHJDFUZTINZ4AEBAGCITKUAA |
8.35% |
50.85% |
|
Bilgewater + Shadow Isles | Nautilus + Maokai | Deadbloom Wanderer CICACAIFFAAQGBQBAIBAKCAKAUBAMJZMF42TQAQDAECQCGI5AMBAMBI5EUAQCAYFAI |
6.68% |
50.07% |
|
Bilgewater + Noxus | Twisted Fate + Swain | Petty Officer CIBQEAIDFY3QIAQDAEDQQCIFAIDAICA2DUWQEAICAMBQEAQGDQTACAIBAMLA |
5.56% |
52.43% |
|
Bilgewater + Demacia | Miss Fortune + Quinn | Laurent Protege CIBQCAQGCYCQEAACAYDQSCQGAEAACCILCUOSOAQBAEACKAIDAAHAA |
4.41% |
55.30% |
|
Targon + Shadow Isles | Diana + Nocturne | Cygnus The Moonstalker CIBQCAIFF4CQGBICAMCAKBQHAMESGOCJLBMVYXQAAEAQGCJP |
3.77% |
55.72% |
|
Bilgewater + Noxus | Twisted Fate + Swain | Blades Edge CICACAIDFYAQGAYNAMBAGBYIBECQEBQEDIOCMLIDAEAQGNYBAIDB2AQCAMAQGAQBAEBSWAIDAYDA |
2.49% |
52.98% |
|
Freljord + Shadow Isles | Kalista | They Who Endure CICACAIBEIBAEBIEAYBQGBICAQDAMAIFBMNB4KZQGEAQEAIFCAMQA |
2.46% |
52.85% |
|
Noxus + Shadow Isles | Elise | Frenzied Skitterer CICACAQDAMBQCBJHGU4AGAYFAMCAMBABAMBA6KBXAMAQCAZFAEBAGBABAMCQEAIBAEBS4 |
2.44% |
53.72% |
|
Ionia + Targon | Diana + Lee Sin | Sonic Wave CIBAEAQCAMDAMAYJDMRSSMZYLQCACAICGEAQGAQUAIBQSSKVAMBAEBIIBEBACAQCAQAQGCIT |
2.39% |
50.20% |
|
Demacia + Ionia | Fiora + Shen | Rivershaper CIBQEAYAAYHAGAICCMQCWBIBAAERUJJNGMCACAICGEAQEAABAEBQEFACAEABKNAA |
2.37% |
53.97% |
|
Targon + Piltover & Zaun | Vi + Heimerdinger | Spring Guardian CIBQCAQEBACQCBA3EYTTIOAHAMESGM2QKRKVYYAAAEAQCBA7 |
1.98% |
52.23% |
|
Targon + Noxus | Darius + Draven | Whirling Death CIBQCAQDAUCAGCJDLBMVYBYBAMBASCYNCQTDOAQBAEBQ6AIDBEOAA |
0.91% |
54.76% |
|
Demacia + Ionia | Zed + Lucian | Senna Sentinel Of Light CICQCAICBEAQGAAOAEBQEFADAIAAOCIKA4AQAAIJCULB2JRHAAAQCAIABI |
0.07% |
55.04% |
Metagame Snapshot: Patch 1.13 | Oct. 28 – Nov. 2, 2020
|
Deck + code |
Play rate |
Win rate |
|
Noxus + Piltover & Zaun | Draven + Jinx | Zaunite Urchin CIBQCAYECICQCAYHBEKCONYGAECACDA4FAWTIAICAECA2JYA |
10.62% |
52.88% |
|
Freljord + Shadow Isles | Tryndamere + Trundle | Warmothers Call CICACAYFAIBAGAICAYBQCBIBDUUAKAIBBQLSCJZJAEBQCBIPDE3ACAIBAE2A |
8.63% |
53.44% |
|
Ionia + Targon | Zed + Lee Sin | Sonic Wave CIBQEAICBEYQGAQCAMDASBQDBENSGKJTLRRAGAICAIEACAYCCQAQGCKVAEAQEAQF |
7.16% |
51.26% |
|
Freljord + Shadow Isles | Tryndamere + Trundle | Feel The Rush CIBQEAYBAYLAGAIFAEOSQBQBAEAQYFBBE4ZAEAIBAEVACAIFDEBACAYBAQBACBIPEE |
6.87% |
55.00% |
|
Bilgewater + Noxus | Miss Fortune + Gangplank | Legion Grenadier CIBQEAIDEUUAGAQDAMCAKBICAYLCAJR2HQBQCAQGFUAQGBQGAMAQGAQPG4AA |
6.78% |
52.46% |
|
Bilgewater + Shadow Isles | Nautilus + Maokai | Dreg Dredgers CICACAIFFAAQGBQBAIBAKCAKAUBAMJZMF42TQAQDAECQCGI5AMBAMBI5EUAQCAYFAI |
6.55% |
49.61% |
|
Bilgewater + Demacia | Miss Fortune + Quinn | Rangers Resolve CIBQCAQGCYCQEAACAYDQSCQGAEAACCILCUOSOAQBAEACKAIDAAHAA |
6.24% |
55.33% |
|
Bilgewater + Targon | Soraka + Tahm Kench | Boxtopus CIBAIAYGAQDQQDYGAMERGIZNGM2DOAQCAMDAECICAMETYVIBAIBQSBI5 |
5.82% |
51.36% |
|
Bilgewater + Noxus | Twisted Fate + Swain | Deaths Hand CIBQEAIDFY3QIAQDAEDQQCIFAIDAICA2DUWQEAICAMBQEAQGDQTACAIBAMLA |
4.68% |
49.98% |
|
Demacia + Ionia | Fiora + Shen | Greenglade Caretaker CIBQEAYAAYHAGAICCMQCWBIBAAERUJJNGMCACAICGEAQEAABAEBQEFACAEABKNAA |
3.81% |
55.95% |
|
Mt Targon + Shadow Isles | Diana + Nocturne | Lunari Duskbringer CIBQCAIFF4CQGBICAMCAKBQHAMESGOCJLBMVYXQAAEAQGCJP |
3.77% |
53.85% |
|
Freljord + Targon | Trundle + Aurelion Sol | Faces Of The Old Ones CIBQGAIBCQQTEBIDAEBAIBQKCMCQGCIDCVLFOZAAAEAQGCIT |
3.73% |
50.51% |
|
Freljord + Noxus | Ashe | Trifarian Assessor CIBAGAIDAQPSCBIBAEAQWJRJGACACAIDGUAQEAYKAEBQGBAFAEAQOEQWDYVAA |
3.60% |
51.63% |
|
Freljord + Piltover & Zaun | Teemo + Sejuani | Puffcap Peddler CIBQCAQBAICACAIDBMQDEBIBAQEBSGZUHIBQCAYBCYBACAIBAQBAEAIIBIAA |
2.89% |
44.65% |
|
Freljord + Shadow Isles | Kalista | Cursed Keeper CICACAIBEIBAEBIEAYBQGBICAQDAMAIFBMNB4KZQGEAQEAIFCAMQA |
2.65% |
51.27% |
|
Targon + Noxus | Darius + Draven | Decisive Maneuver CIBQCAQDAUCAGCJDLBMVYBYBAMBASCYNCQTDOAQBAEBQ6AIDBEOAA |
1.90% |
54.74% |
|
Noxus + Shadow Isles | Elise | Arachnoid Horror CICACAQDAMBQCBJHGU4AGAYFAMCAMBABAMBA6KBXAMAQCAZFAEBAGBABAMCQEAIBAEBS4 |
1.77% |
54.86% |
Card Updates
As we mentioned last patch, Patch 1.14 is one of the larger mid-expansion balance updates you can expect to be the norm going forward, and these changes are the last ones we have planned before the first Seasonal Tournament in December. This patch focuses mostly on improvements to several Foundations set Champions, small buffs both direct and indirect to Call of the Mountain champions that need some help, and adjustments to high cost followers across regions.
– RubinZoo, Live Design Lead