The Season of Fortune continues with Patch 1.5 and the introduction of Labs, a new game mode that’s all about variety, experimentation, and maybe a little chaos. We’ve also got a few quality-of-life improvements and even a few balance changes!
Dev Notes: Balance in 1.5 and beyond
Patch 1.5 contains a couple balance changes that were originally slated for Patch 1.6 as part of our usual monthly balance cadence. While we’re not going to start making balance updates every patch, we saw an opportunity to quickly turn around a few key changes and get them in your hands, and in the process develop more flexibility around when and how we update cards.
As we covered in our Season of Fortune introduction, starting in August we’ll introduce new cards to LoR every two months, which means we also need to update how we think about and approach balance over the life of a set. We’re still considering how exactly we’ll adjust (hence our interest in experimenting), but look for more info in our eventual preview for next season.
We also want to stay flexible with how we give players insight into what we’re currently working on—things like the “watchlist” section in some editions of the patch notes, or the Epic card experiences we asked for on Twitter prior to Patch 1.4. This time, we’d actually like to provide a brief preview of what we’re planning for Patch 1.6.
Updates we’re currently working on include:
- Adjustments to some of Heimerdinger’s associated cards (his bots).
- Reworking discard units to increase their satisfaction and usability.
- Adjustments to direct Nexus damage on cheap Noxus units.
We hope you enjoy the two changes in this patch, and we’ll see you back in two weeks for more!
– Riot RubinZoo, Live Design Lead
New Mode: Labs
Following the addition of Gauntlets last patch, Labs are a more experimental take on game modes in LoR. Where Gauntlets are aimed at the competitive experience, Labs are all about variety, experimentation, and maybe a little chaos. You can also try them out with a friend— friend challenge now offers a choice between a standard match and the current Lab!
The first Lab, A.R.A.M., is available with Patch 1.5 and features unexpected champion matchups and unpredictable outcomes. Rather than building a deck, you’ll make choices from a random selection of champions when the game starts. The champions you choose will start in your hand and generate a deck for you to pilot against your opponent’s equally random creation!
Every patch after 1.5 will include a new or updated Lab to replace the previous one. Some Labs will experiment with small changes to the classic LoR formula, while others will offer new game modes, or even more extreme takes on cardplay in the world of Runeterra. Each one is a chance for you to join us as we try new things and discover what’s fun, what’s not, and what deserves to be developed further in the future. We’re starting small, but look forward to some bigger, crazier experiments later this year and beyond!