Teamfight Tactics patch 14.3 notes

It’s our final patch of the Lunar Festival event, meaning it’s the last patch to grab Lunar Festival cosmetics and play the 3.5 Revival. On the gameplay side, we’re standardizing early game loot, and shipping a few balance changes.
Game Updates
Rodger “Riot Prism” Caudill
The Lunar Festival continues!

It’s the last patch of our Lunar Festival, which means it’s your last chance to farm XP with Bard in the Set 3.5 Revival and claim any of our Lunar Festival cosmetic content. Speaking of, Chibi Porcelain Lux enters Treasure Realms for just this patch, so get your sparkling, rainbow vomiting, laser blasting Chibi now! But while the Lunar Festival event concludes at the end of this patch, we’re extending the 3.5 Revival game mode for one more patch (ends with the end of 14.4 now). As for the rest of the patch, we’ve got balance changes for more than just Remix Rumble—the 3.5 Revival has its very own balance section! Okay, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one very large system change that you should not miss—we’re evening out our loot distribution. And with that, let’s blast off!
Rodger "Riot Prism" Caudill

Mid-Patch Updates

JANUARY 13TH

Our 14.3B patch is focused on refining the competitive meta with light balance changes, while giving enough time for potential meta adaptations ahead of players taking the global stage. In addition to balance, we’re fixing two bugs, and disabling two bugged Augments that could jeopardize the quality of games.

TRAITS

Heartsteel has been the big winner of 14.3’s competitive scene, so we’re shipping a nerf to Heartsteel 5 which when combined with Raise the Stakes has led to some incredibly powerful late game boards.
  • Heartsteel Heart Multiplier: 1/2.25/5.5/18x ⇒ 1/2/5.5/18x

UNITS

These changes are incredibly light, but we see an opportunity to ever-so-slightly refine the meta ahead of the set’s biggest competition.
  • Kayle Ability on-hit damage: 35/55/80% AP ⇒ 35/52/75% AP
  • Riven Ability damage: 90% AD ⇒ 85% AD
  • Zed AD: 75 ⇒ 72

AUGMENTS

Extended Play is in a tricky spot, overperforming despite having a bug that makes it weaker than intended. Instead of fixing the bug and unintentionally buffing an already strong Augment, we’re choosing to disable it for the sake of consistency & ensuring that we're only seeing expected behavior across all of our Augments.

Heartthrobs is also currently bugged to only boost Hearts from unit kills, which makes it do very little because of the way our rounding works. Since fixing it is a MASSIVE buff, and since our competitive players are Heartsteel extraordinaires (see Heartsteel Cup from last weekend), we’re opting to disable it instead of over-buffing it, or allowing it to continue as a sub-optimal Augment option.
  • Extended Play has been disabled.
  • Heartthrobs has been disabled.

BUG FIXES

  • Scrappy Inventions now gives components at the start of the next two stages as intended
  • Guinsoo’s Rageblade stacks will no longer sometimes reset when a unit is summoned in combat.

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS

LUNAR FESTIVAL EVENT AND COSMETICS

14.3 marks the last patch of our Lunar Festival event, but while the event is leaving, the 3.5 Revival game mode will be staying until the conclusion of patch 14.4! Along with the event's departure, event specific cosmetics will also be leaving. Lunar Festival event cosmetics (e.g. Chibi Porcelain Lux, Golden Dragon Skyscraper, and more) deactivate on Feb 22nd at 11AM PT, just after the conclusion of the event with the end of patch 14.03 (Feb 20th). For more info on our Lunar Festival cosmetics, check out our cosmetics article here.

You may have noticed that we extended the 3.5 Revival game mode by an additional patch. This was unplanned, and you may see artifacts (e.g. old articles) with the old end-date. We’ve seen more interest in the 3.5 Revival game mode than originally expected, and believe that with a balance patch (this one), it can continue being a highlight for players. Lastly, and this just might be my opinion, maybe an extra patch of 3.5 will encourage some players to try something beyond Me Mech.
Lastly, we have a new Chibi available for one patch only, Chibi Porcelain Lux!

CHIBI PORCELAIN LUX


Chibi Porcelain Lux enters Treasure Realms this patch and leaves alongside the rest of the Lunar Festival content on the final day of the patch.

SYSTEMS

LOOT DISTRIBUTION


We’re lowering item drop variance by ensuring players receive the same number of items at each stage. While variance is key to the replayability of TFT, we’ve got quite a lot of that already, so we’re taking some variance out with the difference in item drop timings. There will still be variance in what items you get—as per usual—but you can officially say farewell to gold openers.
  • All players now get the same number of items at each stage.

HEADLINER RULES


This is a bugfix, but it does impact Headliner Rules, so I’m placing it here as well as in the bugfix section.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed a Headliner trait to appear multiple times before waiting for 4 shops as intended.

LARGE CHANGES

Large, like the Stakes I keep raising.

TRAITS


Swapping in Heartsteel during Stage 5 & 6 consistently allows you to pop off without falling hard. This results in seeing a first place too often, too consistently. So instead of praying for the death of a rockstar, we’re acting with a nerf specific to that moment. But don’t worry, we aren’t Heartsteel-hating here, as we’re giving even MORE Hearts to the Prismatic 10 Heartsteel.
  • Heartsteel Stage 5 & 6 Hearts per kill: 2 ⇒ 1
  • Heartsteel Heart Multiplier: 1/2.25/5.5/10x ⇒ 1/2.25/5.5/18x
  • Punk Attack Damage: 18/30/45% ⇒ 18/30/42%
  • Punk Health: 180/300/450 ⇒ 180/300/420
  • Executioner Critical Strike Chance: Up to 25/100/200% ⇒ Up to 25/80/160%

UNITS: TIER 1


You ever natural (natural means hitting your units without rolling) into Olaf 3 and then hit Gargantuan Resolve (the Gold Titan’s Resolve Augment), and then have your power go out? Yeah, me neither—I had to use a lesser duplicator. Olaf’s go-to build has a lot of coincidental Ability Power, making him sustain a bit too hard for a 1-cost.
  • Olaf Ability healing: 20/25/35% AP ⇒ 20/25/30% AP

UNITS: TIER 2


Senna has been missing since we brought down the power of her friends (Qiyanna, Ekko) and the power of her ability to make friends (True Damage Emblem). We’re increasing Senna’s damage across all levels, but especially at that 3-star carry level, to take the subpar out of her subwoofer.
  • Senna Ability damage: 105/155/225% AP ⇒ 110/165/255% AP

UNITS: TIER 3


Brightening up your day at the enemy backliner’s expense with a Lux buff.

Mordekaiser is both highly contested and underappreciated. Our strongest 3-cost 3-star of the patch, Mordekaiser, has uncharacteristically high damage for a tank. We’re maintaining his tankiness, but lowering the temperature on his Face-Melter damage.

A Sett nerf could be interpreted as a Heartsteel loss streak buff if you think about it…
  • Lux Ability damage: 250/375/550% AP ⇒ 260/390/575% AP
  • Mordekaiser Ability damage: 220/330/525% AP ⇒ 200/300/480% AP
  • Mordekaiser Ability finale damage: 220/330/525% AP ⇒ 200/300/480% AP
  • Sett HP: 950 ⇒ 900
  • Sett Ability main target damage: 275/420/680% AP ⇒ 250/375/600% AP
  • Sett Ability cone damage: 130/210/340% AP ⇒ 120/180/290% AP

UNITS: TIER 4


Ever since her time as a favorite holder of True Damage Emblem, Caitlyn’s suffered from a lack of damage, or too slow of a cast. We’re fixing one of those in the hopes that she can hunt more champs, without the need of niche Emblem itemization.

While our recent Karthus rework was a significant stride forward, we've noted that his initial cast remains excessively impactful. We’re continuing to lessen the momentum his team gets from that first cast, while raising the AP he gets after each cast—yes that makes Spear of Shojin an even better item on him.

We were a little too spirited with our Twisted Fate nerf last patch, so we’re giving back some power to this slick card dealer in the hopes that he finds a more balanced middle ground to electric slide into.
  • Caitlyn max Mana buff: 0/90 ⇒ 0/75
  • Karthus Ability damage: 175/260/580% AP ⇒ 160/240/540% AP
  • Karthus Ability power per cast: 30% ⇒ 40%
  • Twisted Fate Mana buff: 30/120 ⇒ 30/105

UNITS: TIER 5


Lifting our weakest 5-costs; Jhin becomes a heavyweight in the classical music world, and Sona’s melodies uplift more than just your spirit.
  • Jhin Armor/MR: 30 ⇒ 40
  • Jhin Health: 850 ⇒ 950
  • Sona Kinetic Form (Green) ability healing: 5/8/100% HP ⇒ 6/9/100% HP
  • Sona Kinetic Form (Green) shield duration: 2/2/30 seconds ⇒ 2.5/2.5/30 seconds

AUGMENTS


Twin Terror has been tied to Punk and Punk adjacent (Oi, Garage, Glampunk, etc.) comps, allowing them to spike too quickly and too hard.

We’re taking Switching Gears into the Augment shop and oiling the gears for more bang for your swap now that win and loss streaks take more combat to pull off.
  • Twin Terror I: Health: 350 ⇒ 300
  • Twin Terror I: Attack Speed: 35% ⇒ 30%
  • Twin Terror II: Health: 500 ⇒ 450
  • Twin Terror II: Attack Speed: 50% ⇒ 45%
  • Switching Gears Gold per swap: 2 ⇒ 3

ITEMS


Is that a Shock Treatment (Gold Augment) buff I see!?
  • Runaan’s Hurricane Bolt damage: 50% AD ⇒ 55% AD
  • Statikk Shiv Magic Damage: 30 ⇒ 35

ARTIFACTS & RADIANT ITEMS


After lowering the gold per kill last patch, Goldmancer’s Staff could use a bit more kill power.
  • Goldmancer’s Staff Base Ability Power: 30% ⇒ 45%
  • Deathfire Grasp Ability Power: 45% ⇒ 50%
  • Runaan’s Tempest (Hurricane) Bolt damage: 100% AD ⇒ 110% AD
  • Statikk’s Favor (Shiv) Damage: 70 ⇒ 80

SMALL CHANGES

Small, like the way patch notes were back when 3.5 was live. Don’t believe me? Just search TFT patch 10.18 patch notes…

TRAITS


Do Emo champions get sad when they’re buffed?
  • Emo Ability Power: 0/0/10% ⇒ 0/0/20%

UNITS


Please let Archangel’s Garen be a thing.
  • Garen Ability Health gain: 215/230/245% AP ⇒ 215/245/275% AP
  • Jax Ability slam damage: 230/345/520% AP ⇒ 240/360/560% AP

HEADLINERS


Zed’s Headliner bonus was previously not applied to his shadows. We’ve adjusted his bonus to be focused on Zed only, so even though this may read as a nerf, note that it’s simply a 5% AD buff to Headliner Zed.
  • Vi 250 HP & 15% AD ⇒ 200 HP & 15% AD
  • Kayle 25% AS ⇒ 20% AS
  • Zed: +100 HP & Shadow have +10% AD/+10% AS ⇒ +100 HP & +5% AD
  • Sona: +5% AS and +1% AS per attack ⇒ +5% AS and +2% AS per attack

AUGMENTS


Creating a more balanced version of Balanced Budget for 4-2 when drip econ has less impact. Now with even more budget!

And buffing the Augment that has cost players more LP than the trait itself—that’s Heartthrobs, if that wasn’t clear.
  • Balanced Budget: Added Balanced Budget+ which can be offered at 4-2 and gives 9 gold per round.
  • Balanced Budget will no longer be offered on 4-2.
  • Bigger Shot Bomb damage: 85% AD ⇒ 100% AD
  • Endless Hordes and Endless Hordes+ Health reduction: 20% ⇒ 15%
  • Heartthrobs extra Hearts: 20% ⇒ 25%
  • Starter Kit now grants 4 gold.

3.5 REVIVAL CHANGES

Hey there space cowboy—we’ve got a new section, for an old set. Our main goals here are to do a series of smaller changes to the biggest outliers. The 3.5 Revival is still a fun mode that should be focused on nostalgia and good times over perfect balance, so while this list of changes may look long, we're not trying to ship a patch that forces you to learn a new meta (or even a new comp). TL;DR you can still ME MECH NO PIVOT, but you can do that with more than just mech… just saying.

TRAITS

  • Battlecast 8 Piece Heal or Damage Amount: 800 ⇒ 1000
  • Cybernetic Health: 250/550 ⇒ 300/650
  • Cybernetic Attack Damage: 20%/45% ⇒ 25/50%
  • Dark Star 8 Piece AD/AP: 50 ⇒ 45
  • Sorcerer Ability Power: 20/40/70 ⇒ 25/45/75

UNITS


We’re taking a pass on lowering Crowd Control and Mana Reave to allow other comps who have been limited by said powers have their galaxy brain moment. Other than that, we’re focused on buffs.
  • Leona Health: 650 ⇒ 700
  • Leona Mana: 50/100 ⇒ 40/80
  • Poppy Health: 650 ⇒ 700
  • Poppy Ability Shield: 250/325/400 ⇒ 300/375/475
  • Lucian AD: 50 ⇒ 55
  • Lucian Second Shot AP Ratio: 175/260/415% AP ⇒ 200/300/450% AP
  • Xin Zhao Stun Duration: 1.5s ⇒ 1s
  • Ashe Stun Duration: 1.5/1.5/2s ⇒ 1/1/1.5s
  • Ashe Ability Damage: 250/375/625% AP ⇒ 225/335/560% AP
  • Darius Health: 700 ⇒ 750
  • Darius Ability Damage: 270/405/630 ⇒ 290/435/675
  • Ezreal Ability Mana Reave: 30% ⇒ 20%
  • Ezreal Ability Damage: 225/330/575% AP ⇒ 200/300/450% AP
  • Master Yi Bonus True Damage: 65/100/160% AP ⇒ 50/75/125% AP
  • Jinx Attack Speed: 0.7 ⇒ 0.8

BUG FIXES

  • Fixed a bug where you could find an Akali headliner whilst having an Akali headliner.
  • Lucian no longer sometimes fires one extra shot.
  • Lucian’s ability now properly stops scaling at 5.0 Attack Speed (previously it could benefit slightly beyond 5.0)
  • Lucian’s ability can no longer benefit from attack speed past 5.0 with Nashor’s Tooth.
  • Fixed a bug where Reforger and Pandora’s Items could never grant Spear of Shojin
  • Fixed a bug where Pandora's Items could grant the Hyper Roll version of Gamblers Blade outside of Hyper Roll, and vice versa.
  • Yasuo’s ability tooltip now specifies he deals physical damage.
  • Amumu’s ability tooltip now shows his Armor to damage scaling at each star level.
  • Ornn didn’t have a copyright: Artifact Anvils now read “Open an armory of Artifact items” when dragged over the shop, instead of “Open an armory of Ornn items”.
  • Kayle’s ability tooltip now correctly shows her Shred as 20% instead of 30%.
  • Binary Airdrop correctly grants Attack Casters and Attack Carries items from their recommended item.