Teamfight Tactics patch 16.3

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LEVELING

We’re seeing a lot of players skip Level 8 at higher ranks—which isn’t bad, just too frequent. So, we’re making going to 9 harder by 8 gold, which will actually make it cheaper going from 9 to 10 than going from 8 to 9. Overall, we’re happy with the smaller jump from 9 to 10, even in lobbies that aren’t inflated by Prismatics/Opening Encounters.

• XP from Level 8-9: 68XP ⇒ 76XP

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ENCOUNTERS

Banning some Augments that are too synergistic with their certain Opening Encounters.

• Gwen’s Gifts
• Crafted Crafting disabled
• Emblem Ensemble:
• Coronation disabled
• Cursed Crown disabled
• Flexible disabled
• Legion of Three’s disabled
• Tactician’s Kitchen disabled
• U.R.F disabled

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AURAS

This is an aura checkpoint, and you, reading this right now, have cleared with maximum aura, unlike our aura champions who used to drop their aura when they dropped to the floor (deaded). So we’re making their auras behave more intuitively—which is a buff, but don’t worry, we’ve got a compensation nerf for Taric who’s already performing quite well.

• The following champion auras now persist even if the champion dies: Shyvana, Skarner, Taric

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UNLOCK RULES UPDATE

With the launch of Lore & Legends we shared the less visible rules to the Unlock system early and frequently. Well, we’ve learned a lot from Unlockables, and we’re already applying those learnings with a very small system update that addresses how often three-star 4-costs appear, which has proven too common for Unlockable units and often leaves little room for counter-play.

So, we’re adjusting Unlockable unit odds for both 4 and 5-costs to make them harder to three-star while uncontested (you’re the only one with them Unlocked), and slightly easier to two-star while contested (at least one other player has them Unlocked).

• Unlockable 4 and 5-costs are now harder to hit if uncontested
• When contested, it's a bit easier to two-star your unit, yet still harder to three-star them

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UNLOCK CONDITIONS

More accessible comps = more fun.

This goes out to those screenshots of players with a two-star Viego opener and only two item components.

• Kai’Sa Level Requirement: 8 ⇒ 7
• Orianna: 3 Piltover ⇒ 2 items on a Piltover Champion
• Tryndamere item requirement: 2 ⇒ 1
• Yorick item requirement: 2 ⇒ 1
• Warwick: 2-star Vi and 1-star Jinx ⇒ 1 item on Vi AND Jinx (no 2-star requirement)

Large, like the impact of reuniting Diana and Leona on the same board.

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TRAITS

Tempo Bilgewater play is our most dominant strategy in high elo, pushing for levels, units, and item slams to win out early game and get to Bilgewater (7) as soon as possible. It’s become a similar concept, but far far far less extreme of playing the Draven Legend from Runeterra Reforged (set 9) with its impact on lobby pacing and econ, albeit harder to access (need a lucky Twisted Fate early). Our Bilgewater changes primarily address tempo play for the trait, cutting the takedown Serpents in half. The nerfs will be far less perceptible for loss-streak disaster pirates like myself.

For a trait breakpoint so difficult to hit, Darkin (3) really isn’t doing much. We’re swinging hard here to reward your efforts in collecting the Darkin weapons.

We’re giving Ixtal some buffs that won’t exactly change the high-end of the trait. We’re making sure the less-worthwhile bait quests are now hashtag worth, to making it standard that when you cashout with over 700 Sunshards, you will be able to always get a two-star Brock (if you use your Champion Duplicators). And that’s great, cause as the age-old wisdom goes, when you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, you should always take a Brock and (hopefully) a first place.

With T-Hex safely contained in Piltover park, we’re able to buff our underperforming Invention modules. Wait, what’s that!? We’re buffing T-Hex—everyone run, get out of the park! To be continued in Units: Tier 5…

• Bilgewater Free AD/AP: 20% ⇒ 15%
• Bilgewater 2-Cost Serpent Cost: 30 ⇒ 35
• Bilgewater Serpents Per Takedown: 2 ⇒ 1
• Bilgewater (10) Cannon Damage: 500 ⇒ 300
• Bilgewater (10) Gold Per Kill: 5 ⇒ 2
• Darkin (3) Piece Damage: 100 ⇒ 333
• Ixtal Quest Small Reroll Quest (Stage 2-6): 5/6/8/8/8 ⇒ 4/6/7/7/7
• Ixtal Quest Medium Reroll Quest (Stage 2-6): 10/12/16/16/16 ⇒ 8/11/15/15/15
• Ixtal Quest Hard Reroll Quest (Stage 2-6): 15/18/24/24/24 ⇒ 10/12/20/20/20
• Ixtal Quest Earn Interest Quest: 6/14/20/20/20 ⇒ 5/12/16/16/16
• Ixtal Quest Qiyana Takedown, Sunshards Given: 20/30/40/50/50 ⇒ 30/50/80/80/80
• Ixtal Quest Alternate Win/Loss, Sunshards Given: 200/280/360/450/600 ⇒ 200/280/400/500/700
• Ixtal Cashout 700 Sunshards:

• Cashout A: Artifact Anvil ⇒ Completed Item Anvil + 1 Greater Duplicator
• Cashout B: 30g ⇒ 2 Greater Duplicators

• Ixtal Cashout 800 Sunshards:
• Cashout A: 50g ⇒ 30g + 2 Brocks
• Cashout B: 145g ⇒ 120g + 2 Greater Duplicators
• Cashout C: 5 cost unit ⇒ 2 Brocks
• Ixtal Cashout 900 Sunshards:
• Cashout A: 180g ⇒ 160g + 2 Greater Duplicators
• Cashout B: 60g ⇒ 40g + 2 Greater Duplicators
• Piltover (2) Continuum Cogs AP: 12 ⇒ 15
• Piltover (4) Acceleration Gate Mana Restore: 35% ⇒ 40%
• Piltover (4) Magnetron Coil Base Amp: 18% ⇒ 16%
• Piltover (6) Armor Nullifier Tank Amp: 35% ⇒ 45%
• Piltover (6) Upgrade! Attack Speed: 15% ⇒ 25%
• Void will always offers an offensive mutation first
• Void Spitter Spines Damage: 111 ⇒ 100
• Void Royal Husk Summon HP: 25% ⇒ 30%
• Void Summon Base Resists: 30 ⇒ 40

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UNITS: TIER 1

Oftentimes in the mid to late-game, Blitzcrank won’t survive long enough to cast even once. We’re giving them a Mana buff to keep rolling and prove that metal is harder than flesh.

Previously Jhin with Attack Speed builds was too good for a 1-cost, while without Attack Speed, he’d be too bad. And because two too’s don’t make a four, we’ve got a small rework for Jhin that will make him less dependent on Rageblade and better as a more universal AD item-holder.

• Anivia Attack Speed: .70 ⇒ .75
• Blitzcrank Mana: 60/120 ⇒ 60/105
• Briar Decaying Attack Speed: 300%/300%/300% ⇒ 300%/300%/350%
• Jhin newAbility sets Jhin’s Attack Speed to a fixed 1.0AS.
• Jhin Base AD: 48 ⇒ 44
• Jhin Spell Damage: 125/190/280/370 AD ⇒ 135/200/300/400 AD
• Qiyana Ability Damage: 160/240/360/480 AD ⇒ 160/240/400/560 AD

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UNITS: TIER 2

Last patch we overnerfed Ashe and Tryndamere. We’re hoping Marc didn’t notice, but in case he did, there’s a nice buff for the pair here.

Ekko has been the dominant 2-cost of the set, being deceptively tanky with Omnivamp and benefitting a lot from our recent Zaun buffs.

As an Invoker, Orianna’s Mana buff should feel extra nice when itemized with Mana regen. Alongside how she’s easier to unlock, maybe this’ll be enough to open up a new reroll line? Only time will tell.

• Ashe Spell Damage: 120/180/285 AD ⇒ 135/195/300 AD
• Ashe Spell Damage: 15/25/35AP ⇒ 20/30/40
• Ekko Resists: 50 ⇒ 45
• Orianna Mana: 20/60 ⇒ 20/50
• Tryndamere Ability Damage: 100/150/225 ⇒ 110/160/235

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UNITS: TIER 3

Some just want Diana and Leona on the same board, this is LORE & Legends, after all. Old Leona’s kit often led Diana astray, focusing on tanks that Leona marks, resulting in an optimized Diana board without Leona—sadge. But we’re finally reuniting them, as now Diana will gain increasing AP the longer Leona survives. This’ll also impact your itemization for the pair, with Diana benefitting more from things such as the Jeweled Gauntlet and the recently buffed Nashor’s Tooth, while Leona will take your greedier tank items to stay alive in the fight.

Sejuani is a tank that’s just never itemized. We’re giving her a nice buff to her shield which should make everything from Resistances to a rogue AP item better on her (notice how I said better on her and not good. Deathcap Sejuani will still not be good for your LP).

• Draven Base AD: 50 ⇒ 53
• Leona newWhile surviving, your strongest Leona grants your strongest Diana 3/4/5/10 Ability Power each second.
• Malzahar Ability Damage: 27/40/65 AP ⇒ 29/43/68 AP
• Sejuani Shield amount: 475/525/625 AP ⇒ 525/575/675 AP
• Zoe Ability Damage: 300/450/700 AP ⇒ 330/500/770 AP

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UNITS: TIER 4

Similar to his Freljord tank counterpart, Braum is also often left unitemized as the splash units in his comps (Wukong, Taric, etc) wear all the pretty Warmogs and Vests while not even contributing to Braum’s vertical. A mighty Mana buff should raise the shield appeal of Braum and hopefully make it easier to drag that fancy Cape onto our mustached pal.

Diana’s getting reworked and rebalanced with a couple of changes to her kit (one mentioned above with our Leona change). She used to not be mana-locked (she was able to gain mana even while shielding), making her want to cast as much as possible to stack more shields. Now, she has a stronger shield, but it only exists while she is dashing (casting her ability). It’s bigger during that time, and she’s going to have a lot more AP thanks to the lady on—and/or starting—fires (Leona), but she’s going to take a while to warm up over the course of a fight.

We’ve got a decent sized Fizz nerf on the line for Fizz. Fizz has always meant to be a nuisance. He casts a lot without doing a ton of damage, but lately he’s been taking out two-star 4-cost backliners too easily and too early. We’re going hard on his damage here but doubling his Attack Speed bonus so he can get back to casting Playful Trickster, annoying more units more often, but less intensely.

With our Kai’Sa Unlock Condition update, she’s coming to your shops at Level 7 instead of 8, which means we need to give her a slight nerf, but just at one-star to account for her newfound accessibility.

For Taric, it turns out 90% Durability was essentially Ox Force (old invincibility trait) style tanking, which is not great for game health or player experience, as sometimes it would prevent almost the entirety of a consequential cast, while other times it would only block 2 or 3 autos. These highs and lows are being replaced by a more consistent, less frustrating (and slightly weaker in many cases), heal over time.

• Braum Mana: 60/120 ⇒ 60/105
• Diana Shield Duration: 2s with no Mana Lock ⇒ Shield and Mana Lock end when Diana’s dashes end
• Diana Shield Amount: 80/120/200 AP ⇒ 100/175/300 AP
• Diana Target Damage: 165/250/500 AP ⇒ 125/190/600 AP
• Diana Secondary Damage: 150/225/1350 AP ⇒ 140/210/1350 AP
• Fizz fixed a bug where Fizz targeting was inconsistent among backliners.
• Fizz Splash Damage: 110/165/450 AP ⇒ 75/115/450 AP
• Fizz Empowered Attack Damage: 80/120/600 AP ⇒ 50/75/600 AP
• Fizz Spell AS: 50% ⇒ 100%
• Garen Heal: 300/350/1200 AP ⇒ 250/300/1200 AP
• Kai’sa (1-star) AD Kai’sa Spell Damage: 42/63/150 AD ⇒ 39/63/150 AD
• Kai’sa (1-star) Kai’sa Spell Damage: 265/400/1600 AP ⇒ 250/400/1600 AP
• Taric [Adjusted] At 35% health: Gain 90% Durability for 2 seconds ⇒ Heal for 300/700/2500 Health over 2 seconds

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UNITS: TIER 5

When’s the last time you saw a Sylas, Annie, Tibbers board? The SATs? I thought we were prioritizing the ACTs?

Aurelion Sol has struggled to fill the celestial-dragon sized shoes, a flying behemoth would never need. We’re reworking how he gathers Stardust to be based on his damage instead of units hit, opening up more than just Mana builds. Upgrade breakpoints have been retuned around this.

Galio is also the beneficiary of some ability retuning. Instead of having his damage scale with his MR, it will now depend on both MR and Armor. While the MR scaling was thematically resonant, we don’t want to have Galio’s itemization be as narrow (many players opting to not itemize him at all) as it has been to find success.

Remember our earlier conversation around Taric and his Ox Force style invulnerability window? Me neither, that was like one whole section ago and I can’t be bothered to scroll back up. Anyways, Kindred’s ability has been a source of frustration, over-powered moments, and lackluster casts. At such a high mana-cost, their ability could save a fight by blocking an entire cast from a Veigar or Baron, or it could just soak a few autos. This low consistency and high frustration had us overnerf them in 16.2, so today we’re back with a rework that should be a decent-sized buff in most situations. Allies will now get a meaty shield for the ability’s duration, while we’re also able to add a nice buff to both the duration and Kindred’s Eternal passive damage.

Lucian & Senna’s power source has been hard to discern. I mean Sentinel weapons are powered by belief that they will work to an extent, but that’s not great for the design of this duo unit. We’re adjusting the duo to no longer apply Black Mist to enemies, which was eating up a lot of Armor while also applying things like Burn/Wound for far too long. That also allows us to budget more power for Senna’s big blast, but not too much; we want to avoid a situation where she is deleting backliners early on in a fight, so we’re adding a damage fall-off to the blast.

With our Shyvana buffs, she should be casting more with her cone, which is great cause it will allow her to get better line-ups throughout the fight. Speaking of line-ups, I’m not sure whose were better in the new Season start cinematic, Quinn’s or Valor’s?

Previously on patch notes: T-Hex was slain in 16.2 after nearly a full patch of complete domination using three-star Caitlyns like hextech Mana batteries. T-Hex has been quiet for a full patch now, too quiet. With a small Piltover buff and a few stat buffs, T-Hex should be able to take out frontliners just as fast as before, with a few limitations—first, the cast won’t last as long without 16.1’s three-star Caitlyn Mana Regen, second, the 16.2 damage fall-off nerfs will still make his backline access limited, and third, we’re lowering his ambient Missile damage that can occasionally poke down back-liners as well. So, T-Hex is back, but your backline is not on the menu (inb4 your frontline gets gobbled up).

Ziggs with Attack Speed had far too much damage. We’re lowering the passive magic damage of his attacks to save the big pay-off for his Mega Inferno Bomb!

• Aatrox Spell cast Animation no longer scales with Attack Speed.
• Aatrox Spell Damage: 85/170/2400 AD ⇒ 95/200/2400 AD
• Annie Mana: 0/170 ⇒ 0/160
• Annie Post-Cast Mana Reduction: 150 ⇒ 140 (Annie is still 20 Mana)
• Aurelion Sol Mana: 20/90 ⇒ 25/75
• Aurelion Sol Spell Damage: 450/800 AP ⇒ 480/800
• Aurelion Sol Shockwave Damage: 50/75/1000 AP ⇒ 100/150/1000 AP
• Aurelion Sol Meteor Damage: 1000/1500 ⇒ 500/750
• Aurelion Sol Stardust Rework: No longer gains 1 Stardust for each time an enemy is damaged by an ability. 1 Stardust is now gained for every 250 Ability damage dealt to enemies this combat
• Aurelion Sol Star Forger Bonus Stardust: 20/60% ⇒ 20/33%
• Aurelion Sol Upgrade Breakpoints:
• Upgrade 1: 15 ⇒ 25
• Upgrade 2: 60 ⇒ 60
• Upgrade 3: 100 ⇒ 140
• Upgrade 4: 175 ⇒ 200, Knockup Duration: 2s ⇒ 1.5s
• Upgrade 5: 250 ⇒ 300
• Upgrade 6: 400 ⇒ 475
• Upgrade 7: 700 ⇒ 750
• Upgrade 8: 1988 ⇒ 1543
• Galio Crash Damage: 400/675/5000% MR ⇒ 150/225/1000% Armor + 350/525/5000% MR
• Kindred [REWORK] Spell no longer prevents allies from dying. Now shields allies for 350/750/10000% AP for the zone’s duration.
• Kindred Eternal Passive Damage: 300% AD ⇒ 325% AD
• Kindred Zone Duration: 2s ⇒ 2.5s
• Lucian & Senna Soulbound tooltip clarifies that Damage Amp and Durability only persist while they survive.
• Senna no longer applies Black Mist to enemies.
• Lucian no longer consumes Black Mist.
• Senna Spell Damage: 170/255/2000 AD ⇒ 230/350/2000 AD
• Senna spell does 8% less damage for each target hit, up to a maximum of 40% reduction.
• Mel Primary Target Damage: 900/1500 AP ⇒ 1000/1500 AP
• Shyvana Passive Ability Damage Reduction: 10% ⇒ 8%
• Shyvana Mana: 0/40 ⇒ 0/30
• Shyvana Spell Duration: 3.5s ⇒ 3s
• Shyvana Spell Damage Per Second: 165/250 AD ⇒ 185/275 AD
• Mel Primary Target Damage: 900/1500 AP ⇒ 1000/1500 AP
• Sylas Resists: 70 ⇒ 80
• T-Hex Resists: 70 ⇒ 80
• T-Hex Base AD: 75 ⇒ 85
• T-Hex Spell Damage: 125/200 AD ⇒ 145/250 AD
• T-Hex Missile Damage: 30% of base ⇒ 25% of base
• Thresh Passive Damage: 30/50 AP + 1 Per 20 Souls ⇒ 30/50 + 1 Per 15 Souls
• Thresh Passive Healing: 50% damage dealt ⇒ 75% damage dealt
• Xerath Ascendent Charms:
• Desert Golem Renamed to Desert Golems
• Desert Golem Cost: 6 gold ⇒ 8 gold
• Desert Golem Golem Count: 1 ⇒ 2
• Desert Golem Bonus Attack Damage: 60% ⇒ 40%
• Desert Golem Bonus Ability Power: 60% ⇒ 40%
• Persistent Arcanery Now grants Xerath 3 mana regen
• Persistent Arcanery Extra blast: 4 ⇒ 2
• Rite of Negation No longer grants Durability
• Rite of Negation Now grants 15% Damage Amp
• Sacrificial Guard Removed
• Ziggs Passive Damage: 45/80 AP ⇒ 40/65 AP

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CORE ITEMS

We’re buffing our worst performing core items and giving Nashor’s Tooth an AP buff to maintain its identity in big BOOM caster builds.

• Edge of Night newHeals for 30% of missing health at the end of invulnerability.
• Nashor’s Tooth AP: 15 ⇒ 20

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ARTIFACTS

Artifacts are just a tad below where we want them to be, so we’re buffing our struggling ancient gear. As an Ornn enjoyer, all I see are Ornn buffs.

• Darkin Scythe Health: 0 ⇒ 250
• Darkin Scythe AP: 25% ⇒ 0
• Dawncore AD/AP: 10% ⇒ 15%
• Flickerblades AS Per Attack: 5% ⇒ 6%
• Gambler’s Blade Gold Chance: 5% ⇒ 6%
• The Indomitable Max HP: 12% ⇒ 15%
• Sniper’s Focus AD/AP: 20% ⇒ 25%

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RADIANT ITEMS

• Radiant Nashor’s Tooth AP: 30 ⇒ 40

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AUGMENTS

While performing well above the line at high skill, World Runes continues to struggle at low to average skill brackets. We’re at a point where nerfing this Augment would make it so deeply and unfairly a trap option at lower skills that it has become… unbalanceable. We will be bringing back World Runes in a new way in a future patch.

With new Diana/Leona and Aurelion Sol buffs/reworks, we’re adding a new Augment to help you live your Targon dreams. The mountain calls! Will you answer?

• NEW: Cosmic Calling (Gold, 3-2 only); Gain a Spear of Shojin and a Leona. On Stage 3-7, gain a Taric.
• Growth Mindset Re-enabled
• Growth Mindset No longer reduces XP cost to 3.
• Growth Mindset Initial XP: 36 ⇒ 50
• Aura Farming 2-star 5-cost now holds a recommended item.
• Aura Farming Unlock Round: 4-3 ⇒ 4-5
• Bringer of Ruin AP Per Takedown: 2 ⇒ 1
• Call to Chaos Melee Carry Golem reward removed
• Call to Chaos Golden Egg Reward, Initial Completed Item Anvils: 2 ⇒ 1
• Chosen Wolves Ambessa Bonus AD: 30% ⇒ 40%
• Chosen Wolves Wolf Damage: 25% ⇒ 30%
• Component Heist Turns: 5 ⇒ 4
• Crash Test Dummies Stun Duration: 1.25s ⇒ 1.75s
• Demacia Forever Health Per Rally: 4 ⇒ 3
• Dragonguards Jarvan Armor/MR Damage: 185% ⇒ 100/120/155/200%
• Exiles Shield: 35% ⇒ 30%
• Going Long XP Per Round: 5 ⇒ 4
• Going Long Initial Gold: 4 ⇒ 15
• Golden Egg Cashout with “Anima Visage” is replaced with “The Indomitable”.
• Hard Commit Gold Per Stage: 2 ⇒ 7
• Hefty Rolls Health Per Roll: 8 ⇒ 9
• Hustler No longer grants 2 XP per round.
• Hustler Gold Per Round: 2 ⇒ 3
• Hustler Initial Gold: 1 ⇒ 6
• Know Your Enemy Damage Amp: 10/18% ⇒ 8/15%
• Pair of Fours Removed
• Precision and Grace No longer dashes at the start of combat.
• Precision and Grace New tooltip: At the start of combat, allies gain 25% Attack Speed for 3 seconds. On takedown, allies dash to their next target and gain this bonus again.
• Preparation I AD/AP: 2 ⇒ 3
• Preparation II AD/AP: 3 ⇒ 4
• Slice of Life Unit Cost Given Per Stage:3/3/3/4/4/4/5 ⇒ 2/2/3/3/4/4/5
• Spreading Roots+ Gold: 4 ⇒ 2
• Sweet Treats Health Per Item: 25 ⇒ 20
• The Trait Tree Gold: 7 ⇒ 2
• The Trait Tree+ Gold: 12 ⇒ 4
• Wild Growth Bonus AD/AP: 25% ⇒ 35%
• The World Runes Temporarily removed
• Worth the Wait No longer has a 2 turn delay before granting more copies.

• Darius should no longer be Mana Locked for longer than intended in some rare circumstances.
• Band of Thieves I and Band of Thieves II are now mutually exclusive.
• Galio no longer interacts unintentionally with other systems
• One Twos Three no longer grants an additional 1-cost champion.
• Those are for cooking, not eating: Tahm Kench can no longer spit out Spatulas and Frying Pans.
• Bilgewater Items no longer interact unintentionally with other systems
• Units no longer lose the Durability from Big Friend I if they separate from their ally with 1750+ Health during combat.
• Void Mutations no longer persist from higher tiers when dropping to lower tiers.
• Armories now last indefinitely in Tutorial Mode
• Sentinels of Light Augment Disabled
• Fixed some cases where Ixtal 7 wouldn't work before or after PvE rounds.