Legends of Runeterra Patch Notes 0.9.4 – Buffs, Nerfs, Balance Changes

Legends of Runeterra 0.9.4 – Patch Notes

Below we’ve rounded up all the essential takeaways from this patch.

What are the key changes?

First and foremost, Expedition tweaks.

• Bonus Archetype: Crimson Guard has been added. It pairs the self-damaging effects and bonuses for surviving damage from Noxus alongside Barriers plus Tough and Regeneration units from Demacia.
• Archetype Tweaks: Loads of archetypes, including Battle Scars, Cloning Program and more have been tweaked with extra cards or card removals.
• Cohesiveness Rating: A new tuning value that allows Riot to control how quickly a particular archetype will be disallowed from showing up in Wild Picks when your deck doesn’t include any cards from that archetype.
• Wild Pick Bonus Chance: This is another tuning value that allows Riot to increase the frequency with which you’ll see an archetype during your Wild Picks, but only during drafts where it’s your primary archetype.
• Next Patch: Expeditions will be updated to include the new set and seventh region. Expect new primary archetypes for each of the new region pairings, so at least seven more archetypes added to the current total of 24, bringing the mode to over 30.

Next up, card changes.

• Draven: “Level Up: I’ve struck twice with a [Spinning Axe]. → I’ve struck with two total [Spinning Axe]”. Should give players more windows and incentives to use Spinning Axes on Draven himself, in addition to rummaging them away or buffing other units.
• Katarina: “Old text: Level Up: I’ve struck once. When I level up, recall me.” → “New text: Play: Create a [Fleeting] Blade’s Edge in hand. Level Up: I’ve struck once. When I level up, recall me.” She’s now more versatile and can be played in a wider variety of strategies.
• Yasuo Level 1: “Health: 3 → 4” His increased health should make him more consistently usable throughout matches.
• Yasuo Level 2: “Health: 4 → 5”
• Kalista Level 1: “Level Up: I’ve seen 4+ allies die. → I’ve seen 3+ allies die.” This makes her level up consistently more attainable.

Ezreal and Karma are on the watchlist, which means they’re likely going to see some adjustments. Riot is currently closely monitoring these two champions, so expect a couple of reworks to drop in the near future.

A few other cards have seen changes or card text clarity tweaks. We haven’t listed them all here as it would be utterly exhaustive, but you can have a look over on the official patch notes page if you’re interested.

Of course there are quite a few miscellaneous adjustments and bugfixes which should make the game a much smoother experience.

Legends of Runeterra 0.9.3 – Patch Notes

Riot has focused on plenty of progression changes with this patch, which should make the game more rewarding in practically every way. Now this, this we can really get on board with.

For a really in-depth read on Riot’s decision making when it came to crafting this patch, head on over to its official patch 0.9.3 page.

Read on for a quick break down on all the tweaks coming with patch 0.9.3:

When does update 0.9.3 release?

This patch will release on March 31st. It’s aimed at giving players “more agency” and the “ability to obtain and change decks quicker and more efficiently”.

What are the key changes?

Here’s a rundown of the main tweaks in this patch:

Purchase unlimited wildcards

• No more weekly stock in the store.
• Alternatively, you can directly purchase cards in the Collection tab using Coins (cost is identical to the equivalent wildcard).

Earn unlimited (and improved) Vault rewards

• Level 2+ includes an Expedition Token (previously awarded at level 10).
• Level 5+ includes a random Champion card (you can Braum Wave goodbye to bad luck Vaults with no Champions).
• Level 10+ includes a Champion Wildcard (replaces level 5 random Champion card).
• Level 13 and beyond include additional, unlimited capsules, each of which contains at least 3 Rares and 2 Commons, with a chance to upgrade to an Epic or Champion Capsule.

Earn unlimited XP

• PVP wins in Normal / Ranked and Expeditions net you at least 200 and 100 base XP (respectively), every time. Play as much as you want!
• AI wins will always provide at least 50 XP going forward.
• AI wins 1-10: 100 XP
• AI wins 10+: 50 XP

Easily and consistently play Expeditions

Entry is now 2000 Shards or 200 Coins, and along with the Token in level 2 Vaults, you’ll be able to play Expeditions more easily and less expensively. Although, rewards have been toned down a little to compensate.

Here’s a look at all the updated reward structure:

• 0 wins: Epic Capsule
• Epic Capsules contain an Epic, 2x Rares and 2x Commons, all with a random chance to upgrade (including the capsule itself).
• 1 win: Epic Capsule, 100 Shards
• 2 wins: Epic Capsule, 200 Shards
• 3 wins: Epic Capsule, 200 Shards, Common Wildcard
• 4 wins: Epic Capsule, 300 Shards, 2x Common Wildcards
• 5 wins: Epic Capsule, 500 Shards, Rare wildcard, Common Wildcard
• 6 wins: Epic Capsule, 1000 Shards, Rare Wildcard, Common Wildcard
• 7 wins: Epic Capsule, 2000 Shards, 2x Rare Wildcards

As 0.9.3 goes live, all players wILL receive 1000 Shards per Expedition Token already in their inventory. There won’t be any ‘ceremony’, so to speak, so just keep an eye on your Shard total.

Prologue Rewards Tweak

New players will now be introduced to more cards when working their way through the early ranks, and they’ll receive spendable currency after they’ve got a bit more experience.

• Level 2 reward adjusted (Rare WC + 200 Shards → Epic WC + 200 Shards) and moved to level 9.
• Levels 3-9 rewards bumped up one level each (so they’re now levels 2-8).

The Harrowing has been updated

It’s card text has been updated to reflect that it now only revives allies (rather than any unit).

• Old rules text: Revive the 6 Strongest units that died this game and grant them Ephemeral.
• New rules text: Revive the 6 Strongest allies that died this game and grant them Ephemeral.

Card text clarity

Tonnes of card text has been tweaked to eliminate as much confusing text as possible. The list is exhaustive, so we won’t post it here, but rest assured Riot took a look at all of the game’s cards and made a whole host of tweaks!

Master Tier

Riot acknowledges that its rating system was locking down high-level MMR too tightly and too quickly, which resulted in extremely static Master Tier rankings.

It’s first tweak gave the system more fredom to adjust MMR based on game results, but it turned out to be a little too punishing on the losses front.

Riot’s done some tweaking to ensure it’s not quite so wobbly:

• Master Tier players should see smaller swings in rank (both up and down) after each game.

Expeditions Archetypes

“Shadows and Dust” isn’t in the best of spots, so Riot’s adding a card that’ll help you buy more time for your Ephemeral units to slip through your opponent’s defenses.

• Added: Darkwater Scourge

“Disruption” is is a good spot, but Zephyr Sage had found its way into five different archetypes and this is one which didn’t feel quite right.

• Removed: Zephyr Sage.

Legends of Runeterra 0.9.2 – Patch Notes

Riot has made some significant changes to Legends of Runeterra for version 0.9.2 of the game’s beta. Here’s everything you need to know.

For the full notes, Riot have put a page on the Legends of Runeterra site going into full detail. For your convenience though, we’ve got all the most important and impactful changes right here.

Champion Card Buffs and Nerfs

Here’s all the big changes for Champions in Legends of Runeterra’s 0.9.2 update:

• Hecarim‘s health has been reduced by 1, but his level up condition is now easier to access. This means he’s more a card you’ll need to build an Ephemeral deck around, rather than simply bunging him into any deck at all. To help with this Ephemeral build, Onslaught of Shadows (and Hecarim’s Onslaught of Shadows) have been reduced in cost from 3 to 2, and the Spectral Riders summoned by Hecarim have been reduced in power from 3 to 2.
• Kalista was the least played champion in the last patch. She’s just a bit too fragile. Thankfully, her health has been buffed from 2 to 3, and she no longer has to see her allies die. She doesn’t have to bond with allies anymore either – she instead revives an attacking Ephemeral copy of the Strongest dead allied follower, who also takes damage for her. It’s pretty brutal, and will be extremely strong in Ephemeral and Last Breath-focused decks. Kalista’s Black Spear (and the standard spell) is being changed from costing 2 to 3 too, thankfully.

Follower and Spell Card Buffs and Nerfs

• Border Lookout has been changed to Vanguard Lookout, and is now an Elite
• Mageseeker Inciter is being changed to a 4/3 from a 1/4, and can now buff itself by +2/+2 if you’ve cast a 6 cost spell this game. Previously, this card didn’t really have a home, forcing users to discard a strong card to buff it, so this one should be easier and work well alongside Lux.
• Mageseeker Investigator has been changed to be more flexible too. If you’ve cast a 6+ cost spell this game, it’ll create a Detain spell, hugely useful in control decks and a great way to get some value in play.
• Another mageseeker – Mageseeker Persuader is getting a bunch of tweaks. Its cost is going down from 6 to 2, its power from 4 to 3, and its health buffed from 1 to 2. Previously, you had to discard a spell and get Health equal to its cost, but now you get +1/+1 and Challenger if you’ve cast a 6+ spell, making it much more flexible thanks to its lower cost. These cards should all find a home in decks along with the likes of Lux, and we’ll keep you updated with more if we can.
• Crowd Favorite has had its Health reduced from 2 to 1, just to make it that bit easier to kill off. It was pretty damn powerful, so fair enough.
• Iceborn Legacy has been given both a buff and a nerf. It now costs 5 rather than 3, and is a Slow spell rather than Burst. However, it gives an ally and all allied copies of it +2/+2 rather than +1/+1, which is far stronger in the long run.
• Pack Mentality is a bit too hard to make work, since you have to have a board full of Elnuks or something. Now, it gives all your allies on board +2/+2 and Overwhelm, making it great as a wide-board finisher.
• Poro Snax is being buffed. Delicious. It now costs 4 rather than 3 to make it more viable in Expeditions.
• Troop of Elnuks was a pretty RNG-heavy card. It’s been redesigned now though. Instead of summoning all Elnuks from the top 10 cards in your deck, it summons Elnuks from the top 6, and shuffles the rest of them back in.
• Navori Conspirator is a bit too strong considering its Elusive keyword. That’s why it’s being nerfed by 1 power, from 3 to 2. It’s still buffable, but not nearly as scary.
• Chump Whump‘s stats were surprisingly good. A 4 mana 4/4 with upside is nothing to be sniffed at, so it’s being moved down to 3 Health to make it slightly less sticky.
• Flash of Brilliance has been switched up to guarantee a 6+ cost spell in hand, rather than any spell. This makes it great in combination with the likes of Heimerdinger and Lux, but low-rolled far too often with these synergies.
• Rummage has been given a slight boost in usability. You can now discard 1 to draw 1 if you have exactly one card in hand, making it playable as cycle with a nearly empty hand.
• Unstable Voltician hasn’t seen a lot of play, so it’s now been put on a level with the mageseeker cards above. Now, you can cast a 6-cost spell after summoning the unit, giving you that extra little bit of flexibility.
• Brood Awakening has been changed in cost from 6 to 5, making it more appealing to spider decks.
• Mark of the Isles lets you grant an ally +2/+2 and Ephemeral, down from 3 each before. It was just too strong for a 1 cost spell, capable of finishing games ludicrously quickly.
• The Rekindler has been increased from 6 to 7 in mana cost. This is because it’s just a bit too easy to resummon Champions.

The Watchlist

These cards are on the ‘watchlist’ for the future of Legends of Runeterra, potentially getting nerfs in the future.

• Elise + Frenzied Skitterer – These Fearsome spooders are still carrying a lot of power with their versatility and survivability. The dev team feel they’re just a little too popular for the game’s good, so the power level of the Shadow Isles’ spider decks will be monitored until they know how the current buffs and nerfs impact these cards’ power level.
• Glimpse Beyond is a great way to both draw cards and set off Last Breath effects. It also acts as a ‘Deny‘-like effect if you cast it on a friendly unit who’s been targeted by an enemy spell. The dev team worry any change might make the card much worse though, so it’s another case of waiting to see whether or not the current changes impact the meta positively.
• Shadow Assassin is apparently the most-played card in the entire game. It’s easy to see why – 3 mana for an Elusive 2/2 that draws you a card is almost without downside. It’s in pretty much every Ionia deck, and makes it into a lot of single-region decks too, as a little treat. We’ll see if this continues – if it does there’ll likely be a change to this one.

Game Feel Changes

A few tweaks were made to game pacing and feel. The full list is on the Legends of Runeterra site, but for your convenience we’ve put the list below.

• Continued general improvements, including smoother blocking and clearer action cues as you play units and spells.
• A variety of Poison Puffcap animations take less time and can overlap with one another, for beautiful rolling waves of mushrooms.
• Draven’s Spinning Axes take less time when both created and cast.
• Level 2 Hecarim’s buff visuals are significantly faster, especially across many Ephemeral allies.
• Eager Apprentice, Inspiring Mentor, and Tortured Prodigy now take a more appropriately short amount of time for their simple effects.
• The discard animation is now faster and clearer, and opponent discards now properly reveal the card before disintegrating.

A few hanges have been made to turn timers too. Casting Burst spells puts a little more time, and your opponent casting loads of spells at the end of their turn now gives you a bit of extra time. This is here to counteract a boatload of enemy burst spells taking time away from your turn.

Expedition Archetype Changes

A few changes have been made to Expeditions archetypes to make it a tiny bit more balanced. Here’s what’s in store:

• Demacian Steel: Added Mobilize, removed Back to Back
• Noxian Might: Added Guile, Removed Elixir of Wrath
• Shroom and Boom: Added Scrapdash Assembly, Removed Amateur Aeronaut
• Spellbound: Added Back to Back, Removed Detain
• Relentless: Added Lucian and Laurent Duelist, Removed Garen and Brightsteel Protector
• Battle Scars: Added Might, Alpha Wildclaw, Avarosan Marksman, and Battle Fury, Removed Blood for Blood, Bull Elnuk, Kindly Tavernkeeper, and Starlit Seer
• Total Recall: Added Amateur Aeronaut, Removed Golden Crushbot
• Arachnophilia: Added Elixir of Wrath
• Shadows and Dust: Increased chances of it showing up in Wild picks when you’ve picked it already

Legends of Runeterra 0.9.0 – Patch Notes

For the full notes, Riot have put a page on the Legends of Runeterra site going into full detail. For your convenience though, we’ve got all the most important and impactful changes right here.

Card Balance Changes – Buffs and Nerfs

What most people are here for: Card buffs and nerfs. Some of the strongest cards in the game, most notably from the Shadow Isles, have been taken down a notch, whilst a few cards have benefited from a little bit of love. Here’s the lowdown on all the tweaks.

Card Buffs

Good news for some of you – Yasuo and Lux are receiving buffs! There’s a few other alterations coming too, making some cards, and some decks, stronger.

• Lux has been beefed up in both attack power and health. Previously sitting at a 6 mana 3/4 before upgrading, she’s now a 4/5. When she levels up, she becomes a 5/6, making it far easier to keep her alive and build around her.
• Yasuo’s level up condition has been made easier. Previously, you had to Stun or Recall 6 units, but now it’s only 5. Yasuo was getting hit by a lot of the nerfs we’ll detail later on, when these nerfs were actually aimed at taking Elusive units down a peg. Making Yasuo easier to upgrade therefore means you’ll be more able to seize control of the game.
• Arena Battlecaster has had its health raised from 1 to 2, hopefully making it more useful for aggressive Noxus decks thanks to its slightly higher survival rate.
• Crimson Curator is now a 3/3 rather than a 3/2. This should let it survive damage more easily, both combined with effects like Vladimir and when blocking enemy attacks. You’ll be able to generate more value, and hopefully make these decks more viable.
• Jeweled Protector was a 5 mana 3/3 which buffed a friendly unit by +3/+3 in hand. Making it a 4/4 instead means you’re losing out on less tempo when using Jeweled Protector, making handbuffing stronger in the late game.
• Scuttlegeist was a 5/5 whose cost was reduced from 10 by 1 mana with each friendly unit that’s died this game. Now it’s been given Fearsome, partly to compensate with the Shadow Isles’ nerfs, and partly to make this card a little more unnerving for enemies to handle.
• Tortured Prodigy was buffed by 1 attack power for the same reason- making it a little more viable for Shadow Isles decks who usually overrely on now-nerfed cards.

Card Nerfs

That’s the happy news out of the way – here’s the cards who’ve been hit by nerfs in patch 0.9.0:

• Back to Back has been made more expensive, from 5 to 6 mana. This is because it was far too easy and flexible, thanks to its Burst speed, to sneak it into a turn and swing a game with ease. Now, it’s a bit tougher to fit the mana cost in, making it more predictable and reactable.
• Deny has gone from 3 to 4 mana. It’s a card that’s had a lot of complaints and discussion around it, but one that’s healthy for the game as a whole. Being 4 mana now means you’re unable to just use your banked Spell Mana to cast Deny, and you’ll have to sacrifice tempo if you’re predicting an enemy spell to be cast.
• Inspiring Mentor is getting a few changes. It’s now a 1 mana 1/2 instead of 1/1, but only buffs a unit in hand by +1/+0 rather than +1/+1. This is because it was far too strong alongside Elusive units. Elusives are supposed to have low health totals, so allowing Inspiring Mentor to buff this so early in the game led to some ridiculous snowballing.
• Kinkou Lifeblade had its health nerfed from 3 to 2. This is for similar reasons as the Inspiring Mentor nerf, and means it can be more easily taken down by ping effects like Mystic Shot.
• Commander Ledros no longer rounds the enemy Nexus’ health down when halving an odd number. This means he can no longer finish a match when they’re on 1 health. He’s also been made more expensive, from 8 to 9, and given an extra notch of attack power to compensate.
• Rhasa the Sunderer is now 8 mana rather than 7. It was far too easy to force your enemy into an unavoidable Rhasa, so making her 8 mana should mean it’s tougher to engineer a situation wherein she’s taking out enemy units easily.
• Wraithcaller has lost its Fearsome keyword. This is because Mistwraith already has Fearsome, and it’s a little bit extreme if that many Fearsome units are all coming down at once. At least now, small units will be able to block Wraithcaller.

The Watchlist

Legends of Runeterra has a ‘watchlist’ – things the devs are keeping an eye on and may be slated for tweaks next time around. This patch, they’re looking at Fearsome and Control archetypes, since they hold the potential to be way harder to interact with for enemies.

UI, Deckbuilder, and Animation changes

A few small changes to the deckbuilder UI are in store. Card Counts (as in how many copies of a card you have) will be displayed more clearly, and the display of the game’s various currencies is going to be made more accessible. As well as this, numerous animations are being made snappier and faster, hopefully stopping you from having your turn disrupted by in-progress animations.

It’s also been made more obvious which actions can be responded to by your opponents. Units with effects that allow the enemy to react now have a ‘Skills’ icon next to its ‘play’ or ‘attack’ text. If the enemy can’t react, this icon will not be present.

Expeditions Changes

Expeditions has added a few cards to the mix, and removed others.

The various ‘buckets’ and archetypes you can choose from in Expeditions have had their own individual tweaks.

• Demacian Steel has had Chain Vest added, a slightly weaker card to counter the archetype’s high success rate.
• Battle Scars isn’t great at closing out games, so it’s had Might and Alpha Wildclaw added, replacing Blood for Blood and Bull Elnuk.
• Suit Up is too powerful at the moment, so Bull Elnuk has replaced Alpha Wildclaw.
• Shroom and Boom isn’t particularly strong at the moment, so weaker cards like Get Excited!, Academy Prodigy, and Chempunk Shredder have been removed. They’ve been replaced with Assembly Bot, Statikk Shock, and Plaxa Guardian.

As well as this, the trade picks you get will be slightly smarter, helping you get better choices more often.

XP and Rewards changes

Expeditions XP has been decreased, apparently because it turned out to be the best way to grind XP.

• 0 wins: 100 → 50
• 1 win: 300 → 150
• 2 wins: 500 → 250
• 3 wins: 700 → 400
• 4 wins: 900 → 600
• 5 wins: 1200 → 800
• 6 wins: 1500 → 1000
• 7 wins: 2000 → 1500

Also, you’ll no longer end up gaining 0 XP for PVP wins if you’ve won 31+ games in a single day. Now, you’ll get 100 XP from 21 wins onward.

You can’t grind Friend Challenge as much anymore either. Losses and ties grant 0 XP, whilst you only gain 100 XP for the first 5 wins. These games no longer give you the daily PVP XP bonus as well, so you’ll have to work a bit harder for those extra points.

Other Changes

You’ll now be able to sort out your FPS settings in the menu. Previously, 30/60 was the default, with 30 FPS during non-interactive moments and 60 during interactive ones. Now, you can lock your frame rate at 60, or allow the game to run as fast as possible, up to 240 FPS. Be aware though – this’ll massively increase your battery consumption.

That’s all the big changes for patch 0.9.0 in Legends of Runeterra! It’s a lot to take in, but in the future we’ll have seasonal updates, with new cards added, three balance patches of varying size, and a flexible outlook on future patches. Keep an eye out here for all the changes coming! Why not try out the latest meta with our Legends of Runeterra best decks while you’re at it!