A recent League of Legends “/dev” post has shown us some possible changes that might be coming to ARAM. These changes are going to be tested out during Patch 9.7. Depending on the success, we could see rollout at a later date. But are the changes cause for celebration or cause for alarm?
Butcher’s Bridge is back on ARAM! Yo ho!
The only reskin of the Howling Abyss is making another round in the game… But not for too long. Riot Mort explains, “while we are testing a lot of changes that could be made permanent, the map will not be up for consideration at this time.”
Bans to ARAM! Thank goodness!
The most frustrating thing to see in ARAMs is when multiple games in a row, it’s the same two-to-four champions making the rounds. Many accounts only play ARAMs, and in so doing only buy ARAM-friendly champions. A new ability to select champions to ban in ARAM will remove some of the unfairness of the ARAM accounts. It also means that you never have to see another Blitzcrank, Ziggs, Sona, Soraka, Fiddlesticks, Vel’Koz, or any other frustrating champion in ARAMs. While the purpose of ARAM is randomness, implementing a ban system should make the game more controlled.
Late games begone!
Basically, the game will stay the same up until 15:00 minutes, but afterwards, minions and damage to towers will get buffed. Minions will spawn more frequently, up to every 15 seconds, and will have increasing movement speed up to 425 movement speed. Minion spawn will max out at 25:00 minutes in and movement speed will max out at 20:00 minutes. Also at 15:00 minutes, champions will do 10 percent increased damage to structures and max out at 25:00 minutes at 30 percent damage.
Poke is less broke
Aside from non-ultimates and damage-over-time abilities, poke can be really frustrating to deal with. The change is that any damage from 900 units or farther will deal 15 percent less damage, and a little indicator shield will display the reduction.
Slide to the fountain
Barrier is being removed from ARAMs in favor of a new summoner spell: Backtrack. What happens is that you get a smaller shield than Barrier, and then after 3 seconds, it slides you back towards your fountain. The slide will be greater for melee champions and lesser for ranged champions. Melee assassins should have more escapes now. Mort also says Skarner can Backtrack and ult to slide the suppressed back into your team.
New items and change to Warmog’s
One brand new item and one returning will hit the map during the changes. With the same build and stats as Guardian Angel, Mariner’s Vengeance works after death. The champion will “become invulnerable, cleanse all CC, and refresh your basic abilities cooldowns at the time of death. However, four seconds later, you still die.” So not really a way to prevent assassins, but will probably work well with fighters like Jax, Riven (shown in the /dev post), or Renekton.
Ghostwalkers are back, and you’ll be able to cosplay Kayn and walk through walls for a short time with some added movement speed on top.
Warmog’s Armor will also be getting a change. The passive has “been changed from restoring 5% of max HP per second to 5% of missing HP per second” in order to give champions better healing at low health and not top people off every 5 seconds.
Runes and champion changes
Lastly, various little modifications to runes and champions will occur. For instance, with runes, Triumph and Presence of Mind are having their effectiveness roughly cut in half. Meanwhile, many champions will either be taking more or less damage and/or doing more or less damage. You can review the nitty-gritty details at the ARAM changes post.
Remember that these are just possible changes and that numbers and effects are subject to change. Keep your eyes and ears close when the changes hit. Riot will be looking for feedback on what’s staying and what’s going. Let us know what your favorite ARAM changes are and what you liked least! And as always, stay tuned for more League of Legends news at Daily Esports.
Published: Mar 21, 2019 02:44 pm