Between player damage changes and continued optimization, Fortune has been mathed out at high elos, and the numbers there are looking too good. Lowering the base luck in stage 3 means you’re going to have to take more losses to get the same level of rewards. Will this stop me and other econ trait aficionados from playing it…you’ll just have to check our LP to find out.

Our 14.8 compensation buff to Gnar after nerfing his core item went too far, so we’re doing a near-full revert of the buff. Unitemized, he’ll still be slightly better than 14.7 Gnar, but alongside the Titan’s nerf, this should leave him near power-neutral.

Ornn was one of the best 4-cost tanks before our round of 4-cost buffs, and the HP buff we gave him was amplified more than expected by the HP scaling in his ability. We’re lowering that HP scaling to keep him from crowding out other frontline options.

Irelia’s targeting nerf this patch hit her hard. Without (odd) access to backliners, her damage ended up getting soaked up by a frontline she couldn’t get through despite her armor sunder. Giving her some base AD will allow her to cut through the frontline faster and benefit even more from the AS she gets from her go-to items and Duelist trait.

Alright, the Trickshot section. First, off let’s address the trait. We’re leaving the trait as is because Sivir and Bard are currently struggling to find a place in the meta and opting instead to focus on Trickshot’s primary offenders who saw buffs in 14.8.

We’re happy with 3-star Teemo’s potential as a reroll carry, but as an item holder, his high damage provides too much power in early stages. But wait, maybe nerfing that damage is really a Fortune buff… thinking.

Kai’Sa’s multi-scaling ability has had her chewing through tanks and backliners alike. In a world where free AP (from things like Giantslayer, Rageblade, or even traits like Arcanist/Sage) is all around nerfing, just her AD is not enough. With our nerf here, we’re hoping to bring her in line with similar 4-cost carries like Ashe.

Lastly, Xayah. Our nerf here is focused on her feather pullback, which has been able to one-shot enemy backliners in the blink of an eye. She should still be more powerful than 14.7’s Xayah, but wiping boards in her first cast will be way less common.

I wonder how the Little Legends that don’t get favorited feel…

TL;DR: Player Damage is simpler.

Prior to the change outlined below, our player damage system has been confusing. There was base stage damage, and then a set amount of damage (2) for the first three surviving enemies, and then (1) damage for each enemy after that. We’re now making each surviving enemy count as one damage, regardless of how many there are, while letting the base-stage damage be the only variable to worry about. This should save some mental math and make calculating the perfect loss streak a bit easier, but as a reminder, you don’t have to do any math if you just win instead.

We’re returning a small amount of gold to streaks that we took out about three months ago. It may just be a reward for two wins (or losses) in a row, but sometimes it’s important to celebrate the little stuff.

We’re seeing 3-star 3-costs dominate the meta due to the consistency with which players can hit them (when uncontested) and the power level of 4-costs being lower than we’d like (see Tier 4 later). Aside from a couple of outliers, we are happy with 3-costs being as powerful as they are, so we’re making some leveling changes here to make them slightly harder to hit while also lifting the power level of 4-costs.

Exalted has quietly become one of the most engaging ways to play TFT despite it being on the weaker end. Our buff here has two goals: encouraging you to play Exalted boards earlier for power and not just as an engine to farm XP, and making late game Exalted 5 comps a possibility with even more bonus damage.

Fortune, my love. I tried, I begged, but not even I could save you from the nerf hammer. Fortune 5’s healing has made it far too consistent for racking up excess luck. By reducing the healing, we’re placing more weight on narrow and calculated losses that are now easier to calculate with our Player Damage rework!

Inkshadow units and the vertical are in a much better spot since we made an extensive pass on the trait last patch. This allows us to make a pass on standardizing the Tattoo power, by bringing down the strongest ones and buffing the weakest, Tattoo of Vitality.

Heavenly reroll is the powerhouse that has allowed Yone comps to thrive, but even with a Yone nerf (below), the highest breakpoint of this trait has the potential to ascend any single carry into the Heavens.

New set, same ask, “Please make Archangel’s Garen viable.”

Gnar will now reach maximum bonus AD faster, requiring half the stacks to get to the same power! Part of the reason we’re granting Gnar access to full stacks faster is due to his go-to item, Titan’s Resolve, being nerfed (Thanks Yone/Voli).

Storyweaver released with much of its power in Kayle (summon), but now that we’ve been able to keep her from flying too close to the sun, we’re able to lift a few of the Storyweaver units that have been almost exclusively used as trait bots…or story-tellers.

Senna’s trading some damage for reliability this patch. She should be a bit weaker in stages 2 and 3, where the damage impact will be felt more, but in the late game she should feel just as strong (or ever-so-slightly weaker) since she’ll hit more impactful Absolutions during important fights.

While Yone’s found undoubted success in Heavenly comps, he’s fairly balanced in Umbral comps. We want Umbral to be a playable vertical comp around their dual 3-cost carries, but Alune’s been consistently outshined by other 3-cost carries. And with the excitement of the eclipse past us, we’re comfortable buffing our moon queen (don’t @ me Diana) without invoking cosmic catastrophe.

Given Yone’s reliance on Attack Speed, a .05 nerf should make it much harder for him to kill a backliner in one cast, but it will also make getting to that one cast harder. This will also slow his rate of stacking those dreaded Titan’s Resolves…but we’ve got another solution for that issue as well.

We’re buffing every 4-cost by giving them anywhere from 100 to 250 more Health (amongst a few other buffs for 4-costs like Lee Sin and Lillia, who were especially weak). Inkborn Fables has released to a 3-cost or 5-cost dominant meta, where you either 3-starred a 3-cost, or you went fast 9 and created a Legendary board. To solve this, we’ve implemented a level odds change, but we also believe that 3-cost 3-stars should be strong… I mean, they are 27 gold units. So instead of going through and nerfing every 3-cost (sorry, Yone), we’re looking to buff the 4-costs and 5-costs (far less, see Small Changes).

Currently, 4 and 5-costs end up falling behind in total HP compared to 3-stars of lower-cost champions since they don't get access to a second 1.8x stat multiplier from star scaling to 3-star. We want 2-star 4-costs to feel slightly stronger than 3-star 1-costs and comparable to 3-star 2-costs, but right now, they end up having far less health. This makes reroll comps have stronger tanks and more durable backliners than comps that play around 4/5 costs. In a set with a lot of backline access in the form of chip damage (Hwei, Irelia, Trickshot, etc), or Yone (circa patch 14.7), this was a substantial weakness. Lastly, we can increase the power disparity between "item holder" low-cost champions and our 4/5-cost premier carries in shipping these buffs. One-star 4 or 5-costs should be viable to switch to, and hitting a 2-star of them should be a meaningful power spike.

That said, we do have one nerf on the menu for 4-costs. Kai’Sa has been thriving in a meta where 4-costs are not, so while we are giving her the Health buff to help her durability, we’re also lowering her Attack Speed. While this may seem extreme, it’s worth noting that her go-to comp, Kai’Sa and the big boys (aka Bruisers), really likes the bonus health we’re passing out here.

Irelia’s blades have had a mind of their own, allowing her to target enemies safely situated in the backline. Maybe it’s something to do with the hermite splines, but I still don’t really know what those are so ¯\_(?)_/¯.

Everything Must Go! has an incredibly high power ceiling and incredibly low power floor. Taking this Augment with low econ is most certainly a trip to bottom four, while pairing it with a dominant win streak, or another econ/reroll Augment created power states and playstyles that could choke out an entire lobby. We love it when an Augment can create a novel way to play TFT, but in our higher elos, Everything Must Go! allowed players to hold almost every contested 4-cost without punishment, not only allowing them to 2 or 3-star powerful units for free, but also preventing other players from accessing key components of their comps—that ain’t fun (at least for the rest of the lobby). Due to its power variability, lack of balance levers, and unfun playstyle, we’re opting to disable the Augment entirely. We’re happy we experimented with an Augment that defies our core systems so starkly, and we’ll be taking these learnings into future high-excitement Augments.

Speaking of high-excitement Augments, Fine Vintage allows for some powerful boards with only a Silver Augment to grant access to them. To repeat a sentiment from the paragraph above, we love Augments that create novel playstyles, but Fine Vintage did so too consistently for a Silver Augment. Lucky for us, we have balance levers. You’ll now have to let your completed items sit for one more combat prior to transforming, making using the Augment an even riskier endeavor.

With our 4-costs getting a lot more Health to work with, one item is getting a Giant buff… on accident. Giant Slayer is already in an okay spot, so instead of letting the Health changes supercharge it, we’re raising the Health thresholds to access the 25% bonus damage. Do note that % max Health items like Morellonomicon and Sunfire Cape will get a small indirect buff from our Health increases.

Right now, Bloodthirster, Titan’s Resolve is the dominant combo on most of our melee carries. Part of this is due to the AP ratios champions like Volibear and Yone have, making the bonus AP more useful than intended. We want to get Titan’s Resolve to a point where it can be replaced with Sterak’s Gage or Crownguard situationally, so we’re cutting its AP in half, as that’s not its intended primary source of power.

Small, like trinkets in between the couch cushions.

Similar to our treatment for 4-costs, but to a far less extreme (cause 5-costs are pretty powerful).

It removes things.