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Patch 4.20 Summary

Creator: Wayne3100 November 21, 2014 5:45am
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Wayne3100
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Hi, my name is Wayne3100 and welcome to the MOBAFire Patch Summary - 4.20!

In this post, we will try to summarise the changes brought to us in this enormous patch, and talk about what we can look forward now that Preseason 5 has officially begun! The topics we'll be taking a look at are the new champion ( Kalista), nerfs to Gnar, Katarina, Rammus and Sona (as well as an Azir buff), the addition of new jungle items combined with changes to practically every jungle camp in the game and the other new items & elixirs which were added in this patch.

Before we begin, a quick reminder that Riot also released a Preseason Spotlight for those wanting a short and simple overview of the changes in video form. Alternatively, check out the full patch notes or the Patch Rundown (part 1 and 2) for a more in depth analysis on these changes and more. Let's go!

New Champion!

"Kalista is an eternal spirit of retribution, who possesses a cold-burning hatred for all betrayers, deceivers, and traitors."

Although it'd be easy to overlook considering the amount of overall changes, patch 4.20 includes champion #122, Kalista. Kalista is a marksman who depends heavily on one of her allies to make full use of her kit.

She starts the game with a unique item, Black Spear, which once used binds her soul to that of an ally and opens up the use of her ultimate, Fate's Call. This ability allows her soulbound ally to dash in a direction and knock up enemies, but is mainly interesting because of the fact that Kalista is responsible for deciding when to use it, while the ally takes over control once the ability is activated by Kalista and ultimately decides where it'll go from there.

Another interesting thing to note in Kalista's kit is her passive, Martial Poise. This passive causes Kalista to perform a small dash whenever she auto attacks or uses her Q ( Pierce), and in doing so provides her with a lot of mobility which is useful when kiting opponents.

Combined with the safety of Sentinel's active and slow from Rend, Kalista has all the tools she needs to prevent getting caught and to be able to peel opponents while consistently delivering pain through the use of her spears.

For a full overview of her kit and playstyle, make sure to check out her reveal article and Champion Spotlight!



Nerfs, Nerfs Everywhere! and one buff

Morello's mighty nerfhammer has struck again.

Gnar's early game strength has been reduced, and he'll also have to rely more on building AD in order to deal the same damage he did before. Katarina has received some pre-emptive nerfs on her ultimate (cooldown: 60/52.5/45 seconds ⇒ 90/60/45 seconds) as Riot believes she "may very well be one of the strongest beneficiaries post 4.20".

Rammus, meanwhile, was told to slow down a little as his Powerball cooldown was significantly raised at early levels ("ok"), while Sona players will have to think twice about spamming her W ( Aria of Perseverance) following nerfs to the mana cost.

On the flipside, Riot seems to agree that there is no future without Shurima, as Azir gained significant early game buffs to his Q and E.


Changes to the Jungle

There is a lot to talk about here. Let's start with items.

Riot has added a new line of jungle items to replace Spirit Stone and its upgrades, as the sustain granted by those items was deemed too strong. These items all modify Smite in different ways, allowing many different types of junglers to make a choice based on their playstyle. An overview of the new items and which junglers they should be best suited for (according to Riot) can be found below.

Item Enchantments Description

Poacher's Knife
Poacher's Knife - Juggernaut

Poacher's Knife - Magus
Poacher's Knife is made for champions that like to counterjungle, as it grants bonuses for using Smite to kill a large monster in the enemy jungle. This is a high risk, high reward choice considering the fact that camps take longer to respawn. This means, after all, that while you can deny your opponent harder, it'll also be harder to find the right moments to invade without running into empty camps.

Skirmisher's Sabre
Skirmisher's Sabre - Juggernaut

Skirmisher's Sabre - Magus
Skirmisher's Sabre is an option best suited for strong duelists, as it will allow you to Smite enemy champions, boosting your damage against them while also reducing their damage against you. This can allow someone to find, duel and kill the enemy jungler, but can also be used during ganks to reduce the chances of dying to a fed opponent.

Stalker's Blade
Stalker's Blade - Juggernaut

Stalker's Blade - Magus
The Sabre is not the only item which will allow you to Smite enemy champions, however. For a more gank-focused approach, try out the Stalker's Blade. With this item, using Smite on an enemy champion will deal instant damage (rather than applying a mark to boost damage from future auto attacks) and slow them to increase the chances of a successful gank.

Ranger's Trailblazer
Ranger's Trailblazer - Juggernaut

Ranger's Trailblazer - Magus
If you're not looking to do any of that fancy dueling, then Ranger's Trailblazer is the choice for you. This upgrade causes Smite to deal AoE damage to camps and restores Health & Mana, making it ideal for junglers who simply want to focus on getting through their jungle camps as quickly and healthy as possible.


As you can see, there are 4 enchantments which can be added to these items regardless of which one you go for.
  • The Devourer enchantment reminds us of Feral Flare (which was also removed from the game in this patch), granting Attack Speed as well as on hit damage which increases upon killing large monsters or getting kills/assists on enemy champions. This makes it best suited for carry junglers such as Master Yi and Nocturne.
  • The Juggernaut enchantment provides Tenacity, CDR and a huge chunk of Health, making it a preferred choice for tank junglers like Amumu and Zac.
  • The Magus enchantment grants Ability Power and CDR, making it a great choice for AP jungler such as Fiddlesticks and Diana.
  • The Warrior enchantment grants AD and Armor Penetration combined with some CDR, making it best suited for bruiser junglers such as Vi and Lee Sin.

Of course, these are simply general guidelines; in some games, you might find yourself wanting to buy a different enchantment than you normally would because of how the game's going.

Moving on from items to summoner spells, another interesting jungle change which is worth mentioning is the addition of new Smite rewards! With these changes, it will be more important for junglers to figure out which camp they'll want to use their precious summoner spell for, as the rewards granted vary greatly from camp to camp. For a full overview (copied from the Riot patch notes), check the spoiler below.

Smite Rewards


Finally, let's look at the actual camps. In this patch, Riot decided to change the stats for jungle monsters, as well as the rewards gained for putting them down. The tl;dr of these changes for most camps is that they will be harder to beat, but junglers will be compensated for this with more gold and experience if they manage to do it.


Two big reward changes which are worth noting, however, are those of Baron Nashor and Dragon.

Baron buff will no longer grant Health/Mana Regeneration, but instead will grant an aura buff called "Hand of Baron", which empowers nearby minions and can boost their movement speed, resistance to damage over time / area of effect damage, attack damage, attack range and attack speed depending on which specific minion you're dealing with. This should make it much harder for enemy teams to turtle in their base against you. Also, the Hand of Baron buff reduces the channel time of a recall from 8 to 4 seconds, healing a champion for 50% of their maximum Health/Mana and granting +50% Movement Speed for 8 seconds once they successfully get back to base.

Killing Dragon will no longer give your team global gold, but instead Riot have added a permanent stacking buff which makes the choice to slay this objective multiple times over the course of a game much more appealing. Similarly, the fact that these buffs are permanent means that deciding not to contest this objective when the enemy team is going for it will be a riskier call to make than before. The team buffs (copied from the patch notes) are:

  • Dragon's Might (1 stack): +8% total attack damage and ability power
  • Dragon's Dominance (2 stacks): +15% damage to minions and monsters
  • Dragon's Flight (3 stacks): +5% movement speed
  • Dragon's Wrath (4 stacks): +15% damage to turrets and buildings
  • Aspect of the Dragon (5 stacks, repeatable): Doubles all other bonuses and your attacks burn enemies for 150 true damage over 5 seconds. Lasts 180 seconds.





As if all that wasn't enough, there is also the addition of the Rift Scuttler! This new creature can be found in the river and is different to other camps because of its behaviour: instead of reacting aggressively to being attacked, this crab will run away from its opponents, making it increasingly difficult to secure this objective without being spotted by the enemy team. Should your team succeed in doing so, however, you'll be rewarded with vision & a speed boost in front of either Dragon or Baron pit for 75 seconds.


More New Items!



Not only did Riot add new jungle items, there is also a new regeneration item (top left) which is used in the build path for Warmog's Armor, some new strategical items (top middle and right) and four new elixirs to replace the old Elixir of Fortitude and Elixir of Brilliance (displayed below)! Mouse over any of the icons for the full details. Note that, just like the jungle items, these have all been added to the MOBAFire database and should be ready to be displayed in your guide cheatsheet!




Share Your Thoughts!

There are many, many changes that we didn't even get to discuss, including changes to inhibitors and (inner) turrets, base stat changes to every champion in the game, different kill & assist bonuses, changes to stacking items, end of game gifting and more. If you want to check it all out, please refer to the full patch notes (link in the introduction).

For now, however, we're interested in your opinion. What do you think, did patch 4.20 blaze it? Do you like the preseason changes and the new jungle, or do you think the Rift Scuttler should grow a pair? Which of the new jungle items will you be using most? Finally, what are your first thoughts on Kalista? Let us know in the comments below!

Thanks to jhoijhoi for the signature!
Joxuu
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Gj with the post

"A person giving you advice isn't perfect and has their own shortcomings but they may give you the piece that you're missing."
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Nice job Wayne, you're a god.
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H E D I D I T B O Y S
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Great job on the overview! :D I'm super excited to use Kalista... she looks superb... also the new jungle looks great, if yet a bit complicated until you figure it out. Overall I'm likin' it! :D
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Preseason
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IPodPulse wrote:


Preseason


Thank you good sir, have a ha’penny for your troubles.
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Thank you good sir, have a ha’penny for your troubles.

London is one hour ahead of the rest of England -Luther3000
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Isn't it the same with every game's booklets? Lmao.
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