The Game Awards is a yearly event that brings together a diverse group of game developers, players, and notable names from pop culture to celebrate and advance gaming's position as the most immersive, challenging, and inspiring form of entertainment. It's a huge celebration of our industry as they recognize and uphold creative and technical excellence in the global video game and e-sports industry.
Next week, Riot sponsors their first ever tournament for their month-old League of Legends game mode, Teamfight Tactics. The Teamfight Tactics Showdown will take place between July 17-18, and gather 64 popular streamers to duke it out for an opportunity at a piece of a $125,000 prize pool.
We still play in a League of Legends climate that requires significant reaction to the changes made during and before preseason. Patch 7.3, like that patches before it and at least one more after it, focuses on adjusting some of the champions most affected by the changes. Like junglers (again), assassins (again), and Camille (again). There are some new things, too!
In the next phase of post-preseason tuning, Patch 7.2 is still focusing around assassins, the jungle, and how they make some champions leaps and bounds better than others. Also, this is the patch where the long awaited remake of one of the oldest League of Legends champions goes live. Very exciting stuff.
Most likely the last patch of this season, the amount of consequential changes coming to League of Legends this time around is minimal. Saving the big stuff for post/pre-season, there is still some unfinished business to contend with in the modern versions of some characters. Let's get into it.
There is a lot of drama to be expected in the Knockout Stage of the 2016 League of Legends World Championship. Teams play in a best of three series where the loser packs their bags and heads back to where they came from, while the winner inches ever closer to the Cup. All that said, this particular Quarterfinal round is relatively tame and predictable, as some of these match-ups feature teams that are just flat out better than their competition.
The 2016 League of Legends World Championship is on fire. A wild week 2 closes out one of the craziest Group Stages in years. Korea enters Knockouts in force, EU and NA put their hopes in their singular entries, and Luna wins an instant classic against ROX. Let's round up the biggest stories from this past weekend.
With the 2016 League of Legends World Championships raging on, Patch 6.20 may seem somewhat tame and run-of-the-mill in comparison to others. Patch Notes mainstay Ashe make her regularly scheduled appearance, but a couple of other very interesting champion tweaks are happening here. Let's take a look.
With Week 1 of the 2016 League of Legends World Championship in the books, we've witnessed maybe one of the most competitive and compelling first rounds in years. Plenty has gone down in only four days, but there are some major themes present that we should take with us into Week 2.
With the 2016 World Championships approaching, we know that this latest patch is more for us causal players and less for the pros. These changes don't affect them, but that doesn't mean they aren't effective. Ping upgrades and some key nerfs will still apply to our trips to the Rift, so let's take a look at the latest League of Legends changes.
A righteous return from great and nebulous undeath suits Yorick in-game. There are few champions in the game that are completely useless in the current climate of the game, and then there is Yorick, who's never seemed to be viable. In lane, he was incredibly difficult to play against, which made opponents unhappy. In teamfights, he was a consistent under-performer, which made Yorick players pretty sad. Years of buffs and nerfs couldn't get him right, and eventually Riot stopped trying. About three years after the first rumors of his rework surfaced, he finally appeared, and he's better than one could ever imagine Yorick could be.
Patch 6.18 is the last major patch to be released for League of Legends before the 2016 World Championships, and it will be the one that all of the games are played on. Thusly, almost all of the changes in the patch have an effect on the pro-meta in one way or another. Whether it's nerfing the scene's go-to pocket picks or giving some fringe champions much needed incentive, the goal is to widen the pool of viable picks to produce more diverse and surprising matches on the biggest stage of the game.
He's rugged, mean, and just a tad bit nuts. Or a whole lot of nuts. That's not his fault, though. Fighting in every Noxian battle and recieving everi Noxian battle award can do funny things to a tiny old yordle. Maybe Kled was stoic and noble like Darius in his past, but now he resembles more of a reality show hillbilly than a decorated general. A weird lizard creature named Skaarl is his noble steed and best/only friend, and together they engage enemies with one simple goal in mind - killing everyone.
With Worlds creeping up ever so quickly on us, the next few patches look to play it relatively safe. Changes will happen with broadening the Pro playing field as far as viability is concerned. In the specific case of this patch, they're sending out a bunch of small time tweaks to many champions across all roles in hopes to make the overall pick rate something more dynamic. Nerfing some of the the auto-picks and buffing some of the on-the-cusp champions should make for a deeper pool to wade in at the highest of levels. At least, that's the plan.
Customizability and expression is one of the pillars of League of Legends. Skins are big business for the MOBA because dedicated fans all over the world just love making a statement when they step onto the Rift. Riot hopes to take another stab at deepening that aspect of play by taking another look at their Chromo pack program.
Probably one of the softest League of Legends patches in what seems like forever, 6.16 focuses narrowly on particular high priority picks and supports. With the Road to Worlds rapidly approaching, we can probably treat this as the calm before the international storm. Here are the juiciest bits.
One of the oldest champions in League of Legends is getting the rework he deserves in Patch 6.14, and the Rift will probably never be the same.
Taliyah, the Stoneweaver has hit Summoner's Rift, and the mid lane may never be the same again. A traditional mage statistically, her strengths lie in her lane adjusting abilities and some interesting out of combat movement buffs that make sure she can get where's shes going quickly, and with a bang. Many of her spells have multiple interactions or certain added effects depending on other situations