While today’s patch notes didn’t bring us any balance changes they did bring the Battle Academia skin line to LoR! The Battle Academia line is one of League’s most popular and I’m thrilled to know I will soon be able to use this alternate art for some of my favourite champs!
This time around Lux is in the spotlight! Battle Academia Lux
gives her two new splash arts and this incredible new level up animation!
The animation really draws you into the Battle Academia world and makes you feel like you’re in the school yard watching Lux break up a scuffle between her classmates!
Lux isn’t the only one getting ready to brawl, she’s joined by her classmates: Ezreal
, Poppy
, Caitlyn
, Leona
, and Katarina
!
It’s amazing the work the skins team has done to make the character feel at home in the Battle Academia universe! Lux is the bright eyed new girl ready to make a splash, Ezreal
is the perfect popular kid, Poppy
the small but mighty overachiever, Caitlyn
the quiet and reserved student council member, Leona
the stalwart and honorable defender of the school, and Katarina
is the perfect “bad girl” who skips classes and doesn’t care about the status quo!
You’ll be able to pick up these skins and take your opponents to school starting tomorrow!
The Durandal Stadium is the center for all the school events, and now you too can dominate your opponent on the field! With new music and visual effects this board is one of the nicest yet!
SHOOT! I overslept and almost forgot these awesome new card backs! Ezreal’s also overslept and is running late for class!
Lux on the other hand has been at the school since dawn waiting for classes to start!
Trying to sneak away from detention? Well Caitlyn’s got her eye on you with her new emote! Perfect for letting your opponent know that you’re not letting them get away with anything this emote is a powerful addition to any line up!
Caitlyn might be watching you but Ezreal
is out to prove himself, with his new “Challenge Accepted” emote. This emote is the perfect way to let your opponent know that you’re ready for anything they have to throw at you! Consider using this as a greeting or in response to your opponent’s more… creative emote usage.
Probably the BIGGEST AND BEST change of this patch is the new ability to sort decks by Favourites! From now on you’ll be able to declare a deck as a favourite and have it show up at the top of your collection. I’m so glad Riot gave us this functionality, it’ll save me a lot of time rearranging my collection!
Another wonderful change Riot’s included with this patch and one that I’ve seen hotly requested – skins will now display on deck covers! I can’t wait to customize my decks even more and show off my amazing skins even when I don’t draw my champs, I’m glad Riot heard us on this one!
Upcoming Labs Updates
With patch 2.19.0 Lab of Legends, Saltwater Scourge, and Ultra Rapid Draw will be cycled out. I know what you’re thinking, but don’t worry, Riot seems confident that the changes coming November 10th will be something we’ll enjoy.
This also means that the card backs you can currently get from Saltwater Scourge (Gangplank) and Lab of Legends (Malphite) are seemingly going to be unavailable past that point. So make sure you complete the challenges and unlock them both while there’s still time left!
To earn the Lab of Legends Malphite card back, you must clear normal mode with Fizz, Lissandra
, Malphite
, Irelia
, and Zilean
.
To earn the Saltwater Scourge Gangplank card back, you must clear the run with Nami, Pyke
, Miss Fortune
, Tahm Kench
, and Twisted Fate
with a Skill rating of ‘A’ or better. To earn an A rating, you must beat Gangplank
without having your health reduced to zero at any point during the run.
I’d be wary of playing against Wiggly Burblefish and Legion Marauder
in the later parts of your run if you don’t have to. When these decks have the epic version of their power, there is a chance they can high roll you into oblivion and it may not be worth the risk. Don’t forget that Gangplank
will summon The Dreadway
on the following turn when he goes below 20 health.
The most valuable use of gold is generally the reroll tokens, but always consider that buying the first copy of a card in the shop gives you the ability to add whatever item modifier it has available to your existing copies!
If you’re looking to get the most out of URD before it goes, make sure to check out Herko’s Ultra Rapid Draw Strategy Guide.
Bugfixes
We also got a good amount of bug fixes with this patch. Most importantly prismatics will once again create more prismatics! I know I was a bit frustrated when this bug showed up in the last patch and I’m glad Riot fixed it so quickly.
One of the more impactful bug fixes is to The Arsenal, when your opponent destroys a landmark he will no longer get a keyword, this shouldn’t change the card’s power level too much but it will be noticeable in games where you haven’t been able to play out and destroy a LOT of landmarks.
Claws of the Dragon will now work correctly with Retreat
to create a fleeting Return
, though either card is not currently being played in a meta deck it is good to know that Riot is aware of and working to fix things we don’t even know exist.
As always Riot has also made some improvements to text across the game and fixed several miscellaneous bugs related to UI and VO lines.
One MASSIVE, but undocumented, change that went live with this patch is Shellfolk will now correctly create discounted versions of pranked cards. Previously Shellfolk was bugged to create ‘exact’ copies, this led to an interesting interaction where the first time you Prank a card you received a copy with a one mana discount but the second time you Prank
a specific card you would receive a copy of the card that cost one extra mana! Keep your eyes out for the rise of Shellfolk decks in the coming days and check out Briguy’s guide here to get a better understanding of how the deck wants to play so you can counter it
New Riot Client
Riot had mentioned back in September that they were preparing to launch their new Riot Client and it has started rolling out to the players. If you haven’t received the new client yet, just hold tight and you’ll get it soon enough without having to do anything.
The new client isn’t all that different from any other launcher from other companies, but it is a welcome change to be able to access all their games in one place. Each of their games will have its own landing page with news, updates, and information. You’ll be able to scroll down and explore Riot’s various titles.
One of the most important things about the new client is that Riot emphasized it being optional. You can still launch any of your old games directly from their desktop icons.
You can check out Riot’s FAQ about the new client on their website