Updated on 3/2 with the 3/2 PBE Update

Last Updated on 3/2 with the 3/2 PBE Update

( With the release of patch 5.4 to live on February 25th, we started the new 5.5 PBE cycle )

Below you will find a comprehensive list of balance changes/game additions for the current PBE cycle.

These new changes and additions are relative to what things currently are on live servers and are

EXTREMELY TENTATIVE!

(They often do not represent the final changes that get pushed to live servers.)

Balance changes for this cycle (so far) can be found at the bottom of this page

New Content list for this PBE cycle:

2/24 PBE Update

• New Skins
• Debonair Galio 
• Secret Agent Xin Zhao
• Headhunter Akali
• Kassadin Champion Update
• Kassadin
• Festival Kassadin
• Deep One Kassadin
• Pre-Void Kassadin
• Harbinger Kassadin
• [Not Available Yet] New Champion: Bard
• New Katarina Ability Icons
• Balance Changes

2/24 PBE Update #2

• New Champion
• Bard, the Wandering Caretaker
• Abilities
• Voiceover
• Lore
• Release Skin - Elderwood Bard
• New Skin
• Headhunter Akali

2/25 PBE Update

• Texture Rebalances
• Taric 
• Warwick 
• Janna 
• Cho'Gath 
• Miscellaneous
• Balance Changes

2/26 PBE Update

• New Splash Art
• Headhunter Akali
• More Texture Rebalances
• Hextech Janna
• Victorious Janna
• Jurassic Cho'Gath
• End Of Game Victory/Defeat
• Stealth and Vision Ward Animations
• Kassadin Updates - Brighter Blade
• Debonair Galio not in 5.5
• Miscellaneous

2/27 PBE Update

• Texture Rebalance
• Cho'Gath
• Nightmare Cho'Gath
• Tanks on Fire - Incoming Cinderhulk + Gromp changes
• Miscellaneous
• Balance Changes
• New Items
• Bami's Cinder
• Cinderhulk

3/2 PBE Update

• Elderwood Bard Tweaks
• Miscellaneous
• Balance Changes

( Note: As the cycle continues, some images may be out dated! )

(Warning: PBE Content is tentative and iterative - what you see may not reflect what eventually gets pushed to live servers! Manage your expectations accordingly. )

New Champion: Bard

Following his reveal earlier today, our new champion BARD is now on the PBE for testing!

Bard, the Wandering Caretaker

Stats & Abilities: 

Stats:

• Base HP: 535
• HP Growth: 85
• Base Mana: 350
• Mana Growth: 50
• Base HP Regen Per Second: 1.08
• HP Regen Per Second Growth: 0.11
• Base Mana Regen Per Second: 1.2
• Mana Regen Per Second Growth: 0.09
• Movement Speed: 330
• Attack Range: 500
• Base Damage: 46
• Damage Growth: 3
• Base Armor: 21
• Armor Growth: 4
• Magic Resist: 30
• Magic Resist Growth: 0

 [Meeps, Passive, Q, W, E , R]

Passive: Traveler’s Call

Meeps: Bard attracts lesser spirits that assist with his basic attacks. These meeps gain new effects as Bard collects chimes.

• Meeps currently deal 30 (+.3 AP) magic damage. A new meep appears every X seconds, max of X  

Chimes: Ancient chimes randomly appear for Bard to collect. These grant experience,  mana [8% missing +15], and out-of-combat movement speed stacks. Chimes remain for 10 minutes.

• X  chimes collected - with  X more, X happens

• 
  
• 5 Chimes : Meeps apply a 25% slow for 1 second
• 10 Chimes: Meep attacks deal 25 more damage. 
• 15 Chimes: Bard will be able to have 1 more meep following at once
• 20 Chimes: Meep attacks deal 25 more damage. 
• 25 Chimes: Meep attacks will strike through their target
• 30 Chimes: Meep attacks deal 30 more damage. 
• 35 Chimes: Meeps will reappear 1 second faster
• 40 Chimes: Meep attacks deal 30 more damage
• 45 Chimes: Meep attacks will slow by 45%
• 50 Chimes :Meep attacks deal 35 more damage
• 55 Chimes: Bard will be able to have 1 more meep following at once
• 60 Chimes :Meep attacks deal 35 more damage,
• 65 Chimes: Meep attack strike-through cone increases in size. 
• 70 Chimes: Meep attacks deal 35 more damage. 
• 75 Chimes: Meeps will reappear 1 second faster 
• 80 Chimes: Meep attacks deal 35 more damage. 
• 85 Chimes: Meep attacks will slow by 60%
• 90 Chimes: Meep attacks deal 30 (or 35?) more damage
• 95 Chimes: Bard will be able to have 1 more meep following at once 
• 100 Chimes: Meep attacks deal 30 more damage
• 105 Chimes: Meeps will reappear 1 second faster. 
• 110 Chimes: Meep attacks deal 30 more damage
• 115 Chimes: Meep attacks will slow by 70%
• 120 Chimes: Meep attacks deal 25 more damage
• 125 Chimes: Meeps will reappear 1 second faster
• 130 Chimes: Meep attacks deal 25 more damage
• 135 Chimes: Meep attacks will slow by 75%
• 140 Chimes: Meep attacks deal 20 more damage
• 145 Chimes: Meep attacks will slow by 80%
• 150 Chimes: Meep attacks deal 20 more damage.
• ( Every 5 chimes after 150 adds 20 damage )

Q: Cosmic Binding

Mana Cost: 60 at all ranks
Cooldown: 10 seconds at all ranks 

[Range Example] 

Bard fires an energy bolt, dealing 75/110/145/180/215 (+0.5 AP) magic damage to one or two enemies. The first target hit will be slowed by 60% for 1/1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8 second(s). 

If the bolt hits another enemy or a wall, any enemies hit are stunned for 1/1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8 second(s).

W: Caretaker’s Shrine

Mana Cost: 100/105/110/115/120
Cooldown: 12 seconds at all ranks 

[Range Example]  

Bard raises a health shrine that immediately offers 30/60/90/120/150  (+0.2 AP) health, but restores up to 70/110/150/190/230 (+0.45 AP) health as it gathers power for 10 seconds. The shrine's effect also grants 50% decaying movement speed for 1.5 seconds. 

Bard can have up to 3 shrines active at once, which remain until visited by an ally or crushed by an enemy.

E: Magical Journey

Mana Cost: 30 at all ranks
Cooldown: 26/24/22/20/18 seconds 

Bard opens a one-way corridor through nearby terrain. Both allies and enemies can use the corridor by right-clicking on any part of it while near its entrance, with allies travelling 10/20/30/40/50% faster than enemies. 

The corridor disappears after 10/10/10/10/10 seconds.

[These portals go the length of the terrain]

R: Tempered Fate

Mana Cost: 100 at all ranks
Cooldown: 130/115/90 seconds

[Range Example]  

Bard sends magical energy arcing to a target location. On impact, all champions, minions, monsters, and turrets in the target area are put in stasis, becoming invincible, untargetable, and unable to act for 2.5 seconds. 

Epic monsters are also put into stasis, despite normally being immune to disables.

Here's a video preview of all his abilities in action:

Voiceover

Rather than a traditional voiceover, Bard as a vocals a series of tones and sounds.

Lore

Nothing added yet, only lists "Coming soon" :[

Release skin

Elderwood Bard

975 RP

[VIDEO OUT OF DATE, I'M SORRY I STILL LOVE YOU]

 Here's Galetta with a bugs and feedback thread for Elderwood Bard:

"A silent guardian looms over the rift.... 

Elderwood Bard and his meeps have made their way to the PBE! This earthen spirit is ready to support his allies in battle! This skin includes: 

• New model and texture!
• New particles!
• New recall animation!
• New SFX on his recall!

This skin will be 975rp. 

Your feedback and bug reports are extremely helpful to us, so please check out Elderwood Bard and let us know what you think! Feel free to drop any bugs you find in this thread as well! 

See you on the Rift!"

New Skins

To start off the 5.5 PBE cycle, we have new Secret Agent Xin Zhao, Headhunter Akali and Debonair Galio (DG will not be releasing in 5.5) up for testing.

Secret Agent Xin Zhao

975 RP

Here's Galetta with a bugs and feedback thread for Secret Agent Xin Zhao:

"Time to investigate... 

Special Agent Xin Xhao has taken on a special assignment 

Location: The PBE. 

Assignment Details: Listed Below.

• New model and texture!
• New Recall animation!
• New briefcase particles on his (R) Shield.

This skin will be 975rp. 

Your feedback and bug reports are extremely helpful to us, so please check out Special Agent Xin Zhao and let us know what you think! Feel free to drop any bugs you find in this thread as well! 

See you on the Rift!"

Headhunter Akali

1350 RP

Here's Riot KateyKhaos with a bugs & feedback thread for Headhunter Akali:

"NOTE: 2/24: New sound effects aren't in game yet, please hang tight!**

Stalk your enemies on the Rift before going in for the kill with Headhunter Akali!
Headhunter Akali will be 1350 RP and includes:

• New model and texture!
• New sound effects!
• New particles!
• New recall animation!

Headhunter Akali is now available to play on PBE! We always find bug reports and feedback super helpful, so feel free to comment in the thread below! Likewise, if you've got any questions, post 'em here, and we'll do our best to answer them!"

Debonair Galio

Note: Debonair Galio will not be coming out to live in the next patch. His PBE bugs & feedback thread has been updated with the following:

"Hey guys, we saw that a lot of players weren't super excited about the Debonair Galio skin on PBE, so we've decided to take some time and do what we can to make this skin as awesome possible. That said, he won't be in Patch 5.5."

750 RP

Here's Riot KateyKhaos with a bugs & feedback thread for Debonair Galio:

""Hey guys, we saw that a lot of players weren't super excited about the Debonair Galio skin on PBE, so we've decided to take some time and do what we can to make this skin as awesome possible. That said, he won't be in Patch 5.5."

Flying into the Debonair line is Debonair Galio! He'll be perching himself on the Rift, ready to take on any opponent in style! 

Debonair Galio will be 750 RP and includes:

• New model and texture! 

Debonair Galio is now available to play on PBE! We always find bug reports and feedback super helpful, so feel free to comment in the thread below! Likewise, if you've got any questions, post 'em here, and we'll do our best to answer them!"

Texture Rebalances

This cycle includes a new set of texture rebalances for Taric and Warwick, Janna, and Cho'Gath. Remember that texture rebalances are aimed at updating older champion & skin textures to match the current art style and are not meant to replace future visual updates.

Over on reddit, Ququroon posted a reminder on texture rebalances and Taric:

"They're more akin to bandaid fixes. Short term changes that are more focused on improving the baseline quality across the whole game, rather than fixing all of the needs of a specific champion. 

We're still working on Taric. He just provides challenges on balancing the different opinions everyone has on him."

Taric

Emerald Taric

Armor of the Fifth Age Taric

Bloodstone Taric

Here's a comparison video for Taric's texture rebalance and his updated skins:

Warwick

Grey Warwick



Urf Warwick


Big Bad Warwick


Tundra Hunter Warwick


Feral Warwick


Firefang Warwick


Hyena Warwick

Here's a comparison video for Warwick's texture rebalance and his updated skins:

Janna

Tempest Janna

Frost Queen Janna

Here's a comparison video for Janna's texture rebalance and her updated skins:

Hextech Janna

Victorious Janna

Here's a video comparison of the texture rebalances for Victorious and Hextech Janna:

Cho'Gath

Nightmare Cho'Gath

Here's a video comparison of the Cho'Gath, Nightmare Cho'Gath, and Jurrasic Cho'Gath texture rebalances:

Loch Ness Cho'Gath



Gentleman Cho'Gath

Jurassic Cho'Gath

Here's a comparison video for Cho'gath texture rebalance and his updated skins:

Kassadin Champion Updates

Kassadin has received a set of visual updates in today's patch, including updated model, textures, animations, ability icons, and slight updates to his vfx.

Here's Ququroon with a PBE feedback thread for Kassadin's visual updates!

"Check your (force) pulse, because the Kassadin update is on PBE! [when it's up] 

The man who simply walked into the void is receiving an update to his visuals! Kassadin is a rather old champion, so it's without question that he'd be needing some polish. Though dated, Kassadin's personality and theme had some strong notes that we looked to maintain with this release, rather than recreate. As such, our goal with this update was to strengthen what was currently in game. 

In this update, we wanted to bring his model, texture, animations and icons into the modern era. He had received updated particles not too long ago, but they did receive a slight update as well. His skins have also received like love, including the long requested flip on Harbinger's blade. 

Some questions to keep in mind as you take a look at Kassadin!

• Does this still read as Kassadin to you?
• Do you feel that anything you find core to Kassadin is missing?
• How do you feel about Kassadin's skins? 

We'd really appreciate it if you'd take a look at Kassadin, and let us know of any bugs and/or feedback that come your way. Your feedback helps to guide changes we can make, as well as helps us grow as a team. 

Interested in a little more context on this update? Check out this ChampUp post!

Now for a better look:

Kassadin

[Video out of date as of 2/26 - Kassadin's blade is significantly brighter and Q shield / AA changed. ]

and here's a look at each of Kassadin's updated skins:

Festival Kassadin

Deep One Kassadin

Pre-Void Kassadin

Harbinger Kassadin

As Ququroon mentioned,  Kassadin also has a new set of ability icons:

  [Passive, Q, W, E, R]

New Katarina Ability Icons

Katarina has new set of ability icons on the PBE!

 [Passive, Q, W, E, R]

End of Game Victory/Defeat 

The End of Game Victory and Defeat ceremonies have been updated with new animations!

While the video above shows a blue side victory, the other animations can be found here:

• EoG Victory - Red Side
• EoG Victory - Blue Side
• EoG Defeat - Red Side
• EoG Defeat - Blue Side

Stealth and Vision Ward Animations

The base Stealth and Vision  wards now have unique spawn and death animations.

Tanks on Fire - Incoming Cinderhulk + Gromp changes

Here's Fearless with context on today's itemization changes, including a new item and the Juggernaut enchantment being replaced by the Cinderhulk enchantment.

"Hey all, 

We have some big changes for jungle tanks on the PBE today. As you might have seen from our highlight post on the jungle, we’re looking to solve some of gaps between tanks and the rest of the pack with a new tanky enchant as well as making Gromp explicitly reward tanks over other junglers. 

First, what was wrong with Juggernaut? First, it wasn't explicitly improving clear speeds for tanks in comparison to other junglers. Others get to build incremental increases in damage with their components, but tanks just got… tankier without much else. Juggernaut also failed to feel like the foundation of a tanky build, as much as it was simply a decent chunk of stats that could make anyone more durable. 

Enter Cinderhulk. 

This new enchant builds out of a new component, Bami’s Cinder, which grants +300 HP and a mini Sunfire aura (now the Immolate aura). This gives tanks a boost both in their durability and their ability to get through camps. Once upgraded to Cinderhulk, the enchant gives champions a version of Immolate that ramps up with time-in-combat, rewarding those who are happy to get into the middle of a fight and stay there. The base health on Cinder Hulk is lower than Juggernaut (350 down from 500), but in the place of base stats, Cinderhulk now grants +25% bonus health. This means jungle tanks get more for their gold as they build tanky. 

Along a similar line, we wanted Gromp’s Smite buff to do more for tanks that can need the bump in clear power, while not making it a universally powerful clear tool. Gromp’s poison armor now scales up with the bonus health of the owner, allowing tanks to opt into extra clear speed when they need it. 

These items are aimed at 5.5, so we’re looking to get lots of coverage for bug fixes and polish to make sure we can see these hit live as smoothly as possible. We can’t wait to test these out with you all!"

Miscellaneous 

They also added a new Urf model to the files. No idea what it is for yet but it is lacking a texture and has a few animations. It is labelled as a "particle".

The new Dragon pit design is back on the PBE, as well as texture tweaks of other parts of the map.

Spectator Mode now has a counter for how many dragons each team has taken.

There are a few changes for URF related files. Nothing specific to share... but somebody somewhere is workin' on something.

Balance Changes

* Remember *: The PBE is a testing grounds for new, tentative, and sometimes radical changes. The changes you see below may be lacking context or other accompanying changes that didn't make it in - don't freak out! These are not official notes.

Champions

Azir

• Soldier attack range increased to 375 from 325

Gragas

• Base mana increased to 400 from 299.96
• Drunken Rage ( W) % of targets max health damage cap vs monsters increased to 300 from 250 

Lissandra

• Ice Shard (Q) damage lowered to 70/100/130/160/190 from 75/110/145/180/215

Nautilus

• Titan's Wrath (W) damage while shielded decreased to 15/30/45/60/75 from 40/55/70/85/100
• Riptide (E):

• Cooldown lowered to 6/5.5/5/4.5/4 from 10 at all ranks

• Mana cost lowered to 40/50/60/70/80 from 60/70/80/90/100

• AP ratio lowered to .3 from .5

• Slow duration lowered to 1.25 from 2 seconds 

• [Context: Scarizard commented on these saying:"Yeah, to be clear - we want this to be a buff to nautilus. We're watching the W changes heavily."

Nidalee

• Bushwack (Human W) damage increased to 40/80/120/160/200 (.2 AP) from 20/40/60/80/100 + 10/12/14/16/18 (.02 AP) % of target's current health

• [Context: Meddler posted that they are testing this change as nerf to her jungle clear speed.]

• Pounce (Cougar W)  damage lowered to 40/80/120/160 from 50/100/150/200. Reverted

• Swipe (Cougar E) AP ratio increased to .55 from .45  Reverted

Shyvana

• Flame Breath (E)  basic attacks against marked enemies  3% of their maximum health up from 2%

• [Note: TOOL TIP DOES NOT DISPLAY THIS CHANGE. Try it yourself by going to Red buff, doing E, then using an Auto. It will do 54 damage on PBE vs 36 on live.]

Skarner

• Crystal Slash (Q) damage increased to 20/30/40/50/60 from 18/28/38/48/58
• Crystal Slash (Q) while charged bonus damage increased to 20/30/40/50/60 from 18/28/38/48/58
• Fracture (E) damage increased to 40/75/110/145/180 from 40/60/80/100/120

Sion

• Decimating Smash (Q) mana cost reduced to 40/45/50/55/60 from 45/50/55/60/65
• Soul Furance (W) mana cost lowered to 60/65/70/75/80 from 65/70/75/80/85
• Roar of the Slayer (E) mana cost increased to 35/40/45/50/55 from 35 at all ranks

Sona

• Crescendo (R) mana cost lowered to 100 at all ranks from 100/150/200

Tristana

• Rapid Fire (Q) New Effect: Rapid Fire's cooldown is reduced by 1 second each time Tristana basic attacks an enemy marked with Explosive charge

Trundle

• King's Tribute (Passive) range increased to 1400 from 1000
• Frozen Domain (W) increased healing on the ice increased to 20% from 8/11/14/17/20%

Urgot

• Terror Capacitor (W) base shield value reduced to 60/100/140/180/220 from 80/130/180/230/280
• Terror Capacitor (W) % maximum mana scaling increased to 8% from 5%

• [Note: the % mana scaling on W was added in an earlier patch this cycle. His shield value overall should still be higher vs live,]

• Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser (R ) cooldown lowered to 120/100/80 from 120/110/100

Volibear

• Frenzy (W) - New Effect: If Volibear bites a monster, Frenzy's cooldown is reduced by 50%

Xin Zhao

• Battle Cry (W)  heal increased to 30/35/40/45/50 from 26/32/38/44/50
• Audacious Charge (E) damage increased to 70/115/160/205/250 from 70/105/140/175/210

Vi

• Movement speed lowered to 345 from 350
• Assault and Battery (R) damage lowered to 150/300/450 from 200/325/450

Zac

• Elastic Slingshot (E) now knocks back for 1 second up from .5 seconds

Zilean

• Time Bomb (Q) cooldown reduced to 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 from 12/11/10/9/8

Items

[New] Bami's Cinder

• Total Cost: 1000g
• Recipe:  Ruby Crystal + 600g
• +300 Health
• UNIQUE Passive - Immolate: Deals 5 (+1 per champion level) magic damage per second to nearby enemies. Deals 50% bonus damage to minions and monsters.

[New] Enchantment : Cinderhulk

• Recipe: [Bami's Cinder + Jungle Item + 350g]
• Total Cost: 2200g (Two of them currently say 2000 - intended cost is 2200 though.) 

• +350 Health
• +25% Bonus Health 
• UNIQUE Passive - Immolate: While in combat, deals 16 (+1 per champion level) magic damage a second to nearby enemies. This increases to 24 based on time in combat.

Enchantment : Juggernaut

• Replaced with "Enchantment: Cinderhulk".

Ohmwrecker

• Unique Passive now notes it works with Fallen Turrets

Raptor Cloak

• Armor increased to 40 from 30
• Unique Passive now notes it works with Fallen Turrets

Righteous Glory

• Health increased to 650 from 500

Sunfire Cape

• Recipe changed to [Bami's Cinder  + Chain Vest + 850g]
• Unique Passive now named "Immolate" - same as Bami's Cinder and Enchantment: Cinderhulk.

Zz'Rot Portal

• Armor increased to 60 from 50
• Magic Resist increased to 60 from 50
• Unique Passive now notes it works with Fallen Turrets

[Experimental New Item]  Luden's Echo

• After being removed last cycle, this experimental new item is back on the PBE. Check out ricklessabandon's PBE boards post for more info.

[Experimental New Item] Mandrake Ward [Disabled]

• After being removed last cycle, this experimental new item is back on the PBE. Check out Xypherous' PBE boards post for more information.
• Compared to last cycle, duration lowered to 2 minutes from 5 minutes

Jungle

Crimson Raptor

• Damage reduced to 45 from 55

Greater Murk Wolf

• Gold increased to 53 from 42

Gromp

• Damage reduced to 83 from 90
• Gift of the Toadstool's damage now scales based on the bonus health (~10%)

Murk Wolf

• Gold increased to 16 from 12

Raptor

• Damage reduced to 16 from 20

Other

Turrets

• Middle Lane Inner Turret no longer has the Vanguard shield. Top and Bottom lane's Inner  turret still have it.
• Inhibitor Turret now grant 50 gold (from 175 gold) and 0 XP (from 100 XP) on death.
• Nexus Turret now grant 50 gold (from 150 gold) and 0 XP (from 120 XP) on death.
• Inner Turrets health increased by 300.
• Vanguard's shield has been reduced to 30  health on the actual turret.