Earlier this week, the world’s most popular MOBA, League of Legends, received an update in the form of Patch 5.20. This update has been much anticipated because it includes a new champion, but it also brings back an old favorite game type, as well as a few important character tweaks. These changes will not effect professional play – the 2015 League of Legends World Championships are locked in at patch 5.18 for the duration. So the average player will have a couple weeks head start on the new meta. Lucky us…
Kindred is here!
The biggest news from the patch is the debut of Kindred, the Eternal Hunters. The champion is technically two champions, Lamb and Wolf, who work in tandem to deliver enemies to their final resting place. Kindred are jungling marksmen, a first for the game. People have tried to put ranged characters in the jungle before, but the end result is so hit or miss that it’s hard to consider Twitch or Twisted Fate as legitimate options in the role. Kindred‘s mobility makes them superiorly suited to handed jungle monsters, as well as execute masterful ganks on unsuspecting lanes. That, and they can mark certain enemies for death, doing bonus damage to them, or just using the mark as a mind game. Their ultimate ability allows them to save any living thing in a small area from death for a short amount of time. Things in the aura can still take damage, but once their health sinks below 10%, they stop losing it. They’ve been out for only a few days, but the potential here is limitless.
The Return of One for All
One of the craziest League of Legends featured modes is actually its first. One for All featured 5v5 battles that involved teams voting on one champion for an entire team to play as. You can only imagine the madness that five clones of the same character on the same team can produce. The caveat in the modes return is that some characters aren’t allow in the fold, like Teemo or Karthus. It’s for the best, as a map full of invisible mushrooms isn’t as fun as it sounds.
Teemo is buffed, again
Maybe one of the best examples of how Riot and its player base just don’t see eye to eye, Teemo has received yet another buff. Back in patch 5.15, his traps were altered a bit. Instead of just putting mushrooms down and them going invisible, he could use his mushrooms as bounce points for other mushrooms. Like skipping rocks across a river he could now skip his shrooms into people, like little fungal missiles. It’s as terrifying as it sounds. The trade off was that they were less powerful. 5.20 is “fixing” that, by lowering the arm time and the cooldown of the ability.
Widely considered one of League’s most annoying champions, anytime Teemo appears to get better is usually a point of contention for folks.
Darius gets nerfed, again
Maybe the exact opposite of Teemo, Darius is one of those champions where the players and the devs often both agree is a bit too powerful. He is slow and doesn’t have any native escape options, making him very vulnerable to crowd control effects like stuns and slow. He’s also a solid tank with some of the most brutal and efficient ways to kill champions in the entire game. Whenever juggernauts (tanky fighters) get buffed as a whole, thanks to new items or the like, Darius always sees the biggest net positives.
In a consistent campaign to reign him in, several patches these past few months have featured tweaks to his kit. 5.20 shortens the range of his most used ability, Decimate, which features him spinning his axe around him in a wide circle. His pulling attack, Apprehend, used to slow targets to a near halt, now it’s way less devastating. Maybe this will make death by the Hand of Noxus less of forgone conclusion in team fights?
For the rest of the patch details, check out the League of Legends 5.20 at Riot’s homepage or watch a quick 1 minute summary video from Curse. For more information about champions, come to our League of Legends wiki, Leaguepedia. Tweet us your Kindred experiences @CurseGamepedia, as well.