Patch Notes & Meta Timeline
Sequential balance adjustments from the first international championship (M1 World Championship) through to today.
Patch 1.9.90
Season 36 Released June 18, 2025Patch 1.9.90 - New Hero Zetian
In high-tier Ranked games and professional matches, Junglers have the biggest impact on early-to-mid game tempo, while Exp Lane heroes rarely have standout performances. Sometimes, Exp Lane heroes even have to purchase defensive equipment to take on the role of damage soaking and give up their resources to other teammates. We aim to give Exp Lane fighters more opportunities to dominate in the mid game, while slightly reducing Junglers' early-game tempo and balancing creep-clearing speeds among different Jungler heroes to prevent excessive disparities. Additionally, we find that the Healing Reduction effect from equipment is currently too strong, creating a big difference in how well healing-dependent heroes perform, based heavily on whether enemies purchase equipment with this effect. Therefore, we are reducing the Healing Reduction effect, while also adjusting heroes, equipment, and skills with overly high healing to maintain balance. Finally, we've enhanced the Resilience attribute to reduce the duration of Airborne control effects. However, we've also decreased the Resilience provided by certain equipment. Due to Airborne now being affected by the new Resilience effect, we will make adjustments to heroes whose combo relies on Airborne to minimize the impact, while providing other compensatory buffs to heroes whose core feature is Airborne but doesn't affect their combo. Good luck ranking up in the new season!
A Celestial Empress cherished by her people, descending to bring peace to the mortal realm.
Rafaela receives a major Passive rework.
Improved Aamon's hit-and-run capability and Ultimate shard generation.
Improved Arlott's flexibility with defensive builds and Skill 2 control.
Improved Lesley's synergy with Physical Penetration and Malefic Gun.
The Slow effect is moved to Ixia's Passive to improve her Basic Attack experience.
Lylia's conditions for dealing high damage are too strict. We aim to optimize this while reducing the gap in skill frequency between early and late game.
Optimized the control experience of each skill to make it more comfortable for her to chain combos.
As Kagura is a high-difficulty burst-type Mage with high mobility, we want to give her more opportunities to find her rhythm and pull off highlight-worthy plays in the early and mid game.
Reduced Mana Cost and optimized Skill 2 casting experience.
Roger has been underperforming in the current patch. We will improve the control experience of his Basic Attacks and skills in human form, while adjusting his Ultimate cooldown.
Improved Helcurt's gain on equipment in the mid and late game and enhanced the fluidity of his skill combos.
Reduced skill downtime and increased error tolerance when retreating.
Slightly increased his early-game damage and sustained combat capability.
Adjustments applied to Cursing Touch, Black Dragon Form.
As Minsitthar is a Fighter, we aim to reduce his gain on attack equipment while significantly reducing his Skill 2 cooldown.
Optimized X.Borg's team fight performance in mid and late game and increased the effectiveness of his perfect Ultimate.
Improved gaming experience and enhanced Uranus' solo-pushing capability.
Enhanced his durability in teamfights and sustained combat capability.
Terizla has been absent from the meta for a while. To bring him back into the spotlight, we've increased Skill 2's early-game damage against minions and reduced Skill 1's cooldown.
Paquito has low error tolerance in the mid and late game when his skills miss, so we've reduced the overall cooldowns of his skill set.
We want to make Ruby's Spell Vamp more distinctive compared to other Fighters.
Aldous' Mana Costs are too high compared to other Fighters, so we're making some optimizations.
Esmeralda's sustained combat capability in the mid and late game is lacking, so we've made adjustments accordingly.
Following the Resilience adjustments, this attribute now reduces the duration of most Airborne control effects (except for Kalea). For balance, we'll be implementing other nerfs to Kalea.
Given this beast's outstanding performance in Ranked matches, we're implementing nerfs to reduce Lukas's early-game damage, mobility, and Ultimate cast frequency.
Adjustments applied to Ninjutsu, Ougi.
Kimmy's Ultimate is a bit too powerful for initiating team fights, so we're reducing its frequency and range.
Adjustments applied to Tornado Strike, Steel Cable, Cut Throat.
Adjustments applied to Moonlight Immersion, Blessing of Moon Goddess.
Following adjustments to the equipment with Healing Reduction, the Shield granted by Skill is reduced accordingly.
Following adjustments to the equipment with Healing Reduction, the Shield granted by her Ultimate is reduced accordingly.
Following adjustments to the equipment with Healing Reduction, the Healing Reduction of his Passive is also reduced accordingly.
Due to the new Resilience effect affecting Airborne, enemies can escape more easily after being knocked airborne. We're adding a Slow Effect to compensate for this change.
The new Resilience's effect on Arborne has impacted Khufra's combo (Skill 1 into Ultimate). To compensate, we've reduced the backswing of his Skill 1.
As Minotaur's core mechanic relies on Airborne, he has been impacted by the new Resilience effect. To compensate, we're improving his durability.
As Atlas's core mechanic relies on Airborne, he has been impacted by the new Resilience effect. To compensate, we're improving his Passive's trigger speed.
The new Resilience effect has affected Guinevere's combo of Skill 2 into Ultimate. We'll compensate by increasing the Airborne Duration of her Skill 2.
We aim to balance creep-clearing speeds across all Junglers. Currently, Hanzo's creep-clearing speed is a bit too fast.
We aim to balance creep-clearing speeds across all Junglers. Currently, Freya's creep-clearing speed is a bit too fast.
We aim to balance creep-clearing speeds across all Junglers. Currently, Alpha's creep-clearing speed is a bit too fast.
We aim to balance creep-clearing speeds across all Junglers. Currently, Jawhead's creep-clearing speed is a bit too fast.
We aim to balance creep-clearing speeds across all Junglers. Currently, Julian's creep-clearing speed is a bit too fast.
We aim to balance creep-clearing speeds across all Junglers. Currently, Sun's creep-clearing speed is a bit too slow.
We aim to balance creep-clearing speeds across all Junglers. Currently, Saber's creep-clearing speed is a bit too slow.
Sanctum Island Map & Neutral Objectives
battlefield AdjustedNeutral creeps, defense turret plating, and lane minion mechanics tuned.