4.13 (Mid-Season Update) Patch Notes - Bran's Thoughts

• Artio (in the stream, but not the patch notes): OOOOH. Very nice. I like the art direction, druid feel sorta like The Morrigan but more actual druid-y and less dark. Another transformation god. Who doesn't want to be a BEAR?
  
  
• Kaijunbo: Lots of spikies. Pretty cool, but I don't know if I like the color scheme.
  
  
• Foxy Lady Da Ji skin: Another nice model. I really like the effect colors. Oh man that ult effect and sound is amazing.
  
  
• Ordo Aurora Freya skin: Bleh, don't like it. Don't like the colors, don't like the alien look...sorta like some of the aliens in various Sci-Fi series and GotG, but bleh. I do like the jump though. Voice pack sucks. I'll keep my Tennis skin.
  
  
• Head over Heals Cupid skin: Didn't see actual model, but will have huge head. LOL nice. Deep voice for a little kid, hahaha.
  
  
• Warden Cernunnos skin: okay. Don't really care, as I don't really play him, but the color changes are a good effect.
  
  
• Cu Chulainn Golden/Legendary skins: Like the Legendary. Meh on Golden and Diamond.
  
  
• Project Olympus Graphics Update (parallax): Nice!!! ABOUT TIME. All of these are going to be activated on my PC, and the 100%+ resolution scaling will look nice.
  
  
• Prestige Levels: I wonder where I'll be.
  
  
• Updated info in the Wisdom tab should be better for newer players, once they're all updated.
  
  
• Triumphant Chests: Might mean I should just get the god pack, even though I basically have all the gods. Will see how much favor will be useful.

[*]Conquest: I like the idea that the early game isn't the main factor in defining the rest of the game. All lane minions meet at 30 seconds...okay, that's good, I think...I have to think more on that though. Jungle being nerfed though...either lower XP, higher minion health, or both...geez. That's a pretty big nerf. Does that mean we see Junglers sharing more lane waves? I mean, okay, Junglers not going to get as ahead if they're getting camps AND kills...which is good for mitigating that early game effect...but it seems like a bit TOO much of an XP/health change. And T2 towers and phoenix health increase? Yikes. That's a big jump, especially Phoenix. Gotta see how that plays out, but think it also might be too big of a change. T2 tower, fine I guess...but for Phoenix, maybe 2,000 changed to 2,500 health, instead of 3,000, would be better. In the end, this is just prolonging games.


[*]Siege: Way shorter pre-game time. Guessing less early invades and gank attempts due to this. Wild Juggernaut regens health? Hmmm...gotta see how that goes.


[*]Clash/Joust spooling: okay, not bad.
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First, a so long to Hastened Fatalis...you'll be missed and not missed. I'm so conflicted.

• Hastened Katana: physical melee only. I did call the power buff...even mentioned 25!!! But didn't guess the 10 pen being dropped. We see a price reduction, back down to 2,300 gold. But this is good.
  
  
• Hastened Ring: Now this is a bigger change. Also a price drop. Adds a good amount of magical power, which helps offset the limitations of the passive to some extent. Movespeed is reduced to 7%...eh, okay. But the passive is what is going to really affect things. Only triggers on gods, which is nice, but if you're transitioning from minions to aggress on an enemy god, you won't be able to get that simultaneous clear and mobility (which can help you get the jump and surprise an enemy). It only lasts for 4 seconds, with a CD of 30 seconds, which means Freya is getting a huge nerf in this respect. I mean, sure, this is still basically going to be core for her in a burst sense to take down an individual god, but maybe this moves it from being a core 2nd item, to being 3rd or even later...I see her struggling now. We'll see if other items will help keep her relevant. Maybe this makes the revised Heavenly Wings (which will be discussed shortly) become core. I see this being very nice for Chronos and Sol though.
  
  
• Atalanta's Bow: Alright, this is the slight replacement to Fatalis for Hunters (and maybe also picked up by others, depends). The movement speed stack of up to 28% can be very effective for a juker like Medusa, but I'm not so sure about others. Maybe, in combination with a crit build utilizing Wind Demon, it'll create enough movement speed to simulate a Fatalis effect to a degree. That might be the way my Medusa build goes, though I'll miss Rage if that's the case. Maybe this by itself will be enough.
  
  
• Toxic Blade: Alright, this is now a possibly solid Solo lane item for basic attackers like Erlang Shen or Osiris when facing a healer like Hercules or Chaac. No power, which hurts it, and probably makes it so it's not an early-game item, but maybe it'll work in the mid-game.
  
  
• Shaman's Ring (Redesign): evolving item. 60 magical power and 10% move speed, with max stacks (gained by dealing damage to enemy gods) providing a straight 10% damage increase when using abilities. I'm...not so sure about this one. Should be very easy to get full stacks...that's only 5,000 damage. A straight 10% damage boost across the board could be pretty powerful, and the movespeed makes things safer for the wearer...I'm thinking it should be either 100 stacks, or 200 damage per stack, or something...the ease of stacking is too easy and quick to finish the evolution of the item.

At least the CDs are being increased overall...I hate relics having so much potential that they start overshadowing the actual skill of players and abilities of individual gods. In some cases, these are going to have even bigger effects, which I personally think is BS. I'm not happy overall with these changes.

[*] Aegis Amulet: no longer cleanses roots or slows. Good nerf. Tired of people getting Aegis and being also able to easily get away.


[*] Blink Rune: decreased CD...damn that's low. The upgrade makes you take 10% reduced damage for 2 seconds. Strong for initiators, so very functional for tanky gods/supports. But squishy damage dealers that already like utilizing this...might be too much of a buff.


[*]Bracer of Undoing: NONONO. The healing is the issue, not the ability CD. If you're going to do anything but you don't want to touch the healing, increase the CD for its use...people shouldn't be able to use this **** so often. Fine, so the upgrade keeps the CD, but still. Ugh. Whatever. Hi-Rez didn't listen.


[*] Cursed Ankh: changes to CD and healing reduction (nerfs), but added effect on the upgrade...mana costs increased by 20% (okay, weird but could be interesting), and enemy CDs increased by 2 seconds...okay, um. Damn, I don't know. Really effective against a He Bo and whatnot for that CD.


[*] Heavenly Wings: slow immunity (which it used to have) - glad this is back...I think. But wait a sec...didn't they say it would provide a basic attack penalty removal (e.g. Fatalis) on the upgrade? Did I hear that incorrectly? It's not showing up in the notes...


[*] Horrific Emblem: Upgrade makes enemies deal 20% less damage? Damn. Big teamfight potential.


[*] Magic Shell: completely changed. Health shield instead of protections...100+15 per level, 3 seconds. That's up to 400 health, sorta like a Geb shield. Upgrade...provides 2 block stacks? Hey Athena and Bellona...you got that fancy "Block?" Well FU, so do I.


[*]Meditation Cloak: Upgrade decreases mana costs and has a minor CD for abilities fired. This is okay. A bit of cooldown and mana cost decrease. Cool, I think.


[*] Phantom Veil: upgrade gets 15% reduced damage...basically the same mitigation as Spirit Robe. Okay, there's too much damage increase and damage mitigation going on. Yes, this makes the item more functional, but it was already being built for a specific purpose. Bleh. At least the CD on the upgrade is long.


[*] Shield of Thorns: Reduces lifesteal for enemies hitting them. Okay, that works I think...it's already easy to avoid hitting them if you see it being activated, so might as well make it more functional when people DO still attack.


[*]Sundered Spear: A percent of current health, which is maybe better than true damage, at least situationally. But that's like Nemesis' ult. I mean, come ON...instead of making relics unique...they're just giving them F'ING GOD ABILITIES. Honestly, these relics are going downhill.


[*]Teleport: Teleport is so specific though. The upgrade does make sense, as you have to invest late-game to get the proper function, as towers will be down and you'll want to go deeper, etc.
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• Rangda's Mask: 10 stacks = 10% movespeed, 10% CDR, 15 pen. For early snowball Junglers, this is powerful. For 500 gold? Yeesh.
  
  
• Frostbound Hammer: Nerf to ranged attacks...not all that many hunters were building this though...with Fatalis gone...I guess they had to do this?
  
  
• Bumba's Mask: healing nerf. Okay.
  
  
• Bancroft's Talon: Cost increase (only 100). Base lifesteal from 20% to 15%. Okay. Reasonable. It was a bit OP, perhaps, so this is a good change.
  
  
• Dynasty Plate Helm: Damn. I liked this item. I like it a bit less now.
  
  
• Celestial Legion Helm: Okay wait, how many stacks can you get? I still hate this item.
  
  
• Vampiric Shroud: Buff. Add +10 phys protection. I like the sustain application change...makes it viable for waveclear abilities. Last-hitting was a huge pain. However, that's a huge nerf to its max potential (if you were able to last hit the entire wave). That part's a bit ****.
  
  
• Witchblade: Counter to basic attacking for basic attackers. Cool counter. Does this get picked up more by hunters now? Almost like Asi, but without the pen, and with a bit of health and that attack speed reduction aura. Situational.
  
  
• Winged Blade: removed attack speed. Okay...I guess? Not like that made it OP, I don't know the reasoning for this.
  
  
• Relic Dagger: flat relic CD reduction. Also removed attack speed. Seriously though. This is ****. I hate **** tied to relics.
  
  
• Demonic Grip: Bleh!!! NO MORE ATTACK SPEED REDUCTION. Added move speed? In combination with Shoes and Hastened Ring, that's 15% which is better than the base 10% of Fatalis...but SCREW YOU HI-REZ. Holy hell, Freya is seriously nerfed. She already fell out of favor. Oh thanks for the 5 extra power though...that's so great for her amazing (****) scaling! FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF...
  
  
• Telkhines Ring: This is **** too. Fine, so it's great for tick damage gods, as long as the stacking can apply to tick/DoT damage. Seriously...3 ticks and you've got 130 magical power from this? Geez. I guess for the price and the lack of other really good stats, okay. This is a sort of boring item though. At least with the previous attack speed, it was an interesting pickup for Poseidon, Chronos and Sol. Now it's...whatever.
  
  
• Void Stone: Health! I like it. Wish it was just a bit more health though...200 would be good.
  
  
• Genji's Guard: Okay, this is a more viable magical protection alternative to Breastplate of Valor now. I like this.
  
  
• Oni Hunter's Garb: never liked this item. Sure, it has its uses. The buff helps. Why am I feeling more and more depressed though?

• Ao Kuang: Huge straight-up buff. Aw, we saw Ao played a bit less...let's get him back so he's seen all the time again! (I don't know if this will happen, but I don't think this was needed, was it?)
  
  
• Bakasura: Hmm...good Eating buff, and damn that CD. Geez. I already hated facing that ult. I got scared everytime I heard "crunch crunch crunch." Guess he needed it though. I'm just sooooo happy that I get to deal with more damage that I'll have a harder time mitigating because it's true damage, making my protections like paper. Yay.
  
  
• Bellona/ Osiris: OMG LOL, watching DMBrandon's stream...his "WTF!!!!!!" reaction is hilarious!!! Good, functional early-game debuff for Bell...didn't realize Osiris was quite as OP as he apparently is.
  
  
• Chiron: Wait, what is this change? I'm not quite getting it...does that mean any hits from any abilities will now apply Mark? Someone mind explaining this to me?
  
  
• Chronos: Passive power increase over a long time. Okay, I guess.
  
  
• Eset: I like the passive change just for a more functional use, but don't know that the CDR at full stacks was necessary...don't fully like that part.
  
  
• Kuzenbo: Ok, good changes. Especially to the ult.
  
  
• Ne Zha: Marki's gonna be sad. How much does 0.25 seconds count though?
  
  
• Nemesis: Damage increase? Holy, she now becomes a mage-killer.
  
  
• Nu Wa: targeting for minions. FINALLY!!!
  
  
• Raijin: I don't play this guy (apparently no one else was either, LOL!). I think I like these changes...some good teamfight potential. Maybe too strong of a buff in some cases, with the added slows and crazily decreased CD. From the original flat 18 to 15 scaling down to 11 at full rank on Raiju? Damn.
  
  
• Sobek: Don't think he needed that, but okay. But they really should focus on the lower-tier gods.
  
  
• Susano: Think this is good...maybe too much of a nerf again though?
  
  
• Ullr: Okay. Pretty good.