Wild Rift 2.1a patch notes - Katarina released, Lulu nerfs, Darius buffs, and more

League of Legends: Wilf Rift, Riot's mobile take on their popular MOBA, has proven to be a resounding success so far, with the latest patch 2.1a bringing plenty of changes to the title, including the addition of its latest character, Katarina. 

"Katarina is a Noxian assassin of the highest calibre. Eldest daughter to the legendary General Du Couteau, she made her talents known with swift kills against unsuspecting enemies," Riot describes her.

When is Katarina coming to Wild Rift?

(Image: Riot Games)

While Riot revealed the latest Champion will come with patch 2.1a, they stated it won't be right away, releasing at some point before patch 2.1b drops.

As for things that will be available right away, expect Lulu fans to be deeply upset, as she took major hits with this patch. Health, speed, Polymorph duration, the Champion of choice for many got absolutely gutted.

The reason? Riot believed that as people got better at playing her, the winrate became far too exaggerated, making her a must-pick in every composition. 

• Read more: Wild Rift Xayah guide: Best runes, items, spells, more

One of the biggest winners of the patch is Darius, receiving a major buff to Decimate, moving its missing health heal from percentage to 15 to 45%. Riot hopes that, as the Champions was underperforming, this buff can help him become more stable in the meta.

Wild Rift 2.1a full patch notes

(Image: Riot Games)

New Champion - Katarina

Decisive in judgment and lethal in combat, Katarina is a Noxian assassin of the highest calibre. Eldest daughter to the legendary General Du Couteau, she made her talents known with swift kills against unsuspecting enemies. Her fiery ambition has driven her to pursue heavily-guarded targets, even at the risk of endangering her allies—but no matter the mission, Katarina will not hesitate to execute her duty amid a whirlwind of serrated daggers.

Katarina will be released later in the patch.

SKINS

(Future 2.1 skins will be released in patch 2.1b)

All skins will be released throughout the patch.

• Bilgewater Katarina
• Death Sworn Katarina
• Omega Squad Fizz
• Omega Squad Teemo
• Omega Squad Tristana
• El Tigre Braum
• Super Galaxy Shyvana

EVENTS

KATARINA’S CHALLENGE

Complete missions to unlock Katarina!

The Katarina’s Challenge event will begin later in the patch. More information available soon.

CHAMPIONS

ASHE

For an ability that already requires attacks to be cast at full potential, (1) Ranger’s Focus felt a little bit too gated. Removing some of the cooldown to help improve the flow of using this ability.

(1) Ranger’s Focus

• Cooldown: 8/7/6/5s → 7/6/5/4s

DARIUS

Darius has been slightly underperforming in higher levels of play so we are making his successful ability hits a bit more rewarding.

(1) Decimate

• Missing health heal %: 12 to 36% → 15 to 45%

(3) Apprehend

• Slow duration: 1s → 1.5s

EZREAL

Ezreal has been slightly weak since our last round of nerfs. Reverting the nerf to his (1) Mystic Shot we did back in Patch 1.1 to help him catch up.

(1) Mystic Shot

• Base damage: 20/50/80/110 → 20/55/90/125

LULU

Everyone has tasted enough purple by now. We’re taking a larger swing at nerfing Lulu after seeing her win rate climb too far as people got better at playing her. These changes should help create more room for opponents when playing against her.

Base Stats

• Base health: 570 → 530
• Movement speed: 330 → 325

(2) Whimsy

• Polymorph duration: 1.25/1.5/1.75/2s → 1/1.25/1.5/1.75s

(3) Help, Pix!

• Shield duration: 5s → 2.5s
• Cast range: 7 → 6

(Ult) Wild Growth 

• Cast range: 8 → 7

MISS FORTUNE

Miss Fortune’s baseline defenses and waveclear are a bit too high given her ranged profile when compared to other marksmen. We’re adjusting her so dealing damage to her is more significant in stopping her from strutting to victory.

Base Stats

• Base armor: 35 → 30
• Base health regen: 9 → 6
• Base health regen per level: 0.81 → 0.55
  • 21 at level 15 → 14 at level 15

(P) Love Tap

• Love Tap Damage vs minions: 100% → 50%
• [BUGFIX] Love Tap Damage vs monsters: 50% (Unchanged - now in tooltip)

OLAF

Olaf’s been overly consistent as a champion who is supposed to take risks to deal damage. We are toning down his utility and early game power to make him less generally powerful.

Base Stats

• Base armor: 40 → 35
• Base AD: 70 → 64

(1) Undertow

• Slow: 30/35/40/45% → 20/25/30/35%
• Slow duration: 2.5s → 2s

VARUS

Varus is just a nudge from being in a really healthy spot. We are amping up his fun and unique ability to help him solidify his identity in the marksman roster.

(1) Piercing Arrow

• Cooldown: 18/16/14/12s → 16/14/12/10s

VAYNE

Vayne is a bit weaker in the duo lane than we’d like and is at risk for being the most affected by the Blade of the Ruined King changes (see below). Doing some preemptive light buffs that we think make her stronger when sharing lane with a partner than by herself.

(3) Condemn

• Damage on terrain stun: 75/120/165/210 → 105/145/185/225

(Ult) Final Hour

• Cooldown: 100/80/60s → 90/75/60s

XAYAH

Xayah released weaker than expected. Giving her a large buff to help her soar.

(1) Double Dagger

• Base damage: 35/65/95/125 → 50/75/100/125

(2) Deadly Plumage

• Bonus attack speed: 25/30/35/40% → 35/40/45/50%

(3) Bladecaller

• Cooldown: 12/11/10/9s → 11/10/9/8s
• AD ratio: 0.6 → 0.8

(Ult) Featherstorm

• Base damage: 100/200/300 → 125/250/375

ITEMS

Blade of the Ruined King has risen to the top in all builds for marksmen even when its effect doesn’t seem like it would synergize that well with the individual champion. We are nerfing it and also shaping it so that the identity of the item is more in line with attack speed-based champions. We’re not seeing melee champions abusing this item, however, and we will be increasing its on-hit damage from melee attacks to keep it relatively power-neutral for melee users.

BLADE OF THE RUINED KING

• Attack damage: 30 → 20
• Attack speed: 30% → 35%
• On-hit damage
  • Melee: 6% → 9% of current enemy health physical damage
  • Ranged: 6% of current enemy health physical damage (unchanged)
• Drain movement speed duration: 3s → 2s

Many champions are overly benefitting from the power of Liandry’s Torment. We are tuning this item’s AP down as its identity should be more about dealing tons of damage in long fights through its passives than simply being a very strong AP stat stick. We’re adjusting Haunting Guise to accommodate this change.

LIANDRY’S TORMENT

• Ability power: 90 → 70
• Total cost: 3150g (unchanged)
• Combine cost: 800g → 950g

HAUNTING GUISE

• Ability power: 35 → 25
• Total cost: 1450g → 1300g
• Upgrade cost: 950g → 800g

FREE-TO-PLAY CHAMPION ROTATION

Mar 4 - Mar 10: Aurelion Sol, Fiora, Gragas, Kai'Sa, Lee Sin, Lulu, Sona, Teemo, Tristana, Twisted Fate

Mar 11 - Mar 17: Alistar, Amumu, Braum, Camille, Evelynn, Jhin, Seraphine, Singed, Vayne, Yasuo