Wild Rift v2.1 patch notes: New champions, spectator and replay mode, balance changes, more

Wild Rift continues to go from strength-to-strength, the start of Season 1 of the competitive is well underway, and the events, new champions and subsequent balance updates are coming thick and fast.

Now in a recent v2.1 preview, the Wild Rift dev team have detailed the upcoming features and additions for, not just this update, but the next several.

The v2.1 patch is expected to be released on the 1st of February, along with the full patch notes, but thanks to the preview we know much of what is expected.

The full patch notes including balance changes, to both champions and items, is below.

Replay and spectator mode

Players will now be able to watch back their most recent matches as well as spectate friends and custom games.

Wild Rift will be getting a replay and spectator mode. (Picture: Riot Games)

Replays will be available for the last 50 played games. Replays feature a new HUD, showing both teams’ items, summoner spells, gold earned, and more.

Replay mode:

• Replays can be accessed from your Match History page or the end-of-game screen.
• Watch the match back as it happened or follow any other player in the game.
• Different playback speed settings are available, ranging from 0.5× to 8× speed.
• Rewinding/timeskipping is not currently supported.
• Replays cannot be used for Practice Mode games.
• Replays will expire with each new patch.

Spectate mode will be available on a three-minute delay to combat any stream sniping type scenarios. The custom game feature allows three to spectate a match with no delay.

Spectating mode:

• In order to spectate a player in a matchmade game, you must be friends with them.
• You must be on the same game version to spectate a player.
• If you don’t want to make a... spectacle of yourself, turn off “Allow spectators” in the Settings menu.
• When spectating, the map will always be oriented with Baron Lane at the top and Dragon Lane at the bottom.

These two new features will not only help with improving your gameplay, allowing you to see where you went wrong or right but will also be a boon for the fledging Wild Rift esports scene, allowing tournament organizers more power over their broadcasts.

Xayah and Rakan - new champions

(Picture: Riot Games)

The next two champions to join Wild Rift will be Xayah, the rebel and Rakan, the Charmer, characters who will be familiar to those that have played League of Legends.

How players will get their hands on these two is not yet clear though like previous inclusions will likely be unlocked through an event.

The developers have confirmed that these two will be entering the game in a later patch.

Lunar Beast event

If they are part of an event it will very likely be the Lunar Beast event. A celebration of Lunar New Year, and coinciding with a similar event seen in League of Legends, the Lunar Beast event is set to start shortly after the release of v2.1 though no date has been given.

Scant information was released, so we don't know if a series of challenges or a more involved event like that seen in the Yordle Expeditions. However due to the scale of the celebrations, in one of the game's most successful regions, it would be a surprise if this wasn't packed full of content.

The dev team also revealed that v2.1 will last until the end of March, whilst also detailing some of the mid-patch content (There will be three updates in that time, v2.1a, b, and c).

Those updates will include Katarina, who was announced earlier in the year, a new skin line called "Omega Squad". Three further champions: Leona, Diana, and Pantheon, to be released in mid-March and an event called Path of Ascension.

(Picture: Riot Games)

A further skin line was also teased called "Project" which should feature five skins for champions unknown.

Free-to-play Champion Rotation

Feb 4 - Feb 10: Aurelion Sol, Darius, Ezreal, Fizz, Jax, Jhin, Lee Sin, Shyvana, Sona, Soraka

Feb 11 - Feb 17: Amumu, Braum, Camille, Draven, Graves, Nami, Varus, Wukong, Zed, Ziggs

Wild Rift v2.1 full patch notes and balance changes

Champions

This patch, we’re taking a good look at the recently-released yordle champs to address some outliers, as well as putting some power back into fighters like Jarvan, Jax and Yasuo.

Corki

Corki isn’t delivering on his high-flyin’, high-falutin’ antics, especially given his identity as a marksman mage. We’re adding a bit of satisfaction to his arsenal.

(1) Phosphorus Bomb

• AD ratio: 0.5 bonus AD → 0.7 bonus AD

(3) Gatling Gun

• Armor and Magic Resist reduction: 4/6/8/10 → 8/12/16/20

(Ult) Missile Barrage

• Base damage: 80/95/110 → 80/115/150
• AD ratio: 0.25 at all ranks → 0.25/0.45/0.65
• Big One base damage: 160/190/220 → 160/230/300
• Big One AD ratio: 0.5 at all ranks → 0.5/0.9/1.3

JARVAN IV

Jarvan’s been underperforming for a while now so we’re giving him some buffs to make him a more worthy contender.

Base Stats

• AD per level: 3.6 → 4.55

(P) Martial Cadence

• Now deals 20 minimum damage

(1) Dragon Strike

• Dragon Strike to Demacian Standard dash combo hitbox size: 2 → 2.5

(Ult) Cataclysm

• Fixed dash speed: 0.4s → 0.25s

JAX

Jax has been underperforming in matchups we expect him to be stronger in. Amping up his gap closing so he can snowball better, particularly in situations against squishy ranged champions.

(1) Leap Strike

• Range: 6 → 6.5
• Cooldown: 9/8/7/6s → 7.5/7/6.5/6s
• Damage: 55/110/165/220 → 60/115/170/225

KAI’SA

Fixing an issue where Kai’Sa wasn’t hitting as hard as she should.

(2) Void Seeker

• Correctly applies Caustic Wounds’ damage to the target hit

KENNEN

Electric ninja rat too strong, especially as a lane bully and burst mage. We’re tuning him down across the board.

Base Stats

• Base AD: 58 → 52
• Movement speed: 335 → 330

(2) Electrical Surge

• Cooldown: 12/10/8/6s → 15/12/9/6s

(3) Lightning Rush

• Base damage: 85/140/195/250 → 70/125/180/235
• AP ratio: 0.8 → 0.7

(Ult) Slicing Maelstrom

• Base damage: 35/70/105 → 30/60/90
• AP ratio: 0.2 → 0.15

LEE SIN

Our last changes made it so Sonic Wave (1) sometimes can’t reach a target kicked back by Dragon’s Rage (Ult). We’re adjusting the range to make this combo reliable again. We expect this to be a light nerf, but Lee Sin is for the most part in an okay spot.

(Ult) Dragon’s Rage

• Knockback range: 7.5 → 6.75

TRISTANA

Tristana’s abilities feel very lackluster, and her signature Explosive Charge (3) is not living up to its promise of being a huge nuke when fully stacked. We’re amping up all of her explosive powers to help her keep pace with other bot laners.

(1) Rapid Fire

• Attack speed: 30/50/70/90% → 50/70/90/110%
• Duration: 5s → 7s

(2) Rocket Jump

• Base damage: 60/130/200/270 → 85/155/225/295

(2) Explosive Charge

• Passive base damage: 40/70/100/130 → 55/85/115/145
• Active base damage: 60/70/80/90 → 65/80/95/110
• AD ratio: 50/70/90/110% Bonus AD → 55/90/125/160% Bonus AD

TWISTED FATE

Twisted Fate has been underperforming especially in higher levels of play. We are making it more rewarding to players who are able to select the right card in the right situation.

(2) Pick a Card

• Blue Card mana restoration: 50/65/80/95 → 60/90/120/150
• Blue Card AP ratio: 0.5 → 0.8
• Red Card AP ratio: 0.5 → 0.65
• Gold Card stun duration: 1/1.25/1.5/1.75s → 1.25/1.5/1.75/2s

YASUO

Yasuo’s ultimate sometimes feels more like a Last Sigh. Currently it feels like it takes too long to complete the animation so we’re speeding it up, and also increasing its damage in the late game.

(Ult) Last Breath

• Base damage: 200/300/400 → 200/350/500
• Animation time: 1.5s → 1.25s
• Knock-up duration: 1.5s → 1.25s

ITEMS

We believe Youmuu’s is offering too much as a single item and needs to be trimmed down a bit to have a clearer (and weaker) purpose. We’re reworking the Momentum passive to only stack Movement Speed at a baseline instead of also converting Momentum into magic damage. Since our goal is not to nerf Dead Man’s Plate, we will be adding the Momentum to magic damage conversion onto Dead Man’s Plate’s Crushing Blow passive.

YOUMUU’S GHOSTBLADE

Momentum

• [Removed] Attacks convert Momentum into bonus magic damage on-hit.
• Attacks will still remove all Momentum stacks.

Spectral Haste

• Unchanged

DEAD MAN’S PLATE

Momentum

• [Removed] Attacks convert Momentum into bonus magic damage on-hit.
• Attacks will still remove all Momentum stacks.

Crushing Blow

• [New] Attacks deal magic damage equal to Momentum stacks removed. Melee attacks that expend max Momentum also slow by 50% for 1 second

Stacking the effects of the Redemption or Locket Enchants should come at a cost similar to multiple Heals. We’re adding some restrictions to preserve active enchant diversity.

REDEEMING ENCHANT

• (NEW) Redemption heal effect is reduced by 50% if the target has been affected by another Redemption in the last 20 seconds

LOCKET ENCHANT

• Locket shield effect is reduced by 50% if the target has been affected by another Locket in the last 20 seconds

GAMEPLAY

NEW FEATURES

PING DISPLAY

Added the ability to see your exact latency in game.

PORTRAIT LOCK

By popular demand, added the ability to choose the order in which enemies appear when using Portrait Lock.

IN-GAME CHAT

The in-game chat settings have been updated. All / Team / Off is now All / Team / Party. The new Party setting allows for premade party chat while hiding chat from other team members.

SUMMONER SPELL TIMERS

Added an indicator around summoner spell buttons showing exactly how long spell casts like Barrier and Ghost will be active.

SMITE INDICATOR

Added a visual indicator to indicate reduced gold from minions if using the Smite summoner spell.

GAMEPLAY CHANGES

HAND OF BARON

We felt that the Hand of Baron buff on empowered minions felt unfair to opponents and was misleading, so we’re taking some power away from them when you’ve long since peaced out.

• When champions with Hand of Baron buff leave minion vicinity, buff linger duration reduced from 10 → 5 seconds

RIFT SCUTTLER

Rift Scuttlers now spawn similarly to League PC. At the start of the game, two Rift Scuttlers spawn (one on each side of the map), then one Scuttler on either side is randomly spawned thereafter.

OTHER

• Increased the amount of Blue Motes in Weekly Activity Chests, and slightly increased Activity Points required to earn the third chest in a week. XP and Poro Coin rewards are unchanged:
  • Chest 1: 120 Activity Points - 150BM → 250BM
  • Chest 2: 240 Activity Points - 175BM → 275BM
  • Chest 3: 465 Activity Points (was 400) - 200BM → 425BM
• Added the ability to gift recalls, baubles and emotes.

• Fixed a bug where reaching account level 10 would remove the Suggested Activities menu.
• Chests now prioritize granting unowned content first, and if all potential content is owned, Poro Coins can be granted instead. This fixes an issue where chests could not be used if all potential content was owned.
• Champions earned from leveling up have been removed as potential drops from chests.

• Adjusted the login flow to ensure that important login popup messaging (like server status) will not be skipped when using automatic login.
• On iOS, increased the time before automatic logout when minimizing Wild Rift or locking screen.
• Refreshed tutorials with more information about lane indicators.
• Moved hardware/device permission requests from first login to the first time a feature is used. For instance, instead of requesting access to save media on first login, Wild Rift now asks for access for the first time saving media (like sharing on social media).

New skins

(Future 2.1 skins will be released in patches 2.1a, 2.1b and 2.1c)

All skins will be released throughout the patch.

• Lunar Beast Alistar
• Lunar Beast Annie
• Lunar Beast Darius
• Lunar Beast Fiora
• Lunar Beast Jarvan IV
• Lunar Beast Miss Fortune
• Panda Teemo
• Cosmic Dawn Rakan
• Cosmic Dusk Xayah
• Heartseeker Vayne
• Sweetheart Rakan
• Sweetheart Sona
• Sweetheart Xayah