Riot has revealed a little about what will be included in Legends of Runeterra’s 1.4 patch, which is the game’s next balance update. Alexz Lee, Rising Tides design lead on Legends of Runeterra, stated that Riot is looking to “spruce up a few Epic cards that aren’t seeing a ton of play.” Lee then asked players for feedback on what Epic cards they want buffed and why.
One of the most popular replies in the thread seemed to include people mentioning Ren Shadowblade, the eight mana unit from Ionia that grants Ephemeral to any follower that the enemy summons. The problem with Ren is twofold: for one, his stat line is very weak for his high mana cost, and secondly, because he’s so expensive, he isn’t able to enter play soon enough for his effect to be worth it. Make no mistake, his effect would be very powerful, but those two downsides have left him on the sidelines thus far.
I’ve felt Epics are meant to be pretty niche but the one I have basically never seen is Ren Shadowblade. There aren’t very effective ways to get him out early and by the time you do play him he doesn’t do anything to the followers already in play.
— 00CLANK🐀 (@00CLANK) June 3, 2020
Another card that got a lot of attention was Jae Medarda, an eight mana Elusive unit from Piltover & Zaun that draws one card every time he’s targeted. Lee agreed when Jae was mentioned, saying “his effect is so cool, but his current shape makes it tough to live the dream.” One user pointed out that Jae’s effect of drawing a card doesn’t activate if he’s killed by a spell that targets him. This, combined with his high cost, have probably been the two key reasons why this card hasn’t been able to take part in the meta.
Definitely hear you on Jae. His effect is so cool, but his current shape makes it tough to live the dream
— Alexz Lee (@DeadboltDoris) June 3, 2020
A couple of people even suggested Silent Shadowseer as a candidate for a future buff. The two cost Ionian follower features both Elusive and Ephemeral keywords and creates a copy of herself every time she hits the opponent’s nexus. She only has one health, which means she dies to just about everything in the game.
The bigger problem, however, is that using her sacrifices tempo, since you’re constantly having to spend two mana to put her back in play.
Second this. The problem is she's too fragile as a Ephermeral unit which means she can be easily interupted by many damage-based spells/effect, so she isn't even that good of a consistent harrasser or Death-mark user. Buff her health up so she could be more consistent.
— Soye'kin the Hideaway (@LurkerSoyekin) June 3, 2020
Patch 1.4 will be released two weeks after Patch 1.3, which should be dropping next week if Riot keeps to their normal cadence of updates for Legends of Runeterra.
