Arena of Valor (AoV) - Taiwan Server Receives New Balance Changes (September 11, 2018)

September 11, 2018 Taku Bou Arena of Valor (AoV) 5

A small patch hit the Garena Taiwan server today, resulting in a few item and hero balance changes. These changes will likely hit other Arena of Valor servers in the coming weeks or months.

Taiwan Server Receives Item and Hero Balance Changes

A few heroes and items were tweaked on the Garena Taiwan server today. These changes will likely hit the rest of the world’s servers at some point, though it’s unclear if they will come in a small patch like on the Taiwanese server or as part of a larger patch like when the huge August patch hit Tencent servers (and really was comprised of two patches). In addition, these changes were selected out of a larger group of changes that were on the test server – it appears the other changes are still under consideration.

Item Changes

Ring of the Fiend

ring of the fiend

Eye of the Fiend range increased from 1000 units → 1200 units

Having a vision mechanic with such a short range made no sense to begin with. A good change, in our opinion.

Purifying Bracers

purifying bracers

Purification was upgraded:

  • Range: 500 units → 700 units
  • Movement Speed Increase: 20% → 30%
  • Duration: 500 units → 700 units
  • Cooldown: 90 seconds →  60 seconds

This is a pretty big buff to the Purification unique active, but all changes that we feel were necessary. The range was too short to help allies trying to get away, the movement speed increase wasn’t enough to help them escape, the duration of slow immunity was too short before they could get slowed again, and the cooldown was way too long. So, yeah: thumbs up all around.

Hero Changes

Azzen’ka

Sand Trap (Passive Ability)

  • Stack Duration: 5 seconds →  6 seconds
  • Multiple stacks can now be applied immediately to the same target (previously, the same target could not receive further stacks for 2 seconds)

This is a pretty big change: now Azzen’ka can immediately petrify an opponent (an effect similar to Diao Chan’s freeze, if you’re not familiar) once he reaches level 2 – one Dust Devil that bounces back to the target and one Sand Punch will do the trick. Azzen’ka will never be mistaken for The Flash when it comes to mobility, so making it easier to CC opponents may open up some viability for the sand mage.  

Gildur

Midas Touch (Passive Ability)

  • Gildur now receives a shield whenever he uses Midas Touch (enhanced normal attack).
  • Shield Size: (100+0.6 AP) →  160 (+20 per level) (+0.3 AP)

The developers have fiddled with Gildur’s shield for a while now, first nerfing it when it was oppressively big and now buffing it back up again. The self-stun that is Midas Touch will now actually be worth using, giving Gildur the sustain that he needs. We also appreciate putting more into Gildur’s base stats so that he doesn’t have to build ability power to be effective. A level 15 Gildur will have 360 more shields than before with 0 AP, meaning you’d have to build 1200 AP onto Gildur (please don’t) for the old stats to surpass the new. That all said, we don’t see this change moving the needle that much: Gildur needs many more buffs to be even considered viable.

Airi

Role Change

  • Warrior → Assassin

Base Attributes

  • Base Attack Damage: 159 → 168
  • Base Armor: 105 → 96

Ryuu

  • Stun time: 1.25 seconds → 1 second

The Kunoichi has always looked like an Assassin, we admit. Beyond the damage buff and armor nerf, Airi will have different buffs when the Enraged Abyssal Dragon is taken, shifting from attack damage to armor pierce, magic pierce, and movement speed – which is better for her, in our opinion. The stun on Ryuu was also kinda crazy, so we’re okay with toning it down slightly.

Slimz

Base Attributes

  • Base HP: 3389 →  3292
  • HP gain per level: 207.9 →  189

Flying Spear

  • Movement speed increase after hitting a hero: 60% → 30% to 80%, depending on the distance
  • Stun time at close range: 0.7 seconds → 0.5 seconds

The whole purpose of Flying Spear was for it to be used as a super long range stun, rewarding the player for good skill and prediction ability. The fact that it aided Slimz’ escape so well at close range meant that Slimz players could jump into the fray with impunity. Now that the stats have been skewed even further in favor of long-range strikes, and his HP has been nerfed by 361 at level 15, Slimz players will have to be a bit more careful with their positioning.

Zephys

Death Rift

  • Mana Cost: 45/50/55/60/65/70 →  30/35/40/45/50/55

Death From Above

  • Mana Cost: 135/150/165 →  100/115/130

Zephys’ short cooldowns meant he was always mana-hungry. If played in a solo lane, Zephys players were required to buy Pendant of Faith or constantly go back to base. 

Diao Chan

Chilling Frost

  • Cast time shortened

Diamond Dust

  • Cast time shortened

For those who don’t know, Diao Chan had a roughly 0.5 second cast time where she would wind up and point her staff (Chilling Frost) or raise it (Diamond Dust) before actually casting the spell. Now that it’s been shortened, Diao Chan players won’t be quite as hard countered by quick-moving assassins and the like. Upon testing on the Taiwan server, the cast time is now roughly 0.25 seconds.

Valhein

Base Attributes

  • Attack speed per level: 4% →  3%

Pocket Glaive (passive ability)

  • Duration of the yellow glaive’s stun: 1 second → 0.75 seconds
  • Base damage of all glaives: 100 (+12 per level) → 80 (+10 per level)

Valhein’s emergence as a premier solo laner in the wake of Blitz Blade‘s buff has wreaked havoc on all the professional leagues, leading to a nearly 100% pick/ban rate around the world. However, the build that makes him so good in the solo lane relies on defensive items, meaning his base stats were already good enough to deal the requisite damage to punish his counterpart. Though slight, these changes are all in the right place, making his passive occur less, deal less damage, and stun for a shorter duration when it comes up yellow.

Veera

Base Attributes

  • Movement speed: 350 → 360

Mesmerize

  • Range: 700 units → 750 units

Inferno Bats

  • Range: 700 units → 750 units

Veera’s strength has always been as a single-target nuker, making the short range on Mesmerize and Inferno Bats a little perplexing. Veera has been the target of a string of buffs in recent patches, making her not the joke pick she used to be. That said, she’ll need a couple more to push her into the range of being competitively viable.

Baldum

Wild Charge

  • Cooldown: 13/12.6/12.2/11.8/11.4/11 seconds →  12/11.6/11.2/10.8/10.4/10 seconds

Wild Prison

  • Warning Circle (circle that appears before the prison is formed) now immediately appears upon casting, instead of appearing after a short delay
  • Enemies caught in the line of ruptured earth between Baldum and the prison will be slowed by 50% for 1.5 seconds
  • 0.6 seconds before the ground collapses, enemies in the circle will be slowed by 90%

Wild Prison was nearly impossible to hit, so these changes are nice. It will still be an unwieldy ability, with Baldum players and teammates alike unsure of how to use it and play around it properly. Wild Charge is by far Baldum’s best ability, so lowering its cooldown was a needed qualify of life fix.

Roxie

Role Change

  • Warrior → Tank

Roxie always felt like a tank to us, anyway. This is a slight buff when the Enraged Abyssal Dragon is taken, as HP recovery is more useful to her than attack damage, considering she scales off of ability power.

Past Patch Notes and Reviews

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5 Comments

    • She hasn’t, not yet at least. The change you’re referring to is on the test server and hasn’t been implemented on the Taiwan server yet.

      Reply