Rengar is getting massive changes in the assassin update

By Andrew Ross | Aug 9, 2016

It looks like Rengar will be much healthier for the game once the assassin update is here.

We are slowly starting to gain information about the assassin update, and we now know the direction Riot wants to take Rengar.

There’s no denying that the jungle assassin is one of the most polarizing champions in the game, and it would truly be amazing to have him in a place that is good and healthy for everyone in League.

RiotRepertoir (Champion Update Designer) is the one who discussed Rengar’s upcoming changes and opened with, “In this update, we’ll be making sizeable changes to how the Pridestalker takes down his prey. This will include more opportunities for opponents to anticipate and react to his attacks, but also making his combat options more ferocious and less predictable.”

Everyone knows that Rengar players can really only pop their ultimate and then try to one-shot squishy carries, but that’s what Riot wants to move away from. This will be done in a handful of ways.

The first thing Riot will address is Thrill of the Hunt. The issue with the ability is that it tries to give players information about what’s going on with Rengar (the exclamation point above their heads), but it’s ultimately useless because it happens so late that you can’t even do anything with the information you’ve been given. The Rioter explained that this issue will be fixed: “Expect Thrill of the Hunt to change in ways that gives opponents more meaningful play against it, but also in ways that give Rengar tools and options to outwit and outmaneuver his opponents rather than needing to be so brute force about things.”

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That sounds pretty interesting. Perhaps they will do something so that you will be able to see where he just was a second ago (kind of like what the red sweeper does, as far as following him), and that will allow Rengar players the ability to play mind games with their opponents.

The next thing that RiotRepertoir said is that Rengar will get some new spells and/or significant changes to his existing ones: “Rengar players deserve adrenaline-pumping, healthbar-chunking button presses, but they shouldn’t all come out in the same instant, and they should have degrees of failure and success. His new empowered W is looking to be a game-changer.”

Please, this is what people want for Rengar. Having it so he has to use all his abilities at once just isn’t fun for anyone.

Thirdly, Rengar’s Ferocity system will see some changes. Rengar players are essentially forced to come to fights with either max Ferocity or near max Ferocity, but that isn’t too healthy for those players or the game in general. RiotRepertoir said, “Expect Ferocity to be a mechanic that you make decisions around within a fight, rather than before it.”

It will be interesting to see how they do this. It’s possible that he will be able to gain ferocity based on how much damage he has taken or dished out. That would be better than what it is now.

Next: Talon's direction in the assassin update

The next change in line is to the Bonetooth Necklace system. Needless to say, Riot really hates everything about it, and RiotRepertoir explained why: “Upgrades like “Rengar now jumps farther with his leap” and “Rengar runs faster during R” are problematic. For example, if Rengar’s jump range should be longer, we should make it the default and let opponents get used to it.”

That’s very fair to say, and it’s probably something that most players have never considered. It’s not a healthy game mechanic to make players adapt to game-changing mechanics in the late-game just because Rengar has become stronger. It’s…weird.

“Ultimately, Bonetooth Necklace should be more about dominance over all opponents, and the upgrades it provides should be powerful, but they shouldn’t significantly alter spell mechanics or force opponents to relearn his spell ranges,” is what RiotRepertoir had to say in regards as to how it will get fixed.

The last thing that Rengar players need to know is that all his bugs should be fixed after this update. It’s no secret that he has had some awful bugs for a very long time, but he is going to be completely rebuilt which should fix all those issues.

It’s great to see that Rengar is finally getting the attention he deserves. Honestly, he’s could have been one of the champions to go through a complete rework, but this is the next best thing.

The assassin update is looking extremely promising.