Patch 10.2 dropped today and TFT is getting some major system adjustments!
With the latest revelation that Set 3 will be coming (along with TFT Mobile) in mid-March, there isn’t much time for players to grind for that next division in ranked TFT. The Elements continue to take their toll on the Arena and Patch 10.2 will shake things up even more with changes to item drops, game length, and a new six-unit Woodland synergy!
System changes
Game Length
"PVE Rounds Planning Phase Time: 30 seconds ⇒ 20 seconds"
Make sure your fingers are flying fast and your brain synapses are firing because you will now have less time to reposition and buy your units before the PVE rounds. Luckily, this doesn’t affect the PVP rounds, but this should have some time off the TFT games overall.
Item System
"Small Loot Boxes: Removed the “4 gold drop” possibility (average value down 15%) Medium Loot Boxes: Removed the “7 gold drop” possibility (average value down 3%) Removed the worst-case scenarios for item drops through the course of a game and especially in the first three PVE rounds. In short, we raised the RNG “floor”."
The overall math is still a bit unclear, but this generally means that players are going to get less gold and more items early. This means that scaling and hyper-rolling comps are probably going to be slightly worse and early-spiking comps like Woodlands/Predators will be better.
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"Full items now drop significantly less. Full items only drop if you are already rolling item components. The RNG “ceiling” has not changed, but you are more likely to get a full item as you approach that ceiling. You can no longer get two full item drops in the same game from PVE rounds. This change doesn’t include epic monster rewards or the Carousel. Drastically reduced the chance of Force of Nature appearing on the carousel."
Basically, this change is designed to make it less likely that you get a bunch of item components throughout the game. As you get closer to the “ceiling” of possible items that the game can give you (I think it’s seven) the game will start to give you fewer components and more gold or completed items.
Quality of life changes
"PVE minions and monsters are now immune to Zephyr."
Bless you, Riot.
"Updated the Trait Tracker UI with a chromatic tier to celebrate rare synergies (ex. Inferno 9). Runespirit Little Legend VFX update. The system for choosing your Little Legend and Arena Skin the Lobby has been greatly improved. Be sure to check it out."
Cool.
Items
Bramble Vest
"Damage: 80/120/160 ⇒ 100/140/200"
20 damage for 1 and 2-star units is pretty significant, but Bramble Vest still has the disadvantage that it’s really most effective against heavy crit and auto-attacking champions. I doubt it will be built very often except as a last resort when enemies are all running Assassin/Blender comps.
Bloodthirster
"Lifesteal: 40% ⇒ 50%"
Bloodthirster is a pretty good item for a lot of champions you’d put in Blademaster/Blender comps (Nocturne, Azir, Aatrox) but it definitely gets outshone by stuff like Hush or Hextech Gunblade. I’m fine with Riot giving it a bit of extra “oomph.”
Guinsoo’s Rageblade
"Attack Speed per stack: 4% ⇒ 5%"
Guinsoo’s is still an incredibly strong item on the right units (Vayne, Nocturne, Sivir, Azir) and with all of them able to fit pretty decently into the meta at the moment, I don’t think this buff was really necessary.
Hextech Gunblade
"Omnisteal: 25% ⇒ 33%"
Gunblade is ridiculously strong on Aatrox at the moment but it’s barely used on other champions. So I get the desire to buff this, but I think this could make those Light/Lunar comps ridiculously strong in a new wrinkle.
Iceborn Gauntlet
"Freeze Duration: 1.5 seconds ⇒ 2.5 seconds"
This is a pretty significant buff on champions that auto-attack a lot and have low mana costs, especially when combined with an item like Seraph’s Embrace. I could see Iceborne + Seraph’s + Rabadon’s Kindred being super strong in Patch 10.2 after this buff.
Locket of the Iron Solari
"Shield Value: 250/275/300 ⇒ 250/275/350"
The buff only kicks in when the wearer hits 3-stars, so it’s likely not going to end up being that significant. This does make full ‘Zerkers comps better if you can get like a Renekton to 3-stars.
Luden’s Echo
"Damage: 120/160/200 ⇒ 125/175/250"
This is a pretty nice buff for an item that scales well already. This will definitely be welcome by a lot of Mages and Summoners who love building Luden’s.