League of Legends' New Locket Effect Is Unlikely to Ship, Rageblade Changes Coming

Two League of Legends items are having changes tested on the PBE at the moment, one that’s a [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

League of Legends Varus
(Photo: Riot Games)

Two League of Legends items are having changes tested on the PBE at the moment, one that's a staple pick for support and the other a hybrid weapon that's found success with certain marksmen.

Back in February, a new active effect for Locket of the Iron Solari was previewed. While the item currently casts a shield on all surrounding allies with the press of a button, the new version would add a bit more skill expression to the item by causing it to create a protective zone that negates part of enemies' damage. This would mean choosing the right spot to fight as a team instead of simply activating the effect whenever there's trouble, a change that would make the item less appealing in every scenario.

However, even though that effect was seen on the PBE and is one way of achieving Riot Games' goal to make the item move away from a must-pick every game, Riot Meddler says that it's unlikely the new effect ships.

"We believe Locket needs to be more contextual (do pick in some circumstances, don't pick in others)," Riot Meddler said. "That's something we've been trying to achieve for quite a while now with various changes, but still haven't gone far enough on. Also trying to make it so its use is more skill dependent/less consistently reliable. The version currently on PBE (DR zone) has some interesting stuff going on, it's unlikely it ships though given its also got some substantial issues as well."

On the other end of the spectrum from damage reduction is damage dealing, something that Guinsoo's Rageblade does quite well should its owners have time to stack its effects. But those buyers who use the item often are few and far between compared to other items with champs like Kog'Maw and Varus being some of the best users that come to mind. Rageblade has been seen with changes on the PBE as well with one that potentially restricts the item's damage output to just attack damage.

"We're looking to broaden its pool of users somewhat (e.g. melee users, people who currently get screwed by having their Adaptive stat set to AP by its build path) and reduce how much of a single item spike it is early on its current ideal users. Intent is to keep it as a hybrid AD/AP item with a stacking mechanic, though we have also been testing an AD only version to understand what an item in that space looks like."

The changes will continue being tested on the PBE and should be finalized when the next patch notes release, if not sooner.

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