Riot Games revealed its final Legends of Runeterra open beta update today that included several champion buffs, Expedition tweaks, unit changes, and a new watchlist. 

LoR is set to exit open beta and officially launch on PC and mobile on April 30. The LoR team ensured the 0.9.4 update improved champions that were underrepresented while clearing up any loose ends. This included a total of four champion buffs, over a dozen nerfs and buffs to units and spells, Expedition tweaks, and text clarity adjustments. 

Nerfs and buffs

Changes were made to Katarina, Yasuo, Draven, and Kalista in the 0.9.4 LoR patch to ensure champion viability. The adjustments are minor, but the changes should have a major impact on the overall metagame both before and after the new set arrives.

Draven

• Old Level Up: I’ve struck twice with a [Spinning Axe]
• New Level Up: I’ve struck with two total [Spinning Axe]

Yasuo

• Health: Increased from three to four

Katarina

• Old text:  Level Up: I’ve struck once. When I level up, recall me.
• New text: Play: Create a [Fleeting] Blade’s Edge in hand. Level Up: I’ve struck once. When I level up, recall me.

Kalista

• Old Level Up: I’ve seen 4+ allies die
• New Level Up: I’ve seen 3+ allies die

Nerfs, buffs, and clarity adjustments were also made to over a dozen followers in the 0.9.4 LoR update. A full breakdown of those changes can be found here. 

Expeditions

A total of 14 Expedition archetypes were adjusted in the LoR 0.9.4 patch. A full breakdown of these changes can be found here. The team feels that Expeditions is in a “good spot,” and that the changes made involved refining archetypes while also mixing things up. 

A bonus archetype supports the one or two primary archetypes in Expeditions. Included in the 0.9.4 patch is a new bonus archetype, Crimson Guard. The two previous bonus archetypes were Fluft and Tuft and Cataclysm.

The LoR team also included information about what Expeditions will look like after the new set drops on April 28. At least seven archetypes are being added to the 24 that already exist, according to principle game designer Riot Yegg. 

“We’ll add new primary archetypes for each of the new region pairings, so at least seven more archetypes added to the current total of 24, bringing the mode to over 30,” Yegg said. “When you take tri-region into account, there will be 63 different region combinations possible in Expeditions decks.”

Watchlist

Glimpse Beyond, Shadow Assassin, and Elise have been taken off the LoR watchlist. As has Frenzied Skitterer, after receiving a nerf in the 0.9.4 patch. Two champions have been added to the watchlist, though: Ezreal and Karma. 

Ezreal builds haven’t reached a win-rate level that would justify an immediate nerf, according to Riot. The LoR team is aware, however, of the frustrations most players experience when going up against an Ezreal deck. Tweaks towards Ezreal are being looked into and an adjustment for him is on the way. 

Karma has also been added to the watchlist, mostly because of strategies that have pushed her limits beyond what’s possible with one-turn kills. She’s not undergoing any playtesting tweaks at the moment, but Karma is being closely monitored by the team. A full rundown of the 0.9.4 watchlist can be found here. 

Miscellaneous

• Region road visual updates
• Each region road now has an introductory card at the beginning where you can explore the region’s champions
• Region selection UI updated to a more lightweight slide-out panel
• Header bar slimmed
• Various quest text updated for clarity
• On PC, players can now click on a card to mark it for replacement during Mulligan (change made in patch 0.9.3)
• Mobile app icon updated

Known issue

Starting LoR from the lor.exe file via Windows in your programs folder (or from a shortcut manually created via that .exe) has been known to cause a crash. Riot is temporarily asking players to start LoR by using the shortcut creating during its initial install, or by using the Legends of Runeterra listing on your start menu in the Riot Games folder. The issue is expected to get fixed by the next patch.

Bugfixes

• Friend challenge will now randomly assign first and second player in each match.
• Shadowshift will no longer cause targeted spells to fizzle—they’ll now hit their new target.
• Statikk Shock can now be cast even if there is only one available target.
• Noxian Guillotine now correctly indicates that it will create a copy of itself.
• Stand United no longer ignores combat rules if units were swapped AND a blocker was removed—attacks will now correctly fizzle against a removed blocker unless the attacker has Overwhelm.
• Striking an Omen Hawk with Barrier will no longer show its buff VFX.
• Impersonate will now fizzle if Shady Character is recalled or killed first.
• Augmented Experimenter will no longer cause a permanent red glow on screen if cast without a target.
• Drawing Poison Puffcaps now has correct sounds for different numbers of mushrooms.
• Kalista VFX cleaned up to make bonding and damage redirection more clear.
• Legion Marauder buff VFX when attacking cleaned up.
• Braum level-up VFX fixed for widescreen ratios.
• Crimson Curator will no longer show incorrect info when using Oracle’s Eye.

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