Targon and the first of three Call of the Mountain set drops go live in Legends of Runeterra tomorrow.
Riot Games will launch the third set within LoR on Aug. 26 via PC and mobile, containing a total of 89 cards and seven new champions. A new region, Targon, will also join the seven existing regions. Players will have an opportunity to test out the new cards via the Discover Targon Lab, featuring six preconstructed decks with a focus on cards from the Targon region.
Cross-shard friend challenges were initially scheduled to go live in LoR Patch 1.8. But the system has been delayed, according to communications lead “A Small Man.” Players can expect the cross-shard direct challenge system to go live in LoR Patch 1.10 instead.
Call of the Mountain
The new set, CoM, will feature multiple expansion releases, with the first of the three taking place on Aug. 26. By the time the third is released in December, Targon will have an equal number of champion and non-champion cards as the other regions in LoR.
New LoR cards
A total of 51 cards are getting added to LoR via the Targon region. An additional 38 cards were also added to existing regions. A full expansion release of all the cards being added via CoM tomorrow can be viewed via several LoR gallery sites.
Champions
The Targon region contains four champions. A total of three champions were added to existing regions.
Leona (Targon)
Diana (Targon)
Aurelion Sol (Targon)
Taric (Targon)
Nocturne (Shadow Isles)
Trundle (Freljord)
Lulu (Ionia)
Keywords
Six new keywords were added with the release of CoM. A full rundown on every keyword in LoR can be found here.
- Fury: When I kill a unit, grant me +1/+1.
- Spellshield: Negates the next enemy spell or skill that would affect me.
- Daybreak: Bonus if this is not the first card you play in a round (bonus dependent on card text).
- Nightfall: Bonus if this is not the first card you play in a round (bonus dependent on card text).
- Behold: Bonus if you have a type of card in play or hand (bonus dependent on card text).
- Invoke: Pick a Celestial card from among three to create in hand. Celestials are a special pool of created cards, much like Treasures in the Deep archetype, representing the constellations above.
Ranked reset and Region Roads
A ranked reset will take place following the release of CoM. All players will receive a ranked icon reward for their rank with the Aug. 26 update. Region Roads for Shadow Isles, Ionia, and Freljord have been extended. A Targon Region Road has also been added.
Ranked will be disabled in LoR on Aug. 25 between 11am and noon CT to prepare for the new season. As usual, players will drop in rank via the ranked reset.
- Master accounts will drop eight divisions.
- Diamond and Platinum accounts will drop 750LP (Seven divisions plus 50LP).
- Gold and Silver accounts will drop 675LP (Six divisions plus 75LP).
- Bronze and Iron accounts will reset to Iron IV.
There are also seveal updates taking place regarding Masters LP:
- Fixed an issue that was causing Masters players to lose fewer LP than intended when losing to lower-ranked opponents.
- Updated the initial seeding mechanism for new Masters players to anchor based on their MMR percentile relative to all other players in Masters.
New and existing players can earn extra XP via the early levels of non-Targon Region Roads. Additional XP that’s applied toward the Weekly Vault can also be earned through new challenges and updated quests.
Balance notes
A few changes in how the LoR team handles balance patches are on the horizon. There’s still a goal to keep the game healthy via monthly balance patches, but the team “wants new card content to be at the forefront when released,” according to live design lead Rubin Zoo.
The next LoR update won’t occur until three weeks after Patch 1.8. And Patches 1.10 and 1.11 will include a number of significant card changes.
- A major update for Lee Sin, giving him more options for synergies and allowing him to come online and impact the game earlier in a match.
- Adjustments to the difficulty of Ezreal’s level-up quest.
- Adjustments to Yordle Grifter’s allegiance effect.
Existing card updates
There are several existing LoR cards receiving balance updates in Patch 1.8. This includes a nerf to Fury of the North and Trifarian Assessor, along with a buff to Discard keyword abilities via Sump Dredger and Zaunite Urchin. A full rundown of the balance changes can be found here.
Sejuani’s Fury of the North
- The old text of give an ally +4/+4 this round has been nerfed to “give an ally +3/+4 this round.”
Trifarian Assessor
- Cost increased from four to five.
Sump Dredger
- Old text of “to play me” has been removed.
- Text now reads “Play. Discard one and draw one.
Zaunite Urchin
- Old text of “to play me” has been removed.
- Text now reads “Play. Discard one and draw one.
Personalizations
A number of new cosmetics have been added to the LoR store with the launch of CoM. A majority are Targon-themed, including a new game board and card backs.
Cosmo guardian
Players can pick up Cosmo the celestial dog in the guardian section of the LoR store for 590 coins.
Celestial Summit
Celestial Summit will have an accompanying music soundtrack. The Celestial Summit game board costs 990 coins.
Targon champion emotes
Four new emotes are arriving with the CoM launch that features LoR champions Diana, Taric, Lulu, and Nocturne. Each of the new Tagon emotes are priced at 190 coins.
Sunrise and Moonfall card backs
Featuring a Hayao Miyazaki inspired style of art, each of the Sunrise and Moonfall card backs can be purchased in the LoR store for 490 coins.
Targon deck bundle
A full preconstructed deck using Targon cards, Celestial Radiance, can be purchased in the LoR store for 2,016 coins. The deck features champions Leona and Aurelion Sol, using Daybreak and Invoke keywords.
Expeditions
Several updates are scheduled to take place within Expeditions via Patch 1.8. New archetypes are being added for Targon in conjunction with the Shadow Isles, Ionia, and Freljord. The new CoM archetypes are “three times as likely to appear in the initial champion picks,” according to the LoR team.
A total of seven new CoM archetypes have been added to the Expeditions draft pool. And all card lists have been adjusted for existing archetypes, with some older ones getting removed. At time of writing, Riot hasn’t specified which archetypes were removed to make room for new CoM ones.
Other 1.8 notes
- Taric’s spell duplication ability was able to work with Playful Trickster, potentially creating an infinite attack chain. We’ve since updated Taric’s text and functionality to prevent this interaction (and other potential ones like it).
- As we mentioned last patch, Patch 1.8 will last an extra week (so three weeks in total rather than the usual two) before we update again. Patch 1.10 (yes, we’re skipping 1.9) will land on Sept. 16, last the usual two weeks, and resume our normal update cadence.
- Players can now select certain personalization items when queuing for Labs, starting with Emotes and Card Backs.
- A new deckbuilder support was added for Celestial cards.
