Legends of Runeterra only has one more major patch before its official release on April 30. Patch 0.9.4 is aiming to bring in the most changes to Expedition Mode yet.
Riot Games also shared some insight into the deeper intricacies of its Limited format. The ultimate goal for the development team with Expedition Mode is that they seek to have each archetype feel viable. This will allow players to look at the contents of the buckets rather than just pigeonholing themselves into which buckets they feel are the best.
The team also discussed more core concepts of their Limited mode, sharing more in-depth details of Bonus Archetypes, Cohesiveness Rating, and Wild Pick Bonus Chance.
With Bonus Archetypes, the team expressed how each combination of one or two regions has a primary archetype while having a slight chance to show off more unconventional buckets. Two of these unconventional buckets that are already in the game are Cataclysm, which facilitates use for Purrsuit of Perfection, and Fluft and Tuft, which focuses on Braum and Poro synergies with other regions you picked. In addition to these two, a new one is being added to this patch, called the Crimson Guard.
Cohesiveness Rating determines the frequency of which Wild Pick buckets you’ll be seeing when your scheduled Wild Picks happen in your draft. Since the usefulness of certain archetypes can vary between “generally useful” and “more fringe usefulness,” like Shadows and Dust, Riot will be tuning how quick a specific archetype will be disallowed from showing up in your choice of buckets when your deck doesn’t include many cards from that bucket’s archetype.
In similar fashion to Cohesiveness Rating, Wild Pick Bonus Champ is another measure for which archetypes you’ll see during your different Wild Pick phases in your draft. This bonus will be altered to more specific archetypes, like Shroom and Boom, to be more apparent when you pick up a plethora of Mushroom-based cards earlier in the draft.
Riot also talked about the changes and additions that will be happening to the drafting mode.
The previously-mentioned Crimson Guard is an entirely new archetype that pairs up the Crimson Crew needing to survive damage with the Demacian-based Tough and Barrier keywords. The cards in this bucket are:
- Demacia: Garen, Chain Vest, Brightsteel Protector, Vanguard Defender, Laurent Duelist, Prismatic Barrier, Silverwing Scout, Vanguard Cavalry, En Garde, Laurent Bladekeeper, Riposte, Remembrance, Redoubled Valor, Tianna Crownguard, Brightsteel Formation
- Noxus: Vladimir, Crimson Aristocrat, Transfusion, Crimson Curator, Might, Crimson Disciple, Death Lotus, Culling Strike, Crimson Awakener, Savage Reckoner, Legion Veteran, Battering Ram
- Cohesiveness Rating: Medium
- Wild Pick Bonus Chance: Medium
In addition to the new bucket, 13 existing buckets are having the cards they offered changed or their Cohesiveness/Wild Pick Bonuses adjusted to either address their power level or assist in making their theme have more sense and synergy behind them. The adjusted buckets and their changes are as follows:
Demacian Steel
- Removed: Detain
Discipline
- Removed: Will of Ionia
Noxian Might:
- Added: Shunpo
Shroom and Boom
- Added: Academy Prodigy, Amateur Aeronaut, Flash of Brilliance, Get Excited!
- Removed: Mushroom Cloud, Scrapdash Assembly, Eager Apprentice, Assembly Bot
Spellbound
- Added: Dawnspeakers
- Removed: Prismatic Barrier, Cithria the Bold, Statikk Shock
Retribution
- Removed: Vengeance
Battle Scars
- Added: Starlit Seer
- Removed: Battle Fury
Enlightenment
- Added: Battle Fury
- Removed: Avarosan Trapper, Tall Tales, Ancient Yeti
Cloning Program
- Added: Yeti Yearling, Avarosan Trapper, Tall Tales, Ancient Yeti, Progress Day!
- Removed: Avarosan Sentry, Iceborn Legacy, Pack Mentality, Mystic Shot, Funsmith, Trueshot Barrage
Ancient Evil
- Added: Elise, Iceborn Legacy, Pack Mentality, Crawling Sensation, The Undying
- Removed: Thresh, Oblivious Islander, Mistwraith, Haunted Relic, The Harrowing
Shadows and Dust
- Added: Navori Bladescout, Twin Disciplines, Oblivious Islander, Vengeance, The Harrowing
- Removed: Shadow Fiend, Shadowshift
- Cohesiveness Rating increased from Medium to High.
Fluft and Tuft
- Added: Omen Hawk, Babbling Bjerg, Pack Mentality, Battle Fury, Will of Ionia
- Removed: Avarosan Sentry, Iceborn Legacy, Avalanche, Take Heart, Avarosan Outriders, Navori Conspirator
- Wild Pick Bonus Chance increased from High to Very High.
Cataclysm
- Cohesiveness Rating increased to Medium
With an entire new archetype and many adjustments to already-existing buckets, the main takeaway from this patch for Expedition Mode players is to focus on picking cards and archetypes that you’re familiar with. But it’s fine to try out new strategies that you aren’t familiar with since the adjusted card offerings and ratings also enable viable paths that you may not have seen before.
Most importantly, the official release, which comes April 30, will include an entire new region with at least seven more archetypes, bringing the total amount of different archetypes to 31. With three region decks possible in Expedition Mode, this brings up the number of deck combinations to 63, which allows players to express their drafting prowess and creativity to outskill others in this Limited format.
LoR Patch 0.9.4 will be released tomorrow, April 14 at 11am CT.
