Riot Games shipped a Teamfight Tactics 13.18 B-patch on Sept. 15 for Set 9.5 Runeterra Reforged: Horizonbound, addressing balance issues within the Bilgewater trait and Nilah as a carrier.
The balance of the Bilgewater trait and its four-cost carrier Nilah has been rocky since the start of TFT Set 9.5 PBE testing. At the start of testing, Bilgewater was a weak trait that had an overpowered four-cost Nilah wreaking havoc due to a Rapid Firecannon bug that was resolved prior to the official launch of Horizonbound through Patch 13.18. With the bug resolved, it became apparent that the Bilgewater trait was too strong. The TFT balance team addressed this through smaller balance changes to avoid “balance thrash,” according to game designer Stephen “Mortdog” Mortimer.
“It’s not like we were unaware, and why they tried to make a change in the final part,” Mortdog said. “The challenge was we were also trying to avoid balance thrash as well as a world where Bilge launched unplayable, so [the TFT balance team] went too light. So if you want to call out our mistakes, it’s ‘Being too light on Bilge’ and ‘Not recognizing just how strong Nilah was.'”
Nilah’s cleave damage was cut from 75/75/100 to 65/65/100 percent and her attack speed was reduced to 0.8 seconds. All three breakpoints for Bilgewater were nerfed, reducing health and the percentage of damage dealt. And to prevent Cho’Gath from becoming the next issue, the TFT Set 9.5 champion’s mana was nerfed from 20/80 to 30/90.
The next major update for Runeterra Reforged: Horizon is Patch 13.19, which is scheduled for Sept. 27.
