League of Legends Preseason: League of Klepto

Preseason is well underway and so far there are two extremely exploitable changes I would like to discuss today. The first being the changes to the Kleptomancy rune, currently on the PBE klepto will proc twice after a spell cast, with this change I have been seeing a change in the top lane especially.

Champions who can abuse this rune are enjoying the benefits of increased sustain and of course more gold leading to quicker items and power points. The two champions that immediately jump to mind are Illaoi and Gangplank both of which thrive under this change. Illaoi is granted even more sustain in lane than her kit already affords her and also catapults her towards being able to get the items that will facilitate her already powerful two versus one potential post level six. A well played Illaoi was already difficult to deal with but with this much extra income, she becomes downright smothering.

On the other hand Gangplank (or rather Bankplank) is once again able to survive his lackluster early lane phase and quickly reach his expensive core items and begin deleting teams with massive barrel critical strikes. Another marquis user of this rune is the newly buffed Ezreal, who with the additional damage added to his kit by aforementioned buff can now take klepto without forsaking any form of early damage and aggression due to lack of damage from runes. All of these advantages are compounded by the recent tower changes giving away even more local gold per plate destroyed. Gold is going to be flowing and champions will hit critical mass very rapidly, leading to earlier and more explosive fights.

The second rune change that seems to have potential to have a high impact across multiple lanes and roles is the removal of chrysalis and the new shield bash rune that will be taking its place. Shield bash applies additional adaptive damage to your next auto attack any time you would gain a shield. This applies to any and all forms of shields including but not limited to: Bloodthirster shield, Aery, Overheal, and of course shields coming from allies, self shields and activated items. Currently with no cool down, this is something that a well timed combo or well coordinated bottom lane can use to astounding effect. This rune change, if it stays in its current form all the way to the live servers, will be one of the key changes driving innovation in champion selection.

These are only two more changes in the usual massive upheaval that is preseason and I am certain there will be more to discuss as we move forward. But as always when discussing the PBE, keep in mind that all these runes are still subject to change and these are only the uses that I can think of currently. I encourage you to enjoy the preseason when it arrives on the live servers and take this time to experiment and grow leading into next season, good luck have fun.