U.R.F. Rising, April Fool’s Skins Now Available

Posted in Announcements, Games, MOBA, Patch, Updates by

Greetings, Summoners!

Though the 2015 Season just began, we were going to share an exclusive look into the evolution of League of Legends gameplay with the New Ultra Rapid Fire mode, but as you all know, that didn’t quite work out. So with the fire-breathing insanity of U.R.F. mode erupting from the still-smoking corpse of New Ultra Rapid Fire, that means putting the primary focus on one thing: making big plays. Resource costs have been all but disappeared, ensuring you a fast-and-fun path towards full builds and non-stop teamfights along with a whole host of insane buffs to keep the action going strong.

What else has changed? Well, healing’s taken a hit and shielding’s been scaled back to keep defensive strategies from slowing your skirmishes to a crawl. Ryze and Kassadin are also available this time around, which should be a testament to the tough decisions we’ve had to face in the last year. Mix those in with a slew of champion-specific changes to keep some champions from being too powerful (as well as some changes to make a few go crazy) and you’ll experience Ultra Rapidness like you’ve never imagined.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and dive into the inzanity of Ultra Rapid Fire!

-Patrick “Scarizard” Scarborough

LOGIN SCREEN
No one manatee should have all that power so we’re making the login screen music – “Welcome to Planet Urf” – available to download right here. You also won’t have to worry about late registrations, because we’ll be making “Welcome to Planet Urf” available on all major music streaming sites*. I guess every URF needs his theme music.

Global U.R.F. Changes

Awesome Buff of Awesomely Awesome Buffing

Because we can.

Ultra Rapid Fire is all about turning players into play-makers. Resource costs are thrown out the window (or tuned down dramatically), with concepts like ‘Cooldowns’ and ‘Boots’ becoming a thing of the past. Spell-slingers aren’t the only ones going Ultra – Attack Speed and Critical Strike multipliers take those wimpy ‘hyper-carries’ and turn them into Basic-Attacking Beasts as Urf intended. We’ve also boosted gold gains and tenacity to keep things Rapid Fire while dealing Tons of Damage™.

REMOVED MANA & ENERGY COSTS Everything is free.
HEALTH COSTS Reduced by 50%
COOLDOWN REDUCTION ON EVERYTHING 80% (Runes, items, masteries and abilities no longer grant cooldown reduction)
TENACITY 25%
MOVEMENT SPEED +60
ATTACK SPEED MULTIPLIER +50% (+100% for ranged champions)
CRITICAL STRIKES 200% base damage ⇒ 225% base damage
GOLD GAIN 500% the normal amount on Summoner’s Rift
TONS OF DAMAGE Everything deals tons of damage
TONS OF HEALTH Everything has tons of health

Heal Embargo
And so it was decreed by Urf, the greatest of us, that lane sustain was to be less oppressive.” – from Chapter 3 of “Mantras of the Manatees”

MORELLO’S REVENGE All direct healing effects are 50% less effective at the beginning of the game, increasing by 1% every 30 seconds (Up to 100% effective at 25 minutes).

SHIELD OVERLOAD

Many non-ultimate shield scalings are down by 50%. Don’t worry, shields are still awesome.

Often in U.R.F., having a shield meant making one person invulnerable come late-game due to the shield’s cooldown being shorter than the duration. We aren’t taking away your ability to perma-shield (because it’s super fun and silly), but we’re making those shields weaker so that you stand a better chance of breaking through, Ultra Rapid style.

SHIELD OVERLOAD Non-ultimate shield scaling ratios reduced by 50% (except Udyr and Diana. Because we can.)
AFFECTED CHAMPIONS The following champions are affected (sorry, got lazy; enjoy screencaps):

Smite
Last U.R.F., Smite didn’t have charges. Now it does. Context!

CHARGE RATE 75 seconds ⇒ 30 seconds
COOLDOWN BETWEEN CHARGES 15 seconds ⇒ 10 seconds

CHAMPIONS

In keeping with the League of Legends 2016 Strategic Takeover (wherein every new champion has a Revive Passive) we thought we’d go back and touch-up our existing ones. We tested having Aatrox aactually be immune to death, but really liked the tradeoff between playing such a cool champion and sometimes having to look at his cool revive aanimation, so we just made it aavailable aall the time.

Bloodwell (Passive): Blood Well generation from all sources increased by 100%.
COOLDOWN 225 seconds ⇒ 60 seconds.

In a world with (almost) no cooldowns, some of our abilities start to get a little weird. Headbutt usually leaves you briefly immobilized after you’ve been knocked back so you can think about your life’s decisions. Seeing as U.R.F. is all about action (and less thinking), we remooved it.

Headbutt (W): Stun on Headbutt now ends as soon as the target reaches the end of its movement arc.

Unbreakable Will (R): DURATION 7 seconds ⇒ 3.5 seconds

Anivia’s Passive is now (almost) always up.

Rebirth (Passive): COOLDOWN 240 seconds ⇒ 60 seconds

iddling with his passive because the Global buff makes him OP. Capping soldiers to 3 and nerfing the cooldown. Shurima.

Shurima’s Legacy (Passive): ATTACK SPEED FROM COOLDOWN REDUCTION 1.25% attack speed per 1% CDR ⇒ 0.625% attack speed per 1% CDR.

Arise (W): Number of active soldiers is capped at 3.
ADJUSTED SOLDIER RECHARGE RATE 2.4/2/2/2/1.8/1.6 seconds ⇒ 4.8/4.4/4/3.6/3.2 seconds.

Traveler’s Call (Passive): CHIMES PER UPGRADE 5 ⇒ 3
MEEP RECHARGE RATE 12 seconds ⇒ 6 seconds

Brand

No more Brand permastuns.

Sear (Q): STUN DURATION 2 seconds ⇒ 1 seconds

Mystic Shot (Q): COOLDOWN REFUND ON HIT 1 second ⇒ 0.33 seconds.

E Cooldown shenanigans. Changing Q to not be cast every second of every game.

Rampage (Q): Successive casts no longer reduce the cooldown of Rampage.

Devestating Charge (E): COOLDOWN ~~Begins on cast~~ ⇒ Begins after the dash is used or when the buff expires.

Giving her opponents some breathing room before leaving them breathless.

Howling Gale (Q): ADJUSTED COOLDOWN 2.8/2.6/2.4/2.2/2 seconds ⇒ 5.6/5.2/4.8/4.4/4 seconds.

Passive CDR lowered so she doesn’t go bananas with the 80% buff.

Gathering Fire (Passive): COOLDOWN REFUND ON SPELL HIT ~~2 seconds~~ ⇒ 0.5 seconds
COOLDOWN REFUND ON BASIC ATTACK ~~1 second~~ ⇒ 0.25 seconds

Riftwalk (R): ADJUSTED COOLDOWN ~~1.4/1/0.6 seconds~~ ⇒ 3/2/1 seconds
Successive casts of Riftwalk no longer increase the mana cost or damage dealt.

Limiting Maokai’s saplings was a seed that had been planted in last U.R.F. – now we’re finally getting to the root of the issue.

Sapling Toss (E): ACTIVATED MY SAP CARD Number of active Saplings capped at 5.

Alpha Strike (Q): COOLDOWN ~~Begins on cast~~ ⇒ Begins at the end of Alpha Strike.

General
Fury generation from all sources is increased by 100%.

General
Fury generation from all sources is increased by 100%.

Arcane Mastery (Passive): COOLDOWN REFUND ON CAST ~~1 second~~ ⇒ 0.2 seconds.

Junkyard Titan (Passive): Rumble no longer silences himself upon overheating.

Shadow Dash (E): COOLDOWN ~~Begins on cast~~ ⇒ Begins at the end of the dash.

General
Fury generation from all sources is increased by 100%.

Crystal Slash (Q): Basic attacks no longer reduce the cooldown of Crystal Slash.

Jack in the Box (W): Number of active Jack-in-the-Boxes capped at 6.

Power Chord (Passive): BASE DAMAGE ~~13/20/27/35/43/52/62/72/82/92/102/112/122/132/147/162/177/192~~ ⇒ 6.5/10/13.5/17.5/22.5/26/31/35/41/46/51/56/61/66/73.5/81/88.5/96.

Gemcraft (Passive): COOLDOWN REFUND ~~2 seconds~~ ⇒ 0.5 seconds.

Noxious Trap (R): Number of active mushrooms capped at 20.

General
Fury generation from all sources is increased by 100%.

General
Flow generation from all sources is increased by 100%.

Cell Division (Passive): COOLDOWN ~~300 seconds~~ ⇒ 60 seconds.

Time Bomb (Q): ADJUSTED COOLDOWN ~~2/1.9/1.8/1.7/1.6 seconds~~ ⇒ 3.6/3.3/3/2.7/2.4 seconds
STUN DURATION ~~1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4/1.5 seconds~~ ⇒ 0.5 seconds at all ranks

Rewind (W): ADJUSTED COOLDOWN ~~3.6/3/2.4/1.8/1.2 seconds~~ ⇒ 8/7/6/5/4 seconds.

FINISHER ICONS
Finishers are totally a new feature, not bugs added to Ultra Rapid Fire mode during the faulty upload. Available for 250 RP each during the Ultra Rapid Fire test only, Finisher icons enhance your frantic death-dealing by adding fancy animations when you kill your hapless foes. Please note, these icons are permanent but the in-game Finishers are temporary and only trigger during games of Ultra Rapid Fire.

: Spooky Urf

: Heartsplosion

: Orbital Laser

SUMMONER ICONS

The Thinking Manatee Icon
A connoisseur of carnage, Urf is crowned with laurels in this updated take on the classic manatee. Finish a game of Ultra Rapid Fire mode while it’s available and you’ll be rewarded with the Thinking Manatee icon.

The 99,999 RP Icon
Truly the most elegant, refined expression of one’s grandiloquence, The 99,999 RP Icon conveys class, culinary excellence, and a yen for the finer things in life. Wrought in glistening 100K gold, this icon depicts the preferred weapon of the scholar-warrior forever ensconced atop a rotating pillar*.

*Icon does not rotate, nor is it made of actual gold or even bitcoin.

WARD SKINS
Urf Triumphant Ward Skin
Gussie-up your gank-guarding with a slick new ward skin that revels in the glory of human competition represented by a posturing manatee!

The Gentleman’s Bundle – 30% off at 3401 RP (6487 RP if champions needed)

While New Ultra Rapid Fire may have gone up in flames (literally) that’s no reason not to fight like gentlemen. Embrace the exquisite finery and excellent haberdashery of these elegant accoutrements with a bundle featuring 30% off the following skins and champions:

Skins included:

Debonair Jayce
Debonair Vi
Debonair Ezreal
Gragas, Esquire
Definitely Not Blitzcrank

Champions included:

Jayce
Vi
Ezreal
Gragas
Blitzcrank

Icons and wards included:

Gentleman Poro Ward
Gentleman Poro Icon

Legendary Gentleman Cho’gath couldn’t attend the bundle party, but he’s available on his own for 1820 RP (2405 RP if you don’t own the champ since you’ll have to pick him up, too. Void creatures are notoriously vain that way.)

The Curse of the Sad Surprise

To everyone in Valoran,
so he wouldn’t be ignored,
Amumu sent an invitation–
an Urf Day party right next door.

So glad he’s born,
The manatee
Of spatula-slapping fame.
Amumu wrote of the birth of Urf,
and asked if they’d all play a game.

At last, the morning of the party,
Urf Day was finally here.
Out the window, Amumu looked,
but not a single friend appeared.

So young Amumu took tiny steps,
and traveled through the land.

But even when Amumu stood
and peeked into their home,
He saw they partied without him,
And he was still alone…