In a recent Riot dev Update, the team went through how a mid-scope works, how Rell is doing, and a roadmap of mid-scopes to come.
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Riot explains how mid-scope updates work and share info on Rell
Producer and deliver lead for mid-scope updates Terra “Riot Yasuna” Ray started off the dev post explaining the main goal of a mid-scope update. Riot wants to give some updates to champions who have lost a bit of their shine over the years or have become problematic for the game. This has become their main criteria to decide who gets these updates and what things must be changed.
She mentions how midscopes have a different process from other updates like ASUs or VGUs, and it’s divided into four phases:
Finding the Right Opportunity – Riot uses a combination of both data and passion to help find midscope targets. Does a champ have an overall declining play rate? Are their mains dropping them? Is a champion currently unhealthy for the game?
Exploration and Kit Lock – This is the experimenting phase, which sees Rioters putting down ideas on paper. The best are put into the game and playtested (playtests happen at least twice per day) and then adjusted based on feedback.
Planning and Coordination – Once things are starting to feel right, they look at everything that changed. At this point, they envolve the art and Gameplay Analysis Team who can point out the relative power levels of changes or just give us insightful, high-level gameplay analysis from the changes.
Iteration, Refinement, and Polish – To get things ready to ship to players.
She concluded by saying that the team is looking to continuously update champions who need love based on a yearly schedule. This means that we’re probably going to see more and more mid-scope updates to other champions in the near future. But first, it’s time to look at Rell.
Read also: How to play Milio – Millio support champion guide
Rell is the first mid-scope target
Champions team designer Stephen “Riot Raptor” Auker shed some light on the approach and thought process behind Rell’s mid-scope update.
“We think Rell has an exciting fantasy and playstyle around swapping between mounted and unmounted forms. And while she is a strong champion, she feels overly punished when she misses W. She also doesn’t quite match expectations for what a mounted lancer might do. This means that she didn’t fully capture the audience that might’ve been interested in her. So when evaluating what mid-scope opportunities were out there, Rell was near the top of the list.”
Below are the goals set with this mid-scope update:
Lean into the Mounted/Dismounted fantasy – Let Rell feel fast like she can charge enemies down while mounted, and let her feel like a formidable fighter while dismounted.
Increase Play Pattern Variance – Give Rell more options in lane and teamfights besides landing W, and make sure that while she’s dismounted, there are useful things she can do.
Sand off some QoL issues – We’ve heard your feedback on some of the more frustrating parts of Rell’s kit, so we wanted to help alleviate some of them. We want to smooth out things like poor ward clearing, not being able to use E while alone, and Q having reduced power on subsequent enemies.
In particular, Rell will be receiving a completely new E, inspired by one of the earlier explorations from Rell’s original designer Stash “Riot Stashu” Chelluck.
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