Patch 3.6: Anniversary Patch Brought Many Changes

Hello Card Gamers. Patch 3.6 has landed.

We’ve seen Riot take a new approach, similar to League and Teamfight Tactics, they decided to show us the cards and deck archetypes that were being targeted by the patch.

We here at RuneterraCCG.com have had a long look at what we may want to happen in this patch with Den’s article right here. Now we have the changes, and other new features coming in Patch 3.6. You can find the original article on PlayRuneterra right here.

Cards

As with Patch 3.4, we’re receiving three new cards in addition to the balance changes in the new set.

Card Changes

Below is the full list of card updates coming in Patch 3.6.

Card Name	Before	After
Ashe	You’ve Frostbite 4+ Enemies.	You’ve decreased 4+ Enemies’ power to 0.
Darius	I see the enemy Nexus has 10 health or less.	I see the enemy Nexus has half of its starting health.
Galio	Level 2: 0\|9	Level 2: 0\|10
Garen	None	Level 1: When I’m summoned, give other allies +1\|+1 this round. Level 2: Round Start: Rally. When I’m summoned, give other allies +1\|+1 this round.
Karma	When you play a spell, cast it again on the same targets.	Round End: Create in hand a random spell from your regions. When you play a spell, cast it again on the same targets.
Katarina	Level 2: When I’m Summoned, Rally. Strike: Recall me.	Level 2: When I’m Summoned, Rally. Create a 0-cost Fleeting Blade’s Edge in hand. Strike: Recall me.
LeBlanc	When I see you deal 15+ damage, create a Mirror Image in hand. If you already have one, reduce its cost by 1 instead.	When I level up, and each time I see you deal 15+ damage, create a Mirror Image in hand. If you already have one, reduce its cost by 1 instead.
Leona	Level 2: No Keywords	Level 2: Overwhelm
Malphite	None	Play: Stun an Enemy.
Nasus	Level 1: No Keywords	Level 1: Fearsome
Nocturne	When you play a unit, give enemies -1\|-0 this round.	When you summon a unit, give enemies -1\|-0 this round.
Sion	Level 1: 1\|6, Level 2: 8\|6, Returned: 8\|4	Level 1: 2\|6, Level 2: 9\|6, Returned: 9\|4
Udyr	Level 1: 4\|4, Level 2: 5\|5, Level Up: You’ve damaged the enemy Nexus 7+ times this game.	Level 1: 5\|4, Level 2: 6\|5, Level Up: You’ve played Stance Swap 3+ times this game.
Vladimir	Level 1: No Keywords Level 2: Regeneration	Level 1: Fearsome, Level 2: Fearsome, Regeneration
Ambush	2 Mana	3 Mana
Ballistic Bot	1\|3	0\|3
Blood for Blood	Fast Speed	Burst Speed
Buried Sun Disc	When an Ascended ally levels up, advance me 10 rounds.	When an Ascended ally levels up, advance me 9 rounds.
Callous Bonecrusher	Reputation: I cost 2	Reputation: I cost 3 and when I’m summoned, grant me Overwhelm.
Hyara Allseer	When I’m summoned, create a Stance Swap in hand. It costs 0 this round.	When I’m summoned, create a Stance Swap in hand. The first stance you play each round costs 0.
Swiftwing Lancer	Attribute: None	Attribute: Elite
The Bandle Tree	5 Mana, Round Start: Create a follower from a new region in hand. Win the game if you’ve summoned units from 10 regions.	4 Mana, Round Start: Create a follower from a new region in hand. Win the game if I’ve seen units from 10 regions summoned.
Vanguard Squire	4 Mana	3 Mana
Yordles in Arms	Give allies +2\|+2 this round. If you’ve summoned or cast cards from 4+ regions, give allies +4\|+4 instead.	Give allies +2\|+2 this round. If you’ve summoned or cast cards from 4+ regions, give allies +3\|+3 instead.
Dragon’s Protection	Slow	Focus
Shadow Apprentice	When I’m summoned, if you have an Ephemeral ally, grant me +1\|+1.	When you summon an Ephermal ally, give me +1\|+0 this round.

Game Rule Updates

Many players and content creators have been clamoring for Legends of Runeterra to come up with a comprehensive look at their rulings. Patch 3.6 have addressed some rules and given us players a first look at potential rules guide. Below is an excerpt from the official Patch 3.6 article.

Burst / Pass: Previously, you could only end the round after your opponent has fully passed without taking an action. Beginning this patch, if your opponent passes after playing only a Burst or Focus spell, you may now end the round.

We’re making this change to:

Create consistency between how gameplay flows both inside and outside of combat.
Create higher-stake decisions especially in the late game.
Reduce empty and unnecessary pass and pass backs.

“Cast” is merging with “Play”:

This is a bit complex, so let’s define “Play” in LoR first – when a card leaves your hand into play or onto the stack, that’s “Playing” a card.
Changed: “Cast” cards have been adjusted to activate when you “Play” a card.
Changed: Targeting now activates when you “Play” a card.

With this change, we’re adjusting 61 cards in ways that range from small text-only changes to larger impact timing changes. The vast majority of these are card buffs with some slight tweaks and a few nerfs. We plan to extra-closely monitor both in positive cases for buffed cards and negative cases for nerfed cards and make future changes accordingly.

We’re making these changes to:

Unify the timing of our Spell Listeners to increase consistency and understandability.
Increase gameplay satisfaction of playing with cards like Lux or Heimerdinger.
Increase the overall utility of slow spells.
Clean up the space for new mechanics.

This might be hard to fully grasp right away, so take some time to experiment! Our goal is to make gameplay more intuitive right off the bat, and we’ve put the work in to iterate on these changes to make sure they’ll land right, and we’ll keep a close eye on feedback. Once the patch drops, let us know how you feel about the changes.

Interface Updates

We saw in Patch 3.4 the first look at quality of life changes to make combat and spell effects clearer. In this patch, they’re taking things further. Below is an excerpt explaining the Premonition Update.

No gameplay rules are changing based on these updates, they’re visual-only. Here’s some additional context from The_Easy_Target:

Stack Clarity: The board visuals aim to clarify that there are unresolved actions, and which player started a stack.
Attacker & Blocker Indicators: Units that can attack or block get sword or shield icons, respectively, that clearly indicate their status.
Turn Gems & Button Naming: The “Ok” / “End Turn” blue button has been relabeled to consistently name what’s happening to reduce ambiguity. Two gems have been added to the button to indicate turn status. A lit gem means the player on that side has committed an action. Once both gems are lit, actions will be resolved or the round ends.
Attacker Chevrons: Attackers have a red, pointy indicator if they’re going to hit the opponent’s Nexus. They lose it if they’re blocked or reduced to 0 power.
Clearer Ghost Blockers: Ghost blockers (the translucent visuals that remain after a blocker is removed during combat) now appear under the blocker as soon as it is placed, to make it clearer that the attack is still blocked, even if they’re removed.

As with the game rule updates, we’ve done a lot of testing on these to make LoR a more intuitive experience overall, and we’re looking forward to your impressions and feedback once the patch drops!

Cosmetics

Patch 3.6 is coinciding with the Legends of Runeterra two year anniversary. The new cosmetics are celebrating that, with call backs to some of the biggest moments in Riots recent history: Arcane, and the first appearance of our Lord and Saviour Chip. The following cps,etiocs will be given to players over a seven day period from the Patch’s release to the 11th of May.

In addition, for Epic tier Champion Skins, they’re all receiving new artwork for their Champion Spells. Pool Party Draven is getting a new visual update for his spinning axes. Ruined Draven will receive a smilar update in Patch 3.7.

Bug Fixes and Miscellaneous

Fixed an issue where tooltips would sometimes not show when hovering over some cards.
Oracle’s Eye will now interact correctly with a level two Rumble.
Fixed an issue where the visuals for Restored Sun Dic would remain after leaving Oracle’s Eye.
Fixed an issue where Landmarks offered after playing Stoneweaving had incorrect costs.
Fixed an issue where Blighted Caretaker was not correctly using optional targeting.
Spellshield will now correctly block Despair’s effect.
Various text & grammar consistency fixes.

Round End

This patch has done wonders for the wider metagame. The changes to multiple champions will be felt but are impossible to gauge this early on. Now we want to hear from you. Will you be brewing with Elites or Udyr? Which changes do you think they missed? Let us know in our discord server or in the comments below.