Wild Rift Patch 3.1: Shen, Karma, and the Elemental Rift arrive

League of Legends: Wild Rift Patch 3.1 finally dropped on Thursday (24 March), and from what we've seen it's probably one of the heaviest updates to the game since the start of the year.

Patch 3.1 sees the debut of two new champions, Shen and Karma, into the Rift, alongside the release of the Elemental Rift under the initial testing phase.

Of course, there are also balance changes aplenty for both existing champions and items.

This update is pretty big (over 3GB in size in fact), so let's focus on the Elemental Rift and champion changes first, then talk about item and summoner spell changes, as well as adjustments on the Rift in a separate piece.

For now, buckle up as we go through the Elemental Rift and champion updates for Wild Rift patch 3.1:

Elemental Rift

In a preview released two weeks ago, the Wild Rift team announced the arrival of the Elemental Rift.

Along with the Ocean, Mountain, and Infernal Drakes, the team also shared the Dragon Souls and Elemental Rifts based on these dragons.

This is the first iteration of the Elemental Rift, as it is still under testing under a separate game mode, and the feature’s availability varies per region. You can learn more about the Elemental Rift here.

New Champions

Be prepared. Shen, the Eye of Twilight, is arriving as a tanky damage-dealer in the top lane that can outduel just about anyone, including Sett and even Fiora, the queen of duelists herself.

Additionally, Karma is the newest support mage to join the Wild Rift champion roster, with deviations from her PC counterpart, so we're excited to see her reworked kit in action!

You can read a bit more about Shen and Karma’s abilities here.

Champion Buffs

Graves

Graves just hasn’t been as fun to play because he falls behind in clearing the jungle. The buff on his damage against monsters will help him level up faster and rotate through the map quicker.

End of the Line

Now deals 150% damage against monsters

Irelia

I’ve seen a lot of very skilled Irelia players on the Rift, but devs have discovered that she struggles to “find her footing in lower level games”.

The team made adjustments on her Bladesurge’s cooldown for better scaling and to make “mastering her kit more accessible”.

There’s a slight nerf on her Ionian Fervor, though, so high-level players can’t just easily stomp the top lane in the laning phase anymore.

Ionian Fervor

Base Attack Speed: 8~15% > 5~20%

Bladesurge

Cooldown: 11/10/9/8s > 9/8/7/6s

Riven

Riven was buffed a couple of patches ago, but it seems like that did almost nothing for the Exile in lower levels of play. She’s being given a slight buff in her Valor’s Shield duration “to make her Valor timing more forgiving”.

Valor

Shield Duration: 1.5s > 2s

Xin Zhao

It looks like the devs really want to keep Xin Zhao within the meta because according to them, his “damage output falls off harder than we’d like to see as the game progresses”.

This is good news for low-level players, but if you’re about to encounter a very skilled Xin Zhao player, watch out!

Three Talon Strike

Base damage: 20/25/30/35 > 20/28/36/44

Cooldown: 9/8/7/6s > 8/7/6/5s

Wind Becomes Lightning

Thrust damage: 40/80/120/160 > 40/85/130/175

Yasuo

We're not really sure what the dev team meant by Yasuo’s Steel Tempest ability being unreliable for harassing in lane or setting up key combos.

The ability’s travel speed and range have been increased. As if we needed any more harassment from him.

So if you're laning against him, you may just have to have quick reflexes.

Steel Tempest

Whirlwind speed: 10 > 11.5

Whirlwind range: 8.3 > 9.3

Champion Nerfs

Ashe

Ashe’s strength has been underrated for quite some time now, given that she hasn’t been as popular in the game's PC version.

However, she’s a great pick in the bot lane in Wild Rift, even outperforming other marksmen in the role. The Frost Queen’s poke has a bit too painful, so an adjustment on Volley is warranted.

Volley

AD ratio: 110% > 100%

Fiora

Anyone getting increasingly frustrated with Fiora on the Rift?

The queen of duelists has just been stomping opponents in the top lane and sometimes even in the jungle, so it’s only fair that Lunge’s base damage has been decreased so enemies can find more openings against her.

Lunge

Base damage: 85/95/105/115 > 75/85/95/105

Galio

Last year, Galio was more of a popular pick in the mid lane, especially in the esports scene, where he was the 13th most played champion in the Horizon Cup.

He’s been more popular on support lately, and the balance team are buffing Hero’s Entrance’s Base Damage and AP ratio so he can shine more in mid.

Hero’s Entrance

Base damage: 150/250/350 > 100/175/250

AP ratio: 70% > 100%

Garen

A lot of players have been spamming Judgment throughout their games because it’s been the easiest way to play him — just spin to win.

Judgment’s power will be pulled back a little, while slightly bumping up the AD ratio from Demacian Justice.

Judgment

Base damage: 11/14/17/20 > 9/12/15/18

Total base damage for all ticks: 88/112/136/160 > 72/96/120/144

Demacian Justice

Base damage: 150/275/400 > 150/250/350

Non-primary target damage: 75/137.5/200 > 75/125/175

Bonus AD ratio: 0.08% of target’s missing health > .12% of target’s missing health

Non-primary target damage bonus AD ratio: .04% of their missing heath > .06% of their missing health

Nami

Nami’s been a strong in support since Lulu’s nerf, so a slight nerf on the passive of Surging Tides will be given to tone down her ability to “grant her allies supreme kiting and chasing power”.

Surging Tides

Bonus movement speed: 60 > 50

Zed

Recently, Zed’s been more annoying than Yasuo, and it’s been nearly impossible to escape his Shadow Slash, which deals burst damage.

Non-Zed mains will be relieved to know there’s going to be falloff damage so it’s not as lethal to be stuck in it.

Shadow Slash

Damage dealt by subsequent slashes after the first: 100% > 60%

Ziggs

I personally love Ziggs, as he’s the “pokiest” champion in the mid lane on Wild Rift given all the tools in his kit.

Hexplosive Minefield is definitely a pain point for his opponents, especially with the ability to control choke points for a lengthy ten seconds. The mine duration will now be lowered to 7 seconds.

We do wish they could buff his health or armor a bit, though.

Hexplosive Minefield

Mine duration: 10s > 7s

Champion Adjustments

Blitzcrank

Devs think Blitzcrank's Overdrive ability is “feeling a bit flat”.

A second activation has been added to this ability, and adjustments were made to his base stats to tone down his tankiness.

Base Stats

Armor: 50 > 45

Armor per level: 5.1 > 4.7

Total armor at level 15: 122 > 111

Overdrive

First cast: Gains 50/55/60/65% movement speed, decaying to 10% over 1.5 seconds, the total duration of the cast is 2.5 seconds.

- There is a 1 second cooldown before you can cast this ability again

Second cast: Gains 140/150/160/170% movement speed, decaying to 25% over 1.5 seconds. Decaying starts after 0.5 seconds.

- When overdrive ends, Blitzcrank is slowed by 33% for 1.5 seconds. If this was pressed a second time, Blitzcrank is instead slowed by 99% for 2 seconds.

Master Yi

The Wuju Bladesman’s Alpha Strike is getting some pretty neat upgrades so junglers might want to play him more.

Alpha Strike

Master Yi becomes untargetable and strikes up to 4 enemies near his target, dealing 25/70/115/160 + 100% AD Physical Damage to all enemies hit by 4 strikes.

- [NEW EFFECT]: If there are no other targets, this ability can strike the same enemy unit repeatedly, dealing 25% damage with each subsequent strike

Attacks reduce the cooldown of Alpha Strike by 1 second

Deals 90/125/160/195 bonus damage to minions and monsters

This ability can Crit, dealing 60% bonus damage

Jhin

Jhin really thrives in the early to mid-game stages of Wild Rift.

To balance that, the devs are lowering some of his base defensive numbers to make his early lane somewhat less dominant, while giving him greater level-based damage scaling.

Don't worry Jhin mains, this should help him excel in the latter stages of the game.

Base Stats

Base health: 610 > 570

Whisper

Missing health physical damage: 15% > 15% + 1% per level (capped at 25% at lvl 11)

For more information on Wild Rift patch 3.1, check here.

Anna is a freelance writer and photographer. She is a gamer who loves RPGs and platformers, and is a League of Legends geek. She's also a food enthusiast who loves a good cup of black coffee.

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