We released RIVALS 3.1!

RIVALS 3.1 Patch Notes

Knowledge is power! Now you can wield even more power with the updated Fixture Screen and match improvements! We've even balacned some plays, so get ready to dive into a whole new meta!

Fixture Screen Update

• You can now open the post match report for past matches in the fixture screen.
• See upcoming and past Tournament matches and your last 10 Scrim matches in the fixture screen.
• View the last 15 League matches, last 3 Tournament matches, and the most recent Event Tournament you played.
• The list can be filtered for the type of match you want to see.
• Check out the Fixture screen from the Match menu to see all the changes!

Home sweet Home

• We added a Home screen to the match menu which is where you’ll now start whenever you launch RIVALS or come back from a match, giving you a quick overview of your team's status.

Improved Match Experience

• We updated the Odds display in the beginning of the match. Team play Bonus, Condition and the champion composition are now all taken into account to calculate the odds for every match.
• See in real-time which players fail Team play Bonus and Condition checks during a match - it will be displayed in the bottom section when a play is being carried out.
• We added new reactions during match highlights – there is even variety between scrim matches and stage matches.
• We made the home button more visible and added an exit confirmation dialog to make it less likely that you accidentally leave the match.
• The MVP of the match title will now always go to a player from the winning team
• Bugfix: The estimated champion strength indicator between phases will now always be in the correct team’s color

Match Balancing and Bugfix update

While the 3.0 match version added exciting new gameplay and meta-build options, there were still some quirks to iron out. Some situations were too depended on a lucky skill check, which could unrealistically overturn games against an opponent with a much higher team power. Furthermore, some plays were too dominant and there were some minor bugs messing things up. Therefore we made the following changes to the match logic:

• Combat outcomes are now much less determined by the Skill Check dice roll of each play. While the Skill Check is still important to determine number advantages and combat modifiers, the hit chance of players during combat will now be way more dependent on their individual attributes. This way players with attributes are most conducive to the current play will also do much better during combat. This benefits teams who have trained and setup their team well for the plays being executed and also favors those who have a much higher team power. *As long as all players are alive, the skill check for each play will now always involve the same number of players on both sides. This nerfs plays like Ambush and Invade, which used to automatically provide a numbers advantage during the check. A numbers advantage can still be obtained by killing enemy champions or by forcing them to retreat so they cannot take part in upcoming plays.

• The combat and movement logic was updated to be more authentic:

  • Team fights are now more bloody for both sides. This means that champions on both sides of a fight will die more often than before.
  • Teams will attack towers more naturally by bringing down all lanes (except after winning clutch situations in late game, where they focus on ending the game).

• Unless their core is attacked, Individual players on teams with a strong number disadvantage will not run haphazardly into a full opponent team anymore. Instead, they will have a look and fall back immediately. Note that single players can still be caught off-guard and killed by successful Team Up, Ambush, Invade or Gank plays.

• Several plays have been balanced:

  • Each Play is now available from 3 roles to make their flexibility more balanced. This was already the case for many plays in 3.0, but e.g. Gank was only available for your Jungler while Team Up could be done from every role.

  • Freeze and Defensive Swap plays now prevent Great Setups for opponent pushes and other lane attacks for the rest of the phase. Meaning when you e.g. Freeze the top lane, opponent Early Pushes will not be able to get a Red Bar Skill Check. And of course the other way around: You will not be able to get Blue Bar Skill Checks when Pushing a defended opponent lane.

  • The Turtle Up play now does the same for pushes on any lane in the late game (except split pushes). Turtling will also not give up the Hydra anymore, but will still be reactive, putting you at the mercy of your opponents plans.

  • Ward and Clear Vision plays now similarly prevent Great Setups for opponent plays around the river like Gank, Ambush and attacks on Monsters.

  • Bait plays like e.g. Bait Split Push now prevent Bad Setups (Red Bar in your own play) for your following next two plays in the same phase.

  • We changed some play's attribute to better fit to tactics and counter strategies:

  • Take Dragon now needs TMG + KNW

  • Bait Fight now needs TMG + KNW

  • 131 Siege now needs ACC + DIS

  • Clear Vision now needs ACC + KNW

  • We updated which defensive attributes are used (that your opponents will use in the Skill Checks) of most Power plays

• Last but not least, we fixed some technical and movement issues in the match logic:

  • Fixed several movement issue (e.g. Engage plays only conditionally using your jungler and defending players farming in the river while the opponent pushes a Tier 2 tower).
  • Combo plays cannot be triggered without having at least a class proficiency for the champion.
  • Fixed several combo plays not triggering correctly.
  • Updated play descriptions and fixed an inconsistency with the marksman class icon.

Version 3.1 takes another big step for the match simulation, and we will continue to closely monitor how it develops so we can make improvements with future updates. As always, we’re available on our official Discord server if you need help, want to report any mistakes in these notes, find any bugs in the game, or just want come by and say hello!