Moonton dropped a huge bomb on the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League-Philippines scene when it released the latest patch named Project Next in the midst of its season.
Project NEXT, the optimization project initiated by game developer Moonton, focused first on revamping heroes included in the game’s debut back in 2016 such as Miya, Eudora, Saber, Alucard, Layla, and Zilong.
The six pioneer heroes, who are deemed obsolete before the patch, are expected to enter the new meta through their respective enhancements.
Heroes that were also adjusted are Alice, Tigreal, Yu Zhong, Atlas, Vale, Chang’e, Aurora, Kadita, Granger, Silvanna, Uranus, Balmond, Martis, Terizla, Freya, X.Borg, Dyroth, Esmeralda, Badang, Selena, Ling, Franco, Popol and Kupa, and Gatotkaca.
But what makes the update more interesting is the birth of the gold and experience lanes wherein the first seven waves of siege minions will give heroes in the vicinity 50 percent extra experience and 50 percent extra gold. EXP lanes will be beside the first Turtle area while the gold lane will be on the opposite side of the map.
This will give the teams more laning strategies and rotations to explore, unlike the previous meta where the only viable strategy is the funnel scheme through a 1-3-1 lane positioning.
Project NEXT also gave the first turrets a shield that absorbs 4,500 damage and will grant a gold bonus to nearby enemy heroes according to the damage done to the shield.
Moonton also modified the jungle area of the game wherein the spell Retribution is now required for purchasing Jungle equipment, but items such as Curse Sword, Pillager Axe, and Nimble Blade, received an increase in damage to creeps up to 40 percent and in extra experience gained up to 25 percent.
Also, heroes who carry jungle items will only gain 40 percent experience from minions inside the three-minute mark of the match. Jungle monsters, meanwhile, will now be more durable when multiple heroes are hitting it.
With the massive changes above, the current meta suggests that teams should focus on sustaining their respective lanes in the early goings of the match while also inserting a jungler role to cope with the new patch.
BREN Esports will be one of the first teams to dip their feet in the new meta when they face Smart Omega on Friday at 6:00 p.m. Meanwhile, BNK Blufire will look to use it as an advantage as they try to score their first win in the tournament against Execration at 7:30 p.m.
