Mobile Legends Patch 2.1.64 Update: Hero Adjustments, Battlefield Changes and more

The latest Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) Patch 2.1.64 Update, deployed on the game’s Advanced Server, introduces a series of critical hero balance changes, equipment adjustments, and the reintroduction of a popular gameplay mode for further testing. This iterative update cycle is a standard practice for Moonton, the developers behind the globally acclaimed mobile MOBA, allowing them to refine gameplay mechanics and hero performance based on player feedback before rolling out changes to the live server. The Advanced Server serves as a crucial proving ground, offering a glimpse into the evolving meta and strategic direction of MLBB. This patch specifically targets several key heroes, aiming to recalibrate their strengths and weaknesses within the current competitive landscape, while also refining existing and reintroducing experimental game modes to enhance player engagement.

Strategic Hero Rebalancing: A Closer Look at the Adjustments

Moonton’s development philosophy often revolves around maintaining a dynamic and balanced hero roster, ensuring no single hero or archetype dominates the meta for extended periods. Patch 2.1.64 reflects this commitment through targeted buffs, nerfs, and reworks, addressing both underperforming and overperforming characters, as well as optimizing user experience.

Revamped Aulus Receives Significant Buffs

Aulus, the Axe of the Fallen, has been a hero who has struggled to find a consistent footing in the competitive meta despite his rework. Moonton’s efforts in this patch are geared towards enhancing his overall combat fluidity and impact, making him a more viable choice in various team compositions. The primary focus is on optimizing his skill casting experience and visual effects, particularly for his Ultimate ability. Such optimizations are crucial for melee fighters like Aulus, where precise execution and clear visual cues can significantly impact gameplay.

• Skill 1 Optimization (Buffed): A key enhancement to Aulus’s Skill 1 addresses a long-standing frustration for players. Previously, basic attacks would interrupt the channeling of his Skill 1, hindering his sustained damage output and ability to maintain control immunity. The update ensures that using basic attacks no longer interrupts this crucial skill, allowing Aulus to maintain his damage rotation while benefiting from the control immunity state. This significantly improves his dueling potential and survivability in skirmishes, enabling more aggressive plays without fear of accidental interruption.
• Skill 2 Range Increase (Buffed): The cast range of Aulus’s Skill 2 has been increased from 4 to 4.5 units. While seemingly minor, a 0.5-unit increase in cast range can have a substantial impact on a hero’s engagement capabilities, farming efficiency, and ability to secure kills or escape dangerous situations. This buff provides Aulus with greater flexibility in initiating fights, poking enemies, or repositioning himself more effectively on the battlefield.
• Ultimate Visual Effects Optimization (Buffed): The visual effects for Revamped Aulus’s Ultimate ability have been further optimized. Beyond aesthetics, improved visual clarity for ultimate abilities can aid both the Aulus player and their teammates in understanding the skill’s area of effect and timing, facilitating better coordination and execution in critical team fights. This optimization contributes to a smoother and more intuitive gameplay experience for Aulus users.

These collective buffs suggest Moonton’s intent to elevate Aulus’s performance, potentially positioning him as a more formidable jungler or offlaner. The changes aim to address his historical vulnerability and lack of consistent impact, offering him improved sustained damage, survivability, and engagement range.

Bane’s Thematic Overhaul: "Ale" Becomes "Sea Ink"

Bane, the Lord of the Seven Seas, undergoes a thematic and visual revamp for his second skill. While not a direct balance change in terms of numbers, the artistic reimagining and renaming of his "Ale" skill to "Sea Ink" is a significant move by the developers to better align the ability with Bane’s lore and character identity.

• Skill 2 Renamed and Revamped Art Concept: The developers have revamped the art concept for Bane’s second skill, "Ale," to better fit his background story. This skill has been renamed to "Sea Ink." This change reflects Moonton’s ongoing commitment to enriching the narrative and visual consistency within the game. "Sea Ink" conjures imagery more fitting for a pirate lord, potentially hinting at darker, more mysterious powers derived from the deep, rather than the more convivial "Ale." While the mechanical impact of the skill remains unchanged in this patch, the thematic update could pave the way for future lore-driven adjustments or simply enhance player immersion. Such thematic updates are often well-received by the player base, who appreciate the attention to detail in character development.

Harith’s Strategic Repositioning: From Early Game Powerhouse to Late Game Carry

Harith, the Keymaster, has been a hero subject to numerous balance adjustments throughout MLBB’s history. This patch introduces a significant strategic repositioning for him, signaling a clear shift in his intended role and power curve. Moonton aims to transform Harith into a potent late-game ranged hero, specializing in massive Magic Damage output, while deliberately reducing his early game laning power to align him more closely with other ranged carries. This implies a more demanding early game for Harith players, requiring careful farming and positioning to reach his late-game potential.

• Passive Attribute (Nerfed) – HP Growth: Harith’s HP Growth has been reduced from 176 to 155. This decrease in base health gain per level directly impacts his early game durability, making him more susceptible to poke and burst damage in the laning phase. This aligns with the developers’ goal of reducing his early laning damage and survivability, forcing players to adopt a more cautious approach in the initial stages of the match.
• Skill 1 (Nerfed): While specific numerical changes were not detailed in the provided content, the overall directive indicates a nerf to Harith’s Skill 1. Historically, Harith’s Skill 1, Synchro Fission, has been a significant source of his early game burst and wave clear. A nerf here would likely involve a reduction in its base damage, scaling, or potentially an increase in cooldown or mana cost. This adjustment would further curb his early game dominance, requiring more strategic use of the skill and reducing his ability to quickly clear minion waves or pressure opponents.
• Skill 2 (Buffed): Conversely, Harith’s Skill 2, Chrono Dash, is slated for a buff. Given the overarching goal of making him a late-game magic damage dealer, this buff could manifest in several ways. Potential enhancements might include increased shield generation, reduced cooldown at higher levels, improved dash range, or even a boost to the magic damage scaling on his enhanced basic attacks after using the skill. Such a buff would empower his late-game mobility, survivability, and sustained damage, allowing him to weave in and out of fights more effectively and unleash his full damage potential as the game progresses.

This repositioning requires Harith players to adapt their playstyle, prioritizing farm and item progression to capitalize on his enhanced late-game scaling. It suggests a meta shift where Harith will become a high-risk, high-reward pick, demanding patience and skilled execution to truly shine.

Melissa’s Mobility and Damage Rebalancing

Melissa, the Cursed Needle, received significant buffs in a previous patch, notably enhancing her mobility and combat capability. This led to her becoming a dominant force, prompting Moonton to intervene with a series of nerfs in Patch 2.1.64 to restore balance. These adjustments aim to prevent her from becoming overly oppressive in the current meta.

• Skill 1 (Nerfed) – Dash Distance: Melissa’s Skill 1 dash distance has been reduced from 3.5 to 3.1 units. This reduction directly impacts her mobility, making her slightly less agile in lane and team fights. A shorter dash means she has less repositioning power, making it harder to dodge skill shots, chase down enemies, or escape dangerous situations. This subtle nerf is critical for marksmen, where precise positioning is paramount.
• Skill 2 (Nerfed) – Damage: The damage output of Melissa’s Skill 2 has been significantly reduced, from 250-400 (+80% Total Physical Attack) to 175-300 (+50% Total Physical Attack). This substantial reduction in both base damage and physical attack scaling will severely curb her burst damage potential, particularly in the early to mid-game. It implies that Melissa will no longer be able to dish out as much damage with her puppet, particularly against squishy targets. This nerf aims to bring her combat capability back in line with other marksmen, preventing her from dominating lanes too easily.

These nerfs indicate that Melissa’s previous buffs pushed her beyond a balanced state. Moonton’s quick response demonstrates their commitment to maintaining competitive fairness by swiftly addressing heroes who become excessively powerful.

Terizla’s Cooldown Adjustments

Terizla, the Abyss Guard, received a significant quality-of-life improvement by having no Mana cost for his skills, granting him a substantial advantage in terms of sustained presence on the battlefield. To counterbalance this strength, Moonton has implemented slight increases to his skill cooldowns, ensuring he remains a strong yet balanced fighter.

• Skill 1 (Nerfed) – Cooldown: The cooldown for Terizla’s Skill 1 has been increased from 8.5s to 9.5-8.5s. This adjustment, while minor, means a slightly longer wait between uses of his primary damaging and slowing ability, reducing his frequency of poke and wave clear.
• Skill 2 (Nerfed) – Cooldown: Terizla’s Skill 2 cooldown has been increased from 9-4s to 9-5s. This impacts his main source of sustained damage and crowd control. A longer cooldown means less frequent access to his powerful swings, potentially reducing his overall damage output in extended engagements and making him more vulnerable during his skill downtime.

These cooldown adjustments are a direct response to the removal of Mana costs, ensuring that Terizla players still need to manage their ability usage strategically, rather than simply spamming skills without consequence. He remains a durable frontline presence, but with slightly less constant pressure.

Mobile Legends Patch 2.1.64 Update: Equipment and Gameplay Mode Adjustments on Advanced Server

Beyond hero rebalancing, the Patch 2.1.64 update also addresses equipment dynamics and introduces further tests for experimental gameplay modes. These adjustments are vital for shaping the overall strategic depth and player experience within MLBB.

Equipment Adjustment: Starlium Scythe

• Starlium Scythe (Adjusted): The Starlium Scythe, a magic damage item popular among mages and some assassin-mages, has seen an adjustment. Moonton has reverted the cooldown of its triggered skill effect and reduced its extra damage and slow effect. This suggests that the item, in its previous iteration on the Advanced Server, was either overperforming or creating unintended power spikes for certain heroes. The item’s core identity involves enhancing subsequent basic attacks after using a skill, providing burst and utility. By reducing its extra damage and slow, Moonton aims to bring its effectiveness into a more balanced state, preventing it from becoming a mandatory or overly dominant item choice. This adjustment will likely impact heroes who rely heavily on skill-basic attack combos for their damage, requiring them to re-evaluate their build paths.

Gameplay Mode Adjustment: Iterative Improvements

The Advanced Server is also a platform for Moonton to test and refine various gameplay modes, gathering data and player feedback to inform potential future integrations into the main game or special event rotations.

• Frozen Sea Showdown Mode Update: The Frozen Sea Showdown mode receives an update. While specific details of the changes were not provided in the patch notes, such updates typically involve adjustments to map mechanics, unique buffs or debuffs, objective timings, or hero availability within the mode. The continuous iteration on these modes highlights Moonton’s efforts to innovate and offer diverse gameplay experiences beyond the standard Classic and Ranked formats. These modes often serve as a testing ground for new concepts that might eventually influence the core game.
• Tide Siege Mode Update: Similar to Frozen Sea Showdown, the Tide Siege Mode also receives an update. These updates often aim to address balance issues within the mode, improve player experience, or introduce new strategic layers. The absence of specific details indicates that these are likely fine-tuning adjustments based on previous rounds of testing, focusing on creating a more enjoyable and balanced experience for players engaging with these alternative game modes.

New Gameplay Mode Test – Treasure Hunt Coin: A Focus on Player Rewards and Engagement

One of the most significant announcements in Patch 2.1.64 is the reintroduction of the "Treasure Hunt Coin" gameplay test. This event-driven mode is designed to reward players for their participation in Classic and Ranked matches on the Advanced Server, linking gameplay directly to tangible in-game rewards. This initiative underscores Moonton’s strategy to enhance player engagement and provide value back to its community.

The Treasure Hunt Coin event aligns with related events on the Advanced Server, offering players extra Chests and Treasure Hunt Coins that can be exchanged for exclusive event rewards. This mechanism serves multiple purposes: it incentivizes playing on the Advanced Server, generates valuable data on player behavior and reward distribution, and allows for testing the technical stability of new reward systems. The reintroduction of the mode after previous tests indicates Moonton is refining its mechanics based on earlier feedback.

• Refinements Based on Previous Test Results: Based on the outcomes of the previous test, the developers have made adjustments to the amount of Treasure Hunt Coins obtained from certain in-game actions. Crucially, they have also reduced the frequency of text prompts to prevent cluttering the screen with too much information during gameplay, a common player complaint in previous iterations. This focus on user experience reflects Moonton’s responsiveness to community feedback.
• How to Obtain Treasure Hunt Coins:
  • Team Rewards: The amount of Treasure Hunt Coins received varies by specific team actions within a match. This likely includes objectives like taking turrets, killing the Lord or Turtle, or achieving team-wide kill streaks. This encourages coordinated team play.
  • Individual Rewards: Players also earn Treasure Hunt Coins based on their individual performance and actions within a match. This could encompass metrics such as kills, assists, damage dealt, healing done, or gold earned, rewarding individual skill and contribution.
  • Match Outcome Bonus: Winning a match grants players 100% of the earned Treasure Hunt Coins, while losing grants 50%. This standard reward structure incentivizes players to strive for victory while still acknowledging participation in a losing effort.
• How to Obtain Chests: When a team successfully kills the Lord for the first time in a match, all team members receive 1 Chest, regardless of the final match result. This provides a clear, mid-game objective that offers an additional reward layer, encouraging teams to contest the Lord.
• Match Drop Limits: To prevent excessive farming and ensure a balanced distribution of rewards, the event implements daily and event-long drop limits:
  • Up to 5 Chests per day, with a maximum of 35 Chests during the entire event period.
  • Up to 300 Treasure Hunt Coins per match, with a daily cap of 1,000 (excluding coins obtained from Chests), and a total event cap of 7,000 (excluding coins from Chests).

These limits are designed to encourage consistent participation without allowing players to quickly exhaust the reward pool, maintaining engagement throughout the event. The availability of a significant reward, such as the Yu Zhong All-star skin, for free through this event further highlights Moonton’s strategy to make valuable cosmetic items accessible through gameplay, fostering a stronger connection with its player base.

Broader Implications and Future Outlook

The Mobile Legends Patch 2.1.64 update on the Advanced Server underscores Moonton’s continuous efforts to refine the game’s balance, diversify its content, and enhance the overall player experience. The hero adjustments, particularly for Harith and Melissa, indicate a dynamic approach to meta management, ensuring that no single hero remains unchallenged for too long. The buffs to Aulus suggest an attempt to broaden the viable hero pool, encouraging diverse team compositions.

The iterative development of equipment and gameplay modes highlights Moonton’s commitment to innovation and player feedback. The reintroduction of the Treasure Hunt Coin event, with its refined mechanics and generous rewards like the Yu Zhong All-star skin, is a testament to the developers’ focus on community engagement and providing tangible incentives for active participation.

These changes, currently confined to the Advanced Server, will undergo rigorous testing and player feedback analysis. The data collected from millions of players on this server will inform Moonton’s final decisions before these adjustments are officially deployed to the live global servers. This systematic approach is crucial for a game of MLBB’s scale, ensuring that future updates contribute positively to its competitive integrity and long-term appeal. Players are encouraged to participate in the Advanced Server testing to contribute to the ongoing evolution of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.