Wild Rift 7.3 Turret Preview: Plates and Crystal Damage

Article Summary

Learn how Wild Rift 7.3 tests permanent turret plates, Crystalline Growth, new Demolish damage, and changes to Baron and minion waves.

Wild Rift 7.3 is testing permanent plates on outer, inner, and inhibitor turrets , plus a new mechanic called Crystalline Growth . Crystals accumulate on eligible turrets over time, then an attacking champion's first basic attack detonates them for true damage when an allied minion wave is present.

Wild Rift 7.3 is testing permanent plates on outer, inner, and inhibitor turrets, plus a new mechanic called Crystalline Growth. Crystals accumulate on eligible turrets over time, then an attacking champion's first basic attack detonates them for true damage when an allied minion wave is present.

These changes come from the September 2 Chinese test server announcement, translated into English and checked against the official source. They may change before global release. This article explains the proposed rules and their likely decision-making implications; the 7.3 overview covers the rest of the update.

How Crystalline Growth Works

Crystalline Growth gives champions a way to convert a window at a turret into extra damage. The crystals' damage depends on the attacking team's average level and how long the growth has accumulated. It does not scale with the individual attacker's AD, AP, or health.

The announcement describes the initial progression as follows:

1. After the turret spawns, there is a 50-second delay before crystallization begins.
2. Growth stays at its minimum damage for 30 seconds.
3. Damage then increases linearly over 160 seconds.
4. Once fully grown, it remains at maximum damage until triggered.

Minimum damage ranges from 2% to 8.7% of turret maximum health, based on the attacking team's level. Maximum damage ranges from 3.3% to 18.9% on the same basis.

Those are level-dependent ranges. A fresh early-game crystal does not deal 18.9% of a turret's health. As a scale example only, the top listed maximum would equal 1,323 true damage on a 7,000-health outer turret. The bottom listed minimum would equal 140. Those calculations isolate the crystal component and do not include the triggering attack or other modifiers.

A Minion Wave Is Required

Crystals cannot be detonated without an allied minion wave under the turret. Walking into an empty lane and hitting the structure does not bypass that condition.

Inner and inhibitor turrets do not crystallize while their outer turret still stands. When the outer falls, the inner turret begins crystallizing. The mechanic therefore works within the normal progression of opening a lane.

The notes also include an activation safeguard. If enemy champions are near the turret when the 50-second activation point arrives, growth is temporarily suppressed. Once they leave, it appears and advances to the stage it would otherwise have reached. This prevents the effect from suddenly appearing during an ongoing push.

The announcement does not fully describe the reset sequence after a detonation. Avoid treating the initial timing as a proven repeat-use schedule until it can be checked in the test client or later notes.

Turret Plates Become Permanent

Outer, inner, and inhibitor turrets each have five plates. The listed health thresholds are 90%, 75%, 55%, 30%, and destruction. The fifth threshold is written as 0% in the source.

These are not five equal health segments. On a new 7,000-health outer turret, the first four thresholds correspond to 6,300, 5,250, 3,850, and 2,100 remaining health. Reaching the first plate therefore requires less raw health damage than taking some later segments.

The base local rewards are:

• Outer turret: 140 gold per plate, or 700 across all five before any reward decay.
• Inner turret: 120 per plate, or 600 total.
• Inhibitor turret: 120 per plate, or 600 total.

Separate local gold for destroying the turret is removed. The first turret still awards an additional 150 gold, while global destruction rewards are 50 gold per teammate for an outer turret and 25 each for an inner or inhibitor turret.

The plate rewards and global rewards are separate. Do not read a plate's listed local reward as that amount for every teammate.

Outer Plate Gold Decays, but the Plates Stay

From 5:00, outer-turret plate rewards and defenses begin declining in up to four steps, spaced 30 seconds apart. Plate gold falls by 10 per step, to a minimum of 100 per plate. Armor and magic resistance fall by 15 per step, to a minimum of zero.

The distinction matters when deciding whether to stay for a plate. The plates remain available later, but early outer plates are worth more gold. You are weighing the current plate reward against the cost of a late recall, an exposed lane, or missing an objective.

After a plate breaks, the turret gains 30 armor and magic resistance for 20 seconds. Breaking another plate refreshes the duration. During that protection, it gains another five armor and magic resistance for each enemy champion within 850 range.

That creates a reason to reassess after getting a plate. Staying for another attack can be useful, but the next portion of the push happens against a newly reinforced turret. The source describes a refresh of the 30-resistance effect, not an additional permanent 30 resistance for every plate.

Turret Health, Melee Damage, and Removed Defenses

Turret health changes substantially:

• Outer: 3,000 to 7,000.
• Inner: 3,000 to 4,500.
• Inhibitor: 3,200 to 4,250.

The listed armor and magic resistance are 60, subject to the relevant decay and plate effects. All turrets also take 20% more damage from melee champions.

Several older defensive rules are removed: the early bonus resistances on mid and solo-lane turrets, outer defenses tied to remaining health, and the early extra stats triggered by multiple nearby enemies. The next turret also loses the 30-second shield previously granted when an outer or inner turret fell.

The health increase therefore cannot be evaluated alone. Higher health, fewer old defenses, crystal damage, melee damage, and new plate protection all contribute to how long a real push takes.

Demolish Now Requires Three Turret Attacks

The tested Demolish activates after three basic attacks against a turret. It deals bonus physical damage using different melee and ranged formulas:

• Melee: 85 + 28% of maximum health.
• Ranged: 50 + 20% of maximum health.

At 3,000 maximum health, the listed formula produces 925 physical damage for a melee champion or 650 for a ranged champion, before mitigation and any other applicable modifiers.

Crystalline Growth and Demolish are different damage sources. Crystals use team-level scaling and true damage; Demolish uses the attacker's maximum health and physical damage. You still need enough time to land the three attacks for Demolish, even when a crystal is available on the first hit.

Baron and Minion Waves Also Change

Baron-empowered minions receive different durability profiles by type, with flat AD bonuses of 10 for melee minions, 30 for ranged minions, and 100 for siege and cannon minions. All listed empowered types take 25% less turret damage, and empowered minions have a minimum movement speed of 3.3 in the source's units.

Super minions rise from 800 to 1,100 base health. Their aura buffs nearby minions according to how many enemy inhibitor turrets have been destroyed: one grants 35 armor and magic resistance, two add 15% AD, and three increase that AD bonus to 40%. Super minions no longer benefit from their own aura.

Other wave changes include:

• All minion types deal 60% damage to champions.
• Cannon minions deal a fixed 84% damage to structures, replacing their previous late-game scaling to 100%.
• Minion experience range increases from 8 to 10 in the source's units.
• Starting at 5:30, minions gain 25 movement speed every 150 seconds, up to six increases.
• A team ahead in average level and lane-turret progress gains a lane pushing bonus against enemy minions.

Together, these changes could make converting a lead into a sustained push more reliable. Whether that produces shorter games needs testing alongside the larger turret health pools and epic-monster changes.

What Should You Do Differently When Testing 7.3?

Push with a wave and identify the next plate threshold before committing. A short visit may collect crystal damage and a plate, while staying through the temporary resistance buff could cost time you need elsewhere.

After winning a fight or taking Baron, ask which lane has a wave ready to use the opening. The removal of the next-turret shield gives a successful push another consideration, but it does not remove the need for minions, vision, and safe positioning.

For side-lane fundamentals, the Garen guide, Fiora guide, and Jax guide cover their current-patch plans. For the new objective and Smite rules that lead into these pushes, read the 7.3 jungle rework.

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