Patch 5.16

Overview

Patch Notes v5.16

Greetings, summoners.

Welcome to patch 5.16, the one where juggernauts exist, defensive items get a pass and Zed actually gets buffed. Before we dive in, let’s clear some things up for all the esports fans out there - 5.14 (the one with crazy Elise, #bigsorry) will be the one that the rest of playoffs including the gauntlet will be played on. Worlds will be played on 5.18, which means while we totally hear you about these changes being pretty huge before worlds, we’ve set aside the next two to react and tune as necessary (read: lighter touches) before these changes hit the big stage.

With that out of the way, on to the main event: Juggernauts.

If you haven’t heard that phrase, brace yourselves: searching at the time of this post says we mention the word 13 times; So what are they? When we think juggernaut, we think of champions like Nasus - hulking, durable melee threats that rip teams to shreds if left unattended, but short-ranged and slow enough to be kited for days. They’re workhorses, but they need a bit of work to get going. So if you start seeing crystals in the jungle and ghost-dragons in your midlane, consider yourself warned - the juggernauts are here to stay.

As for the rest of 5.16, we’ve got our usual host of item and champion changes (albeit a little bigger) to keep things balanced and diverse as we turn our focus towards the World Championship. We’re not looking to shake the game too much after this, but we’re touching up some old pro-play faithfuls (Kassadin, Leblanc, Zed) and tuning down some top-tier titans (Rumble, Viktor, Alistar) as players enter the final leg of the race for the Summoner’s Cup (or for the other 99.9% of us, those sweet end-of-season rewards).

So strap in, queue up, and enjoy the ride. There’s a lot to explore and discover in a post-5.16 landscape, and there’s tons of LP up for grabs.

We even buffed Lee Sin. What a time to be alive.

Patrick "Scarizard" Scarborough

Patch Updates

26/8/2015

Hey folks! Juggernauts shipped, and as enormous game updates sometimes go, not everything was 100% on the balance front. Check out the changes below to see how we're reacting to them. Since we're aiming to get these changes out with as little friction as possible (ie. we don't want to make you download another patch!), some of the in-game tooltips will be out of date until we hit 5.17 and can more comprehensively update everything.

Darius
Decimate's damage and healing increased.

Darius released far weaker than his juggernaut brothers, mostly due to the extra gameplay added to Decimate. We're still keeping the gameplay (we like that part), so we're making it more rewarding when you swing your axe correctly.

Q - Decimate

DAMAGE : [20/40/60/80/100] ⇒ 40/70/100/130/160

HEALING : [10% of missing health per champion hit] ⇒ 15% of missing health per champion hit (maximum is still 30%)

Skarner
Movement speed and attack speed lowered. W's shield lowered. E's cooldown is increased, and deals less damage.

Oh dear. Skarner released at the strongest state we've seen a character...pretty much ever. While the below changes might look like a lot, these were all added on towards the end of his development cycle as a result of feedback on the PBE. We shouldn't have listened quite so well. No hard feelings, PBE.

General

BASE MOVEMENT SPEED : [345] ⇒ 335

BASE ATTACK DAMAGE : [61] ⇒ 57

W - Crystalline Exoskeleton

SHIELD RATIO : [12/13/14/15/16% of maximum health] ⇒ 10/11/12/13/14% of maximum health

E - Fracture

COOLDOWN : [13/12.5/12/11.5/11 seconds] ⇒ 14/13.5/13/12.5/12 seconds

INITIAL DAMAGE : [40/75/110/145/180] ⇒ 40/65/90/115/140

BONUS DAMAGE ON STUNNING : [25/50/75/100/125] ⇒ 25/35/45/55/65

Juggernauts

Garen, Darius, Skarner and Mordekaiser have received gameplay updates. We’re calling them juggernauts.

Any time we make an update, we’re aiming for two targets: that every game of League feels meaningfully different based on the champions in it, and that each champion in League feel distincts. That might sound like an enormous goal (probably because it is), but our plan is to break them down into groups that share roughly the same strategic or tactical niche and start solving from there. By hitting a handful of champs at a time we can address a few groups struggling in one go; the first of which are the lumbering giants of melee-ranged obliteration heretofore (affectionately) referred to as juggernauts.

Tanky melee carries walk the line between power and peelability, but in order to find distinct playstyles for each of these four champions, we looked to add a little more uniqueness where we could. When two champs play the same way, you just end up picking the one that’s better. We’re working to change that - shifting each champion’s power so that their highs and lows are both deeper and more differentiated from others in the same role. Let’s meet the team.

Darius

Kicking off our dive into the juggernaut update is the dunkmaster himself, Dario Chopman. Notorious for his blood-fueled multi-kill potential, Darius’ fantasy was just that - a fantasy. In reality, he’d build damage and die before posing a huge threat (often trading his life for a low-priority target), or stack defenses and become the Wet Noodle of Noxus. Tack on the juggernaut’s plight of ‘why pick me over other fighters?’ and Darius is in a pretty rough spot.

Enter Bloodrage.

While not the cure for everything that ails him (It won’t magically give him dashes or a cool haircut), Bloodrage is all about letting Darius realize his ‘pentakill-in-a-china-shop’ fantasy, letting loose on enemies after maxing out his passive. In other words, he’s going to try his hardest to mosh with his opponents (alongside new tools like Decimate’s heal and Apprehend’s slow for staying power), and it’s on them to keep his rampage to a dull roar. We’ve taken down some of his damage before he hits Bloodrage, but once he gets going things start to get pretty crazy.

That’s the gist of Darius’ update. Check below for the nitty-gritty details, and we’ll see you at after you’re done. Technically you could just skip to the next section, but we’d be disappointed. Not mad, just disappointed.

General
Attack Range up. AD, Health and Armor per level up. Base AS% and AS per level down.

ATTACK RANGE : [125] ⇒ 175

ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH STAT : [3.5] ⇒ 5

HEALTH GROWTH STAT : [93] ⇒ 100

ARMOR GROWTH STAT : [3.5] ⇒ 4

BASE ATTACK SPEED : [.679] ⇒ .625

ATTACK SPEED GROWTH STAT : [4%] ⇒ 1%

Passive - Hemorrhage
In addition to its current function, Reaching 5 stacks or killing an enemy champion with R - Noxian Guillotine puts Darius into a Bloodrage. During Bloodrage, Darius gains 40-200 bonus Attack Damage and applies max Hemorrhage stacks to enemies with basic attacks or Decimate's Blade.

DURATION : 5 seconds

BLEED DAMAGE : [12~36 (9 + 3 every other champion level)] ⇒ 10~27 (9 + 1 per champion level)

BLEED DAMAGE TYPE [Magic damage] ⇒ Physical damage

ADRENALINE RUSH : No longer grants Movement Speed per champion affected

Q - Decimate
Now has a brief delay on cast. Hitting with Decimate's Blade now heals Darius.

COST : [40 mana] ⇒ 30 mana

CAST TIME [Instant cast] ⇒ 0.75 second delay

DECIMATE THE MEEK Darius now heals for 10% of his missing Health for each enemy champion hit by Decimate's Blade, up to a maximum of 30%.

BLADE DAMAGE : [105/157.5/210/262.5/315] ⇒ 20/40/60/80/100

BLADE RATIO : [1.05 bonus Attack Damage] ⇒ 1.0/1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4 total Attack Damage

HANDLE DAMAGE : [66% of Decimate's Blade] ⇒ 50% of Decimate's Blade

CLEAN HANDLES : Enemies hit by Decimate's Handle no longer receive a stack of Hemorrhage

W - Crippling Strike
Slow heavily increased. No longer slows Attack Speed.

COST : [30/35/40/45/50 mana] ⇒ 30 mana at all ranks

COOLDOWN : [9/8/7/6/5 seconds] ⇒ 8 seconds at all ranks

DAMAGE : [120/140/160/180/200% total Attack Damage] ⇒ 140% total Attack Damage at all ranks

SLOW : [20/25/30/35/40%] ⇒ 90% at all ranks

SLOW DURATION : [2 seconds] ⇒ 1 second

ATTACK SPEED SLOW No longer slows attack speed

CRIPPLED COOLDOWN No longer reduces Crippling Strike's base cooldown per Hemorrhage stack on the target

E - Apprehend
Apprehend no longer pulls champions that escape the area, but briefly slows enemies hit.

GET OVER HERE Fixed a bug where enemies would be pulled in if they successfully escaped the area during the cast time

AND STAY DOWN Enemies pulled by Apprehend are slowed by 90% for 1 second

CAST TIME : [0.32 seconds] ⇒ 0.25 seconds

R - Noxian Guillotine
Re-casting R is free.

DAMAGE : [160/250/340] ⇒ 100/200/300

COST : [100 at all ranks] ⇒ 100/100/0 (yes, that's a 0)

ATHENE'S UNHOLY DUNK No longer refunds mana on kill

KILL ONE GET ONE FREE Subsequent casts of Noxian Guillotine have no cost

SCURRY, WEAKLINGS Upon executing an enemy champion, all nearby lesser creatures (non-champions) become terrified

Garen

Perhaps the least changed of the juggernauts overall, Garen’s always been the iconic ‘white knight’ for League of Legends and not much else. An effective damage dealer and off-tank in his own right, the G-man’s struggled to find a home as anything more than a makeshift assassin, diving backlines in hope of delivering swift justice to anyone holding an Infinity Edge. We really dug that ‘justice’ part, which led us to discovering Garen’s identity - he leads the charge against the most vile scoundrels and makes them pay (and boy, does he never stop talking about it).

Garen’s purpose in-game now matches his job description; protecting the weak both in game and out. His effectiveness as an ‘anti-carry’ extends the whole game long, adapting to your opponent's individual wrongdoings and throwing the rule-book at anyone branded a Villain. Though solo queue may be dark and full of terrors, Garen’s ability to flip the script on hypercarries-gone-godlike means that victory is only ever one ‘DEMACIA!!’ away, no matter how dire the situation.

General
Lower health per level, but higher Attack Damage and Armor. Attack range increased.

WE'RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER SWORD : Recommended items updated

HEALTH GROWTH STAT : [96] ⇒ 84.25

ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH STAT : [3.5] ⇒ 4.5

ARMOR GROWTH STAT : [2.7] ⇒ 3.0

ATTACK RANGE : [125] ⇒ 175

Q - Decisive Strike
Normalized Silence duration. Movement speed duration lowered.

SILENCE DURATION : [1.5/1.75/2/2.25/2.5 seconds] ⇒ 1.5 seconds at all ranks

MOVEMENT SPEED DURATION : [1.5/2.25/3/3.75/4.5 seconds] ⇒ 1.5/2/2.5/3/3.5 seconds

W - Courage
Everything old is new again.

TENACIOUS C No longer actively provides Tenacity

VIVA LA RESISTANCES No longer passively increases Garen's bonus Armor and Magic Resistance

STACK ATTACK Passively, Killing units permanently grants 0.2 Armor and Magic Resist (1 for kills on Champions, Large Monsters and Epic Monsters), up to a maximum of 10/15/20/25/30

E - Judgment
Judgment's damage and tick-rate increases over game-time.

COOLDOWN : [13/12/11/10/9 seconds] ⇒ 9 seconds at all ranks

BASE DAMAGE PER TICK : [10/22.5/35/47.5/60] ⇒ 14/18/22/26/30

RATIO PER TICK : [.35/.40/.45/.50/.55] ⇒ .34/.35/.36/.37/.38

TICKS PER CAST : [6] ⇒ 5

SPIN TO WIN Judgment's spin speed permanently increases at levels 1/4/7/10/13/16, resulting in a total of 5/6/7/8/9/10 maximum ticks of damage per cast

MOMENTUM CANCELING Cancelling Judgment early refunds the cooldown equal to the remaining duration of the spin

1V1 ME Judgment deals 33% increased damage when striking a single target

R - Demacian Justice
Enemies with the most recent kills is branded a Villain. Garen hates those.

ACCURSED VILLAINS : Judgment ticks and basic attacks against the Villain deal an additional 1% of their maximum health as true damage

FOR THE CAUSE : Demacian Justice deals true damage to the Villain instead of magic damage

Skarner

Skarner Impaling enemies and dragging them away from their comfort zone is a unique and powerful moment that definitely sets him apart from the cast; the issue is figuring out what he does when kidnapping carries isn’t an option. Seeing how Skarner’s always missing his kind, we went for the 2-for-1 of curing his homesickness and giving him a unique identity by dragging some big ol’ spires from the Crystal Scar and droppin’ em on Summoner’s Rift.

They’re not just for show, however - true to his nature as a diamond-encrusted energy scorpion (what a sentence), Skarner becomes infused with a boatload of combat stats when he’s near them, making him the scorpion to go when it comes to map control. Capturing and controlling these spires becomes a game within itself, denying Skarner’s rampage or letting him gleefully wreck through the jungle like a kid in a crystal store. No matter what position he’s played, Skarner’s dominance over these choke points make him an experience that’s clearly differentiated from other fighters, especially if your team’s goal is snatching all of the neutral objectives you can carry.

General
Lowering Movement Speed and Health per level in favor of Attack Damage scaling.

CRYSTAL CLEAVER : Recommended items updated

HEALTH GROWTH STAT : [96] ⇒ 90

ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH STAT : [4.2] ⇒ 4.5

NEW Passive - Crystal Spires
Skarner's presence causes crystals to spawn in set locations around the map. Crystals can be captured by either team by standing on top of them. Capturing a crystal prevents them from being captured by the opposing team for 15 seconds.

I MISS MY KIND : While near active crystals, Skarner gains 100 Movement Speed, 48~150% (42 + 6% per champion level) Attack Speed, and restores 3% of his maximum Mana per second.

Q - Crystal Slash
Both charged and uncharged Q have traded base damage for a scaling ratio. Costs less Mana and can be cast more.

COOLDOWN : [3.50 seconds] ⇒ 3.50/3.25/3.00/2.75/2.50 seconds

COST : [16/17/18/19/20 mana] ⇒ 10/11/12/13/14 mana

DAMAGE : [20/30/40/50/60 physical damage] ⇒ 0.33/0.36/0.39/0.42/0.45 total Attack Damage

DAMAGE RATIO [0.4 bonus Attack Damage] ⇒ Removed

CHARGED DAMAGE : [20/30/40/50/60 magic damage] ⇒ 0.33/0.36/0.39/0.42/0.45 total Attack Damage

CHARGED DURATION : [5 seconds] ⇒ 4 seconds

COOLDOWN REDUCTION ON NON-CHAMPIONS : [0.5 seconds per attack] ⇒ 0.25 seconds per attack [Cooldown reduction vs. champions is still 1 second]

FEAR MY STING No longer increases Movement Speed or Attack Speed

W - Crystalline Exoskeleton
Now scales with maximum health instead of having a base amount of shield value.

SHIELD AMOUNT : [80/135/190/245/300 (+0.8 ability power)] ⇒ 12/13/14/15/16% of Skarner's maximum Health (+0.8 ability power)

E - Fracture
Fracture now marks enemy champions and causes Skarner's next attack to damage and stun them.

COST : [50/55/60/65/70 mana] ⇒ 55 mana at all ranks

COOLDOWN : [12/11.5/11/10.5/10 seconds] ⇒ 13/12.5/12/11.5/11 seconds

SLOW DURATION : [2.5 seconds] ⇒ 2 seconds

SLOW-MO Fracture's missile speed decreases for each champion hit

CRYSTAL VENOM Afflicts targets with Crystal Venom for 5 seconds, causing Skarner's next basic attack against them to deal 25/50/75/100/125 additional physical damage and stun for 1 second.

ENERGIZER SCORPION Crystallizing enemies with Fracture and Impale grants Skarner Crystal Charge (the buff for being near an active crystal) for the duration of the disable and reduces the cooldown of Fracture by the same amount.

R - Impale
R costs less. Magic damage significantly lowered, but now deals bonus physical damage.

COST : [100/125/150 mana] ⇒ 100 mana at all ranks

COOLDOWN : [110/100/90 seconds] ⇒ 120/100/80 seconds

MAGIC DAMAGE : [100/150/200] ⇒ 20/60/100

PHYSICAL DAMAGE Deals an additional 100% of Skarner's total Attack Damage at the beginning and end of the spell

CRYSTAL PURGE No longer deals extra damage to units affected by Crystal Venom

Mordekaiser

Afraid of divers and assassins? Is your team stacked to the brim with physical damage? Have a penchant for going all-in with your support? Look no further - Mordekaiser’s one of our oldest champions, yet in that time he’s never firmly latched onto a particular role or position that fits him best. He’s just sort of always there, whacking dudes with his mace and stealing their souls. We think that part’s pretty cool, so we’re cranking his damage potential to the skies while optimizing him as the farming half in a duo-lane. We’ll give you a sec to re-read that last bit.

While still serviceable in a solo lane, Mordekaiser’s potential is truly unlocked when he has a buddy to smack folks around with. This doesn’t mean you’ll be building like a traditional marksman would (though feel free to follow your dreams, we’re not here to judge) - thanks to his experience bonus killing minions and Mace of Spades’ earth-shattering damage output, Mord has to worry far less about itemizing traditionally; opting to think less of the item system as ‘which of these give me the most damage’ and instead ‘If i’m guaranteed to wreck anyone i get close to, what items help me get the speed and stickiness to reach them?’

Mordekaiser’s update may not be for everyone, but his ability to shake up a game is undeniable. Toss in the fact that he can now steal the Dragon’s soul as a sieging tool, and bottom-lane Mord sounds more like A Real Thing and less like a Siv HD video. We’ll let y’all feel out how he plays in a duo lane, but don’t be afraid if you never want to go back to traditional lanes again.

P.S. Try double Relic Shield with your support grabbing one too. It’s pretty spicy.

General
Losing a lot of base stats in favor of scaling. Attack Range increased.

HEAVY AND METAL : Recommended items updated

MOVEMENT SPEED : [340] ⇒ 325

BASE HEALTH : [555] ⇒ 525

HEALTH GROWTH STAT : [73] ⇒ 80

BASE ATTACK DAMAGE : [57.5] ⇒ 61

ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH STAT : [3.5] ⇒ 5

ATTACK SPEED GROWTH STAT : [2.6] ⇒ 3

HEALTH REGEN : [3.3] ⇒ 4

HEALTH REGEN GROWTH STAT : [0.67] ⇒ .3

ATTACK RANGE : [125] ⇒ 200

Passive - Iron Man
Iron Man's shield can no longer decay below a certain point, and it now scales with maximum Health.

SHIELD DECAY : [3% per second] ⇒ 1.5% Base Health per second

STAY OF DECAY Iron Man's shield no longer decays below 25%

MAXIMUM SHIELD : [120~630 (90 + 30 per champion level)] ⇒ 25% of Mordekaiser's maximum Health

SHIELD GENERATION : [35% of damage dealt] ⇒ 25% of damage dealt

Q - Mace of Spades
Reworked. Mordekaiser’s next three hits are empowered. Each deals 2-3x the last by spell rank, up to a billion damage.

COST : 20/23/26/29/32 health

COOLDOWN : 10/8.5/7/5.5/4 seconds

3-HIT ACTIVE Now empowers Mordekaiser's next 3 attacks. Each attack deals 2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3 times the previous attack's damage (so if your first attack does 100 damage, the second deals 300, and the third deals 900 damage).

DAMAGE : 4/8/12/16/20

RATIOS : (+0.25/0.2625/0.275/0.2875/0.3 total attack damage) (+0.2 ability power)

MAXIMUM DAMAGE : 180 (+2.7 total attack damage) (+1.8 ability power)

W - Harvesters of Sorrow
Mordekaiser and Target allied champion gain 75 Movement Speed while moving toward one another. When close to one another, both deal magic damage to nearby enemies over 4 seconds. Mordekaiser no longer splits experience for any lane minions he kills.

I DON'T HAVE A JOKE FOR THIS Mordekaiser now receives full experience from any lane minion he kills

No cost :

COOLDOWN : 12/11/10/9/8 seconds

DAMAGE : 140/180/220/260/300 over 4 seconds.

AFFLICTION FOREVER : At the end of Harvester’s duration (or when Mordekaiser reactivates it), he deals 50/70/90/110/130 damage to all nearby enemies, healing both Mord and his ally for the damage dealt.

METALLIC MASTERY : Both Harvesters of Sorrow’s DoT and its detonation can overlap, dealing damage twice to enemies hit by Mordekaiser and his ally

SOUL SAVANT : [Reduction] ⇒ Mordekaiser can cast Harvesters of Sorrow on his enslaved soul

E - Siphon of Destruction
Deals much less damage and scales with total Attack Damage in addition to Ability Power. Now grants a bunch of shield on champion hits.

DAMAGE : [70/115/160/205/250] ⇒ 35/65/95/125/155

RATIO : [0.6 ability power] ⇒ 0.6 ability power + 0.6 total attack damage

COOLDOWN : [6 seconds] ⇒ 6/5.75/5.5/5.25/5 seconds

YOUR SICKNESS SUSTAINS ME Now grants 15% of Iron Man's maximum shield when hitting champions

R - Children of the Grave
Mordekaiser can steal the Dragon's soul. That's not a typo.

GHOST STATS : [20/50/100 attack damage] ⇒ 10/25/50 attack damage

DRAGON FORCE Dealing damage to the Dragon curses it. If Mordekaiser's team slays it, the Dragon's soul is enslaved and follows him around. This removes any champion ghosts Mordekaiser has active.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON : While commanding the Dragonforce, Mordekaiser cannot case Children of the Grave.

Base Statistic Compensation

All of the following champions have had their armor or health per level increased.

As part of patch 5.16's item changes, the efficiency of some popular defensive items have been decreased. However, many 'low-income' tanks and team-disruptors relied pretty heavily on the strength of these items to maintain the right level of bulk for their gold stream - you can read more on the why further down, but each of the below champions are picking up some stat adjustments so they'll hit similar breakpoints when it comes to being unbreakable.

Blitzcrank

ARMOR GROWTH : [3.5] ⇒ 4

Braum

ARMOR GROWTH : [4] ⇒ 4.5

Leona

ARMOR GROWTH : [3.1] ⇒ 3.6

Nautilus

ARMOR GROWTH : [3.25] ⇒ 3.75

Taric

ARMOR GROWTH : [3.2] ⇒ 3.7

Rammus

ARMOR GROWTH : [3.8] ⇒ 4.3

Amumu

ARMOR GROWTH : [3.1] ⇒ 3.6

Tahm Kench

ARMOR GROWTH : [3] ⇒ 3.5

Alistar

HEALTH GROWTH : [102] ⇒ 106

Bard

HEALTH GROWTH : [89] ⇒ 93

Thresh

HEALTH GROWTH : [89] ⇒ 93

Champions

Ahri
Passive heals less at all levels.

Since her return to the kitier, mage-ier (still a word) side of things, Ahri's benefitted from a pretty safe laning phase… which then translates to a 'pretty safe' mid and late-game, putting her dangerously close to 'good-in-all-situations.' We don't want to remove Ahri’s flighty spell-casting and all the skill that goes along with her bait-and-assassinate back-and-forth (teasing is kind of her thing), but limiting the amount of free sustain she's able to get - just for shoving minions waves - feels appropriate when maintaining her balance of risk vs. reward.

Passive - Essence Theft

HEALING : [3~20 (2 + 1 per champion level) per unit hit] ⇒ 3/5/9/18 per unit hit (at levels 1/6/11/16)

Alistar
Headbutt has a slower travel time.

Alistar’s been a must-pick in the professional scene for good while thanks to his ability to shine as a primary initiator with his signature Headbutt - > Pulverize combo, which is as time-sensitive to execute as it is to evade. To help even out the playing field for Alistar’s opponents, we’re giving more time to react with any flashes, dashes or other methods of disrupting his Ali-Oop slam-dunk into your entire team.

W - Headbutt

TRAVEL SPEED : [1500] ⇒ 1200

Azir
IT'S REFACTORIN' TIME! Begone, spaghetti code.

For a while now, we've been working behind the scenes on a lot of our code-base to find cleaner ways to implement our champion code and improve behaviour for some of our more… complicated (read: buggy) champions. Our first pass at this was our script review for Syndra's E->Q combo back in 5.13. This patch contains the first batches of fixes to Azir, improving the AI for his soldiers. As we move forward, you can expect more updates like these - script refactoring that result in fewer bugs, but not a ton of power shift one way or the other.

Back to Azir. Being one of our more complex champions, the emperor demands a lot of attention - however, balancing him can be costly due to the scripting issues we just talked about. Our intention with the fixes below is to make Azir flow more naturally, thereby removing some unintentional barriers to learning the Emperor.

General

JUST SPOOKY ENOUGH : Fixed a bug where Mordekaiser and Yorick were unable to issue movement commands to Azir ghosts/revenants

AIN’T AFRAID OF NO GHOSTS : Azir can no longer spawn Sun Discs on top of active turrets after being turned into a ghost by Mordekaiser’s or Yorick’s ults

Q - Conquering Sands

BATTLE STATIONS : All Sand Soldiers now move to the closest available position, prioritizing rows closest to Azir

COPY, GOLD LEADER : The Sand Soldier targeted by E - Shifting Sands will always be centered in the formation

W - Arise!

SORRY, WRONG NUMBER : Fixed a bug where Sand Soldiers would sometimes spawn when Arise! was cast on a turret and vice-versa

KEEP YOUR SOLDIERS TO YOURSELF : Fixed a bug where Arise! could target turrets from a much further range than intended

E - Shifting Sands

WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT : Can no longer be cast unless within range of a Sand Soldier

IS THAT INSEC : Azir now collides with enemies at a distance of 200 ⇒ 150

R - Emperor's Divide

YOU DON'T KNOW ME LIKE THAT : [Reduction] ⇒ Fixed a bug where enemy champions sometimes wouldn't be knocked back

CLONE PARITY : Fixed a bug where Emperor’s Divide was ignoring champion clones

Elise
Q's current health damage lowered.

Well, we did it. Elise is back, and she’s making her presence known through the muffled screams of monsters and junglers alike caught in her web (for about 1.6 seconds, usually). We’re happy with what she’s bringing to teams as a dominant early champion focused on catching out mispositioned prey, only now she’s killing them too quickly; especially the ones that are actually building defensively to try and stop her. We’re specifically targeting Elise’s more target-agnostic damage meaning she’ll need to rely more on her early strengths to transition into closing out games effectively.

Q - Neurotoxin

DAMAGE : [40/75/110/145/180 + 8% of target's current health] ⇒ 40/75/110/145/180 +4% of target's current health

Kassadin
Riftwalk now has an AP ratio. This ratio scales as you stack Riftwalk.

Kassadin hasn’t been terrorizing games much since he took up Rift-stepping, so we figured it was time to show him some love in the form of supporting his new hobby. While still potent as blinking damage-dealer, Kassadin often falls short due to the somewhat lacking rewards for closing into melee range. We’re liking how a shorter-Ritfwalk’s plays out while skirmishing, so we’re boosting his effectiveness for getting up close and personal.

R - Riftwalk

RATIO Now additionally scales with 0.2 ability power

STACK IT UP Extra stacks of Riftwalk add 0.1 ability power per stack

Kayle
5 AD

While Kayle's changes in 5.13 were to help her laning and ability to jungle, the introduction of Sated Devourer in the same patch had the effect of cranking Kayle's already-great clear speed all the way up to 11, thanks to the extra chunk of damage she gets between casts of Righteous Fury. We don't want to disproportionately hit solo lane Kayle, so we're taking off… 5 AD.

General

BASE ATTACK DAMAGE : [56] ⇒ 51

Lee Sin
Flurry's energy return is front-loaded. Kicking champions into other champions will deal more damage based on their bonus health.

Lee Sin buffs. This is not a drill.

For professionals, Lee Sin is a perfect champion; a strong contributor at each stage of the game, flexible in item builds and adaptable to almost any scenario. For the average player however, he’s that champion you wish you didn’t see on your team due to the sheer number of games required to reach a certain level of competency.

Because of this, these changes are aimed at raising Lee’s floor (that is to say his ‘basic effectiveness’) rather than his maximum potential and give an edge to those players taking their first steps on the road of Blind-Monasticism. While those same top players will find these useful in certain scenarios, Average Joe Lee Sin should enjoy more fluidity as they climb the ranks.

Passive - Flurry

ENERGY RETURN : [15 energy per hit] ⇒ 20 energy on the first attack, 10 energy on the second

R - Dragon's Rage

THE BIGGER THEY ARE Enemy champions that collide with the target take 15/18/21% of the target's bonus health as physical damage

LeBlanc
Distortion's missile speed increased.

We still believe that a slower Distortion makes for better counterplay (and a better League overall), but it’s clear we took it too far. So now we’re taking it back. By half. Context.

W - Distortion

MISSILE SPEED : [1300] ⇒ 1450

W - Mimic: Distortion

MISSILE SPEED : [1300] ⇒ 1450

Lissandra
Self-casting R now heals Lissandra.

Self-casting Lissandra's ultimate is a great option for surviving until another round of cooldowns, but can feel underwhelming in a desperate situation. While some players prefer to delete their enemies inside Frozen Tomb's stun duration, we're adding more nuance to the decision so Liss can feel better about pulling off her 'cooler' ice-block baits.

R - Frozen Tomb

THE COLD NEVER BOTHERED ME ANYWAY Self-casting Frozen Tomb now heals Lissandra for 100/150/200 + (0.3 ability power + 1% per 1% of your missing health)

Lucian
Passive scales better lategame and does full damage to minions. W costs less, gives more movement speed, but has a shorter duration. Lucian's teammates can give him movement speed via W's mark.

Sleek and stylish, Lucian’s another ex-pro pick fallen on hard times. Lightslinger’s ‘spell-weaving’ paradigm gives him a unique flair among marksmen, but hinges upon each spell being innately worth casting. Ever since lopping off Ardent Blaze’s AD ratio, the ability’s felt lackluster, so we’re pumping up its utility alongside some tuning to Lucian’s passive to make his ‘attack-cast-attack’ loop feel even more satisfying.

Passive - Lightslinger

SOME JUST NEED A LITTLE HELP : Lightslinger's second shot now always does 100% to minions

RATIO : [0.3/0.4/0.5 attack damage at levels 1/7/13] ⇒ 0.3/0.4/0.5/0.6 attack damage at levels 1/6/11/16

W - Ardent Blaze

MOVEMENT SPEED : [40/45/50/55/60] ⇒ 60/65/70/75/80

DURATION : [2 seconds] ⇒ 1 second

COST : [60 mana] ⇒ 50 mana

༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ LUCIAN TAKE MY ENERGY ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Lucian's teammates can also trigger Ardent Blaze's movement speed bonus for him.

Nasus
Q range up.

Despite his infinitely-scaling lategame, the laning phase has never been Nasus' best friend. While we don't want to remove his vulnerability to lane counters, tossing him a bone should help his stacking in certain situations, especially when navigating particularly dense minion waves.

Q - Siphoning Strike

RANGE : [125] ⇒ 150 (this range does not stack with R - Fury of the Sands range increase)

Nami
Passive gives more speed and has a higher AP ratio. Allies within Nami's Tidal Wave receive double the passive bonus.

Between slinging bubbles, chain-heals and squirt-guns, Nami's identity has always been tide to empowering allies with cool water-magic. Surging Tides stood out as her least-appreciable form of enchanting, so we're boosting its super-effectiveness (particularly with AP) when surfing into a teamfight.

Passive - Surging Tides

MOVEMENT SPEED : [40] ⇒ 60

RATIO : [0.1 ability power] ⇒ 0.2 ability power

R - Tidal Wave

WAVE RACE [Reduction] ⇒ Surging Tides' movement speed bonus is doubled to allies within Tidal Wave.

Rammus
W damage up.

Primarily a gank-focused jungler, Rammus powerballs into big trouble if he can't convert an advantage off of his first gank or so. We speak a lot about 'fall-back patterns' - a champion's back-up plan if their primary form of expression isn't panning out - and that's what we're buffing here. Translation: while Strong Rammus will most certainly make good use of this buff, it's really Sad Rammus that needs every bit of clear speed to waddle back into a game if things don't work out OK. And that's just OK.

W - Defensive Ball Curl

DAMAGE : [15/25/35/45/55] ⇒ 25/35/45/55/65

Rumble
R's cooldown increased. Equalizer's origin point starts closer to your cursor.

When it comes to game-changers, there are few out there as impactful as The Equalizer - assuming you’re not just using it on a minion wave, knowing it’ll be off cooldown for a big fight anyways. We’re really focusing on separating the good from the great (hey morello) Equalizers with this change, making every ‘zoning’ ult a call-to-action for the enemy team. Good placement will still win fights singlehandedly, but elongating Rumble’s reload-time should keep players asking ‘Is this ult worth it?’ before really committing to the cast.

Important note about the cursor change - while this is a very slight nerf to the ultra-max-range use-case, the adjustment makes it almost impossible to over-shoot someone your cursor was on, as the Equalizer used to always start further ahead of where you intended it to go. This should help players that historically have trouble landing Rumble’s ult (read: everyone) lining it up correctly for the big play.

R - The Equalizer

COOLDOWN : [105/90/75 seconds] ⇒ 120/110/100 seconds

DRAG AND DROP : Now starts 150 units closer to your cursor

Tahm Kench
Devour stuns very briefly and prioritizes champions. R warns enemies 1 second later.

Ol' Tahmmy Two-Coats is still hungry for attention as players continue to adapt to his charms (and appetite), so we're tossing him a few quality-of-life scraps from the kitchen table. These changes are focused on making some of his abilities more forgiving to use - especially when trying to swallow the correct living thing whole.

R - Devour

PICKY EATER : Now prioritizes Champions over Minions

SIMMER DOWN : Enemies regurgitated are now stunned for 0.25 seconds

R - Abyssal Voyage

ONE RIVER : Enemy warning particle spawns 1 second later (previously spawned for enemies before Tahm's 'On My Way!' ping)

Teemo
R slow no longer decays, but enemies poisoned by traps are revealed.

We're still evaluating exactly how 5.15's update to our lord and savior is panning out, but we were already able to identify some places for improvement. It's been cool to see players utilize Noxious Trap's range flexibly for both teamfighting and minefields, but it's clear that Teemo’s traps have lost a lot of peeling power. Given that traps are now half their original duration, we think that there is room to return this safety so that even though Teemo's nest of ‘shrooms is smaller, each one is still an effective tool to be used for planning escape routes.

Passive - Camouflage

FIND THE TEEMO : Fixed a bug where displacing Teemo while in brush wouldn’t reveal him

R - Noxious Trap

THAT DIDN'T LAST LONG [Reduction] ⇒ Noxious Trap’s slow no longer decays

VENOMOUS VISION Enemies poisoned by Noxious Trap are revealed for its duration

TOSSIN TUNE-UP : Teemo's visual effects for tossing and bouncing traps have been upgraded

Twitch
Q mana cost down. R damage up at later ranks.

We're not aiming to raise the rat's power level massively this patch (as we tend to believe he's not incredibly far-off), but with marksmen as a class feeling unloved as of late, we're continuing to look at playing up the unique aspects of each. Loosening the restriction on Twitch's ability to ambush should force respect from opponents while letting him embrace his stealthy side more often.

We're also cleaning up the numbers on his ultimate, because 36 attack damage is weird to look at. #cleannumbers

Q - Ambush

COST : [60 mana] ⇒ 40 mana

R - Rat-Ta-Tat-Tat

BONUS ATTACK DAMAGE : [20/28/36] ⇒ 20/30/40

Viktor
Hex Core gives less AP when purchased, but more at level 18. All mana has been shifted from flat to per-level.

Viktor’s rise to prominence this season has ushered in a new era as the voice of evolution, terrorizing late-games and assisting many a wombo-combo. However, Viktor’s games have turned into an arms-race with few opposing mid-laners able to compete with the raw efficiency and wave-clear that his signature Hex Core brings to the Rift. Without downgrading Viktor too much, we’re refactoring his Hex-assisted power curve to better fit his ideals of evolution and provide opportunities for enemies to halt his rise to glory.

Prototype Hex Core

ABILITY POWER : [ 3 per level (54 at lv 18)] ⇒ 1 per level (18 at lv 18)

MANA 10 per level (180 at lv 18)

The Hex Core mk-1

ABILITY POWER : [20 + 4 per level (92 at lv 18)] ⇒ 3 per level (54 at lv 18)

MANA : [150] ⇒ 15 per level (270 at lv 18)

The Hex Core mk-2

ABILITY POWER : [40 + 5 per level (130 at lv 18)] ⇒ 6 per level (108 at lv 18)

MANA : [300] ⇒ 20 per level (360 at lv 18)

Perfect Hex Core

ABILITY POWER : [60 + 6 per level (168 at lv 18)] ⇒ 10 per level (180 at lv 18)

MANA : [500] ⇒ 25 per level (450 at lv 18)

Vel'Koz
Q's split has a shorter delay and longer range.

Despite his incredible intellect and penchant for disintegration, Vel'Koz is a champion that's never really quite caught on. We're not overhauling anything major in this update; instead, we’re amping up a more of VK’s ‘mathematical’ specialties, no matter what lane he takes.

Q - Plasma Fission

REACTIVATION TIME : [0.3 seconds] ⇒ 0.25 seconds

SECONDARY SHOT RANGE : [900] ⇒ 1100

Volibear
Volibear explodes in lightning upon casting R.

Invoking the legendary Ursine 'Thunder-Claws' technique should be a powerful moment for Volibear, but leaves much to be desired as enemies can just bearly escape when channeling. Rather than ditching the cast-time and removing the tradeoff for Voli entirely, we're making it better for him to use in combat (as well as feeling pretty epic) in all situations.

R - Thunder Claws

FLEECED LIGHTNING Upon activation, lightning will chain outward from Volibear once and deal damage

Zac
HEADS UP!

It’s not an exaggeration when we say that Zac has the longest non-ultimate initiation range in the game - something we’re stretching to the limit this patch. Boosting Zac’s unique aspects opens up new gank-paths to ambush from while also playing to his nature as the ever-present ‘teamfight-in-a-blob’ he was made to be.

E - Elastic Slingshot

RANGE : [1150/1250/1350/1450/1550] ⇒ 1200/1350/1500/1650/1800

Zed
Balance is a fool's master.

Rounding out our trio of assassin changes, we have Zed. Similar to Leblanc and Kassadin, we’re happy with the direction, but not the destination. We’re still leaving the swap-timer back in (because counterplay is neato), but tipping the scales back in Zed’s favor.

R - Death Mark

REACTIVATION TIME : [1 second at all ranks] ⇒ 0.5 seconds at all ranks

Juggernaut Itemization

Dead Man's Plate
'New' item from Black Market Brawlers - grants armor, health, and ramping movement speed while moving. Basic attack drains your bonus movement speed to deal damage and slow.

By the time you’re reading this, Dead Man’s Plate has already been available in-game for a bit (not to mention its tenure as a Black Market pickup), so we’ll make this short. Originally concepted as a juggernaut item before being shipped off to Bilgewater, DMP is a sort of ‘get-out-of-immobility-jail-free’ card for the more sluggish champions out there. It’ll only work once (as you lose all of your momentum upon attacking the target), but for those that care about getting into the fray and don’t worry about getting out, this item is for you.

Singed. That’s basically what we’re saying. Buy this on Singed.

TOTAL COST : 2750 gold

BUILD PATH : Chain Vest + Giant's Belt + 1000 gold

HEALTH : 600

ARMOR : 50

ALL I WANNA DO IS GO FAST : UNIQUE Passive - Dreadnought: You build Momentum stacks while moving up to 100, granting up to 60 bonus Movement Speed. Momentum rapidly decays while under immobilizing crowd control effects, and decays slowly while slowed.

DAMAGE BOOST : UNIQUE Passive - Crushing Blow: Basic attacks discharge all Momentum, dealing 1 bonus physical damage for every 2 Momentum. If 100 stacks are discharged, the damage is doubled; if this attack is Melee, the target will also be slowed for 75% (decaying over 1 second).

NEW

Sterak's Gage
Increases health and base attack damage. Upon taking a certain amount of damage you hulk out, gaining size, base attack damage and a shield.

Tired of being told that you’re a ‘melee damage-dealer’ while being blown up at the beginning of a teamfight? Look no further - Sterak’s is here for all your berserking needs. In testing the juggernaut update and identifying problems with the class, we found that there’s a lot of ambient damage in big brawls, and no one catches more of it that they do. While a 5-man Command: Shockwave into committed AoE stacking will still probably wreck your body (and your entire team), buying Sterak’s poses an interesting dilemma for opponents; focus you down or contain you just long enough to deal with your team. You’ll still need to gage how much damage you can take (the thing’s not gonna make you invincible), but Sterak’s is a strong anti-aoe purchase to turn you into the raid boss you always knew you could be.

Before we’re done, important distinction - Sterak’s gives base attack damage, so the attack damage before items. This means it’ll work wonders for total attack damage ratios and things like Sheen and Trinity Force, but won’t snowball your bonus AD ratios (looking at you, Jarvan).

TOTAL COST : 2550 gold

BUILD PATH : Long Sword + Giant's Belt + 1190 gold

HEALTH : 500

BASE ATTACK DAMAGE : +25%

JUST A FLESH WOUND : [] ⇒ UNIQUE Passive - Taking at least 400-1800 (based on level) damage within 5 seconds grants Primal Rage for 8 seconds. (45 second cooldown)

THAT'S MY SECRET, CAPTAIN : Primal Rage causes your champion to gain increased Size, +25% additional Base Attack Damage, and a rapidly decaying shield for 30% of your maximum Health.

NEW

Titanic Hydra
It's like Ravenous Hydra. Except instead of lifesteal, it's got health.

While the Black Cleaver fits its own archetype of spell-casting melee champions rather well, fighters seeking to just bludgeon the hell out of their opponents the old-fashioned way sometimes had issues getting the job done. Replacing lifesteal for health, Titanic Hydra provides a synergistic area-of-effect option for more basic-attack centric brawlers like Trundle and Shyvana to get to clobberin’ when the situation calls for a more defensive build.

TOTAL COST : 3300 gold

BUILD PATH : Tiamat + Giant’s Belt + 400 gold

HEALTH : 400

ATTACK DAMAGE : 50

BASE HEALTH REGEN : +100%

CLEAVE OF THE TITANS : UNIQUE Passive - Cleave: Basic attacks deal 5 + 1% of your maximum health to your primary target and 40 +2.5% of your maximum health as physical damage to enemies in a cone on-hit (your primary target does not take this damage).

ATTACK WITH TITAN : UNIQUE Active - Crescent: Cleave’s damage to all targets is increased to 40 + 10% of your maximum health as bonus physical damage in a larger cone for your next basic attack (20 second cooldown).

Warmog's Armor
Costs slightly more. No longer gives health regen equal to your max HP. Now grants insane health regen out of combat once your champion has more than 3000 health.

At present, Warmog’s is a serviceable option for anti-sieging in the mid-late game, but if there’s a theme with our item changes this patch, it’s sharpening their identities even further. While it’s losing its current passive in exchange, we’ve tripled-down on it’s application as an anti-siege tool by effectively replacing the need to recall and heal for those who invest heavily enough to trigger the health requirement. Warmog’s won’t make you immune to focus fire (Vayne exists), but it does allow you to tank javelins, artillery fire, and all manner of poke thrown your way without a scratch on it provided you take a break between beatings. Just don’t forget to flex.

COST : [2500 gold] ⇒ 2750 gold

BASE HEALTH REGEN : [0%] ⇒ 200%

LIFEBLOOD No longer passively gains 1% of your max health (tripled if you haven't taken damage within 8 seconds) as health regeneration

THE STRONGEST MUSCLE UNIQUE Passive - Warmog's Heart: Restores 3% of maximum health per second if damage hasn't been taken within 8 seconds. You only have Warmog's Heart if you have at least 3000 maximum health.

Defensive Itemization

Null-Magic Mantle
Costs less.

Discounts on fighting mages, one step at a time.

TOTAL COST : [500 gold] ⇒ 450 gold

Negatron Cloak
Costs less.

We’re practically giving this stuff away.

TOTAL COST : [850] ⇒ 800

Abyssal Scepter
#cleannumbers

TOTAL COST : [2430] ⇒ 2450

Spectre's Cowl
Magic Resist increased.

MAGIC RESIST : [35] ⇒ 40

Spirit Visage
that’s the spirit

TOTAL COST : [2750 gold] ⇒ 2700 gold

MAGIC RESIST : [55] ⇒ 60

BASE HEALTH REGEN : [100%] ⇒ 150%

Banshee's Veil
brace yourselves

Crystalline Bracer’s a neat but underused component, so we’re stickin’ it into more items.

TOTAL COST : [2750 gold] ⇒ 2700 gold

BUILD PATH : [Spectre’s Cowl + Ruby Crystal + 1150 gold] ⇒ Spectre's Cowl + Crystalline Bracer + 1050 gold

MAGIC RESIST : [55] ⇒ 60

Aegis of the Legion
Costs less. Now has health regen for the buyer, but loses its health regen aura and part of its magic resist.

As it is now, Aegis of the Legion (and Locket, which we’ll get to in a moment) are mandatory against teams with even the slightest penchant for magic damage, due to the ambiguous but powerful nature of it’s health regen aura. Changin’ up the build path and stat-lines to be more attractive to low-income supports, but less generically powerful.

TOTAL COST : [1900 gold] ⇒ 1600 gold

BUILD PATH : Null-Magic Mantle + Crystalline Bracer + 550 gold

BASE HEALTH REGEN : [0%] ⇒ 100%

MAGIC RESIST AURA : [20 to all nearby units] ⇒ 15 to all nearby units

HEALTH REGEN AURA [75% health regen to all nearby units] ⇒ 0

Locket of the Iron Solari
Costs less. Now has health regen for the buyer, but loses its health regen aura and part of its magic resist. Additionally, shields for more but has a significantly lowered duration.

Like we said directly above, we’re sharpening the auras so you’ll still want them when they seem good (vs magic damage teams) but not so powerful as to be ‘good-all-the-time.’ In Locket’s case, we’re taking that sharpening a step further by amping the Solari Shield significantly, but making it much more timing-intensive; perfect at taking the edge off of a Flash + Tibbers, but much less useful against devourers gnawing your face off. Locket’s still an amazing pickup vs double AP and the like, but requires a bit more thought in the moment.

TOTAL COST : [2800 gold] ⇒ 2750 gold

BASE HEALTH REGEN : [0%] ⇒ 100%

MAGIC RESIST AURA : [20 to all nearby units] ⇒ 15 to all nearby units

HEALTH REGEN AURA [75% health regen to all nearby units] ⇒ 0

SHIELD AMOUNT : [60~230 (50 + 10 per champion level)] ⇒ 90~345 (75 + 15 per champion level)

SHIELD DURATION : [5 seconds] ⇒ 2 seconds

Banner of Command

someone’s gotta keep those baron minions in business

TOTAL COST : [3000 gold] ⇒ 2750 gold

Raptor Cloak
Costs more, but now with more health regen. Movement speed lowered but now drops off gradually instead of instantly.

An underrated item, we’re cleaning up the passive to make the play around turrets smoother.

TOTAL COST : [1000 gold] ⇒ 1100 gold

BASE HEALTH REGEN : [100%] ⇒ 150%

MOVEMENT SPEED NEAR TURRETS : [30%] ⇒ 20%

RAPTOR BOOST : Slow now decays instead of dropping off immediately

Zz'rot Portal
More health regen and point runner decays over time. Voidspawn are tankier and go further, but deal less damage.

While an incredibly stat-efficient item already, Zz’rot is often seen more as a ‘gimmick’ and less of the neat strategic pushing tool it should be. A boatload of extra range (is distance measured in boats?) and increased survivability will grant teams seeking alternate forms of pressure a ticking-void-bomb’s worth of siege potential (given that you can protect that gate in the first place). Failing that, you can always leave it in a lane while fighting your opponents in the jungle - often netting you two objectives at once. Now you’re thinking with portals.

TOTAL COST : [2800 gold] ⇒ 2750 gold

BASE HEALTH REGEN : [100%] ⇒ 150%

MOVEMENT SPEED NEAR TURRETS : [30%] ⇒ 20%

PORTAL RUNNER : Slow now decays instead of dropping off immediately

VOIDSPAWN HEALTH DECAY : Decays current health instead of maximum health

VOIDSPAWN SCALING : [100% of total armor + magic resist as bonus damage] ⇒ 15% of total health as bonus damage

VOIDSPAWN HEALTH PER LEVEL : [15] ⇒ 20

DAMAGE PER LEVEL : [10] ⇒ 5

Ohmwrecker
More health regen and point runner decays over time.

See: Raptor's Cloak.

TOTAL COST : 2600 (unchanged)

BASE HEALTH REGEN : [100%] ⇒ 150%

GONNA WRECK IT : Slow now decays instead of dropping off immediately

Glacial Shroud
Also costs less.

Shaving off some of the cost to make it an easier lane pick-up. Lookin' great, shroud.

TOTAL COST : [950 gold] ⇒ 900 gold

THAT’S HOW ITEMS WORK : Iceborn Gauntlet and Zeke’s Harbinger are also 50 gold cheaper

Warden's Mail
Costs more. Changin' it up.

By contrast, Warden's has been bulking up. We'll still buy you, even if you cost more.

TOTAL COST : [1050 gold] ⇒ 1100 gold

Frozen Heart

Frozen Heart’s been a statistical outlier for a pretty long time, so we’re lowering its raw cost / power efficiency. You might call us heartless, but we’re pretty sure the item’s still great.

TOTAL COST : [2450 gold] ⇒ 2600 gold

ARMOR : [100] ⇒ 90

Thornmail
Costs more. Reflects less damage back to attackers, but scales with armor.

Another major outlier in terms of effectiveness, Thornmail is at its strongest when you can comfortably stack health. While we aren’t rocking that particular boat today (armor + health is kind of always good), we’re tossing in a hook to make the item also scale with armor-stacking, but in a different way. This also creates neat synergies for champions with on-demand armor buffs (like Leona or Rammus) which is pretty OK by us.

Important to note - if for any reason you experience a decrease in armor % (say, a stray black cleaver to the face), Thornmail will ignore that when calculating its damage. Way to be, Thornmail.

TOTAL COST : [2100 gold] ⇒ 2300 gold

REFLECT DAMAGE : [30% of the attack] ⇒ 15% of the attack

REFLECT RATIO Now scales with 0.25 bonus armor

Randuin's Omen
Costs less, but has less health and armor. Slow duration normalized, now reduces all critical strike damage.

Rounding out the ‘ubiquitous armor item’ trio, Randuin’s (much like Frozen Heart and Thornmail) lacks any sort of real focus when deciding why you’d want it over other items. While the stat adjustments should represent a moderate nerf to the item overall, we’re expanding its anti-basic attack theme from just slowing attack speed to ‘Oh God I’m Dying From Crits Please Help.’

TOTAL COST : [2850 gold] ⇒ 2700 gold

HEALTH : [500] ⇒ 400

ARMOR : [70] ⇒ 60

SLOW DURATION : [2 (+0.5% bonus armor + 0.5% bonus magic resist) seconds] ⇒ 4 seconds

CRITICAL BLOCK Reduces incoming critical strike damage by 10%

Enchantment - Cinderhulk
Higher up-front health, but lower multiplier.

While no longer the dominant pickup it once was, Cinderhulk is a late-game focused item for a class of champions that already flourish at the end of the game. While this nerfs the 6-item health pools of Cinderhulk users, the boost upon completion represents a stronger mid-game to keep from being totally eclipsed by their Devourer and Runeglaive brethren on the way to full-build.

HEALTH : [300] ⇒ 400

BONUS HEALTH MULTIPLIER : [25%] ⇒ 15%

Righteous Glory
Costs less, but loses the catalyst passive on upgrade.

Further differentiating between Catalyst’s different build paths while introducing a trade-off for upgrading Righteous Glory as a first item. The lowered cost should make it easier to upgrade when you want it (and supports don’t mind it getting cheaper), but as a first item Righteous Glory be a tough choice between wanting the initiation power or continued laning safety.

TOTAL COST : [2500 gold] ⇒ 2400 gold

FOR GLORY Loses 'Valor's Reward' (catalyst's level-up passive) upon upgrading

HUD Updates

Still improving based on feedback! Here's what we've got this time around:

Readability improvements

Remaining cooldown is now prioritized over all other ability states (ex. CC’d, out of mana) so you can plan your next move while Zhonya’s-ing
Grayed out icons (ex. locked-in Pick A Card, Health Potions while at full health) are less gray
Further darkened level-up icons for abilities which can't currently be leveled up
Brightened the minimap
The scoreboard now displays a large "?" next to enemy champions you don't have vision of (in addition to the previous dimmed out portraits)

Positional optimization

Reduced empty space between the minimap and its frame
The scoreboard no longer overlaps with the chat window
The surrender box no longer overlaps with ally/enemy team frames

Instant Feedback System

We've released another update to the Instant Feedback System. Our focus this time is on improving how the system assesses the toxicity of short chat logs and messages sent by players who are already chat restricted.

Bugfixes

Updated Fiora’s tooltips based on last patch’s update
Shaco and Lulu can no longer create a wolf pack with Enchantment - Devourer
Restored Riot Blitzcrank's custom sound and visual effects for E - Power Fist
Restored Bad Santa Veigar's custom visual effects for R - Primordial Burst