Welcome to patch 8.14. Over the last few patches, the game has seen some pretty hefty changes to the jungle, mid lane, marksmen, and Aatrox. For the next few patches, we'll be dialing it back and doing some smaller-scope changes, mostly balance tweaks.
First, you'll notice two new section as of last patch: simple buffs and simple nerfs. For the most part, that's for self-explanatory changes designed at making a champion stronger or weaker but not really altering their playstyle all that meaningfully.
We're also following up on the Aatrox rework, looking to reduce some of his overbearing lane presence and give him more to do in late-game teamfights. Finally, we're taking a small dive into two of our AP assassins (Fizz and Ahri) to make their gameplay a bit more intuitive and satisfying.
GLHF!
Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman Paul "Aether" Perscheid
Aatrox Base health decreased. Q base damage decreased. E recharge rate decreased early, increased later. R bonus attack damage increased. Q timer freezes while reviving.
Now that Aatrox players have gotten some games under their belt and mastered his pretty unique spells, it turns out he's pretty strong, especially in lane. We're pulling some of his early game power in exchange for some more late-game consistency.
General
BANNER OF.... In addition to switching Aatrox's sword stance, toggling CTRL+5 now unfurls banner-style wings
Base Stats
HEALTH :[610]⇒ 580
Q - The Darkin Blade
BASE DAMAGE :
[20/35/50/65/80]
⇒
10/25/40/55/70
Q2 DAMAGE : 125% of Q1 damage (unchanged)
Q3 DAMAGE : 150% of Q1 damage (unchanged)
SWEET SPOT DAMAGE : 150% of Q1, Q2, or Q3 damage (unchanged)
DAMAGE TO MINIONS :
[65-100%]
⇒
50-100%
(at levels 1-18) of base damage
E - Umbral Dash
RECHARGE RATE :
[20/18/16/14/12]
⇒
24/20/16/12/8
seconds
R - World Ender
BONUS ATTACK DAMAGE :[20%]⇒ 20/22.5/25% total attack damage
PAUSING THE APOCALYPSE Q's recast timer is now frozen while reviving
Mid-Patch 8.13 Updates These changes went live partway through 8.13.
Q1 LENGTH :[625]⇒ 650
Q1 WIDTH :[175]⇒ 200
Q2 LENGTH :[500]⇒ 525 (sweet spot size unchanged)
Fizz W no longer deals bonus damage against primed targets. W base damage increased. W now grants on-hit damage if empowered attack does not kill its target.
The mark-priming mechanic on Fizz's W was unsatisfying, asking players to hold one of their damage tools until later. As an assassin, his role is to lay down damage quickly and get out, which made that wait feel particularly awkward. We're removing the priming mechanic, and bringing back an on-hit buff on the active, but keeping the cooldown reset on kills. The new W still does damage over a longer period of time, but more of that damage is front-loaded so Fizz players can more quickly make like a trident and stab.
W - Seastone Trident
Fizz's next basic attack deals bonus damage. If it kills a unit, W's cooldown and mana cost are partially refunded. If it doesn't, Fizz's subsequent basic attacks are empowered for 5 seconds.
EMPOWERED ATTACK DAMAGE :
[20/30/40/50/60]
⇒
40/50/60/70/80
(+0.4 AP)
ATTACK RESET? : Yes (unchanged)
COOLDOWN :
[10/9.5/9/8.5/8]
⇒
7/6.5/6/5.5/5
seconds
COST : 30/40/50/60/70 mana (unchanged)
REFUND ON KILL :
W's cooldown resets to 1 second and Fizz is refunded
[20/28/36/42/50]
⇒
20/28/36/44/52
mana
DAMAGE BUFF ON NON-KILL : 10/15/20/25/30 (+0.3 AP) on-hit damage for 5 seconds
PASSIVE BLEED : 20/30/40/50/60 (+0.4 AP) over 3 seconds (unchanged)
LESS STABBY : W's passive bleed no longer applies to targets Fizz passes through during Q's dash or to targets hit by R's fish or shark
Jinx Base health increased. Health growth decreased.
Part of the reason marksmen (notably the immobile, late-scaling ones) are struggling is low lane durability against the new aggressive champions they face.
Base Stats
HEALTH :[531]⇒ 581
HEALTH GROWTH :[88]⇒ 84
Karma Base mana regen increased; growth decreased. Base armor increased; Q splash radius increased. Empowered detonation damage decreased at early ranks.
Support Karma is struggling hard at most skill levels, but at this point a straight buff might push her too high up in organized play. We're upping her baseline spellcasting and durability, but pulling back some of her waveclear to keep her from becoming overbearing at the highest levels of play.
Base stats
MANA REGEN :[8.5]⇒ 11.5 mana per 5 seconds
MANA REGEN GROWTH :[0.8]⇒ 0.5 mana per 5 seconds
BASE ARMOR :[20.4]⇒ 26
Q - Inner Flame
SPLASH RADIUS :[250]⇒ 280
SOULFLARE DETONATION DAMAGE :
[50/150/250/350]
⇒
35/140/245/350
(at Mantra levels 1/2/3/4)
Sion Q base damage and damage ratio increased at later ranks.
Sion's last round of nerfs was necessary while Banner of Command was the top pick for top laners. Now that the item has been removed from the game, he's landing on the weak side.
Q - Decimating Smash
BASE DAMAGE :
[30/47.5/65/82.5/100]
⇒
30/50/70/90/110
DAMAGE RATIO :
[0.45/0.50/0.55/0.6/0.65]
⇒
0.45/0.525/0.6/0.675/0.75
total attack damage
Twitch Base health increased. Health growth decreased.
Part of the reason marksmen (notably the immobile, late-scaling ones) are struggling is low lane durability against the new aggressive champions they face.
Base Stats
HEALTH :[542]⇒ 582
HEALTH GROWTH :[87]⇒ 84
Mid-Patch 8.13 Updates Because last patch was three weeks long (compared to our usual two weeks), we put out a larger balance update than usual in the interim. We're reposting those changes in this patch to make sure you've seen them.
Ahri E mana cost decreased. E charm duration increased early.
Picking opponents off with her mobility and Charm is Ahri's core pattern, so we want to make sure that Charm feels appropriately impactful, even early on.
E - Charm
COST :[85]⇒ 70 mana
CHARM DURATION :
[1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2]
⇒
1.4/1.55/1.7/1.85/2
seconds
Cassiopeia Q base damage increased late. Q damage ratio increased.
Q - Noxious Blast
BASE DAMAGE :
[75/120/165/210/255]
⇒
75/125/175/225/275
DAMAGE RATIO :[0.7]⇒ 0.8 ability power
Corki E base damage and resistance reduction per stack increased.
Jungle Items If you have the most individual total gold on your team, lane minions kills grant less gold.
Jungle funneling tends to be a very passive and unengaging strategy, largely rooted in avoiding conflict. This is subverting a lot of normal laning patterns, so we're looking to significantly nerf the strategy. We'll be pursuing cleaner system solutions to the problem in preseason, but for now we're just trying to decrease the viability of funneling.
MONSTER HUNTER If you have the most individual total gold on your team, lane minions kills will grant 10 less gold. This penalty is removed upon completion of an Enchantment on a Skirmisher's Sabre or Stalker's Blade.
Mid-Patch 8.13 Updates
Because last patch was three weeks long (compared to our usual two weeks), we put out a larger micropatch in the interim than usual. We're reposting those changes in this patch to make sure you've seen them.
Teleport has emerged as a dominant summoner spell in most lanes. This is particularly problematic bot lane, where it's often taken on champions who simply wish to avoid conflict in the laning phase and scale into the late game. For now, we're increasing the cooldown to give combat summoners a longer window in which to punish Teleport users.
Conqueror has been crowding out other keystone options for fighters, as well as room for non-fighter champions in top lane. Reducing some of its laning strength should give other keystones (and champions) more ability to fight back.
Ghost Poro Ghost Poro now requires an active placement.
DELIBERATE HAUNTING After 1 second in brush, your current trinket becomes a ghost poro item, which may be used to place ghost poro
SPOOKY SPOOKY While either you or your ghost poro is anywhere in enemy territory (past the river), gain 5-20 (based on level) ability power or 3-12 bonus attack damage, adaptive.
Zombie Ward Zombie Wards no longer spawn from friendly wards which time out. Damaging a champion after destroying a ward inflicts bonus damage.
WARD'S REVENGE Damaging a champion after destroying a ward inflicts 30-90 (at levels 1-18) bonus magic damage
FRIENDLY BURIAL Zombie Wards now only spawn from enemy wards killed, not also friendly wards which time out.
(Left to right, top row: Default Cursor, Ally Hover, Enemy Hover, Enemy Hover - Colorblind) (Left to right, bottom row: Target, Ward Bush + Target Ally, Attack Move + Target Enemy)
After nine and a half years, we’re updating the in-game cursor! It’s got all the same functionality as the bronze gauntlet we've worn for years but with a bunch of improvements.
NEW : All cursor states have been updated (see above for some of the most common)
SHAPE : Cleaner and simpler, so it's easier to track as it moves across your screen
COLORS : Adjusted across all states prevent blending in with the map or with particles in chaotic team fights
SCALABLE : Can now be scaled up and down in the Options > Interface menu. Great for 4K resolutions!
NOSTALGIA : You can still switch back to the old cursor via a toggle in the Options > Interface menu
Failing to ban a champion no longer kicks you from champ select. This change went live during 8.13.
It’s a bit harsh to break up a champ select lobby on a missed ban selection, so instead, failing to ban a champion will default to “No Ban” and champ select will keep on truckin’. Failing to select a champion for yourself will still incur a dodge.
Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman
Paul "Aether" Perscheid
Dark Star Cho'Gath
Hextech Poppy
SSG Ezreal / SSG Jarvan IV / SSG Taliyah / SSG Gnar / SSG Xayah / SSG Rakan
Squee / Are You Serious / Now See Here
