Patch 8.24b

Patch 8.24b

Season’s greetings all! This not-technically-a-patch (no skins or new features) brings one more round of balance changes to stuff your stockings with. You'll notice most of these patch notes are light on context, which is because most of the changes are in the "simple buff" or "simple nerf" spaces—we basically just want a champ or item to be stronger or weaker without significantly changing decision making. Pyke and Akali are the two exceptions, so we stuck 'em at the top.

Since this is a small patch we'll share a quick preview of 9.1, the first patch of next year. Expect to see a bunch more buffs to individual marksmen as well as sizable changes for Ornn and Sejuani to bring their regular play and pro play performances closer in line with each other. We'll also be following up on preseason's rune changes.

That's it for us! We on the patch notes team wish you a happy Snowdown and thank you for reading through over 72,000 words of patch notes this year. See you in 2019!

Paul "RiotAether" Perscheid

Nexus Blitz Akali & Pyke Simple Buffs Simple Nerfs Outer Turrets

Nexus Blitz[]

If you missed it, we dropped a big balance update last week. Check out the details here!

Akali & Pyke[]

Akali
Akali can be more effectively counterattacked when revealing herself from Shroud. 8.24 shroud duration nerf reverted.

Our goal this patch is to give enemies a real chance of throwing a counterpunch when Akali emerges to strike, rather than waiting Shroud out from a safe distance. They'll still need quick fingers and a clear plan, but they won’t be left without options. Targeted abilities still complete when Akali re-stealths mid-cast, skillshots are easier to aim, and basic attackers have slightly longer to get a hit off before she becomes unselectable. With the increased danger Akali faces when un-stealthing, we're reverting 8.24's Shroud duration nerf since enemies now have better means of fighting back.

W - Twilight Shroud

PRESTEALTH Akali now briefly obscures (opponents can see her outline but not target her) before stealthing or re-stealthing even if enemies don't have true sight in the area

FOLLOWTHROUGH Targeted abilities and uncancellable basic attacks (ex. Nasus's Siphoning Strike are no longer canceled when Akali stealths or re-stealths

RE-STEALTH TIMING :	[0.9/0.8/0.725/0.625 seconds at levels 1/6/9/12]
⇒	1/0.9/0.825/0.725/0.625 seconds at 1/8/11/20/30 minutes

REVERTED : 8.24's nerf has been reverted in favor of the above changes.

Duration :	Duration restored to	[4/4.5/5/5.5/6 (max 2 second extension)]
⇒		5/5.5/6/6.5/7 (max 3 second extension).

Pyke
Magic resist growth decreased. Q deals less passthrough damage to minions and monsters. R execute threshold decreased late.

League's assassin support has become a problematic mid laner despite relatively reasonable performances in bot lane. The nerfs below are all tailored to hit mid Pyke hardest, whether by the strengths mid laners need (protection against burst magic damage; waveclear) or by the strengths Pyke has an easier time accruing in mid (level scalings).

Base Stats

MAGIC RESIST GROWTH : [2] ⇒ 1.5

Q - Bone Skewer

MINION & MONSTER DAMAGE : [50%] ⇒ 30% to secondary targets (tooltip will be updated in 9.1)

R - Death From Below
Reminder: Enemies above the execute threshold take physical damage equal to the threshold instead.

EXECUTE THRESHOLD, LV 6-9 : 250/290/330/370 (unchanged)

EXECUTE THRESHOLD, LV 10-13 :	[410/450/475/500]
⇒	400/430/450/470

EXECUTE THRESHOLD, LV 14-18 :	[525/550/575/590/605]
⇒	490/510/530/540/550

Simple Buffs[]

Caitlyn
Q base damage increased; passthrough damage decreased. R range increased.

We're giving Caitlyn some lane power in Piltover Peacemaker's first hit and punching up the unique strength Ace in the Hole brings to the Sheriff's arsenal.

Q - Piltover Peacemaker

BASE DAMAGE :	[30/70/110/150/190]
⇒	50/90/130/170/210

RATIO : 1.3/1.4/1.5/1.6/1.7 total attack damage (unchanged)

PASSTHROUGH DAMAGE : [67%] ⇒ 60%

R - Ace in the Hole

RANGE :	[2000/2500/3000]
⇒	3500 at all ranks

Corki
R damage increased.

Upping Corki's poke damage.

R - Missile Barrage

BASE DAMAGE :	[75/100/125]
⇒	90/115/140

THE BIG ONE BASE DAMAGE :	[150/200/250]
⇒	180/230/280

Singed
Base health increased. Fling damage increased early.

These changes help Singed compete for presence in his early lane.

Base Stats

BASE HEALTH : [580] ⇒ 610

E - Fling

DAMAGE :	[4/5/6/7/8%]
⇒	6/6.5/7/7.5/8%	target's maximum health

Tristana
E damage increased.

Improving Tristana's ability to blow people up in the mid-game.

E - Explosive Charge

BASE DAMAGE :	[60/70/80/90/100]
⇒	70/80/90/100/110

RATIO :	[0.5/0.65/0.8/0.95/1.1]
⇒	0.5/0.7/0.9/1.1/1.3	bonus attack damage

MAXIMUM DAMAGE :	[132/154/176/198/220 (+1.1/1.43/1.76/2.09/2.42 bonus AD)]
⇒	154/176/198/220/242 (+1.1/1.54/1.98/2.42/2.86 bonus AD)

Varus
W-empowered Q damage increased late. R damage increased early.

Upping Varus' strength as he hits his early- and mid-game spikes.

W - Blighted Quiver

UNCHARGED ACTIVE DAMAGE :	[6/7/8/9/10%]
⇒	6/8/10/12/14%	target's missing health (levels 1/4/7/10/13)

FULLY CHARGED ACTIVE DAMAGE :	[9/10.5/12/13.5/15%]
⇒	9/12/15/18/21%	target's missing health (levels 1/4/7/10/13)

R - Chain of Corruption

DAMAGE :	[100/175/250]
⇒	150/200/250	(+1.0 ability power)

		Warwick Base AD increased.
	Giving Warwick a bit more bite.
		Base Stats BASE ATTACK DAMAGE : [63] ⇒ 65

Forbidden Idol Line
Forbidden Idol cooldown reduction increased. Heal and shield power increased on its upgrades.

Earlier in the season, enchanters were outperforming their mage and tank support counterparts so we nerfed the Idol line and the duration of individual shield abilities. Since then, the tables have turned and enchanters are the ones struggling to make an impact even in a damage-heavy meta where their talents could be put to good use. We're reverting near-half of our earlier pass by restoring the majority of the Idol line's strength, with the shield duration nerfs ensuring larger shields are still fairer to play against.

Forbidden Idol

COOLDOWN REDUCTION : [5%] ⇒ 10%

Ardent Censer

HEAL AND SHIELD POWER : [8%] ⇒ 10%

Mikael's Crucible

HEAL AND SHIELD POWER : [15%] ⇒ 20%

Redemption

HEAL AND SHIELD POWER : [8%] ⇒ 10%

Known Bug - In-game tooltips won’t reflect the change but it’s just the tooltips! Rest assured, your heals and shields will be larger!

Simple Nerfs[]

Alistar
Trample damage decreased early.

Reducing Alistar's early lane pressure so one good trade doesn't auto-win him the rest of lane phase.

E - Trample

BASE DAMAGE :	[100/125/150/175/200]
⇒	80/110/140/170/200	over 5 seconds

EMPOWERED ATTACK BONUS DAMAGE :	[55-310]
⇒	35-290	(levels 1-18)

Cassiopeia
Q damage decreased late; cost increased late.

We're bringing Noxious Blast's high-rank power down, based on Q-max's emergence as a dominant strategy.

Q - Noxious Blast

COST :	[50/55/60/65/70]
⇒	50/60/70/80/90	mana

BASE DAMAGE :	[75/125/175/225/275]
⇒	75/120/165/210/255

		Kassadin Health regen reduced.
	Tying Kassadin's early-game survivability more tightly to his Q shield.
		Base stats BASE HEALTH REGEN : [8] ⇒ 6

Neeko
Q damage decreased.

Neeko's strength has moved toward healthy levels as players grow accustomed to the mind games her passive and W create. A small reduction to her early-game pushing and lane control is about all she needs right now; we'll continue monitoring how she settles in over the holidays.

Q - Blooming Burst

INITIAL BASE DAMAGE :	[80/125/170/215/260]
⇒	70/115/160/205/250

BASE BOUNCE DAMAGE :	[40/60/80/100/120]
⇒	35/55/75/95/115

		Tiamat Cost increased.
	We're increasing the investment required to grab Tiamat's dueling and waveclear benefits for champions who plan to sit on it rather than quickly upgrading to a Hydra.
		COST : [1200] ⇒ 1325 gold UPGRADES : Ravenous Hydra and Titanic Hydra cost 125 less gold to upgrade; total costs unchanged

		Zeke's Convergence Ally basic attack burn reduced.
	We're bringing down Zeke's' offensive capabilities so other tank support items can be considered.
		CONDUIT : Your linked ally's basic attacks burn enemies for [50%] ⇒ 30% bonus magic damage over 2 seconds

Outer Turrets[]

Resistances after turret plating falloff increased.

Turret plating's done its job of extending lane phase for cases where teams burn down turrets as quickly as possible. In less violent lanes, though, outer turrets fall too easily once plating falls off. They'll now keep the baseline resistances they have at game start, with plating falloff only removing the extra resistances granted by broken plates.

ARMOR AND MAGIC RESIST AFTER PLATING FALLOFF : [0] ⇒ 40