Patch 9.4

Overview

Patch 9.4

Hey y'all. Congratulations, you survived last patch's spiciness! You win nothing.

We're taking another pass at nerfing Urgot, along with first-time nerfs to some other dominant champerdogs. But we're also giving a little love to a troll, a horse, and a screeching Void monster. As a quick follow-up to marksman items, we're making some minor adjustments to Essence Reaver and Kai'Sa's recommended items (stop building Stormrazor first), but otherwise have kept things mostly untouched.

We also kneecapped the top lane Frostmancy strat partway through last patch, but it bears repeating here given the notoriety the strategy attained. We're looking into more permanent solutions to both Spellthief's Edge and Ancient Coin item lines, but for now we're carrying 9.3's mid-patch update forward.

Let's get into it!

Paul "RiotAether" Perscheid
Hanna “shio shoujo” Woo

Patch Highlights Champions Runes Items Simple Changes First Minion Spawn ARURF Changes Champion VFX and SFX Updates Champion Animation Updates Ranked Bugfixes Upcoming Skins & Chromas

Patch Highlights[]

Youtube link

Champions[]

Karthus
Q damage decreased.

Preseason's changes to Dark Harvest and rune stats were more than "just a little" nice for Karthus. Now he's everywhere and ruining your life. Less damage on Lay Waste will help opponents have a chance at fighting back. Here's the caveat we'll add for our "5 damage lul" change— Karthus spams his Q more often than most champs cast their abilities, so the numbers definitely add up.

Q - Lay Waste

BASE DAMAGE :	[50/70/90/110/130]
⇒	45/65/85/105/125

BASE DAMAGE ON SINGLE TARGET :	[100/140/180/220/260]
⇒	90/130/170/210/250

BUGFIX : Now procs Runes more consistently

Lucian
W cost increased; base damage decreased.

Ardent Blaze allows Lucian to rapidly max out Manaflow Band, trivializing the cost of spamming his abilities. We're forcing more of a tradeoff if Lucian goes the Manaflow optimization route by sapping his resources faster and weakening the strength of his all-in when he does.

W - Ardent Blaze

COST : [50] ⇒ 70 mana

BASE DAMAGE :	[85/125/165/205/245]
⇒	75/110/145/180/215

Rek'Sai
Burrowed Q now grants Fury. Unburrowed Q ends when burrowed for more than 1 second. Rek'Sai now burrows on respawn. Tremor Sense visuals brightened. R is undodgeable.

We took a quality-of-life pass at Rek'Sai's abilities, implementing smaller visual additions and kit revisions to help her feel better to play. Queen's Wrath will come off cooldown earlier after clearing a camp since Rek'Sai no longer has to wait for the buff to expire before the cooldown starts, and (a couple of very specific cases aside) Void Rush is no longer avoidable.

Passive - Fury of the Xer'Sai

NOT ORANGEBUT : Fury Bar now changes color from yellow to red when charged to max

Q - Prey Seeker

FAST AND THE FURY-OUS : Now grants 25 Fury to match Rek'Sai's other abilities

Q - Queen's Wrath

CALM DOWN : Effect now ends and goes on cooldown if Rek'Sai is burrowed for more than 1 second

W - Burrow

TREMOR SENSE : Tracking visuals for nearby enemies brightened

6 MORE WEEKS OF WINTER : Rek'Sai immediately burrows on respawn once she has at least one point in W

R - Void Rush

GOTTA GO FAST : Enemies can now only dodge Void Rush by dashing or blinking massive distances away from Rek'Sai

Sylas
Q radius increased vs champions. W heal decreased. R no longer fizzles if Sylas loses vision of his target.

Sylas has landed in a pretty good spot since release, but there are a few usability issues on Chain Lash which we want to address. These fixes (plus a small Kingslayer nerf) will offer Sylas players a more meaningful choice between maxing Q or W first.

Q - Chain Lash

DETONATION RADIUS :	200 vs minions and monsters,	[150]
⇒		180	vs champions

CAST RANGE INDICATOR : Now includes an indicator to show the detonation location and radius

W - Kingslayer

BASE HEAL :	[50/85/120/155/190]
⇒	50/80/110/140/170

ICON : Icon border now glows when Sylas is within the max healing threshold

NUMBERS : Kingslayer's damage displays as a crit if Sylas' target was within the bonus damage threshold

R - Hijack

TURRET AGGRESSION : Sylas no longer draws turret aggro when stealing an enemy's ultimate

??? : Hijack no longer fizzles if Sylas loses sight of his target before the cast finishes

Thresh
Q cost increased; cooldown increased early.

Before Worlds, we gave Thresh some buffs that allowed him to throw his hook more often in the early game. We're partially reverting those changes since he's proving to be too oppressive in lane.

Q - Death Sentence

COST : [60] ⇒ 70 mana

COOLDOWN :	[16/15/14/13/12]
⇒	20/18/16/14/12	seconds

Urgot
Q cost increased. W shield decreased, cost increased early.

We thought we had put Urgie in a good place after the last nerfs in 9.2. Alas, he's continued to be an unstoppable force in lane with help from his low-cost shield and canisters. Urgot players will now have to choose between poking from range or shielding up to duel when spending their mana.

Q - Corrosive Charge

COST : [60] ⇒ 80 mana

W - Purge

COST :	[45/50/55/60/65]
⇒	65 at all ranks

SHIELD :	[60/90/120/150/180 (+0.3 bonus health)]
⇒	30/60/90/120/150 (+0.15 bonus health)

		Yasuo Attack damage decreased. Q crit damage decreased.
	We buffed Yasuo last midseason when Infinity Edge lost its critical strike chance and bonus crit damage. As of last patch, Infinity Edge once again has critical strike chance and bonus crit damage so we're mostly reverting his midseason buffs (Steel Tempest gets to keep some buff since IE didn't get all its bonus crit damage back).
		Base Stats ATTACK DAMAGE : [63] ⇒ 60 Q - Steel Tempest CRITICAL STRIKE DAMAGE : [+80%] ⇒ +60%

Zed
Attack speed growth increased. Q damage increased. W recast range increased; cooldown decreased. R no longer grants attack damage on kill.

The theory behind Zed's Death Mark passive—kill high-AD threats to get stronger—breaks down in practice because the highest-AD target is often not the most important threat for Zed to go after. At the same time, buffs to make hunting the highest-AD target correct at all times would make Zed entirely reliant on Reaper of Shadows, preventing him from finding success in other ways. We're removing it and giving its power back to Zed in areas he's been struggling in, namely a better early lane and more powerful late-game splitpushing.

Base Stats

ATTACK SPEED GROWTH : [2.1%] ⇒ 3.3%

Q - Razor Shuriken

DAMAGE :	[80/115/150/185/220 (+0.9 bonus AD)]
⇒	90/125/160/195/230 (+1.0 bonus AD)

W - Living Shadow

RECAST RANGE : [1300] ⇒ 1950 range

COOLDOWN :	[22/20/18/16/14]
⇒	20/18.5/17/15.5/14	seconds

R - Death Mark

REAPER OF SHADOWS Zed no longer gains 5 (+5/10/15% target's AD)attack damage when Death Mark earns him a takedown on a target that would grant him a higher bonus than his current one

Runes[]

		Conqueror UPDATED Grants stacking adaptive force on damaging enemy champions. At max stacks, converts a portion of damage vs champions to true damage and heals for that amount.
	Conqueror was designed to help fighters in extended combat, but it offers too much immediate power since users can bypass its initial delay—the window where opponents should have the upper hand—by staying in combat against minions so Conqueror is prepped at all times. We're removing this workaround, meaning users will actually have to grapple with its ramp-up. They now gain Conqueror's bonus damage steadily over their first few hits in combat, so they won't be completely helpless when a fight breaks out. (Note: Conqueror gives adaptive force instead of attack damage now. Go wild, AP champs.) In terms of Conqueror's "unlocked" state, we've turned half of its true damage conversion into healing. This gives tanks, who were previously melted by the conversion, a reasonable shot at standing against Conqueror champs while still giving fighters a tool to avoid being ground down in teamfights before reaching the enemy backline.
		THE OLD THING After 4 seconds in combat, your first basic attack against an enemy champion grants 6-35 attack damage (levels 1-18) for 3 seconds and converts 20% of your damage against champions to true damage. Melee champions can refresh the duration by damaging an enemy champion. THENEW THING Damaging attacks and abilities grant 3-15 adaptive force (levels 1-18) for 3 seconds (8 seconds for melee), stacking up to 5 times to a max of 15-75. At 5 stacks, 10% of your damage against champions is converted to true damage and you heal for that amount. ATTRITION : Damage-over-time effects and ongoing sources of damage (ex. Yorick's Maiden of the Mist) can grant one stack every 5 seconds

Items[]

		Essence Reaver Attack damage increased. Cooldown reduction is now unique.
	Essence Reaver was a little weak after the marksman item changes from the last patch. We're buffing it.
		ATTACK DAMAGE : [60] ⇒ 65 WHOOPS : Cooldown reduction is now UNIQUE SHOP : Now appears in the correct shop categories

Mid-Patch 9.3 Item Updates

These changes went live last patch, but bear repeating for those who missed them. We took a heavy-handed approach to remove the "Frostmancy" strategy (harass your lane opponent with Tribute procs and maintain their income with Kleptomancy while ignoring last hitting) in top lane and are working on a more refined solution for the long-term.

Spellthief's Edge Line

BUDDY SYSTEM Tribute procs now require an allied champion within 2000 range to grant gold, otherwise they only deal extra damage

TRIBUTE GOLD :	[10/20/20]
⇒	11/22/22	gold (Spellthief's Edge/Frostfang/Remnant of the Watchers)

Ancient Coin Line

BUDDY SYSTEM Favor procs now require an allied champion within 2000 range to drop gold coins, otherwise they only drop mana coins

FAVOR GOLD :	[25/45/45]
⇒	28/50/50	gold (Ancient Coin/Nomad's Medallion/Remnant of the Ascended)

Simple Changes[]

		Azir Base attack speed growth increased.
	Increasing Azir's late game damage.
		Base Stats ATTACK SPEED GROWTH : [1.5%] ⇒ 3%

		Gnar Mega Gnar's armor and magic resist increased.
	Increasing Mega Gnar's ability to get in the middle of the ruckus and duke it out while transformed.
		Base Stats MEGA GNAR ARMOR GROWTH : [4.5] ⇒ 5.5 MEGA GNAR MAGIC RESIST GROWTH : [2] ⇒ 4

Hecarim
Q cost, E cooldown decreased.

We're giving Hecarim some light performance boosts in his early game to help him stirrup the competition against others.

Q - Rampage

COST :	[32/34/36/38/40]
⇒	28/31/34/37/40	mana

E - Devastating Charge

COOLDOWN :	[24/22/20/18/16]
⇒	20/19/18/17/16	seconds

Rengar
Fixed a bug where Q dealt more rank 1 damage than intended.

Bugfixin'.

Q - Savagery

BASE DAMAGE :	[70/45/60/75/90]
⇒	30/45/60/75/90

Sivir
Fixed a bug where W dealt more damage than intended.

Bugfixin'.

W - Ricochet

BOUNCE DAMAGE :	[0.55/0.6/0.65/0.7/0.75]
⇒	0.5/0.55/0.6/0.65/0.7	total attack damage

		Varus Fixed a bug where Blight stacks dealt less damage than intended.
	Bugfixin'.
		W - Blighted Quiver BLIGHT STACK BASE DAMAGE : [2.5%] ⇒ 3/3.5/4/4.5/5%

		Kai'Sa Removed Stormrazor from recommended items.
	We changed Stormrazor. Stop building it first on Kai'Sa.
		WE RECOMMEND... : Stormrazor removed in favor of Infinity Edge and Runaan's Hurricane

		Tryndamere Removed Spear of Shojin from recommended items.
	We thought Spear of Shojin would be ace on Tryndamere. Turns out, Ravenous Hydra is better. Build Ravenous Hydra.
		WE RECOMMEND... : Spear of Shojin removed in favor of Ravenous Hydra.

		Nunu & Willump
		Q - Consume ICON : Icon border now glows when Nunu & Willump are within the max healing threshold

Trundle
W cost decreased; attack speed increased.

We're helping Trundle cast W more liberally in lane and increasing his late game threat when opponents are in his domain

W - Frozen Domain

COST : [60] ⇒ 40 mana

BONUS ATTACK SPEED :	[20/35/50/65/80%]
⇒	20/40/60/80/100%

First Minion Spawn[]

First wave of top and bot lane minions are ghosted for longer after spawning.

This change addresses some edge cases and unintuitive interactions that (pro) players can use to interfere with the first minion wave of the game.

GHOSTED : The first wave of top and bot lane minions are ghosted for [18] ⇒ 28 seconds after spawning (mid lane minions unchanged at 18 seconds of ghosting)

ARURF Changes[]

Balance Changes & Fixes

Things've been stable on the ARURF balance front over the past few weeks. We've got one new nerf for Garen and an official heads-up on some changes that shipped earlier but got lost somewhere in the bucket of champion balance updates.

Garen

NERF : -5% damage

Arcane Comet
This change went live a while back so this is just formal notice!

BUGFIX : Proccing Arcane Comet while inside the Catapult of Champions no longer lets you right click to fire a second Arcane Comet like a skillshot

Elder Dragon
This change went live a while back so this is just formal notice!

NERF : The first Elder Dragon buff is less tower-melty

	ARURF Poro Pets
	Once 9.4 drops, equip a poro pet summoner icon to bring a fluffy (or spiky or fiery or whatever) buddy along for the ride in your ARURF matches! These are the same icons that summoned poro pets in other modes like Legend of the Poro King and Nexus Blitz.

Champion VFX and SFX Updates[]

		Kennen
	Bringing Kennen's attacks and abilities up to current League quality and readability standards.
		BASIC ATTACK : Shuriken model and hit VFX updated for readability between basic attack, empowered attack, and Thundering Shuriken MARK OF THE STORM : Proc VFX updated to better indicate source of the stun. Passive marks on minions are dimmer. THUNDERING SHURIKEN : Shuriken model and hit VFX updated for readability between basic attack, empowered attack, and Thundering Shuriken ELECTRICAL SURGE : Surge VFX updated. Empowered attack shuriken model and hit VFX updated for readability between basic attack, empowered attack, and Thundering Shuriken. LIGHTNING RUSH : VFX updated to indicate area of effect and show Kennen's model during the animation SLICING MAELSTROM : VFX updated to reduce visual noise BLOOD MOON KENNEN : Unique VFX updated based on the same principles as the above SUPER KENNEN : Does a superhero pose during Lightning Rush SHURIKEN : All other skins use Kennen's base VFX aside from changing the shape of their shuriken where applicable

		Olaf
	Bringing Olaf's attacks and abilities up to current League quality and readability standards.
		BASIC ATTACK : Now has swipe VFX. Hit VFX updated. UNDERTOW : Now has hitbox and pick-up range indicators. Pick-up VFX updated. VICIOUS STRIKES : Buff and healing VFX updated. Floating runes removed. RECKLESS SWING : On-hit VFX updated RAGNAROK : New lightning VFX on activation. Buff VFX updated. BROLAF : Has skin-specific Graggy VFX on Q, E, and R. Has the Graggy Ice logo on Q's pick-up indicator and a keg on E hit. PENTAKILL : OLAF Has firey VFX recoloring. Has the Pentakill logo on E hit and R activation. BUTCHER OLAF : Q hitbox indicator recolored to be meatier SKT T1 OLAF : Has golden VFX recoloring. SKT T1 logo added to Q pick-up indicator, E hit, and R activation.

		Riven
	Bringing Riven's attacks and abilities up to current League quality and readability standards.
		BASIC ATTACK : Visual noise reduced RUNIC BLADE : Riven's sword and hand now glow instead of creating a green energy ball with rune trails on top of her hand BROKEN WINGS : VFX updated to be less noise and unique per cast. Ground damage VFX added to indicate area of effect. KI BURST : VFX updated to reduce visual noise on the ground symbol and better indicate area of effect VALOR : Dash and shield VFX updated. Shield runes changed to be the pieces of Riven's sword. BLADE OF THE EXILE : Buff VFX surrounding Riven cleaned up; stronger buff VFX added to her sword. Other ability VFX properly indicates increased area of effect while R is active. Wind Slash VFX is clearer and now appears as a single strike. BATTLE BUNNY RIVEN : VFX infused with beta keratin (they're recolored orange). E shield runes are carrots. DRAGONBLADE RIVEN : Has skin-specific smokey/firey VFX. Passive VFX is a flame ring around her hand. E shield runes are dragon crests. CHAMPIONSHIP, ARCADE, DAWNBRINGER, PULSEFIRE : VFX unchanged

		Wukong
	Bringing Wukong's attacks and abilities up to current League quality and readability standards.
		SFX UPDATES : Base, Volcanic, General, Jade Dragon, and Underworld Wukong have received updated basic attack, Q, E, and R SFX BASIC ATTACK : Now has swipe VFX. Hit VFX added. CRUSHING BLOW : Buff and swing VFX updated to reduce visual noise. Hit VFX updated to be more impactful. Armor debuff icon now appears on target. DECOY : Cloud VFX on clone despawn updated to reduce visual noise NIMBUS STRIKE Cloud VFX on dash updated to be wispier and leave a slight trail : CYCLONE : VFX updated to be cloudier, less noisy, and easier to read. The tip of Wukong's staff now leaves a bright VFX trail to better indicate area of effect. GENERAL WUKONG : Has gray recoloring on basic attack swipe and R VFX JADE WUKONG : Has jade green recoloring on basic attack swipe, Q, and R VFX UNDERWORLD WUKONG : Has spectral green recoloring on all VFX RADIANT WUKONG : Q uses base's new swing and hit VFX. E dash and R VFX updated but still use skin-specific cloud effects.

Champion Animation Updates[]

		Dr. Mundo

		INFECTED CLEAVER : Throwing animation updated

		Gragas

		ZOOMIN : Base run animation updated

		Katarina

		ZOOMIN : Base run animation updated GO FAST : Fast run animation updated SKID : Movement stop animation updated

		Lux

		ZOOMIN : Base run animation updated

		Quinn

		ZOOMIN : Base run animation updated

		Shen

		SAUNTER : Bootless walk animation added

		Twisted Fate

		SAUNTER : Bootless walk animation added FLAPPY : Twisted Fate's cape turns more realistically as he moves

		Zyra

		SAUNTER : Bootless walk animation added

Ranked[]

We've been working on fixes and improvements to Ranked since the season started in 9.2. Here's a rundown of some changes coming this patch, as well as a quick summary of stuff we've already done that you might've missed!

New to 9.4

CHALLENGER : Challenger opens on February 20

SPLASH UP : LP splashing can now put your off-positions into promotion series

HEADS UP : You now get decay warnings for your off-positions

RANKED EMOTES : Once you've earned the Ranked emote, it'll upgrade as you complete promo series and climb the ladder

NAME DROP : The animated celebrations for promoting into a new tier now includes your summoner name

PAPER TRAIL : Hovering over your split points now shows you how you earned those points

Already shipped

GRANDMASTER : Grandmaster opened on February 7

SWAP STOP : Ranked is better at preventing position swap abuse

TOP HEAVY : LP gains and losses at Diamond and above were adjusted due to too many players rapidly climbing into Master and above

Bugfixes[]

Fixed debug text in the Collection and Profile tabs
Neeko's Shapesplitter passive now properly damages turrets when Neeko has more ability power than attack damage
Kalista can no longer cast Rend with insufficient mana
Anivia's Flash Frost and Glacial Storm slow particles no longer persist on enemies
Twitch's Spray and Pray now properly procs Energized effects when attacking from Rapid Firecannon's max range
Urgot's Fear Beyond Death execute indicator no longer shows up on enemies when Urgot is dead
Fixed an issue where chargeable abilities (ex. Varus' Piercing Arrow could sometimes become unable to be cast, causing champions to sit through the entire charge window until the ability fizzled
Restored Festival Queen Anivia's SFX on her joke, taunt, dance, laugh, idle, and death animations
Restored Gun Goddess Miss Fortune's SFX on her death, homeguard, and recall animations
Turning off the "Show Loss of Control UI" toggle now properly keeps the option disabled across matches

Upcoming Skins & Chromas[]

The following skins will be released this patch. Grab the League Displays app for their full-res splash!

Papercraft Anivia

Papercraft Nunu & Willump

The following chromas will be released this patch: