Official Patch 4.16 Notes Released!

Summary

Buffs Nerfs: Cassiopeia

Real mild patch...as noted above, Cassiopeia got what preliminary looks like a buff as it helps her scale better into late game, but I haven't done the math on it so I can't say for sure if it's an overall nerf or buff. Right now it seems like the latter to me, but players have been reporting otherwise...

Patch 4.16 notes

BY SCARIZARD

Hey y'all,

Welcome to patch 4.16! We've got a sizeable Gameplay Update to everyone's favorite snake lady Cassiopeia, but aside from that we're going pretty light on the balance side. Similar to 4.15, a lot of the changes you'll see below are focused on smoothing out some champion interactions, or just plain ol' bugfixin' goodness (Check out the context below for what's happening with Wall-Slams!)

For all things non-balance though, we've got a little more meat for you. First up, in addition to her Gameplay Update we mentioned earlier, Cassiopeia is joined by Renekton for updates to their visuals! Follow that up with new base splash arts for the desert-dwelling duo and Akali and Orianna, and this patch is set to delight all the art fans out there.

As we mentioned last patch, we've started patching some finished pieces of Summoner's Rift to the live environment in order to minimize the size (and download times) of the eventual Summoner's Rift launch patch. These pieces aren't usable and we don't have an official release date - for now these pieces will just be preemptively sitting on your hard drives.

That's it for me! Check out the full breakdown in the notes below, and be careful out on the Rift - there's been a lot of sandstorms recently...

 Patrick "Scarizard" Scarborough

General

ANNOUNCEMENT VISUAL UPDATEIn-game announcements (killing sprees, map objectives, etc.) have received a visual update!

SHIELD CLARITYMinion and turret health bars now display shield strength

Champions

Azir

Azir, the Emperor of the Sands, will be released a bit later during Patch 4.16.

Cassiopeia

Cassi's received a gameplay update! Focusing on her new passive Aspect of the Serpent, she's now more about stacking up poisons for massive end-game scaling than being a dominant laning force. Mana costs, cooldowns, base damage and ratios have all been mixed up to compensate - read below for the numbers!

Cassiopeia's high DPS has always sat alongside her poison as defining characteristics of the serpent lady. Historically however, these traits have led to oppressive gameplay that's as challenging for the opponent to deal with as it is to understand (THANKS DAMAGE OVER TIME). To preserve both sides of what makes Cassi unique, we realized we had to modify the relationship between the two.

In this update, the key to Cassiopeia's heavy-hitting damage potential lies within her new passive, Aspect of the Serpent. Cassi builds power throughout the game as she poisons enemy champions, unlocking stat bonuses to fuel her (now more powerful) Twin Fang. This new aspect (heh) of growing her end-game scaling allows us to solidly push her into the 'completely-absurd-damage-potential' space she's currently hanging around. This comes at the cost of some early game power, but make no mistake - you can expect to see a late-game Cassiopeia as one of the most potent damage threats in the League.

General

TEXTURE UPDATECassiopeia's base and skin textures have been updated

SPLASHCassiopeia's base splash art has been updated

VOCassiopeia has received all-new VO

BIOCassiopeia's in-client bio has been updated

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NEWPassive - Aspect of the Serpent

Cassiopeia permanently gains a stack of Aspect of the Serpent for each second that she has poisoned an enemy champion, for each poisoned unit that she kills, and every time she hits an enemy champion with Twin Fang. Caps at 400 stacks.

75 STACKS+5% ability power and Twin Fang restores 6/8/10/12/16 (+0.1 ability power) health

200 STACKSAbility power bonus increased to +10% and Cassiopeia gains 25% cooldown reduction

400 STACKSAbility power bonus increased to +30%

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Q - Noxious Blast

BASE MAGIC DAMAGE75/115/155/195/235 (unchanged)

AP RATIO+0.8 ability power ⇒ +0.35 ability power

MOVEMENT SPEED BONUS10/15/20/25/30%

COOLDOWN4 seconds

COST40/45/50/55/60 mana

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W - Miasma

MAGIC DAMAGE PER SECOND25/35/45/55/65 (+0.15 ability power) ⇒10/15/20/25/30 (+0.1 ability power)

COOLDOWN14/13/12/11/10 seconds

COST40/50/60/70/80 mana

SLOW25/30/35/40/45%

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E - Twin Fang

NEWPROBABLY BUILD MANANow refunds Twin Fang's mana cost plus an additional 3% of Cassiopeia's total mana if Twin Fang kills a unit

KIND OF A BIG DEALTwin Fang's cooldown now resets on cast, rather than on hit

BASE MAGIC DAMAGE55/80/105/130/155

AP RATIO0.55 ⇒ 0.4/0.45/0.5/0.55/0.6

COST30/45/60/75/90 mana

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R - Petrifying Gaze

SNAKE EYESNow accurately hits units directly in front and on top of Cassiopeia.

MAGIC DAMAGE150/250/350 (+0.5 ability power)

COOLDOWN120/110/100 seconds

Renekton

General

TEXTURE UPDATETextures for Renekton's base, Galactic, Outback and Bloodfury skins have been updated

SPLASHRenekton's base splash art has been updated

BIORenekton's in-client bio has been updated

Brand

R - Pyroclasm

CLARITYNow has a secondary targeting indicator that shows bounce radius.

Corki

W - Valkyrie

BUGFIXFixed a bug where Valkyrie being interrupted would halt Corki's movement but still extend Valkyrie's damage field.

Gnar

Gnar's ultimate and similar skills work with player-made terrain (this time, Jarvan's actually helping). Part one of three.

Continuing to clean up GNAR! with some consistency work across all wall-slams. As with the changes to Poppy and Vayne you'll see below, we'll be watching to see the effects of these changes play out and ready to adjust accordingly.

R - GNAR!

NEWCOME ON AND SLAMNow detects collision with player created terrain (Anivia's Crystallize, Azir's Emperor's Divide, Jarvan's Cataclysm and Trundle's Pillar of Ice)

WAP!Fixed a bug where using GNAR! on a dashing unit would cancel their movement, but not stun them, if they hit a wall.

Irelia

Q - Bladesurge

SORRY WICKDFixed a bug where stopping Bladesurge mid-dash would still deal damage to her target.

Poppy

Tried to make a joke, but Poppy doesn't know any. Part two of three.

E - Heroic Charge

NEWAND WELCOME TO THE SLAMNow detects collision with player created terrain (Anivia's Crystallize, Azir's Emperor's Divide, Jarvan's Cataclysm and Trundle's Pillar of Ice)

Shen

Full disclosure - we're not 100% on what the impact of changing this will be as it's hard to know how much random Energy this was giving Shen in teamfights. If Shen needs love as a result we're happy to give it, but he shouldn't have to rely on a bug for power.

E - Shadow Dash

REMOVEDNO DISRESPECTFixed a bug where taunting dead champions would give Shen bonus energy.

Varus

In 4.13 we introduced a line indicator (similar to Xerath) over his previous circular one, hoping it would increase accuracy and satisfaction for Varus players - as it turns out, neither of those things happened (OOPS) so we're taking it back to the original. Thanks for the feedback, y'all!

Q - Piercing Arrow

WHOOPSLine indicator removed (Now uses range circle again as per previous functionality)

Vayne

As if Vayne players needed any more highlight reel material. Part three of three.

E - Condemn

IT'S TIME TO SLAM JAMNow detects collision with player created terrain (Anivia's Crystallize, Azir's Emperor's Divide, Jarvan's Cataclysm and Trundle's Pillar of Ice)

Vladimir

Tides of Blood is now doing what everyone thought it was doing already.

The decision to fix this wasn't for power reasons, but rather to fulfill player expectations on how Tides of Blood should work. We'll be monitoring to make sure he doesn't go crazy, but for now Vlad players are a little less thirsty.

E - Tides of Blood

TECHNICALLY A BUFF TO GUNBLADENow correctly increases healing from Vladimir's Spell Vamp (and Lifesteal)

Zilean

With the Chronokeeper back in the spotlight, we figured it's as good a time as any to help players realize when he's got their back.

R - Chronoshift

YOU ASKED FOR ITNow subtly tints the target's screen

Updated Bios

BIOThe following champions have received updated in-client bios.

Amumu

Cassiopeia

Ezreal

Nasus

Rammus

Renekton

Sivir

Skarner

Xerath

Updated Splashes

As we've mentioned previously, the splash art team is engaged in a long-term effort to update our oldest base splashes. We've got a few more fresh updates for this patch. Yes, this is the same context we used in 4.15.

SPLASHThe following champions have received updated base splashes (click the portraits for the full image!):

Akali

Renekton

Cassiopeia

Orianna

Summoner Spells

Flash

NO MORE AWKWARD STOPPINGMovement commands now persist after Flashing in the same direction you're moving

Featured Game Modes

Ascension

Ascension, our next Featured Game Mode, is coming shortly after the release of patch 4.16! More information soon - keep an eye out for all the details!

Match History

• The graphs below the scoreboard have been collectively labelled as the Match Overview tab.
• We've added a tab for Player Builds. This tab will retroactively populate for all matches played since the release of patch 4.14, displaying:
• • Item Purchase Order (including item selling)
  • Ability Order (including Kha'Zix evolutions)
  • Runes
  • Masteries
• The Match Data section has been moved into its own tab, labeled Statistics.
• The advantage graph in the Match Overview tab now shows point advantage instead of gold advantage for Dominion (as well as the upcoming Ascension featured game mode). This change will apply to matches played from 4.16 onward.

Bugfixes

• Fixed various bugs with the patcher and landing page update
• We've made a number of adjustments and fixes to the reskinned chat system based on your feedback:
• • Private chat windows once again display online presence
  • Group chat rosters now indicate online presence as well
  • Increased the size of group chat windows
  • Both private and group chat windows can be minimized by clicking the chat window header bar
  • The friend list scroll bar is now easier to click and drag
• The Reconnect button should now always display for players who crash out of a game
• Fixed a bug where dragon was dealing more damage than intended
• Fixed an issue that caused enemy item purchases to sporadically never update on the scoreboard
• Fixed a bug where, for a given trap ability, the in-game model of some (not all) placed traps permanently disappeared for players who reconnected to a match

Upcoming Skins

The following skins will be released at various times during Patch 4.16:

Galactic Azir

Guardian of the Sands Kha'Zix