Introduction
The mid-season patch is here at last, and the fabled tank rework is in full swing with Maokai, Sejuani, and Zac receiving big changes to their kits coupled with a slew of new items. Check out the full details below!
Summary
Reworks: Maokai, Sejuani, ZacNerfs: Graves, Renekton
Buffs: Ryze
PATCH 7.9 NOTES
Got patching problems? Check the Boards for tips and solutions!
Howdy folks,
The midseason train is leaving the station, so hop onboard and we’ll take a look at the cargo we’re carrying.
In the first row we have the Maokai, Sejuani and Zac updates. We’re making their kits more distinct and sharpening each of their identities. With tanks on the mind we seized the opportunity to revisit our durability items and how resistances were performing in general. We have some good stuff down below with new items like Gargoyle Stoneplate and Adaptive Helm, as well as shifts of power in items like Guardian Angel and Abyssal Scepter.
Since we’re on the subject of items, we also wanted to make sure our damage items play nice with the durability changes above. We’re cool with how ability power items are doing, but to hit the right balance on the AD front we need to siphon some power from armor penetration into other stuff.
We’re also adding quests to Support starting items! We wanted supports to have more room to be interactive and meaningful in lane without throwing raw stats and gold at them. We’re also improving the clarity around how they support their team: items now have more detailed stat tracking, crowd control is more visible, and the end-of-the-game screen has some beefed up stats!
Last but not least, Rift Herald has a brand new encounter and reward. Whenever defeated, she can be summoned to wreak havoc on the closest lane - you better pay attention to her otherwise there won’t be much of your base left.
Now that we’ve gone over our itinerary, it’s time for this train to get rolling. Choo Choo.
Paul "Aether" Perscheid
Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman
Lucas "Luqizilla" MoutinhoTANK UPDATES
Maokai
While most tanks bring specific strengths to the table, Maokai does everything at once. So, when the Twisted Treant is at- or above-par with his classmates, he quickly becomes the go-to pick. At the same time, no specific strategy or team comp depends on Maokai’s particular set of skills to succeed. When he’s weaker than other tanks on average, he vanishes off the face of the earth.
This update's about establishing strategies and situations where you really want Maokai, as well as ones where you really don't. We're shaving away generic strengths like Vengeful Maelstrom and its damage reduction aura, and replacing them with situationally-powerful tools like Nature's Grasp, which can lock down bunches of enemies at once but requires setup to succeed. With new potential to claim and control areas (plus a clarified hatred for spellcasters), choosing Maokai is now a much more intreeguing decision.
General
TREEMOTIONALMaokai’s VO has been updated to match his lore. He’s a mad tree, not a sad tree.
ICONSMaokai’s ability icons have been updated
ABILITY VISUALSMaokai’s ability animations and visual effects have been updated
Base stats
HEALTH572.2 ⇒ 540
HEALTH GROWTH STAT90 ⇒ 95
HEALTH REGEN7 ⇒ 5
ARMOR28.7 ⇒ 30
Passive - Sap Magic
REMOVEDSAP STACKINGSap Magic no longer uses a stacking system
NEWCOOLDOWN30/25/20 seconds (at levels 1/6/17)
NEWRECKLESS MAGICEach time Maokai casts a spell or is struck by an enemy’s spell, Sap Magic’s cooldown is reduced by 4 seconds (once per spellcast)
HEAL5/6/7% maximum health (at levels 1/7/13) ⇒10/30/50/70/90/110/130 flat, plus 4.5/5.5/6.5/7.5/8.5/9.5/10.5/% maximum health (at levels 1/6/9/11/13/15/17)
THRESHOLDSap Magic won’t trigger if Maokai is above 95% health
Q - Bramble Smash
NAMEArcane Smash ⇒ Bramble Smash
COST45/50/55/60/65 mana (unchanged)
COOLDOWN8/7.5/7/6.5/6 seconds (unchanged)
CAST TIME0.383 seconds ⇒ 0.35 seconds
DAMAGE70/115/160/205/250 (+0.4 ability power) (unchanged)
KNOCKBACKEnemies near Maokai are knocked back a flat distance ⇒ based on distance from Maokai (closer targets are knocked back slightly more)
MOVEMENT SPEED SLOW20/27/34/41/48% for 1.5 seconds ⇒ 99% for 0.25 seconds
W - Twisted Advance
COST75 mana at all ranks ⇒ 60/65/70/75/80 mana
COOLDOWN13/12/11/10/9 seconds (unchanged)
DAMAGE9/10/11/12/13% (+3% per 100 ability power) target’s maximum health ⇒ 50/75/100/125/150 (+0.4 ability power) flat damage
ROOT DURATION1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds ⇒ 1/1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4 seconds
UPDATEDE - Sapling Toss
Saplings tossed into brush become empowered, lasting longer and dealing extra damage.
COST60/70/80/90/100 mana ⇒ 60 mana at all ranks
COOLDOWN12 seconds ⇒ 11 seconds
SAPLING DURATION40/45/50/55/60 seconds ⇒ 30 seconds
DAMAGE80/120/160/200/240 (+0.6 ability power) flat damage ⇒45/70/95/120/145 flat damage plus 6/6.5/7/7.5/8% (+2% per 100 ability power) target’s maximum health
SLOW50% for 1 second ⇒ 35% for 2 seconds
NEWFAT SAPLINGSSaplings tossed into brush last 30/40/50/60/70 seconds and have a larger detonation radius. Enemies caught in the explosion take 100% additional damage over 2 seconds.
MINION/MONSTER CAPSapling Toss’s damage against non-champions is capped at 300 (empowered sapling damage over time has its own cap, for a total of 600 per empowered sapling)
NEWR - Nature's Grasp
Nature’s Grasp creates a massive wall of brambles that slowly advances forward. Each bramble damages and roots the first enemy champion hit.
BRAMBLESThe wall is comprised of five brambles, each of which can affect one champion.
COST100 mana
COOLDOWN120/110/100 seconds
RANGE2500
DAMAGE150/225/300 (+0.75 ability power)
ROOT0.6-2.4 seconds, scaling up over the first 1000 distance traveled
Splash updates
Sejuani
Sejuani's ult is in the running for one of the strongest abilities in the game, but that distinction comes at a cost. Her basic abilities have been kept in a watered-down state to allow Glacial Prison to shine. We're evening things out by converting some of Glacial Prison's power into more impactful things for Sej to do across the rest of her kit. (Real talk, her ult was so bonkers before that the trimmed-down version is still powerful in its own right.)
In terms of what's new, we're keying into Sejuani's themes of Freljordian warleader and heavy cavalry. Frost Armor now augments her mount, Bristle, allowing Sejuani to charge into battle unfettered by slows. She calls melee allies to arms as she approaches the fray, empowering their strikes to render enemies vulnerable to Permafrost's point-and-click stun. With greater strength in her basic abilities, Sejuani’s the tank to pledge fealty to when your team prefers to get up close and personal with the enemy.
General
TITLEThe Winter’s Wrath ⇒ Fury of the North
ICONSSejuani’s ability icons have been updated
ABILITY VISUALSSejuani’s ability animations and visual effects have been updated
Base stats
ARMOR29.5 ⇒ 27
ARMOR GROWTH STAT3 ⇒ 4
ATTACK RANGE125 ⇒ 150
ATTACK DAMAGE57.5 ⇒ 56
ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH STAT3.3 ⇒ 3
ATTACK SPEED0.67 ⇒ 0.625
ATTACK SPEED GROWTH STAT1.45% ⇒ 3%
NEWPassive - Fury of the North
FROST ARMOR: After not taking damage for a while, Sejuani gains bonus resistances and slow immunity. Frost Armor briefly lingers after Sejuani takes damage.
BONUS RESISTANCESFrost Armor doubles Sejuani’s total resistances, then adds 100 additional bonus armor and magic resist
BOAR MOBILITYSejuani is immune to slows while Frost Armor holds
LINGER1/2/3 seconds (at levels 1/7/14)
RECHARGEFrost Armor recharges after 9 seconds of not taking damage
ANTSDamage from minions or small monsters neither breaks Frost Armor nor interrupts its recharge timer
ICEBREAKER: Enemies stunned by Sejuani are frozen, causing her first spell or attack against them to deal bonus damage.
DAMAGE10/15/20% target’s maximum health (at levels 1/7/14)
MONSTER DAMAGE400
Q - Arctic Assault
COST80/85/90/95/100 mana ⇒ 70/75/80/85/90 mana
COOLDOWN15/14/13/12/11 seconds ⇒ 13/12.5/12/11.5/11 seconds
DAMAGE80/125/170/215/260 (+0.4 ability power) ⇒60/90/120/150/180 (+0.4 ability power)
KNOCKUP DURATION~0.75 seconds ⇒ 0.5 seconds
REMOVEDAREA KNOCKUPSejuani no longer knocks up enemies around the first target hit
NEWW - Winter's Wrath
Sejuani swings her mace in an arc, then lashes out in a line. Both hits deal damage and apply Frost.
COST60 mana
COOLDOWN10/9/8/7/6 seconds
FIRST HITDeals 30/35/40/45/50 (+1.5% maximum health) damage in a cone, applying Frost and knocking back minions and monsters
FIRST HIT DELAY0.25 seconds, starting on cast
SECOND HITDeals 40/75/110/145/180 (+4.5% maximum health) damage in a line, applying Frost
SECOND HIT DELAY0.75 seconds, starting after the first hit
LIKE LUCIANSejuani can move freely during Winter’s Wrath. Both swings will strike in the cast direction, but their hitboxes follow Sejuani’s movement.
NEWE - Permafrost
FROSTY STRIKESSejuani and nearby melee allies apply Frost with their basic attacks, stacking up to four times. Sejuani can cast Permafrost on enemies with max Frost stacks.
COST20 mana
COOLDOWN1.5 seconds
PER-TARGET COOLDOWN10/9/8 seconds (at levels 1/7/14, matching Fury of the North’s breakpoints)
DAMAGE40/60/80/100/120 (+0.3 ability power)
STUN DURATION1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds
UPDATEDR - Glacial Prison
Sejuani throws her True Ice bola, damaging and stunning the first enemy champion hit. Bolas that travel before exploding are empowered.
COST100 mana
COOLDOWN130/115/100 seconds ⇒ 120/100/80 seconds
EMPOWER RANGEBolas are empowered after traveling 400 distance
DAMAGE100/125/150 (+0.4 ability power)
EMPOWERED DAMAGE150/250/350 (+0.8 ability power)
STUN1 second, doubled for empowered bolas (triggers - but is not prevented by - Permafrost’s per-target stun cooldown)
Empowered bolas also leave behind an ice storm that explodes after a brief delay.
STORM DURATION2 seconds
STORM SLOW30% while targets are inside
EXPLOSION DAMAGE150/250/350 (+0.8 ability power)
EXPLOSION SLOW80% for 3 seconds
Splash updates
Zac
Zac’s already got some cool stuff going for him, particularly when it comes to diving in with Elastic Slingshot. The thing is, he uses most of his gooey flair to make his way into a fight, leaving him without anything remarkable to do once he’s there. This is a narrower problem than what our other tank updates aim to address, but bringing more of Zac’s kit up to Elastic Slingshot’s bar is a goal we feel is well worth pursuing.
Goo lets us do some thematically weird stuff - an opportunity Zac hasn’t taken full advantage of. We’re using this update to give Zac two new ways to cause chaos once he’s made his way into a fight. Zaun’s Secret Weapon knocks enemy skulls together with Stretching Strikes, and Let’s Bounce! gives him the ability to kidnap people standing on top of him. These new tools give Zac the means to shuffle opponents around the battlefield with sticky, stretchy abilities that feel uniquely his own.
General
PITCHYZac’s voice now changes in pitch and speed based on his current size
ICONSZac’s ability icons have been updated
ABILITY VISUALSZac’s ability animations and visual effects have been updated
NON-ABILITY VISUALSMany of Zac’s idle, movement, and emote animations have also been updated
Base stats
#CLEANNUMBERSRounded a bunch of stats by very small amounts. Move along.
Passive - Cell Division
All of this is unchanged but we’ll leave it here as a refresher!
NEWQ - Stretching Strike
Zac’s arm stretches, grabbing the first enemy it hits. Zac then grabs the next enemy he basic attacks and throws them toward each other.
COST4% current health
COOLDOWN12/11/10/9/8 seconds
DAMAGE50/70/90/110/130 (+0.3 ability power)
SLOW60% for 0.25 seconds
BONUS ATTACK RANGE100
COLLISION DAMAGE50/70/90/110/130 (+0.3 ability power) to all enemies in the collision area
W - Unstable Matter
All of this is unchanged but we’ll leave it here as a refresher!
E - Elastic Slingshot
COST4% current health (unchanged)
COOLDOWN24/21/18/15/12 seconds (unchanged)
TIME-OUTElastic Slingshot automatically cancels after 0.9/1.05/1.2/1.35/1.5 seconds ⇒ 0.9/1/1.1/1.2/1.3 seconds of channeling
REFUND ON CANCELCanceled Elastic Slingshots refund 50% cooldown and cost (unchanged)
DAMAGE80/130/180/230/280 (+0.7 ability power) ⇒80/120/160/200/240 (+0.7 ability power)
KNOCKUP1 second ⇒ 0.5 seconds
EXTRA GOOZac spawns a chunk of Goo for every enemy champion or clone hit by Elastic Slingshot, rather than just the first (unchanged)
NEWR - Let's Bounce!
Zac squishes himself down on-cast, becoming immune to crowd control and slowing enemies above him while charging.
COSTNo cost
COOLDOWN130/115/100 seconds
PUDDLE PHYSICSZac is immune to crowd control while charging (can still be targeted and hit by abilities)
STICKY FEETEnemies above Zac are slowed by 30/40/50%
CHARGE TIMELet’s Bounce! becomes fully charged after 1 second and can be held for an additional 1.5 seconds thereafter
SHORT CHARGEIf Let’s Bounce! is released before Zac charges for at least 1 second, Zac knocks back nearby enemies on release
Fully-charged casts cause Zac to suck up all enemies standing on top of him and carry them to the target location.
LONG CHARGEIf Let’s Bounce was charged for 1 second or longer, Zac scoops up enemies above him, becoming unstoppable and carrying them to the target location
RANGE700/850/1000
DAMAGE150/250/350 (+0.7 ability power) to all enemies in the landing area
SLOW25% for 0.5 seconds to all enemies in the landing area
NEW DURABILITY ITEMS
NEWAdaptive Helm
Provides health and magic resist. Increases durability against repeated casts of the same spell.
Tanks have been struggling to deal with certain types of magic damage, specifically battle mages like Ryze or Cassiopeia who churn spell after spell into their enemies. Because burst mages have longer cooldowns - and rarely enough damage to one-shot tanks, tanks are less likely to die to them than they are the followup damage from marksmen. Battle mages - with their low cooldowns - circumvent that pattern by continuing to threaten tanks throughout a fight.
This leaves tanks feeling a bit underwhelmed with their available MR against battle mages. We can’t simply tune up MR items, however, without causing tanks to entirely invalidate other mages. Instead, we’re introducing Adaptive Helm to allow tanks some breathing room against persistent spellcasters. Tanks already have items that are tuned sustained damage from physical sources, with items like Randuin’s Omen or Frozen Heart helping them weather the storm. Adaptive Helm is a similar item for incoming magic damage.
COST2800 gold
BUILD PATHNull-Magic Mantle + Spectre’s Cowl + Rejuvenation Bead + 1000 gold
HEALTH300
MAGIC RESIST55
BASE HEALTH REGENERATION+100%
COOLDOWN REDUCTION+10%
UNIQUE PASSIVETaking magic damage from a spell or effect reduces all subsequent magic damage from that spell or effect by 15% for 4 seconds.
NEWGargoyle Stoneplate
Provides armor and magic resist. Gain more resistances when near multiple enemy champions. Active grants bonus health but reduces your damage; more health granted if near multiple enemy champions.
Two types of champions stack durability items: fighters, and tanks. Tanks go all in on durability, so they can keep protecting, disrupting, and enabling carries throughout a fight. Fighters, on the other hand, want to pick up a bit of durability but ultimately care about their damage as well.
This puts pure durability items in a weird place. If they provide too much raw tankiness, they risk making fighters too hard to duel. On the other hand, if they don’t provide enough, tanks eat too much ambient damage in teamfights to feel safe doing their job. We’re introducing Gargoyle Stoneplate to give tanks - and maybe fighters who have already fallen behind in the one-on-one - the option to gear up for teamfights without making them impossible to duel.
COST2500 gold
BUILD PATHChain Vest + Negatron Cloak + 980 gold
ARMOR40
MAGIC RESIST40
UNIQUE PASSIVE - STONE SKINIf 3+ enemy champions are nearby, gain 40 bonus armor and magic resist
UNIQUE ACTIVE - METALLICIZEFor 4 seconds, grow in size and gain bonus health equal to 40% of your maximum health, but reduce damage dealt by 60%. If Stone Skin is active, the health increase becomes 100% instead.
DURABILITY ITEM ADJUSTMENTS
Health is a pretty generic stat, making you tanky against everybody. Resistances are a bit more sharpened, granting increased durability against one type of damage. And then there’s the unique effects on each item, which are much more specific. At the moment, we think items which provide health and resistances are falling too far towards the generalist end.
Most of those items split their stat value about 50/50 between health and resistances. Since health is such a generic durability stat, that gives tanks a pretty efficient one-item power spike. We want the type of damage you itemize against to be more of an intentional decision, so we’re tweaking those generalist items to be more directed in what type of damage they protect against. In other words: less health, more resistances, stronger unique effects.
Sunfire Cape
Health down, armor up. Burn radius down. Burn damage down versus champions, up versus non-champions.
Sunfire Cape has been the top lane first-buy for quite some time, and it’s not hard to see why. With waveclear, durability, and champion combat power, it has everything a growing top laner needs. We’re sharpening its identity as the “pushing” item by pushing (sorry) more strength into damage against non-champions - at the expense of dueling potency.
HEALTH500 ⇒ 425
ARMOR50 ⇒ 60
BURN DAMAGE26-43 (at levels 1-18) ⇒ 12-29 (at levels 1-18)
BONUS DAMAGE VS MINIONS/MONSTERS+50% ⇒ +200%
BURN RADIUS400 ⇒ 325
Enchantment: Cinderhulk
Burn radius down. Burn damage down versus champions, up versus non-champions.
Higher burn damage to monsters should help tank jungler clear speed without overtuning their dueling potential. It also now matches Sunfire’s burn numbers, which is nice from a symmetry standpoint.
BURN DAMAGE9-43 (at levels 1-18) ⇒ 12-29 (at levels 1-18)
BONUS DAMAGE VS MINIONS/MONSTERS+100% ⇒ +200%
BURN RADIUS400 ⇒ 325
Spirit Visage
Health down. Magic resist up. Healing bonus up.
Magic resist tank items aren’t very robust at the moment. Spirit Visage is by and far the top choice, and Banshee’s Veil is pretty much there for more stats. Spirit Visage is meant to be enticing for champions with high healing (or a strong healer on their team), but we don’t want it to outshine every other option in every other case.
HEALTH500 ⇒ 425
MAGIC RESIST55 ⇒ 60
BONUS HEALING RECEIVED25% ⇒ 30%
Spectre's Cowl
Magic resist down.
Now that tanks have more magic resist options available, Cowl doesn’t need to be quite so potent on its own.
MAGIC RESIST30 ⇒ 25
Dead Man's Plate
Health down. Armor up.
Dead Man’s Plate is designed to help melee champions close the gap so they can put the hurting on their opponents, but it was also bringing a lot of unnoticed damage of its own. We’re trimming the smaller damage moments in favor of more uptime on chasing power.
HEALTH500 ⇒ 425
ARMOR50 ⇒ 60
DREADNOUGHTGain up to 12.5 Momentum stacks ⇒ 20 Momentum stacks per second while moving
SLOWCrushing Blow’s slow no longer decays over the duration
REMOVEDCRUSHING BOOPBasic attacks while below 100 Momentum stacks no longer purge current stacks to deal damage. Instead, they reduce Momentum stacks by 15 for no bonus effect.
Randuin's Omen
Health down. Crit strike damage reduction up. Active slow strength up but duration down.
Randuin’s Omen is “the health/armor item that’s pretty good against basic attacks”. We’re sharpening that even further by greatly increasing its power against critical strikes, while reducing its effectiveness against other threats.
COST2900 gold (unchanged)
BUILD PATHGiant’s Belt + Warden’s Mail + 900 gold ⇒ Ruby Crystal + Warden’s Mail + Ruby Crystal + 1000 gold
HEALTH500 ⇒ 350
CRITICAL STRIKE DAMAGE REDUCTION10% ⇒ 20%
ACTIVESlow all nearby enemies by 35% for 4 seconds ⇒ 55% for 2 seconds
Warmog's Armor
Warmog’s Heart passive activates at a lower threshold and regenerates more health.
Pulling health out of our tank items left Warmog’s Armor feeling a bit inaccessible. We’re compensating for the lower expected health from items, while also providing light buffs and quality of life improvements to its passive.
Warmog's Heart passive
ACTIVATION THRESHOLD3000 total health ⇒ 2750 total health
HEALTH REGENERATION3% max health per second ⇒ 5% max health per second
COOLDOWN UPON TAKING DAMAGE8 seconds ⇒ 6 seconds
NEWTHEY TRIEDMinion damage only puts Warmog’s Heart on a 3 second cooldown
UPDATEDBanshee's Veil
Now a mage item! Health removed, ability power added.
For tanks, Banshee’s Veil isn’t bought for being Banshee’s Veil, it’s bought because it’s another Spirit Visage stat line. When it comes down to it, a spell shield is a much more carry-oriented ability, because tanks won’t instantly die if caught out by stray crowd control. We’re reworking Banshee’s Veil’s statline to make it more enticing to carries.
COST2450 ⇒ 2500
BUILD PATHSpectre’s Cowl + Negatron Cloak + 530 gold ⇒ Fiendish Codex + Null-Magic Mantle + Blasting Wand + 500 gold
NEWABILITY POWER70
MAGIC RESIST70 ⇒ 45
REMOVEDHEALTHNo longer grants health
REMOVEDHEALTH REGENERATIONNo longer grants health regen
UNIQUE PASSIVEGrants a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability. This shield refreshes after no damage is taken from enemy champions for 40 seconds. (unchanged)
UPDATEDAbyssal Scepter
Now a tank item! Health added, ability power removed.
Like Banshee’s Veil, Abyssal Scepter is an item whose passive doesn’t quite line up with its statline. An area-of-effect damage amp is much more appropriate for a durable champion that’s comfortable in the thick of things, but the ability power currently on there makes it much more appropriate for mages. We’re shifting stats around to make Abyssal Scepter the item for tanks who feel comfortable sacrificing raw durability to give their team a bit more damage.
COST2750 gold ⇒ 2800 gold
NEWBUILD PATHFiendish Codex + Negatron Cloak + Amplifying Tome + 695 gold ⇒ Spectre’s Cowl + Negatron Cloak + 880 gold
NEWHEALTH300
BASE HEALTH REGENERATION+100%
MAGIC RESIST50 ⇒ 65
COOLDOWN REDUCTION10% (unchanged)
REMOVEDABILITY POWERNo longer grants ability power
UNIQUE PASSIVENearby enemy champions take 10% more magic damage (unchanged)
UPDATEDGuardian Angel
Now a physical damage item! Attack damage added. Magic resist removed.
Like Banshee’s Veil, the Guardian Angel passive is much more appropriate for carries who could easily find themselves bursted in an instant and in need of a second chance. While we toyed with the idea of finding a way to make the resurrection effect available in both magic damage and physical damage forms, mages have Zhonya’s Hourglass for a stasis effect, and two stasis effects makes for a really frustrating “playing against” case. As a result, we’re retuning Guardian Angel to have more appropriate stats for carries who churn out physical damage.
TOTAL COST2400 (unchanged)
BUILD PATHChain Vest + Negatron Cloak + 880 gold ⇒ B. F. Sword + Cloth Armor + 800 gold
NEWATTACK DAMAGE40
ARMOR60 ⇒ 30
REMOVEDMAGIC RESISTNo longer grants magic resist
UNIQUE PASSIVEUpon taking lethal damage, restore 30% of maximum health and 30% of maximum mana after 4 seconds of stasis (300 second cooldown)⇒ 50% of base health and 30% of maximum mana after 4 seconds of stasis (300 second cooldown)
Sterak's Gage
Base attack damage bonus up. Lifeline shield now scales with bonus health, not max health.
Sterak’s Gage is supposed to be a clutch tankiness item for Juggernauts, giving them the base damage increase and burst of durability they need to withstand focused fire. We’re doubling down on that by tying its scaling to bonus health (rather than base health) and upping the damage scaling to boot. With their health-heavy builds and base attack damage, Juggernauts (and other fighters) should feel best about these changes - especially in the late game.
HEALTH400 (unchanged)
BASE ATTACK DAMAGE+25% ⇒ +30%
UNIQUE PASSIVE - LIFELINEUpon taking at least 400-1800 damage (based on level) within 5 seconds, gain a rapidly decaying shield for 30% of maximum health for 3 seconds ⇒ 75% of your bonus health for 8 seconds.
STERAK’S FURYWhen Lifeline triggers, grow in size and strength, gaining +25% additional Base Attack Damage ⇒ +40% additional Base Attack Damage
UPDATEDDoran's Shield
No longer reduces damage from basic attacks or single-target spells. Now regenerates health after taking damage from an enemy champion.
Doran’s items give champions a lot of laning strength at the expense of mid-to-late game slot efficiency. In that context, Doran’s Shield is the item that lets you weather a tough lane, so we’re updating its passives to keep you in lane and help you last hit while you save up for your big-ticket items.
COST450 gold ⇒ 400 gold
HEALTH80 (unchanged)
HEALTH REGENERATION+6 flat health regeneration per 5 seconds
REMOVEDFLAT DAMAGE REDUCTIONNo longer reduces damage from basic attacks or single target spells
NEWSHIELD SLAMBasic attacks deal +5 damage on-hit
NEWUNIQUE PASSIVERegain 20 health over 10 seconds after taking damage from an enemy champion
LIFESTEAL ITEMS
Blade of the Ruined King’s 7.6 update put it on the strong side, making it the go-to item for every marksman. Alongside with a small tune down BotRK (just a small one, given the durability changes), we’re giving other items a bit more power to restore diversity to the marksman itemization landscape.
CRITICAL STRIKE ITEMS
Crit is an integral part of traditional marksman itemization but it’s been underperforming for a while. We’re giving marskmen earlier access to their one-and-a-half item power spike (Infinity Edge + Zeal, generally) while also sharpening the identities of each Zeal upgrade.
Runaan's Hurricane
Runaan’s Hurricane is supposed to be about area of effect damage and waveclear, but due to all the things it offers (smoothest build path among all Zeal items, best raw single target damage per second due to the on-hit damage and best area damage) it was simply the best choice in all cases. We’re shifting power to the secondary bolts - preserving Hurricane’s identity as the area-effect Zeal upgrade - but the other things must go.
BUILD PATHZeal + Recurve Bow + 300 gold ⇒ Zeal + Dagger + Dagger + 800 gold (total cost still 2600 gold)
REMOVEDON-HIT DAMAGENo longer grants on-hit damage
SECONDARY BOLT DAMAGE25% total attack damage ⇒ 40% total attack damage
Rapid Firecannon
Rapid Firecannon and Statikk Shiv cannibalize each other’s strengths due to Energized proc damage not stacking between sources. We’re trying to better differentiate the two in ways that also make their combination more compelling (Long range chain lightning? We’re in there.) RFC is here to not only amp up your range but also charge your other Energized effects faster. Rapidly, one might say.
COMBINE COST550 gold ⇒ 600 gold (offsets component item cost changes; total cost still 2600 gold)
DAMAGE TO CHAMPIONS50-160 (at levels 1-18) ⇒ 50-120 (at levels 1-18)
NEWRAPIDITYAttacks become Energized 25% faster
Statikk Shiv
Rapid Firecannon and Statikk Shiv cannibalize each other’s strengths due to Energized proc damage not stacking between sources. We’re trying to better differentiate the two in ways that also make their combination more compelling (Long range chain lightning? We’re in there.) Shiv already had what it needed to be the burst-oriented option (remember: the lightning can crit for double the damage) so we’re tuning it to push that distinction harder.
COMBINE COST550 ⇒ 600 (offsets component item cost changes; total cost still 2600 gold)
DAMAGE TO CHAMPIONS50-120 (at levels 1-18) ⇒ 60-160 (at levels 1-18)
BONUS DAMAGE VS MINIONS+120% (110-264 total damage) ⇒ +65% (99-264 total damage)
Phantom Dancer
Phantom Dancer’s already doing its own thing pretty well, so we’re adjusting costs to match the other Zeal upgrades and calling it a day.
TOTAL COST2550 gold ⇒ 2600 gold
COMBINE COST650 gold ⇒ 800 gold
ARMOR PENETRATION ITEMS
Let’s get straight to the point: between Lethality, Last Whisper, and Cleaver, there’s been too much armor penetration in the item system. With the shift in durability items to favor armor over health when dealing with physical damage dealers, those physical damage dealers can’t also have their current degree of effectiveness in mitigating those armor buffs.
These numbers might look kinda harsh, but most of that power was siphoned into the crit and lifesteal item buffs above.
Lord Dominik's Regards
COST2700 gold ⇒ 2600 gold
ARMOR PENETRATION45% bonus armor ⇒ 35% bonus armor
GIANT SLAYER DAMAGE AMP15% ⇒ 20%
SUPPORT ITEMS & QUESTS
Earn enough gold from a support item to unlock a new effect.
Playing well as a support often means intentionally foregoing actions that grant gold or experience - the two main axes of power in League. In the past, we’ve given supports their own unique items to prop up their lower gold income, but this led to problems (and subsequent nerfs) when other positions found ways to abuse them. We want to give supports additional rewards for good play that aren’t just gold and experience.
UPDATED
Ancient Coin Line
While the Targon’s and Spellthief’s lines encourage supports to play an active role in the laning phase (last-hitting/trading), Ancient Coin’s gameplay consists of “be in lane”. We want to make Ancient Coin’s rewards less consistently safe, allowing users more ways to show off skillful aggression while giving opponents more opportunity to punish mistakes.
Favor update
WAHOO!UNIQUE Passive - Favor: Nearby enemy minions killed by anyone other than Ancient Coin’s holder have a chance to drop either a gold or mana coin to picked up by the Coin user. (Think Thresh souls.) After one coin type has spawned, the next spawn is guaranteed to be the other type.
MAGNETISMCoin pickup range scales moderately with champion attack range
GOLD COINS20 gold for Ancient Coin, increased to 30 gold for Nomad's Medallion, Talisman of Ascension, and Eye of the Oasis
MANA COINS8% of missing mana (minimum 15 mana)
NEWLET’SA GOAncient Coin and its upgrades now grant +2 gold per 10 seconds
Supports often lag behind the rest of their team in experience, denying them access to base stats and skill ranks. Ancient Coin’s new quest gives supports a boost to stay competitive in ability ranks, granting them a skill point when they complete it.
Quest rewards
QUESTComplete Ancient Coin’s quest by earning 650 gold through the Favor passive and upgrading to Nomad’s Medallion or higher (progress preserved through item upgrades)
YOUR EMPEROR HAS RETURNEDFavor is upgraded to Emperor’s Favor on quest completion, causing takedowns on enemy champions to spawn gold and mana coins
ABOVE AND BEYONDOn quest completion, gain an Elixir of Skill that instantly grants a skill point when consumed. (You still have a max of 18 skill points per game meaning you’ll finish leveling your abilities at level 17.) The elixir is automatically consumed if no inventory space is available.
Relic Shield Line
Tanks want to be more tanky. A sweet shield - regenerated over time and accelerated by executing minions with Relic Shield - should give tank supports the durability they need to withstand poke, as well as a chunk of health to bolster their initiations.
Quest rewards
QUESTComplete Relic Shield’s quest by earning 650 gold through the Spoils of War passive and upgrading to Targon’s Brace or higher (progress preserved through item upgrades)
USE PROTECTIONRelic Shield’s item line gains Shield Battery on quest completion, granting a permanent shield that regenerates out of combat. Executing minions accelerates the regeneration.
Spellthief’s Edge Line
Most mage supports already churn out pretty decent damage (looking at you, Zyra/Brand), so rather than give them more damage as a quest reward, we wanted to give them something that feels distinct from the mid lane experience. Extra mobility gives them a tool to dance in and out of fights, giving them a unique reason to be played as supports, rather than mid laners.
Quest rewards
QUESTComplete Spellthief’s Edge’s quest by earning 650 gold through the Tribute passive and upgrading to Frostfang or higher (progress preserved through item upgrades)
GOTTA GO FASTTribute is upgraded to Queen’s Tribute on quest completion, causing procs to grant a short burst of movement speed
Tribute mechanics
DELIBERATIONTribute charges can only proc once every 1.25 seconds
MINION PENALTYLast-hitting minions disables Tribute for 12 seconds, refreshing with subsequent minion kills ⇒ 6 seconds, stacking per minion kill. (Reminder: this penalty only affects Spellthief’s Edge and Frostfang)
Frostfang
BASE MANA REGEN75% ⇒ 50%
ABILITY POWER15 ⇒ 20
Frost Queen's Claim
BASE MANA REGEN75% ⇒ 50%
ABILITY POWER50 ⇒ 60
Eye of the Watchers
BASE MANA REGEN100% ⇒ 50%
ABILITY POWER25 ⇒ 35
CONTRIBUTION CLARITY
Many aspects of League showcase damage and kills, but not many focus on what leads to those outputs - the stuns, heals, peels, and big beefy cows that set you up to kill the enemy squishies. We’re making the contributions of said unsung heroes more prominent, with the added benefit of improving tactical clarity for all.
This is our first step of many towards improving this space - look for more across the rest of the season.
Crowd Control Name Display
Crowd control effects can be easy to lose amidst the hubbub of battle, even moreso in a full-on teamfight. By temporarily replacing Summoner Names with the name of the effect, recognition of this vital information goes up. With this, you can tell just how many friends Amumu’s trying to make.
READING IS FUNWhen champions are crowd controlled, the name of the status effect replaces their summoner or champion name above their health bar until the effect ends
ICON’T BELIEVE ITCrowd control icons have been updated!
End of Game Stats
Four new stats have been added to the End of Game screen for your perusing pleasure!
TRY TO RUN ME THROUGHDamage Mitigated on Self (how much damage you reduced or blocked on yourself through your abilities and shields)
ART OF WARDamage Dealt to Objectives (damage dealt to Epic Monsters and Structures)
LOOK TO THE HORIZONDamage Dealt to Turrets (...damage dealt to turrets.)
NEVER SEE IT COMIN’Vision Score (measuring how effective your vision contribution and denial was)
HOLD UPCrowd Control Score (duration of all crowd control you applied over the game)*This one needs a bit more time in the shop. Look for it in a future patch!
Active Item Feedback
Ever wonder just how effectively you used your items? Wonder no longer, as we’re giving you numbers to track the answer to that very question. Gloat on, friends.
- Knight’s Vow: Damage Redirected and Healing Received
- Mikael’s Crucible: Successful Cleanses
- Redemption: Healing Done and Damage Dealt
Spell Attribution VFX
It can be hard to tell, and thus appreciate, who cast certain summoner spells or items on a target. This change adds a small VFX trail from caster to castee.
Death VFX
Our old death VFX were too slow and too subtle. We want players (and viewers) to be able to instantly discern when an ally or enemy dies, so we updated the VFX to be much snappier. This better communicates the flow of a teamfight.
Active Item HUD
The active (castable) portion of our items contain a lot of power and gold-efficiency … when used. This change adds a thicker and more prominent border to our major activatable items, reminding you to take full advantage of pickups such as Redemption, Zhonya’s Hourglass, and Blade of the Ruined King.
RIFT HERALD
Rift Herald has new visuals, a new fighting style, and can be summoned to wreak havoc to turrets.
We always wanted Rift Herald to be a compelling objective up toward top, but she’s historically failed to earn her place on the map. So, we revisited the encounter and its rewards for midseason. With a brand new fighting style (but same lack of protective eyewear), Rift Herald will feel like a more epic fight. Once defeated, the big changes come into play. She is imprisoned in a trinket that can be crushed to summon her. Once unleashed, she marches down to the nearest lane, ignoring enemy champions in her mindless drive to slam turrets (and inhibitors and the Nexus) into little pieces until killed. So maybe try to kill her while you still have a base left.
The encounter
SPAWN TIME10 minutes (unchanged)
ATTACK DAMAGE119-361 (based on level) ⇒ 100-250 (based on level)
ATTACK SPEED0.667 ⇒ 0.5
ATTACK RANGE150 ⇒ 250
EYE OPENING CADENCEEvery 3 seconds ⇒ 10 seconds, reduced by 2.5 seconds per champion attack
BLIND SPOTPoking Rift Herald’s eye deals 12% of her maximum health as damage (unchanged)
LEARNT MY LESSONRift Herald won’t open her eye below 15% health
OUT OF THE PITRift Herald can walk outside of the pit without losing aggro
SHE’S PATIENTRift Herald is more lenient towards swapping targets and leashing
GOLD REWARD50 (ish) global gold ⇒ 25 to her killer
NEWLEEROYAt the start of the fight, Rift Herald winds up and charges forward, knocking aside enemies she passes through and damaging them for double her attack damage
NEWENRAGEAt certain health thresholds, Rift Herald winds up for an attack that deals triple her attack damage in a cone in front of her
The reward
NEWRift Herald is captured in the Eye of the Herald when killed. Any member of the team that killed Rift Herald can pick it up, temporarily replacing their trinket.
CHAOS!Channeling Eye of the Herald for 3.5 seconds will crush it to summon Rift Herald from the void as your team’s ally
NEW(ISH)Eye of the Herald grants Empowered Recall while held
DURATIONEye of the Herald expires after 4 minutes if not used.
Rift Herald returned
CHAAARGEWhen summoned, Rift Herald will head to the nearest lane and starts killing enemy minions and structures
HEALTH4,000 - 6,400 (based on average level of game)
MOVEMENT SPEED425
ATTACK DAMAGE80-200 (based on average champion level of all ten players)
BASIC ATTACK3% of Herald's current health in addition to Base AD
TURRET LEAP ATTACKWhen Rift Herald approaches turrets she winds up and leaps into melee range, dealing 150 damage plus 25% of her current health to the turret and herself
NEWENRAGEAt certain health thresholds, Rift Herald winds up for an attack that deals double her attack damage in a cone in front of her (same as her encounter stage)
BLINDSPOTPoking Rift Herald’s eye deals 20% of her maximum health as damage
STAHPRift Herald can be affected by most forms of crowd control
EYE OPENING CADENCEEvery 3 seconds
DUCHESS SMASHRift Herald disables turret backdoor defenses even when no allied minions are nearby
CHAMPIONS
Magic Resist Per Level
With Aegis of the Legion's old aura out of the game, squishy champions who were relying on it to give them enough magic resist find themselves a bit on the burstable side.
HOORAYChampions who previously gained no magic resist per level now gain 0.5 per level
AFFECTED CHAMPIONSAhri, Anivia, Annie, Ashe, Aurelion Sol, Azir, Bard, Brand, Caitlyn, Cassiopeia, Corki, Draven, Elise, Ezreal, Fiddlesticks, Gnar, Graves, Heimerdinger, Janna, Jayce, Jhin, Jinx, Kalista, Karma, Karthus, Kassadin, Kayle, Kennen, Kindred, Kog’Maw, LeBlanc, Lissandra, Lucian, Lulu, Lux, Malzahar, Miss Fortune, Morgana, Nami, Nidalee, Orianna, Quinn, Rakan, Ryze, Sivir, Sona, Soraka, Swain, Syndra, Taliyah, Teemo, Thresh, Tristana, Twisted Fate, Twitch, Urgot, Varus, Vayne, Veigar, Vel’Koz, Viktor, Vladimir, Xayah, Xerath, Yasuo, Ziggs, Zilean, Zyra
Graves
Hmmm...
Collateral Damage can have strong combo potential, but Graves can't have a built-in way to ignore its tradeoffs.
General
ONE THING AT A TIMEGraves can no longer queue multiple spells during his basic attack animation
BUT WHYThis prevents an unintended interaction where Graves could remain in attack range after ulting by queuing both Collateral Damage and Quickdraw during the same attack animation
Renekton
Cleanin’ up a bunch of stuff.
General
PREMEDITATIONRenekton no longer ignores inputs during his ability’s cast times. Once an ability has completed, he’ll move on to the next queued action.
CONSOLIDATIONVarious buffs and timers tracked in the buff bar (ex. remaining time to cast Dice) are now tracked on their respective ability icons instead
Passive - Reign of Anger
BUGFIXRenekton’s first attack when (re)entering combat now properly grants the full 5 Fury
Q - Cull the Meek
BUGFIXCull the Meek’s range now properly scales with all size-modifying effects, not just Dominus
BUGFIXFixed a bug where Cull the Meek wasn’t hitting Invisible units
BUGFIXFixed a bug where Renekton could basic attack at the same time as Cull the Meek’s damage was dealt
E - Slice and Dice
BUGFIXFixed a timing issue that could inconsistently cause Slice and Dice to not hit enemies Renekton passes through
R - Dominus
BUGFIXNo longer deals an extra tick of damage on-cast
Ryze
Spell Flux still spreads if its target dies while E is mid-air.
We’re making Spell Flux more forgiving on higher-latency environments.
E - Spell Flux
LAG FORGIVENESSIf Spell Flux’s target dies while the projectile is traveling, Spell Flux will still spread to nearby enemies
Fizz
Heading off what would’ve been an unintentionally harsh interaction with Maokai’s updated passive.
W - Seastone Trident
CAN’T SAP THIS MAGICSeastone Trident’s damage-over-time ticks, including the initial application, no longer count as spell hits (matching similar persistent effects like Teemo’s Toxic Shot)
Shen
Heading off what would’ve been an unintentionally harsh interaction with Maokai’s updated passive.
Q - Twilight Assault
CAN’T SAP THIS MAGICTwilight Assault’s empowered attacks no longer count as spell hits
ITEMS
Poacher's Dirk
At its old price tag of 750 gold, Poacher’s Dirk was almost always a worse purchase than two Long Swords. We want to make Poacher’s Dirk a more competitive option, but we don’t want to power creep the item system. So we’re shrinking its cost and its stats. If you have the option to get two Long Swords, you’ll probably still want to go that route. But if you can’t pony up 700 gold, Poacher’s Dirk offers a chance to recover some tempo by making riskier plays, compared to the safer - but slower - option of stacking consumables instead.
COST750 gold ⇒ 600 gold
COMBINE COST400 gold ⇒ 250 gold
ATTACK DAMAGE15 ⇒ 10
COOLDOWN60 seconds ⇒ 50 seconds
RECALL VFX
Cleanin’ up a bunch of stuff.
PIXEL CONSERVATIONCleaned up some excess particles
WHERE DID MY RINGS GORecall VFX no longer clip into the ground
SUMMONER SPELLS
Teleport
Usability improvements.
CLOSE ENOUGHIf Teleport is cast off-screen, it’ll search for a nearby unit to target
HI, RUMBLESpells can no longer be queued during Teleport’s channel time
ROTATING GAME MODES
Dark Star: Singularity runs from 5/4/2017 at 11 AM PT to 5/15/2017 at 11:59 PM PT. Play as Dark Star Thresh in a 3v3 match on Cosmic Ruins, a new map with a Dark Star Thresh announcer and chilling new music.
- Hook or Flay opposing players and Abyss Scuttlers into the black hole in the center of the map to gain points
- You’ll fly further the more damage you’ve taken, but you can’t die from health loss
- The first team to 100 points wins the round, and the first team to win two rounds wins the game
You can unlock two icons for this game mode. Look out for more information as the Dark Star nears.
QUEUE HEALTH UPDATE
Ranked Solo/DuoBUGFIXES
- Enemies knocked out of a dash by displacement effects are now properly locked out of other actions (ex. Flash) for the duration of the displacement
- Vilemaw’s damage can no longer be avoided by standing in very specific spots along the wall
- Amumu's R - Curse of the Sad Mummy VFX no longer appear in the wrong place if Amumu flashes during its cast time
- Amumu's R - Curse of the Sad Mummy VFX no longer stay on the map forever if Amumu dies while casting it
- Redemption no longer erroneously counts as a spellcast for effects like Tear of the Goddess
- Shaco's clone no longer crashes the game if it dies in the fountain on ARAM
- Instances of Deathfire Touch are no longer overwritten by new instances that would expire sooner
- Singed’s Q - Poison Trail damage now increases as soon as he puts another skill point in it, rather than waiting until he toggles it off and on again
- Volibear's W - Frenzy attack speed bonus now increases as soon as he puts another skill point into it, rather than waiting until the buff falls off and is reapplied
- Fixed a bug that could cause Rakan’s Q - Gleaming Quill to cost no mana in certain situations
- Fixed a bug preventing Rakan from reliably proccing Kalista’s W - Sentinel soul-mark damage if he attacked too quickly after the mark was applied
- Udyr’s Q - Tiger Stance damage over time no longer melts wards
- Cosmic Dawn Rakan no longer leaves behind a purple ghost of himself after Recalling
- Similarly, Cosmic Dawn Rakan no longer turns himself purple when his Recall is cancelled
- Fixed Cosmic Dawn Rakan’s Recall and death audio
- Cosmic Dusk Xayah’s splash has been flipped in Xayah’s AIR client champion info page so she’s not covered up by the interface
- Fixed a Mac bug causing Cosmic Blade Master Yi’s W - Meditate and R - Highlander visual effects to flicker rapidly in some situations
- Fixed Conqueror Karma’s channeling animation (ex. when capturing Skarner’s Crystal Spires)
UPCOMING SKINS & CHROMAS
The following skins will be released in patch 7.9!
The following chromas will be released in patch 7.9!
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