Official Patch 8.1 Notes Released!

Introduction

Official Season 8 ranked begins January 16th, and the last few buffs are in place to kick things off. Check out the latest on the horizon with Zoe and surprisingly, Heimerdinger nerfs in store. Meanwhile, my buddy Brand got a bit of a buff this time around, which is perfect for when the tryhard tanks come back around. 

Check out the full scope below!

Summary

Buffs: Brand, Evelynn, Graves, Skarner, Syndra

Nerfs: Heimerdinger, Kayle, Zoe

Patch 8.1 notes

BY AETHER, GENTLEMAN GUSTAF, LUQIZILLA

Greetings, Summoners,

It's the first patch of the new season, and that means it's our last chance to make changes before the season starts! We already had an extra patch (7.24b) to round out the preseason leading into the holiday break, so this patch is a good deal smaller than usual.

The Ranked ladder resets with this patch, so we’ll see you out there for placements. To go with that, there are a few updates to the Honor system aimed at rewarding honorable players with some sweet loot!

GLHF!

 Paul "Aether" Perscheid Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman Lucas "Luqizilla" Moutinho

Patch Highlights

If you’re following our Facebook page, this video should look familiar. We figured we’d see what happens if we put it in the Patch Notes, too!

Start of Season

Note: these changes will come into effect when the season starts on January 16.

RANKEDThe 2018 Ranked season begins in the early morning of January 16

HEXTECH CHESTSYou can once more earn Hextech chests for each champion by getting an S- or higher rank in game

We saw that Challenger players were facing Master tier duos pretty regularly, which ends up making the queue less competitive overall (despite the original intention back in 2016), and also punishes duos on the upper echelons of Master for winning too hard. We’ll be monitoring how much this impacts the health of the queue over the coming weeks

CHALLENGER TIERIn Ranked Solo/Duo, Challenger players can now duo queue

Champions

Brand

Passive damage-over-time increased.

Brand was one of the top users of Deathfire Touch, and without it, his baseline damage is lacking.

Passive - Blaze

DAMAGE PER STACK2% target's maximum health ⇒ 4% target's maximum health

Evelynn

E buff-fix.

E - Whiplash

BUFF-FIXWhiplash no longer goes on cooldown if it fizzles due to Evelynn losing vision of her target during its cast time.

Graves

Q cost and cooldown decreased. W slows more heavily but for less time.

Graves has unreliable in the early game. His burst damage is high enough that it doesn't need an increase, so we made some small changes to give him more room to shine early.

Q - End of the Line

COST60/70/80/90/100 mana ⇒ 60/65/70/75/80 mana

COOLDOWN14/13/12/11/10 seconds ⇒ 13/12/11/10/9 seconds

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W - Smoke Screen

SLOW STRENGTH15/20/25/30/35% ⇒ 50% at all ranks

SLOW DURATION1.5 seconds ⇒ 0.5 seconds

Heimerdinger

Big turret beam damage decreased.

Ya boy Heimerdinger does some serious damage. Probably too much, in fact...

R - UPGRADE!!!'d Q - H-28G Evolution Turret

BEAM BASE DAMAGE200/270/340 ⇒ 100/140/180 (0.7 ability power ratio unchanged)

Kayle

Attack damage growth and bonus attack speed reduced. E cooldown increased early and decreased later.

Without the stats (namely CDR) from the old rune system, Kayle has a harder time reaching full uptime ranged attacks with Righteous Fury. On the other hand, most of the new runes gave her more damage overall. We're trimming back on basic attack damage, while making it easier for her to reach full E - Righteous Fury uptime more easily.

Base stats

ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH2.8 ⇒ 2.2

INNATE BONUS ATTACK SPEED15% ⇒ 10%

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E - Righteous Fury

COOLDOWN16 seconds at all ranks ⇒ 18/17/16/15/14 seconds

Skarner

E proc deals more damage and stuns for longer. Base mana increased.

Skarner has been pretty weak in the preseason, so we're buffing up his damage, crowd control, and mana.

Base stats

BASE MANA272.2 ⇒ 320

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E - Fracture

PROC DAMAGE25/35/45/55/65 ⇒ 30/50/70/90/110

PROC STUN DURATION1 second ⇒ 1.5 seconds

Syndra

A lot of R bugfixes.

Weird things have been happening if Unleashed Power's target died or became invulnerable before every sphere dealt damage. We've fixed a lot of those bugs.

R - Unleashed Power

OVERKILLAll Dark Spheres now consistently fly at Unleashed Power's target, even if the target dies or goes invulnerable

THREE IN THE CHAMBERThe three spheres orbiting Syndra now properly materialize even if Unleashed Power's target dies as the ability is cast

DON’T YOU TAKE ME TOSyndra's movement no longer becomes funky for a few seconds if Unleashed Power's target dies before all spheres have fired

BALLS ON THE FIELDDark Spheres that didn't damage Unleashed Power's target now properly interact with Syndra's other abilities

BALLDERDASHDark Spheres that didn't damage Unleashed Power's target no longer move erratically when affected by Syndra's other abilities

STEADY HANDSDark Spheres created shortly after Unleashed Power ends no longer move erratically when affected by Syndra's other abilities

Zoe

E trap arm time increased. R exit portal delay decreased.

Zoe's skillshots hit or missed based mostly on her skill, not her opponents'. We want to give a bit more room for players to actively dodge Zoe's damage, so we're giving players more time to see where Zoe (or her skillshots are) before they're struck.

Q - Paddle Star

UPDATEDNow takes longer to register Zoe's new position (for purposes of calculating damage) when casting R - Portal Jump

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E - Sleepy Trouble Bubble

DELAY BEFORE TRAP IS CREATED0.6s ⇒ 0.8s

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R - Portal Jump

DELAY BEFORE EXIT PORTAL APPEARS0.1s ⇒ 0s

Varus Splash Update

Exactly what it says~

Runes

Predator

Addressing a few feels-bad parts of Predator.

Predator is still a bit awkward to use, so we're introducing some usability tweaks to make its activation more consistent and its proc more intelligent.

NEWPARTIAL REFUNDIf Predator's channel is interrupted, 50% of the cooldown is now refunded

NEWHUNT THE WEAKIf Predator's bonus damage is proc'd via an area-of-effect ability, it will now prioritize the lowest-health target hit

NEWADRENALINEPredator's rate of movement speed increase is increased by 50% for the first second and a half of the effect. This is unlisted in the tooltip because if you're making decisions around it, you're probably overthinking things.

Resolve Path Stat Bonuses

Stat bonuses are now split between health and the stat provided by your secondary rune path, and provide the same amount regardless of whether Resolve is primary or secondary.

Taking Resolve tree secondary was a pretty good call in the old system because runes and masteries combined gave you a decent chunk of baseline durability. Without that stat infusion, taking Resolve (in the new system) doesn't feel great. We're changing the way Resolve grants stats as a primary/secondary tree in order to make it a more viable secondary tree.

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Resolve primary

RESOLVE + SORCERY130 health ⇒ 65 health plus 10 ability power or 6 attack damage, adaptive

RESOLVE + DOMINATION130 health ⇒ 65 health plus 9 ability power or 5.4 attack damage, adaptive

RESOLVE + PRECISION130 health ⇒ 65 health plus 9% attack speed

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Resolve secondary

SORCERY + RESOLVE20 ability power or 12 attack damage, adaptive ⇒ 65 health plus 10 ability power or 6 attack damage, adaptive

DOMINATION + RESOLVE18 ability power or 10.8 attack damage, adaptive ⇒ 65 health plus 9 ability power or 5.4 attack damage, adaptive

PRECISION + RESOLVE18% attack speed ⇒ 65 health plus 9% attack speed

Runes Bugfixes

• Unsealed Spellbook now properly updates its user's Summoner Spell icons in Spectator Mode
• End-of-game runes stats that report duration (ex. Lethal Tempo's "Total Active Time") now use 00:00 formatting instead of number of seconds active
• Glacial Augment & Arcane Comet now have ally/enemy color differentiation
• Ally hits will no longer count towards Electrocute if both allies have the Keystone equipped
• Fixed interactions between the Flash lockout on Skarner and Fiddlesticks' ults and the Hextech Flashtraption and Unsealed Spellbook runes, which could cause Skarner and Fiddlesticks to lose access to Flash and Hexflash
• Rengar can no longer extend his leap range from brush via Hextech Flashtraption
• Triumph's gold and healing are now properly granted to units in stasis when a takedown is earned
• Arcane Comet's tooltip now properly lists its base damage
• Kleptomancy's level-up UI no longer persists when using Elixir of Skill at Level 18
• Cleaned up Runes VFX in Spectator VFX to remove overlapping particles
• Manaflow Band now works properly with alternate HUD schemes (Flipped Minimap, Team Frames on Left, etc.)
• Fixed a bug where abilities that cost health to cast will cause Revitalize's bonus healing amount in the rune panel to decrease.

Item Selling

Normally, selling an item means buying another right after. Selling and then leaving base immediately is mostly the product of misclicking.

SELLER'S REMORSEIf you close the item shop within 0.25 seconds of selling an item, the sale is cancelled

Healthbar Update

Readability Improvements

• Higher contrast red health
• Darker background (to pop health even more)
• Bigger, brighter level text
• Slightly slimmer border
• Smaller name text (creates contrast with CC states and room for club tags)

Bug Fixes

• Shield decay displaying as red damage (fixed in 7.24 cycle)
• Club tags are back

Honor

Honor in 2018 is seeing some changes based on your feedback. Fighting to win earns you more rewards that get better as you level up. New checkpoints between Honor levels let you track your progress. Just like Ranked, your Honor level resets at season start so you can claim rewards all over again. These changes will ship at season start!

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Checkpoints

There are now three checkpoints in between each Honor level. For every checkpoint after level 2, you’re guaranteed a reward to celebrate your progress. Checkpoints stop after Honor level 5 (because there’s no level 6), but you’ll still get rewards at the same intervals

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Honor Reset

Your Honor level resets at season start to a checkpoint between levels 2 and 3. Players who finished at levels 3, 4, and 5 earn a small boost depending on their level.

RESET 5Level 5 ⇒ Level 2, checkpoint 3

RESET 4Level 4 ⇒ Level 2, checkpoint 2

RESET 3Level 3 ⇒ Level 2, checkpoint 1

RESET 2Level 2 ⇒ Level 2, no checkpoints

RESET 1/0Level 1 and below do not reset

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New Rewards

We’ve made some big adjustments to how rewards work. New keyless Honor Orbs drop at every checkpoint past level 3 and keep coming after Honor level 5. Honor Capsules now drop when you reach levels 3, 4, and 5. That means you’ll get fewer Capsules than before, but they’ll contain the most exclusive rewards. Orbs and Capsules give you better rewards with every level up. Here’s what you’ll earn every time you level up or reach a checkpoint.

Level 1

LEVEL UP1 Key

Level 2

LEVEL UP1 Key

CHECKPOINT2 Key fragments

Level 3

LEVEL UPLevel 3 Capsule containing 3 Key fragments, a ward skin, and 300 Blue Essence or a higher value Champion Shard

CHECKPOINTLevel 3 Orb containing 2 Key fragments and 150 Blue Essence or a higher value Champion Shard

Level 4

LEVEL UPLevel 4 Capsule containing 4 Key fragments, an emote, and 630 Blue Essence or a higher value Champion Shard

CHECKPOINTLevel 4 Orb containing 2 Key fragments and 200 Blue Essence or a higher value Champion Shard

Level 5

LEVEL UPLevel 5 Capsule containing 5 Key fragments, Grey Warwick or Medieval Twitch, and 960 Blue Essence or a higher value Champion Shard. If both skins are owned, you’re guaranteed an emote or ward skin instead.

CHECKPOINTLevel 5 Orb containing 3 Key fragments and 250 Blue Essence or a higher value Champion Shard

Bugfixes

• Fixed a bug where Galio's shield from W - Shield of Durand would expire, rather than refresh 12 seconds after taking damage
• Champions with manaless abilities (such as Elise or Nidalee in Cougar form) can no longer stack Tear of the Goddess with their manaless abilities
• Energy or resourceless champion—such as Riven or Yasuo—can no longer stack Tear of the Goddess. Their allies can still stack tears, however.
• Gangplank's Q - Parrrley now correctly goes on cooldown on cast start instead of cast end
• QTPie—oops, we mean Zac—will no longer get stuck in his R - Let's Bounce! animation continuously if he revives with Guardian Angel after during the cast animation
• Vayne's first Q - Tumble attack out of R - Final Hour's stealth can now correctly be heard/seen
• Fixed a bug where many hard crowd controls would interrupt several charged/channeled abilities even when they had been blocked by a spell shield
• Fixed a bug where the healthbar fade and shake animations were displayed even if "Show Health Bar Shake" option was disabled
• Super Galaxy Gnar's transformation to and from Mega Gnar has been visually changed to remove a seizure risk
• Fixed a severe client load time issue for players using macOS version 10.8 or earlier. To get the fix, you'll have to completely reinstall League
• Gangplank's R - Cannon Barrage cooldown will no longer reset when buying the Raise Morale upgrade
• Cho'Gath's E - Vorpal Spikes-empowered attacks no longer interrupt the basic attacks of enemy champions they hit
• Ornn's W - Bellows Breath “Brittle” proc and the Grasp of the Undying Keystone rune no longer apply their effects if the attack that would apply them is blocked
• Nidalee's Cougar Q - Takedown no longer damages enemies if its empowered attack is dodged
• Fixed very rare instances where canceling an auto attack could also cause an in-flight projectile (ex. E - Grasping Roots) to disappear
• Fixed a bug where chaining certain dashes together would cause the second dash to last for the same duration as the first. If any Maokais were wondering why W - Twisted Advance took so long to reach a target after exiting Tahm Kench's R - Abyssal Voyage... that's why.
• Clicking on an enemy tower will now consistently show its item inventory
• Elementalist Lux's R - Final Spark water form VFX have been restored
• Elementalist Lux's Q - Light Binding fire form VFX have been restored
• Nunu Bot's arms are no longer missing electric VFX
• Sherwood Forest and Woad Ashe's Q - Ranger's Focus now have appropriately themed bolts when using Runaan's Hurricane
• Pool Party Lulu's R - Wild Growth ground VFX no longer slowly pulse on low and very low settings
• Jade Fang Cassiopeia's R - Petrifying Gaze overlay is no longer overwritten by Rylai's Crystal Scepter
• River Spirit Nami's orbs on E - Tidecaller's Blessing are no longer offset during rotation
• Bat VFX have been restored on Bewitching Nidalee's Cougar Q - Pounce when jumping towards hunted targets
• Ambitious Elf Jinx's W - Zap! trail no longer appears in front of the candy projectile
• Ambitious Elf Jinx's hair no longer stretches unnaturally during several animations
• Animal VFX for Spirit Guard Udyr's dance have been restored when he's in rank five W - Turtle Stance
• Hextech Kog'Maw's E - Void Ooze VFX around the spit blob projectile no longer disappear beneath elevated terrain

Upcoming Skins & Emotes

The following skins will be released in patch 8.1:

God Staff Jax

The following emotes will be released in patch 8.1:

D'Pengu / Was that Me? / Come at Me