Karthus Nerfs At Last!
For those of you looking for some reprieve from the oppression known as Karthus, it's time to breathe a sigh of relief. While it looks like a minor nerf on paper, 10% off the base damage is nothing to scoff at when you throw as many spells as Karthus does.Meanwhile, we're seeing a number of buffs all around the board to some popular junglers lately. Hopefully, this will shift up the meta a bit and move away from pure assassin junglers. Check out the full changes below!
Summary
Buffs: Rek'Sai, Azir, Gnar, Hecarim, Varus, Nunu, Trundle
Nerfs: Karthus, Lucian, Thresh, Urgot, Yasuo, Rengar,
Tweaks: Sylas, Zed
Patch 9.4 Notes
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 "Aether" Perscheid
Hanna “shio shoujo” WooPatch Highlights
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 DAMAGE50/70/90/110/130 ⇒ 45/65/85/105/125
BASE DAMAGE ON SINGLE TARGET100/140/180/220/260 ⇒90/130/170/210/250
BUGFIXNow 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
COST50 mana ⇒ 70 mana
BASE DAMAGE85/125/165/205/245 ⇒ 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 ORANGE BUTFury Bar now changes color from yellow to red when charged to max
Burrowed Q - Prey Seeker
FAST AND THE FURY-OUSNow grants 25 Fury to match Rek'Sai's other abilities
Unburrowed Q - Queen's Wrath
CALM DOWNEffect now ends and goes on cooldown if Rek'Sai is burrowed for more than 1 second
Unburrowed W - Burrow
TREMOR SENSETracking visuals for nearby enemies brightened
6 MORE WEEKS OF WINTERRek'Sai immediately burrows on respawn once she has at least one point in W
R - Void Rush
GOTTA GO FASTEnemies 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 RADIUS200 vs minions and monsters, 150 vs champions ⇒200 vs minions and monsters, 180 vs champions
CAST RANGE INDICATORNow includes an indicator to show the detonation location and radius
W - Kingslayer
BASE HEAL50/85/120/155/190 ⇒ 50/80/110/140/170
ICONIcon border now glows when Sylas is within the max healing threshold
NUMBERSKingslayer's damage displays as a crit if Sylas' target was within the bonus damage threshold
R - Hijack
TURRET AGGRESSIONSylas 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
COST60 mana ⇒ 70 mana
COOLDOWN16/15/14/13/12 seconds ⇒ 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
COST60 mana ⇒ 80 mana
W - Purge
COST45/50/55/60/65 mana ⇒ 65 mana at all ranks
SHIELD60/90/120/150/180 (+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 DAMAGE63 ⇒ 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 R - 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 GROWTH2.1% ⇒ 3.3%
Q - Razor Shuriken
DAMAGE80/115/150/185/220 (+0.9 bonus attack damage) ⇒90/125/160/195/230 (+1.0 bonus attack damage)
W - Living Shadow
RECAST RANGE1300 range ⇒ 1950 range
COOLDOWN22/20/18/16/14 seconds ⇒ 20/18.5/17/15.5/14 seconds
R - Death Mark
REMOVEDREAPER OF SHADOWSZed no longer gains 5 (+5/10/15% target's attack damage) attack damage when Death Mark earns him a takedown on a target that would grant him a higher bonus than his current one
Runes
UPDATEDConqueror
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.
REMOVEDTHE OLD THINGAfter 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.
NEWTHE NEW THINGDamaging 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.
ATTRITIONDamage-over-time effects and ongoing sources of damage (ex. Yorick's R - 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 DAMAGE60 ⇒ 65
WHOOPSCooldown reduction is now UNIQUE
SHOPNow 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
NEWBUDDY SYSTEMTribute procs now require an allied champion within 2000 range to grant gold, otherwise they only deal extra damage
TRIBUTE GOLD10/20/20 gold (Spellthief's Edge/Frostfang/Remnant of the Watchers)⇒ 11/22/22 gold (Spellthief's Edge/Frostfang/Remnant of the Watchers)
Ancient Coin Line
NEWBUDDY SYSTEMFavor procs now require an allied champion within 2000 range to drop gold coins, otherwise they only drop mana coins
FAVOR GOLD25/45/45 gold (Ancient Coin/Nomad's Medallion/Remnant of the Ascended) ⇒ 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 GROWTH1.5% ⇒ 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 GROWTH4.5 ⇒ 5.5
MEGA GNAR MAGIC RESIST GROWTH2 ⇒ 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
COST32/34/36/38/40 mana ⇒ 28/31/34/37/40 mana
E - Devastating Charge
COOLDOWN24/22/20/18/16 seconds ⇒ 20/19/18/17/16 seconds
Rengar
Fixed a bug where Empowered Q dealt more rank 1 damage than intended.
Bugfixin'.
Empowered Q - Savagery
LEVEL 1 BASE DAMAGE70 ⇒ 30
Sivir
Fixed a bug where W dealt more damage than intended.
Bugfixin'.
W - Ricochet
BOUNCE DAMAGE0.55/0.6/0.65/0.7/0.75 total attack damage ⇒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 DAMAGE2.5% (+2% per 100 ability power) target's max health per stack ⇒ 3/3.5/4/4.5/5% (+2% per 100 ability power) target's max health per stack
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
ICONIcon 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
COST60 mana ⇒ 40 mana
BONUS ATTACK SPEED20/35/50/65/80% ⇒ 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.
GHOSTEDThe 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!
BUGFIXProccing 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!
NERFThe 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 ATTACKShuriken model and hit VFX updated for readability between basic attack, empowered attack, and Thundering Shuriken
PASSIVE - MARK OF THE STORMProc VFX updated to better indicate source of the stun. Passive marks on minions are dimmer.
Q - THUNDERING SHURIKENShuriken model and hit VFX updated for readability between basic attack, empowered attack, and Thundering Shuriken
W - ELECTRICAL SURGESurge VFX updated. Empowered attack shuriken model and hit VFX updated for readability between basic attack, empowered attack, and Thundering Shuriken.
E - LIGHTNING RUSHVFX updated to indicate area of effect and show Kennen's model during the animation
R - SLICING MAELSTROMVFX updated to reduce visual noise
BLOOD MOON KENNENUnique VFX updated based on the same principles as the above
SUPER KENNENDoes a superhero pose during Lightning Rush
SHURIKENAll 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 ATTACKNow has swipe VFX. Hit VFX updated.
Q - UNDERTOWNow has hitbox and pick-up range indicators. Pick-up VFX updated.
W - VICIOUS STRIKESBuff and healing VFX updated. Floating runes removed.
E - RECKLESS SWINGOn-hit VFX updated
R - RAGNAROKNew lightning VFX on activation. Buff VFX updated.
BROLAFHas 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 OLAFHas firey VFX recoloring. Has the Pentakill logo on E hit and R activation.
BUTCHER OLAFQ hitbox indicator recolored to be meatier
SKT T1 OLAFHas 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 ATTACKVisual noise reduced
PASSIVE - RUNIC BLADERiven's sword and hand now glow instead of creating a green energy ball with rune trails on top of her hand
Q - BROKEN WINGSVFX updated to be less noise and unique per cast. Ground damage VFX added to indicate area of effect.
W - KI BURSTVFX updated to reduce visual noise on the ground symbol and better indicate area of effect
E - VALORDash and shield VFX updated. Shield runes changed to be the pieces of Riven's sword.
R - BLADE OF THE EXILEBuff 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 RIVENVFX infused with beta keratin (they're recolored orange). E shield runes are carrots.
DRAGONBLADE RIVENHas skin-specific smokey/firey VFX. Passive VFX is a flame ring around her hand. E shield runes are dragon crests.
CHAMPIONSHIP, ARCADE, DAWNBRINGER, PULSEFIREVFX unchanged
Wukong
Bringing Wukong's attacks and abilities up to current League quality and readability standards.
SFX UPDATESBase, Volcanic, General, Jade Dragon, and Underworld Wukong have received updated basic attack, Q, E, and R SFX
BASIC ATTACKNow has swipe VFX. Hit VFX added.
Q - CRUSHING BLOWBuff and swing VFX updated to reduce visual noise. Hit VFX updated to be more impactful. Armor debuff icon now appears on target.
W - DECOYCloud VFX on clone despawn updated to reduce visual noise
E - NIMBUS STRIKECloud VFX on dash updated to be wispier and leave a slight trail
R - CYCLONEVFX 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 WUKONGHas gray recoloring on basic attack swipe and R VFX
JADE WUKONGHas jade green recoloring on basic attack swipe, Q, and R VFX
UNDERWORLD WUKONGHas spectral green recoloring on all VFX
RADIANT WUKONGQ uses base's new swing and hit VFX. E dash and R VFX updated but still use skin-specific cloud effects.
Champion Animation Updates
Katarina
ZOOMINBase run animation updated
GO FASTFast run animation updated
SKIDMovement stop animation updated
Twisted Fate
SAUNTERBootless walk animation added
FLAPPYTwisted Fate's cape turns more realistically as he moves
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
CHALLENGERChallenger opens on February 20
SPLASH UPLP splashing can now put your off-positions into promotion series
HEADS UPYou now get decay warnings for your off-positions
RANKED EMOTESOnce you've earned the Ranked emote, it'll upgrade as you complete promo series and climb the ladder
NAME DROPThe animated celebrations for promoting into a new tier now includes your summoner name
PAPER TRAILHovering over your split points now shows you how you earned those points
Already shipped
GRANDMASTERGrandmaster opened on February 7
SWAP STOPRanked is better at preventing position swap abuse
TOP HEAVYLP 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 W - Shapesplitter passive now properly damages turrets when Neeko has more ability power than attack damage
- Kalista can no longer cast E - Rend with insufficient mana
- Anivia's Q - Flash Frost and R - Glacial Storm slow particles no longer persist on enemies
- Twitch's R - Spray and Pray now properly procs Energized effects when attacking from Rapid Firecannon's max range
- Urgot's R - Fear Beyond Death execute indicator no longer shows up on enemies when Urgot is dead
- Fixed an issue where chargeable abilities (ex. Varus' Q - 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 full-res splash art!
The following chromas will be released this patch:
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