Introduction

Some welcome nerfs on Karma and Sivir this patch should bring them out of the pick/ban state to a much more manageable level. Meanwhile, Udyr's got an interesting buff/tweak coming up that will allow him additional build paths. Meanwhile, these Illaoi "buffs" that Riot's putting out there might end up being a nerf on some levels, but we'll see how that plays out...

Check out the full scope below!

Summary

Buffs: Corki, Diana, Ornn, Sylas, Syndra, Tristana, Udyr

Nerfs: Karma, Pyke, Sejuani, Sivir, Sona

Tweaks: Illaoi

Patch 9.13 Notes

BY AETHER, SHIO SHOUJO

Hey tacticians! Who's ready for some Teamfight Tactics?

Patch 9.13 marks the official launch of the long-awaited game mode and we will begin rolling-out to regions all over the world starting today. We'll be continuously updating and building it with you, so please let us know if you have any feedback and report bugs as you see them!

We're welcoming Qiyana to the Rift as well. The Empress of the Elements is sure to tickle the bones of those who love playing quick and high-damage assassins.

We also want to give a shout out to those who've been following the Life of a Patch campaign with the balance team! It was great pulling back the curtain on the champion balancing process and giving a more in depth runthrough of how and why we make the buffs and nerfs we do. Those who kept an eye on the Nexus hub with the live champion iterations won't be surprised at the changes to Illaoi, Pyke, and Udyr, and Sona nerfs (sob) listed below.

P.S. Grumps is the best Little Legend. You know which one we mean.

Hanna “shio shoujo” Woo

Paul "Aether" Perscheid

Patch Highlights

Qiyana, Arcade Caitlyn, Arcade Kai'Sa, Battle Boss Qiyana, Battle Boss Yasuo, and Arcade Caitlyn Prestige Edition will be available on June 28, 2019.

Teamfight Tactics

Teamfight Tactics will be coming in 9.13 to players all over the world! Play against seven opponents in a free-for-all race to build a powerful team that fights on your behalf and be the last one standing.

As a reminder, the mode is still in beta! Players may experience bugs during their time in Teamfight Tactics, but we'd appreciate reports as well as general feedback on it. We're here to build this new mode with you.

We'll also be monitoring server health throughout its run in 9.13 and make note of potential balance changes based on what we see and hear from you. For more information, please check out the official Teamfight Tactics website!

Champions

Qiyana

Empress of the Elements

Qiyana arrives to conquer the Rift on June 28!

High-res versions of Qiyana's splash arts are available on League Displays!

Corki

R ammo bar now reads left-to-right. The Package ARAM timers adjusted.

For ARAM enthusiasts, we've adjusted Corki's Package timers on the Howling Abyss to give him more chances to hit his opponents with a Special Delivery. For Corki fans of all stripes, we've adjusted how his ammo bar tracks missiles: The leftmost missile is now the next to fire. Since Corki's ammo is still attached to the left of his health bar, this means the next missile no longer moves when Corki gets another charge, making it easier to know at a glance if the next missile is a Big One.

Passive - Hextech Munitions

ARAM FIRST PACKAGE SPAWN TIME8:00 ⇒ 5:00

ARAM PACKAGE COOLDOWN240 seconds ⇒ 150 seconds

R - Missile Barrage

AMMO BARLeft missile is now always the next to fire, with new charges loading in from the right

Diana

Q QoL changes.

We've recoded Diana’s Q so it feels better when casting. Most of the improvements are pretty subtle, so we've listed a couple of the more explicit upgrades here to make sure you know about 'em.

Q - Crescent Strike

TIP OF THE MOONBERGTip of the Diana's Crescent Strike arc now reveals Fog of War for a short duration

MOONLIGHT SONATACrescent Strike casts more consistently aim toward the cursor

CRASH LANDINGCrescent Strike travels slightly faster

Illaoi

W minimum damage added; also applies to turrets. Tentacles disappear faster when Illaoi leaves. E Spirit and Vessel duration decreased; time between Tentacle attacks decreased. R Tentacle cap increased.

We're hitting two octopi with one tentacle and buffing Illaoi while also modernizing the way her abilities work. She should feel a lot better to play and stronger in general when you add up all the smaller QoL changes and buffs.

Passive - Prophet of an Elder God

NEWTENTACLE AP RATIO0.4 ability power

REMOVEDTMITentacles will no longer go into an idle state when Illaoi is not around to command them

NEWTICK TOCKIllaoi can now ping Prophet of an Elder God's cooldown to her team

BYETentacles despawn after Illaoi has left the area for 60 seconds ⇒ 30 seconds

FOG OF WAREnemies gain vision of Tentacles through Fog of War within1400 range ⇒ 1000 range

BUGFIXEnemy champions no longer globally get vision of attacking Tentacles

BUGFIXFixed a bug where Tentacle slams that were mid-flight when Illaoi died dealt no damage

W - Harsh Lesson

NEWMINIMUM DAMAGE20/30/40/50/60

NEWKICK IT INTO OVERDRIVEMinimum damage is dealt as bonus damage to turrets

E - Test of Spirit

REMOVEDREDUCED SPIRIT DURATIONSpirit duration is no longer reduced each time Illaoi is damaged by the target

BASE SPIRIT DURATION10 seconds ⇒ 7 seconds

BASE VESSEL DURATION12 seconds ⇒ 10 seconds

TIME BETWEEN TENTACLE ATTACKSOnce every 10 seconds at all levels ⇒Once every 5/4/3 seconds (levels 1/7/13)

R - Leap of Faith

MAXIMUM SUMMONS5 Tentacles ⇒ 6 Tentacles

LENIENCYLeap of Faith Tentacles no longer despawn mid-attack if Illaoi commands them to slam with Harsh Lesson

Karma

Base E movement speed duration decreased.

Karma definitely had room for some power heading into 9.12, but we went too hard. We're pulling her buffs back a touch.

E - Inspire

MOVEMENT SPEED DURATION2.5 seconds ⇒ 1.5 seconds (empowered E duration still 2.5 seconds)

Ornn

Q damage ratio increased.

Helping Ornn battle more in lane.

Q - Volcanic Rupture

RATIO1.0 attack damage ⇒ 1.1 attack damage

Pyke

Q cooldown decreased early; stab damage bonus removed. W movement speed now scales. E no longer damages non-champions.

We're targeting solo lane Pyke because his strong anti-harass tools make him an impossible-to-avoid death trap if he gets too far ahead. To help curb that, we're specifically hitting his wave clear.

Q - Bone Skewer

STAB TARGETINGAoE (30% reduced damage on non-champions) ⇒ Single target (hits nearest unit, preferring nearest champion)

REMOVEDBONUS STAB DAMAGEBone Skewer's stab cast no longer deals 15% bonus damage

COOLDOWN14/12.5/11/9.5/8 seconds ⇒ 12/11/10/9/8 seconds

W - Ghostwater Dive

MOVEMENT SPEED40% (decaying over 5 seconds) ⇒ 40/45/50/55/60% (decaying over 5 seconds)

E - Phantom Undertow

REMOVEDMINION & MONSTER DAMAGEPhantom Undertow no longer damages non-champions

Sejuani

Health growth decreased. W second cast damage ratio decreased.

The last time Sejuani was buffed was right before MSI in patch 9.8. Since then, she has climbed from a fringe pro pick to being in nearly 100% of pro games. While the buff was intended to let Sejuani scale better with items, we went too far, so we’re pulling back a bit.

Base Stats

HEALTH GROWTH105 ⇒ 95

W - Winter's Wrath

SECOND CAST DAMAGE RATIO6% Sejuani's maximum health ⇒ 5.25% Sejuani's maximum health

Sivir

Attack damage growth, mana regen decreased. W cost increased.

We went a little lighter on Sivir because (spoiler alert) the Essence Reaver nerfs going live this patch will undoubtedly affect her. We’re mainly targeting her early game pressure through W's mana change and applying #cleannumbers to some base stats (less for the minimal balance impact, more because weird decimals are unsightly).

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH3.11 ⇒ 3

MANA REGEN8.012 ⇒ 8

W - Ricochet

COST60 mana ⇒ 75 mana

Sona

Q aura damage ratio decreased. E bonus movement speed ratio decreased.

(A note from Shio Shoujo: Y'all knew it was coming. We're nerfing my baby girl.)

While it may seem like we're doing this just because of the in-vogue bot lane Sona, she's been extremely close to our thresholds for acceptable win rates (outlined in our Balance Framework that you should go read if you haven't already) in solo queue for awhile and is the most commonly banned bot lane champion in pro play right now.

We're also seeing more than just Sona with Taric, mind you. We're seeing Sona and Tahm Kench, Sona and Pyke, etc. which points toward specifically nerfing her rather than Taric. To be clear, we're not explicitly trying to kill Sona + XX bot lanes: Even if she were a standard bot carry, she'd still be deserving of a nerf on multiple fronts.

Q - Hymn of Valor

AURA DAMAGE RATIO0.3 ability power ⇒ 0.2 ability power

E - Song of Celerity

BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED RATIO6% movement speed per 100 ability power⇒ 3% movement speed per 100 ability power

Sylas

Base attack damage, health growth increased. W base damage increased.

We're giving Sylas longer-term attention as we assess his status in higher levels of play. In the meantime, we're giving him some power back.

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE58 ⇒ 61

HEALTH GROWTH85 ⇒ 95

W - Kingslayer

BASE DAMAGE60/90/120/150/180 ⇒ 65/100/135/170/205

E - Abscond/Abduct

BUGFIXTooltip now properly mentions all mana scaling per rank information

Syndra

Mana growth increased.

Syndra's currently not a must-pick in higher levels of play like she has been in the past, so we want to take this opportunity to boost her a little in an attempt to make her more viable across all skill brackets where players are more likely to run into mana issues.

Base Stats

MANA GROWTH30 ⇒ 40

Tristana

Attack damage growth, mana increased; mana regen decreased. W damage increased.

Cleaning up her base stats and giving her a minor buff for when she opts into a more aggressive playstyle.

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH3.11 ⇒ 3.3

MANA246.76 ⇒ 250

MANA REGEN7.206 ⇒ 7.2

W - Rocket Jump

MAGIC DAMAGE85/135/185/235/285 ⇒ 95/145/185/245/295

Udyr

All abilities can now be leveled to rank 6.

We're looking to bring some balance to Udyr's stances and playstyles so he's not overwhelmingly choosing one over the others. Plus he'll now have some useful points to spend at later levels.

Passive - Monkey's Ability

NEWABILITY RANKSAll abilities can now be leveled up 6 times, starting at level 16

Q - Tiger Stance

DAMAGE30/60/90/120/150 (+1.2/1.35/1.5/1.65/1.8 attack damage) ⇒30/60/90/120/150/180 (+1.1/1.25/1.4/1.55/1.7/1.85 attack damage)

W - Turtle Stance

SHIELD60/95/130/165/200 ⇒ 60/95/130/165/200/235

E - Bear Stance

BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED15/20/25/30/35% ⇒ 15/20/25/30/35/40%

BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED DURATION2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3 seconds ⇒2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3/3.25 seconds

R - Phoenix Stance

CONE DAMAGE40/80/120/160/200 ⇒ 50/95/140/185/230/275

DAMAGE PER TICK10/20/30/40/50 ⇒ 10/20/30/40/50/60

Responsiveness Pass

Similar to some of the work on Diana's Q, the following abilities more quickly and reliably apply their effects to enemies they hit:

Jarvan IV's E - Demacian Standard > Q - Dragon Strike
Kennen's E - Lightning Rush
Tryndamere's E - Spinning Slash

Items

Essence Reaver

Upgrade cost decreased; total cost increased. Build path adjusted.

We made it stronger and think it merits B.F. Sword's inclusion in its recipe again. However, now that it is stronger, it shouldn't be easier to build than Infinity Edge, which it is similar to in strength and tier.

COST3200 gold ⇒ 3300 gold

BUILD PATHPickaxe + Caulfield's Warhammer + Cloak of Agility + 425 gold ⇒ B.F. Sword + Caulfield's Warhammer + Cloak of Agility + 100 gold

Randuin's Omen

Upgrade and total cost decreased.

Giving more options in armor choices for those who want to build more tanky.

COST2900 gold (900 gold combine cost) ⇒ 2700 gold (700 gold combine cost)

Rod of Ages

Upgrade and total cost decreased.

Rod of Ages takes too long to provide its benefits in a relatively fast paced meta. A price reduction makes it a slightly more realistic option for users that might consider it.

COST2700 gold (750 gold combine cost) ⇒ 2600 gold (650 gold combine cost)

Your Shop Returns

Personalized discounts are back from June 28th, 2019 – July 22nd, 2019!

Damage Text Updates

We've updated damage text colors for consistency and readability, as well as to set us up for future work like the Death Recap update (did you watch Riot Pls yet?)

COLORINGPhysical damage text is now always orange, magic damage text is now always cyan, and true damage will still remain white.

SPIKEYCrit damage text icon now matches the stat panel icon

PUNCHYCrit damage text animation should feel more impactful and satisfying

WIPColorblind support will be added for these updates next patch.

Bugfixes

Taliyah, Morgana, and Ezreal's ability VO lines will play less frequently
/mute all, /fullmute all, and /ignore all no longer also mutes your own pings
Lucian's R - The Culling now properly activates the movement speed bonus from hitting targets with W - Ardent Blaze