Introduction

Patch 9.18 is upon us featuring nerfs to mostly pro play based champions like Akali and Aatrox. Meanwhile, solo queue smashers like Annie and Miss Fortune are getting buffed this patch, so keep on the lookout for them in the upcoming patch. Check out the full scope of changes below!

Summary

Buffs: Annie, Caitlyn, Ekko, Evelynn, Jhin, Kayle, Lee Sin, Miss Fortune, Teemo, Warwick, Zoe
Nerfs: Aatrox, Akali, Kai'Sa, Nunu & Willump, Xayah

Patch 9.18 notes

BY SHIO SHOUJO, RIOT AETHER

Hey patch notes readers, want to form a contract with me?

We're coming down to the final stretch! 9.19 will be the patch Worlds is played on, so we're adding in some changes that shouldn't rock the boat too much, but helps get us to place that encourages champion diversity and fun times during the most hype event of the year ~

With that in mind, in this patch we're taking another look at Aatrox and Akali specifically to make sure they don't completely dominate the meta, since they've been seeing high picks and play time in pro throughout the year.

See you in another two weeks! But if you decide to die for the good of the universe, call me anytime.

Hanna “shio shoujo” Woo

Paul "Aether" Perscheid

Patch Highlights

Star Guardian Rakan, Xayah, Zoe, and Neeko (including her Prestige Edition) will be available on September 12, 2019.

Champions

Aatrox

Passive now heals for less against minions. Q damage to minions reduced and flattened.

Aatrox is still highly valued in pro play, so we're taking another swing at him. We're nerfing his sustain and waveclear at the late laning phase points (around level 7-11) to hit his flexibility in lane matchups and his ability to flex into multiple roles.

Passive - Deathbringer Stance

HEALHeals for bonus physical damage dealt to anything ⇒ Heals for 25% of the damage dealt when stabbing a minion (healing vs. other targets unchanged)

Q - The Darkin Blade

DAMAGE TO MINIONS50-100% (levels 1-18) ⇒ 40% at all levels

Akali

R cooldown increased early. R1 stun removed. R2 base maximum damage decreased early.

Similar to Aatrox, we're focusing our changes on Akali's pro presence, specifically in limiting her power before her level 11 spike. We're removing the stun on her R1 too to increase counterplay and open up the number of champions that can play against her. Ultimately, we think it's a good change for her in the long term.

R - Perfect Execution

REMOVEDR1 STUNAkali no longer stuns her enemies for 0.5 seconds

R2 MAXIMUM DAMAGE255/450/645 (+0.9 ability power) ⇒ 195/420/645 (+0.9 ability power)

COOLDOWN120/110/100 seconds ⇒ 160/130/100 seconds

Annie

E now grants decaying movement speed; damage reduction decreased; cooldown increased.

Giving Annie more pep in her step in lane with an additional benefit on her E so she can make more plays when on her own.

E - Molten Shield

NEWMOVEMENT SPEEDAnnie gains 25% + 1.5% per level decaying bonus movement speed over a 1.5 second duration

DAMAGE REDUCTION16/22/28/34/40% ⇒ 10/13/16/19/22%

COOLDOWN10 seconds at all ranks ⇒ 15 seconds at all ranks

Aurelion Sol

Base health increased.

Following up on the 9.17 changes and calibrating with a minor tweak now that his early lane phase has more counterplay.

Base Stats

HEALTH510 ⇒ 575

Caitlyn

Base attack damage increased.

Bumping Caitlyn's early laning power so she can punish those who rely more on scaling.

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE60 ⇒ 62

Ekko

W cost decreased; stun duration increased.

Our previous buffs to Ekko in 9.16 didn't go as far as we wanted. Nudging him towards a more aggressive playstyle with a higher payout and lower cost.

W - Parallel Convergence

COST50/55/60/65/70 mana ⇒ 30/35/40/45/50 mana

STUN DURATION1.75 seconds ⇒ 2.25 seconds

Evelynn

R empowered damage amplifier and max empowered damage increased.

Evelynn isn't overly weak at the moment, but we want her to more reliably take down her targets if she manages to get them under the execute threshold.

R - Last Caress

EMPOWERED DAMAGE AMPLIFIER100% against enemies below 30% of their maximum health ⇒ 140% against enemies below 30% of their maximum health

EMPOWERED DAMAGE250/500/750 (+1.5 ability power) ⇒ 300/600/900 (+1.8 ability power)

Jhin

Base attack damage increased.

We're giving Jhin a bit more oomph to better bully out greedy lanes.

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE57 ⇒ 59

Kai'Sa

E bonus attack speed decreased later.

We're reducing Kai'Sa's consistent damage so she'll be more inclined to assassinate prime targets as opposed to mowing down the enemy charge one at a time.

E - Supercharge

BONUS ATTACK SPEED40/50/60/70/80% ⇒ 40/45/50/55/60%

Kayle

E base passive damage increased.

We feel good about the Kayle changes we made in 9.17, but she ended up slightly weaker than intended. We're buffing her E passive damage to make her basic attacks feel stronger throughout the game.

E - Starfire Spellblade

BASE PASSIVE DAMAGE10/15/20/25/30 ⇒ 15/20/25/30/35

Lee Sin

Base health and attack damage increased. R damage increased.

Letting Lee Sin capitalize on early game successes with more powerful ultimates so he can have more of an impact.

Base Stats

HEALTH570.8 ⇒ 575

ATTACK DAMAGE69.2 ⇒ 70

R - Dragon's Rage

DAMAGE150/375/600 ⇒ 175/400/625

Miss Fortune

E slow increased early.

Miss Fortune's E is barely worth casting at its first rank when considering the trade-off in mana, so we're buffing it at the early ranks.

E - Make It Rain

SLOW28/36/44/52/60% ⇒ 40/45/50/55/60%

Nunu & Willump

Base stats decreased. E slow now scales.

Who knew Nunu & Willump would be so good at snowballing? Reducing some of their early gank potential as well as their scaling defenses, so they're not completely impenetrable once they get to a certain point.

Base Stats

HEALTH GROWTH90 ⇒ 82

ARMOR GROWTH3.5 ⇒ 3

MANA283.56 ⇒ 280

MANA REGEN7.44 ⇒ 7

E - Snowball Barrage

SLOW50% ⇒ 30/35/40/45/50%

Teemo

Q and W quality-of-life changes. R mushroom adjustments with more charges and infinite bounce.

These changes should round out some of Teemo’s rougher edges. We're also making his shrooms more functional as the game progresses.

Q - Blinding Dart

THAT GREEN LIGHT, I WANT ITBlinded targets will now see a green light around their screen when they are affected by Teemo's Q

W - Move Quick

DID YOU SCREENSHOT?Move Quick's ability icon will now have a bar above it to show its active duration

R - Noxious Trap

EAT MEMushrooms will now trigger more responsively, especially on enemies dashing through them quickly

SCUTTLE AWAYRift Scuttler no longer triggers mushrooms when it's not in combat

LEAP FROGMushrooms can now bounce once off of each other ⇒ infinitely off of each

MAX CHARGES3 mushrooms at once at all ranks ⇒ 3/4/5 mushrooms at once

Warwick

W now properly grants bonus attack speed against Blood Hunted enemies.

Noting a bugfix in this section instead of the Bugfixes due to the change being a major buff to Warwick.

W - Blood Hunt

BUGFIXWarwick now properly gains bonus attack speed against all Blood Hunted enemies

Xayah

Base armor decreased. R cooldown increased.

At the highest levels of play, Xayah is an extremely safe and reliable choice due to her damage and safety in the early game. We're reducing the latter so that there's some tangible risk to picking her over other ADCs.

Base Stats

ARMOR28 ⇒ 25

R - Featherstorm

COOLDOWN140/125/110 seconds ⇒ 160/145/130 seconds

Zoe

Passive damage increased.

Zoe's early lane phase is weaker than intended right now, so we're propping that up without increasing her one-shot burst.

Passive - More Sparkles!

DAMAGE10/12/16/20/24/28/34/40/46/
52/60/68/76/84/94/104/114/124 ⇒ 16/20/24/28/32/36/42/48/54/
60/66/74/82/90/100/110/120/130

Video Accessibility Options

A few new options are now available under Video in the in-game settings. For players who need them, these options can be vital in making their gaming experience more comfortable or even possible! Please let us know what you think and what else you'd like to have options for since we're definitely interested in adding more accessibility features in the future.

ENABLE SCREEN SHAKEOn by default, but turning it off will remove the screen shake caused by things like Pulsefire Ezreal's recall or Ornn's ultimate.

VISUAL SLIDERSAllows players to control the Color Level, Gamma, Brightness, and Contrast of games. These options will change the overall appearance of the game except for the UI, allowing you to either diminish or highlight visual differences in-game quickly

Bugfixes

Jayce's E - Acceleration Gate now properly functions when cast on top of Jayce
Pinging Pantheon's R - Grand Starfall will tell Pantheon's teammates which enemies are in range
Wolf no longer grants additional, non-functional vision to Kindred when circling her
Champions affected by Stasis no longer move during the effect
Allies on their way to enter Tahm Kench's R - Abyssal Voyage will no longer be stuck when Tahm Kench is hit by an enemy
When Shaco fears a target with W - Jack in the Box, he'll properly receive an assist if the target is killed shortly after
Diana's Passive - Moonsilver Blade's tooltip now properly updates when she ranks up E - Moonfall
Jinx's E - Flame Chompers now properly prevent Akali from moving when she uses R - Perfect Execution through them
Taliyah's Q - Threaded Volley now properly consumes the full mana cost after she walks out of an area of Worked Ground
Illaoi can no longer dash a short distance using W - Harsh Lesson when snared or rooted
Bard's Meep cone attacks now properly break spell shields
When Karthus is under his Passive - Death Defied effect, his W - Wall of Pain now properly grants vision around the wall