NERFPLZ.LOL Official Patch 11.16 Notes Released!

Summary

A bit of a bait with the Maokai buff infographic this time around as his Sapling [E] damage has been nerfed with a buff to his passive heal. Meanwhile, the Sona/Karma mini-reworks launched, giving some new life to some elderly supports.

Check out the full list of changes below!

Champions

Diana

Passive damage to non-epic monsters decreased.

Since our 11.8 changes, Diana’s become a popular jungle pick, and a powerful one at that, especially in competitive play. Although we’re happy that Diana’s found a second home, she’s a little too strong. To nudge down her jungle strength, we’re nerfing her jungle clear.

Passive - Moonsilver Blade

DAMAGE TO NON-EPIC MONSTERS 300% ⇒ 250%

Fiora

E cooldown increased later.

Fiora's been on the strong side for a while, especially in higher levels of play. We're bringing down her split pushing and tower whacking power in mid to late phases of the game.

E - Bladework

COOLDOWN 11/9.5/8/6.5/5 seconds ⇒ 11/10/9/8/7 seconds

Jarvan IV

Passive damage increased. R bonus damage ratio increased.

The Exemplar of Demacia hasn’t been excelling in any level of play. We’re amping up Cataclysm to help him make a bigger impact while also buffing his dueling and clearing potential.

Passive - Martial Cadence

DAMAGE 8% of target’s current health ⇒ 10% of target’s current health

R - Cataclysm

BONUS DAMAGE RATIO 150% AD ⇒ 180% AD

Jhin

W damage increased. R minimum damage ratio increased.

Jhin has been feeling rather lackluster, and he hasn’t been making the cut into most games. With a deadlier flourish and an even deadlier finale, he’ll have a better shot at picking off enemies when playing off of allies and in key fights.

W - Deadly Flourish

DAMAGE 50/85/120/155/190 ⇒ 60/95/130/165/200

R - Curtain Call

MINIMUM DAMAGE RATIO 20% AD ⇒ 25% AD

Karma

Passive on-hit cooldown reduction removed; cooldown reduction from abilities now flat. Q base damage decreased early; cooldown increased early and decreased later; cost decreased. Q2 initial damage increased. E base shield increased later; bonus movement speed now flat; Defiance now only grants allies bonus movement speed.

Karma’s been much stronger in coordinated Pro play than in solo queue for a while. Rather than continuing to make minor changes, we're attempting to make bigger ones to help Karma succeed in the hands of all players.

To do so, we’re targeting her consistent early game pressure and waveclear, along with her R-E shield-and-speed buff for her full team. In return, we’re rewarding her with more Mantras when she lands abilities on champions, which will also be helped by her Q’s lower cooldown and cost. We’re also strengthening her R-Q so that she’s still able to obliterate her foes when she’s on her own.

Passive - Gathering Fire

removedON-HIT COOLDOWN REDUCTION No longer reduces Mantra’s cooldown by 1 second whenever she uses her basic attacks against an enemy champion

COOLDOWN REDUCTION FROM ABILITIES 2/3.5/5 seconds (level 1/6/11) ⇒ 5 seconds

Q - Inner Flame

BASE DAMAGE 90/135/180/225/270 ⇒ 70/120/170/220/270

COOLDOWN 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 seconds ⇒ 9/8/7/6/5 seconds

COST 55 mana ⇒ 45 mana

Q2 - Soulflare

INITIAL DAMAGE 25/75/125/175 ⇒ 40/100/160/220

E - Inspire

BASE SHIELD 80/120/160/200/240 ⇒ 80/125/170/215/260

BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED 40/45/50/55/60% ⇒ 40%

DEFIANCE BUFFS TO NEARBY ALLIED CHAMPIONS 30% of the total shield’s amount, 100% bonus movement speed ⇒ 30% of the total shield’s amount, 30% bonus movement speed

Lee Sin

W omnivamp decreased.

Lee Sin came out of our 11.13 nerfs kicking, making his way from dominating lanes straight into dominating the jungle. This time, we’re laying down a straightforward nerf that should curb his early- to mid-game dueling power.

W - Iron Will

OMNIVAMP 10/15/20/25/30% ⇒ 5/10/15/20/25%

Lulu

W cooldown increased. R cooldown increased early.

While Lulu’s power in Average play is balanced, she’s strong in Skilled and even stronger in Elite. Back in patch 11.9, we purposefully buffed Lulu, targeting these skill brackets by reducing the cooldown on her W and increasing its bonus attack speed. The increased uptime on reliable peel made her a highly frustrating champion to play against, which has been reflected in her high ban rates. To get her back in action, we’re reverting the buff on her Skilled-skewed mechanic of instant CC and increasing her R cooldown.

W - Whimsy

COOLDOWN 15/14/13/12/11 seconds ⇒ 16/15/14/13/12 seconds

R - Wild Growth

COOLDOWN 110/95/80 seconds ⇒ 120/100/80 seconds

Maokai

Passive heal increased. E detonation damage decreased.

Top Maokai has been struggling to stay in lane even with his tank builds, so we’re increasing his sustain. On the other hand, Support Mao and his saplings have been causing a commotion in the bot lane, where AP builds offer powerful scaling. Maokai will still have strong poke, but we’re toning it down.

One more thing: Maokai's original passive values were bugged. He was healing for less of his maximum health (5-13% instead of 6-13%) and it wasn’t scaling properly (it was scaling linearly at every level instead of its intended breakpoints of level 1/6/9…). so the previous values of his passive’s heal reflect the bugged, in-game values. Now, the scaling has been corrected, and the heal from his maximum health has an even bigger bump than his tooltip would have you believe.

Passive - Sap Magic

HEAL 5-65 (+5-13% maximum health) ((level 1-18) (due to heal and scaling bugs) ⇒ 5/15/25/35/45/55/65 (+7/8.5/10/11.5/13/14/15% maximum health) (level 1/6/9/11/13/15/17)

E - Sapling Toss

DETONATION DAMAGE 25/50/75/100/125 (+7/7.25/7.5/7.75/8% (+0.8% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health) ⇒ 20/45/70/95/120 (+7/7.25/7.5/7.75/8% (+0.7% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health)

Nunu

Base movement speed increased. E damage ratio per snowball increased.

Nunu & Willump have hit a slump, it’s time to give them a good ol’ bump! To get the snowball rolling, we’re reverting part of their nerf from patch 11.2 while throwing them more damage when they’re building more aggressively.

Base Stats

MOVEMENT SPEED 340 ⇒ 345

E - Snowball Barrage

DAMAGE RATIO PER SNOWBALL 6% AP ⇒ 10% AP

TOTAL DAMAGE RATIO 54% AP ⇒ 90% AP

Shaco

Q orange smoke VFX removed. R bugfixes.

Okay, so last patch (11.15), we fixed a longstanding bug where Shaco’s smoke poof wasn’t showing up through the Fog of War. And by longstanding, we mean like, 2 years. This change also sparked a conversation around proper counterplay in League. Constantly panning around to look for orange smoke isn’t the type of gameplay we want to enforce, so we’re reverting the poof and fixing some of his goofs.

Q - Deceive

removedPOOF GOES THE WEASEL Shaco's orange smoke VFX no longer appears from the enemy’s point of view when cast through Fog of War

R - Hallucinate

WARD CLONE PATHING BUGFIX When Shaco’s clone kills a ward, it will no longer override all commands and attempt to repeatedly path back to Shaco

IDLE CLONE PATHING BUGFIX When Shaco’s clone does not receive additional commands for ten seconds, it will no longer path back to Shaco

WARD GOLD BUGFIX Wards killed by Shaco’s clone now properly grants gold to Shaco

CLONE DEATH EXPLOSION When killed by reflected damage, Shaco’s clone now properly explodes into mini-boxes

Sivir

W damage ratio increased later.

Sivir’s a team-shredding, boomerang mercenary, but even her crit builds have left her feeling incomplete, so we’re sharpening up her blades.

W - Ricochet

DAMAGE RATIO 30/40/50/60/70% AD ⇒ 30/45/60/75/90% AD

Sona

New passive! Mana costs reduced and aura mana refunds removed. R now also hits minions and monsters.

In patch 10.4, our baby girl was given a mana refund mechanic to prevent oppressive playstyles. This wasn’t a particularly fun mechanic, and sometimes it put Sona in situations where she was punished for using her spells correctly, like rotating around the map with E by herself. To fix this, we’re replacing the mechanic with a new one that should feel much more like a reward than a punishment.

Now Sona has a stacking mechanic that rewards her for using some of her abilities, eventually giving her more access to her ult, and giving you all those Crescendo plays that you definitely never miss.

Passive - Power Chord

newACCELERANDO Sona's basic abilities grant her permanent Accelerando stacks. She gains +.5 non-ultimate ability haste per stack, up to 60 non-ultimate ability haste. Once she reaches 60 non-ultimate ability haste, instead of gaining additional Accelerando stacks, her ultimate ability's current cooldown reduces by 1.5 seconds each time she would gain an Accelerando stack.

newHOLD THAT NOTE Now persists through revives (such as Zilean’s ult and Guardian Angel)

Q - Hymn of Valor

COST 75/80/85/90/95 mana ⇒ 50/55/60/65/70 mana

newEVERY BOLT YOU TAKE Now grants a stack of Accelerando for each bolt that hits an enemy champion

removedAURA MANA REFUND Granting an ally Hymn of Valor’s aura no longer refunds 30 mana per cast

W - Aria of Perseverance

COST 105/110/115/120/125 mana ⇒ 80/85/90/95/100 mana

newEVERY SHIELD YOU MAKE Aria of Perserverance’s aura now grants a stack of Accelerando each you time you heal another injured ally or prevent at least 25-125 damage from another ally with the aura’s shields

removedAURA MANA REFUND Granting an ally Aria of Perserverance’s aura no longer refunds 30 mana per cast

E - Song of Celerity

COST 90 mana ⇒ 65 mana

removedAURA MANA REFUND Granting an ally Song of Celerity’s aura no longer refunds 30 mana per cast

R - Crescendo

removedABILITY COOLDOWN REDUCTION No longer reduces Sona’s basic abilities

newI’LL BE WATCHING YOU Hits champions ⇒ Hits champions, minions, and monsters

Tahm Kench

Passive base damage decreased early. Q base heal decreased.

Tahm Kench’s early game power has been especially strong in top lane, where he’s able to issue beatdowns and heal through brawls. We’re dialing both back to give his enemies more time to lick their wounds.

Passive - An Acquired Taste

BASE DAMAGE 12-60 (level 1-18) ⇒ 8-60 (level 1-18)

Q - Tongue Lash

BASE HEAL 15/20/25/30/35 ⇒ 10/15/20/25/30

Vladimir

Passive AP to bonus health conversion increased; bonus health to AP conversion increased.

Top Vlad has been dragging behind his mid lane counterpart. To help him hold his own in top lane, we’re increasing his passive bonuses, which should also let him reap the benefits of building tankier items.

Passive - Crimson Pact

AP TO BONUS HEALTH CONVERSION 140% ⇒ 160%

BONUS HEALTH TO AP CONVERSION 2.5% ⇒ 3.3333333%

Xin Zhao

Base attack damage decreased.

Even after our last set of nerfs in patch 11.14, Xin Zhao is still one of the top dogs in the jungle at all levels of play. With longer ranges on his new W and E, Xin doesn’t need to be one of the best-in-class early game bullies, since he has better access to his targets than ever before. We’re trimming his base damage so that he’s still strong early, but isn’t as easily able to overwhelm other junglers.

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE 66 (level 1) ⇒ 63 (level 1)

Ziggs

Base mana increased. E base damage per mine decreased early and increased later; slow decreased early.

Our 11.14 nerf to bot lane Ziggs seemed to fizzle out, so we’re giving back his mana and dialing back his second-max ability instead. This should curb his power more in bot lane, which shouldbe more easily recouped in mid.

Base Stats

MANA 420 (level 1) ⇒ 480 (level 1)

E - Hexplosive Minefield

BASE DAMAGE PER MINE 40/75/110/145/180 ⇒ 30/70/110/150/190

SLOW 30/35/40/45/50% ⇒ 10/20/30/40/50%

Items

Dark Seal

While Dark Seal is meant to be a high-risk, high-reward item, it's become a consistently high-value option for most AP users, even for champions that appreciate the mana on Doran's Ring. We’re pulling back on the stacking pace of the item so that there's more risk involved when opting into Dark Seal.

DREAD AP PER GLORY STACK 5 ⇒ 4

GLORY STACKS LOST ON DEATH 4 ⇒ 5

Redemption

Redemption is being overshadowed by the other Enchanter items and has struggled to find its niche this season. We’re increasing the power and availability of its exciting moments so that it can be more effective in more team fights.

INTERVENTION HEAL 180-360 (based on ally’s level) ⇒ 200-400 (based on ally’s level)

INTERVENTION COOLDOWN 120 seconds ⇒ 90 seconds

Bandle City Clash

The second weekend of the Bandle City-themed Clash will be August 21 and 22. Team formation for the second weekend will be open starting on August 16.

Ranked Updates

updatedTHIRD QUEUE DODGE PENALTY A third penalty tier for queue-dodging has been added. Players that dodge three times in a 24-hour period will experience a 12-hour MOBA queue lockout and a 10 LP loss (the first two dodge penalties are unchanged). You can read more about it here.

newFRIENDS LEADERBOARD You always suspected you were better than your friends, but now you can find out for sure! We’ve added a new social leaderboard inside Ranked Summoner’s Rift lobbies. You can access this leaderboard by clicking on the new leaderboard button in the upper right corner of the Solo/Duo or Flex lobby.

FLEX QUEUE Master and above Flex players can no longer queue with other Flex players rated below Platinum

Bugfixes/QoL Changes

Fixed a bug where Warwick’s R - Infinite Duress cancels mid-jump if the target flashes
Champions can now acquire blue buff if they kill the Blue Sentinel while in a zombie state, such as Sion’s Passive- Glory in Death (this is already true for red buff)
Fixed a bug where players would lose their red or blue buffs when executing to non-epic jungle monsters
Fixed a bug where a champion’s bounty value did not reset back to 0 in the scoreboard even after their bounty is claimed
Sandshrike's Claw’s tooltip counter for damage dealt now properly displays the amount of damage done to the enemy
Fixed a bug where, if Steel Shoulderguards are refunded or sold before purchasing and activating Relic Shield, buffs for both items appear in the buff bar
Fixed a bug where a champion was able to teleport to a destroyed tower if the teleport channel bar has 0.3 seconds remaining
Fixed a bug where Tryndamere’s W - Mocking Shout would not contribute towards Eclipse’s Ever Rising Moon if the enemy champion was facing him
Umbral Glaive is no longer able to deal bonus damage to a ward that is invulnerable (due to being teleported to)