First Update of 2019 with Champion Adjustments and Bug Fixes
Official Post
At the top of the notes you'll see a special section for Kalista, Ornn, and Sejuani, all of whom have been much stronger in pro play than regular play. In all three cases, we're reducing the utility they offer to coordinated teams and offering them strength that's less tied to perfect timing, positioning, or communication. From there, we move into the bulk of our champion changes which feature direct buffs to a bunch of marksmen. In each case, we accentuated the unique strengths or highest moments they're picked for, but the impetus for all of them is the same: Marksmen on the whole ended 2018 in a rough spot. We've got some item work in the patches to come as well, so 9.1 isn't the end of the road to recovery. After that, the balance updates wrap up with rune adjustments, including a usability buff to Hail of Blades for champs with attack resets.
Kalista, Ornn & Sejuani
Kalista
Base AD, AD growth, attack speed growth increased; W Oathsworn AD bonus removed. Q damage increased. E deals less damage to epic monsters.
Base Stats
BASE ATTACK DAMAGE 62⇒67
ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH 3.6⇒4
ATTACK SPEED GROWTH 3.5%⇒4%
Q – Pierce
BASE DAMAGE 10/70/130/190/250⇒20/85/150/215/280
W – Sentinel
REMOVED OATHSWORN EMPOWERMENT Kalista no longer gains 5/10/15/20/25 attack damage while her Oathsworn is nearby
E – Rend
NEW WEAK GRIP Rend now deals 50% damage to epic monsters
Ornn
Base durability increased. Ornn's items upgrade at level 13 (2 max); he can upgrade one ally's item per level at level 14+. More upgrades added. Q cost, damage, slow decreased. W doesn't shield but makes Ornn unstoppable. R slow, knockup decreased.
Base Stats
HEALTH GROWTH 90⇒95
BASE HEALTH REGEN 1.4⇒1.8
HEALTH REGEN GROWTH 0.142⇒0.18
ARMOR GROWTH 3⇒4
BASE ATTACK DAMAGE 67⇒69
Passive – Living Forge
NEW CALLOUSED HANDS Ornn now gains 10% additional armor and magic resist from items
NEW TRADE KNOWLEDGE At level 13, any upgradable item Ornn owns or purchases for the rest of the game is upgraded for free (Ornn can have up to two upgraded items)
NEW BENEFACTOR At each level from 14 onward, Ornn can upgrade one of his ally's upgradable items by getting within 600 range of them and clicking on them (allies can only have one upgraded item)
REMOVED PURCHASE ORDER Ornn and his allies can no longer pay to upgrade their items
NEW ITEMS Ornn can upgrade new items! Bonuses listed below:
Frozen Fist
ARMOR 65⇒95
MANA 500⇒700
Youmuu's Wraithblade
ATTACK DAMAGE 55⇒75
LETHALITY 18⇒25
Might of the Ruined King
ATTACK DAMAGE 40⇒55
ATTACK SPEED 25%⇒40%
Luden's Pulse
ABILITY POWER 90⇒120
MANA 600⇒850
Q – Volcanic Rupture
COST 55 mana⇒45 mana
BASE DAMAGE 20/50/80/110/140⇒20/45/70/95/120
SLOW 40/45/50/55/60%⇒40% at all ranks
W – Bellows Breath
REMOVED SHIELD No longer shields Ornn for 80/125/170/215/260 (+0.4 bonus armor)(+0.4 bonus magic resist)
NEW UNSTOPPABLE Ornn is now unstoppable during W
COOLDOWN 17/15/13/11/9 seconds⇒12 seconds
DURATION 1 second (ticks every 0.2 seconds )⇒0.75 seconds (ticks every 0.15 seconds)
SELF-SLOW 50%⇒35%
BRITTLE PROC DAMAGE 7%-12% target's maximum health (levels 1-18)⇒12%-20.5% target's maximum health (levels 1-18)
E – Searing Charge
COST 50 mana at all ranks⇒35/40/45/50/55 mana
NEW JUST A LITTLE LONGER If a Q pillar is about to expire when Ornn casts E, it now lasts until Ornn's dash completes
R – Call of the Forge God
FIRST CAST SLOW 40/60/80%⇒10% scaling up to 40/60/80% based on distance traveled
SECOND CAST KNOCKUP 1.5 seconds on all enemies hit⇒1 second on the first enemy hit, 0.5 seconds on enemies hit past the first
Sejuani
Base durability increased. Passive grants fewer stats but lasts longer. Q damage increased. W2 damage increased but slow falls off immediately. E deals more damage but range and stun decreased.
Base Stats
HEALTH GROWTH 88⇒105
BASE ARMOR 31⇒34
ARMOR GROWTH 3⇒4.25
BASE MAGIC RESIST 27.1⇒32.1
MAGIC RESIST GROWTH 0.75⇒1.25
ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH 3⇒4
Passive – Fury of the North
FROST ARMOR RESISTANCES 20/70/120 armor and magic resist (+100% total armor and magic resist)⇒20 armor and magic resist (+25% bonusarmor and magic resist)
FROST ARMOR LINGER 2 seconds⇒3 seconds
Q – Arctic Assault
BASE DAMAGE 60/90/120/150/180⇒80/120/160/200/240
W – Winter's Wrath
SECOND HIT BASE DAMAGE 30/65/100/135/170⇒30/70/110/150/190
SECOND HIT SLOW DURATION Normalized to 0.25 seconds (previously, could last slightly longer depending on server timing)
E – Permafrost
STUN DURATION 1/1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4 seconds⇒1 second at all ranks
RANGE 850⇒600
DAMAGE 20/35/50/65/80⇒40/80/120/160/200 (Icebreaker damage upon shattering a stunned target unchanged)
Champions
Ashe
E grants assists if enemies were previously unseen.
Q – Ranger's Focus
HEY!Ability icon border now flashes when Q is castable at max stacks
E – Hawkshot
I HELPED Ashe now gains assist credit if a previously-unseen enemy is killed within 10 seconds of being revealed by Hawkshot
Jinx
W cast time now scales with attack speed.
W – Zap!
CAST TIME 0.6 seconds⇒0.6 – 0.4 seconds, based on attack speed (caps at 250% bonus attack speed, including bonus from Switcheroo!)
Jayce
Q+E combo can now be buffered.
E – Acceleration Gate
BUFFERING If Jayce casts Acceleration Gate during Shock Blast's cast time, he'll now ignore movement commands until both abilities have been cast
Katarina
E teleports immediately; cast time now entirely post-teleport. Hextech Gunblade's active can be buffered.
E – Shunpo
CAST TIME 0.075 seconds before teleporting and 0.075 seconds after teleporting⇒0.15 seconds after teleporting (Katarina now teleports immediately upon pressing E)
BUFFERING Katarina can now buffer Hextech Gunblade's active to fire after Shunpo's cast time completes
Nasus
Q stacks from large kills increased.
Q – Siphoning Strike
LARGE KILL STACKS 6 per champion, large minion, or large monster kill⇒12 per champion, large minion, or large monster kill
Sivir
Champion hits don't reduce Q's damage.
Q – Boomerang Blade
DAMAGE FALLOFF Hitting an enemy champion no longer decreases Boomerang Blade's damage against subsequent targets (tooltip will be updated in 9.2)
Vayne
Q cooldown reduced while R is active.
R – Final Hour
NEWKEEP ROLLIN Tumble's cooldown is reduced by 50% while Final Hour is active (reminder: Tumble's cooldown doesn't start until Vayne fires the empowered attack)
Xayah
E root duration increased.
E – Bladecaller
ROOT DURATION 1 second⇒1.25 seconds
Zyra
Q+W and E+W combos can now be buffered.
W – Rampant Growth
BUFFERING If Zyra casts Rampant Growth during Deadly Spines' or Grasping Roots' cast times, she'll now ignore movement commands until both abilities have been cast
Jungle Items
Unenchanted jungle items reduce gold received from minions if their owner has too much minion gold.
Funneling's made a small comeback, so we're adding a new version of Monster Hunter that's more graceful than last season's check on who had the highest CS.
MONSTER HUNTER Hunter's Machete, Hunter's Talisman, unenchanted Stalker's Blade, and unenchanted Skirmisher's Sabre now reduce minion gold earned by 10 per minion if their owner's gold from minions is greater than half their gold from monsters
Runes
Hail of Blades
Attack speed bonus higher early; lower late. Attack resets no longer consume a stack.
ATTACK SPEED BONUS 75-125% (levels 1-18)⇒110% at all levels
NEW HAILSTORM Attacks that benefit from an attack reset (ex. Jax's W – Empower) no longer consume a Hail of Blades stack
Rune Stats
Attack speed rune stat increased.
ATTACK SPEED RUNE STAT 9%⇒10%
Celerity
Movement speed bonus multiplier increased.
MOVEMENT SPEED BONUS MULTIPLIER 8%⇒10%
Shield Bash
Damage increased.
DAMAGE 4-21 (levels 1-18)⇒5-30 (levels 1-18)
Turret Assists
Local gold proximity radius on turret takedown increased. Additional radius for assists added.
NEW ASSIST RADIUS Champions within 2500 range who assisted in a turret takedown now also count toward local turret gold distribution (including first turret bonus)
PROXIMITY RADIUS Champions within 1000⇒1200 range of a turret are counted toward local turret gold distribution whether they assisted in the takedown or not
FUN FACT Turret plating already worked like this!
REMINDER Unlike champion takedowns, there's no "assist gold" pool created when a turret falls. Local gold is split evenly among eligible allies regardless of who got the takedown.
Ability Ping Improvements
Long-Range Abilities
Galio's R – Hero's Entrance
Nocturne's R – Paranoia
Pantheon's R – Grand Skyfall
Yasuo's R – Last Breath
Caitlyn's R – Ace in the Hole
Lux's R – Final Spark
Twisted Fate's R2 – Gate
Jhin's W – Deadly Flourish and R – Curtain Call
Ziggs' R – Mega Inferno Bomb
Xerath's R – Rite of the Arcane
Abilities with Detailed Information
Draven's Passive – Adoration: Current stacks
Heimerdinger's Q – H-28G Evolution Turret: Number of turrets available or time until next turret if none are available
Kassadin's R – Riftwalk: Time until stacks expire if Kassadin is unable to cast Riftwalk due to having too many stacks
Kayn's Passive – The Darkin Scythe: Time until other form is available if Kayn's already unlocked a form
Kog'Maw's R – Living Artillery: Time until stacks expire if Kog'Maw is unable to cast Living Artillery due to having too many stacks
Mordekaiser's R – Children of the Grave: Remaining ghost duration
Nasus's Q – Siphoning Strike: Current stacks
Soraka's W – Astral Infusion: Now indicates when Soraka is unable to cast Astral Infusion due to having too little health
Veigar's Passive – Phenomenal Evil Power: Current stacks
Smite, Challenging Smite & Chilling Smite: Amount of damage dealt to monsters
Ability Icon HUD
We're improving the way the HUD communicates remaining duration for a bunch of abilities, which were previously tracked only via the little icons in your buff bar. The breakdown below was based more on what felt right than on immutable rules, but let us know if there are other abilities you think should get this treatment!
Remaining duration bar
Alistar's E – Trample and R – Unbreakable Will
Braum's E – Unbreakable
Corki's E – Gatling Gun
Dr. Mundo's R – Sadism
Illaoi's R – Leap of Faith
Jax's R – Grandmaster's Might
Karthus's Passive – Death Defied
Kayle's E – Righteous Fury
Master Yi's R – Highlander
Miss Fortune's W – Strut
Mordekaiser's R – Children of the Grave ghost duration
Nasus' R – Fury of the Sands
Olaf's W – Vicious Strikes and R – Ragnarok
Rammus' Q – Powerball, W – Defensive Ball Curl, and R – Tremors
Renekton's R – Dominus
Rengar's R – Thrill of the Hunt
Shyvana's W – Burnout
Singed's R – Insanity Potion
Sivir's R – On the Hunt
Tristana's Q – Rapid Fire
Tryndamere's R – Undying Rage
Twitch's Q – Ambush and R – Spray and Pray
Vayne's Q – Tumble empowered attack window and R – Final Hour duration
Viktor's R – Chaos Storm
Volibear's R – Thunder Claws
Time to recast border
Garen's Q – Decisive Strike empowered attack window and movement speed
Gragas's Q – Barrel Roll
Kassadin's W – Nether Blade empowered attack window
Kha'Zix's R – Void Assault
LeBlanc's W – Distortion and R – Mimic'd Distortion return window
Volibear's Q – Rolling Thunder empowered attack window and movement speed
Yasuo's Q2 – Steel Tempest
Zed's W – Living Shadow and R – Death Mark return window
Bugfixes
Xin Zhao's R – Crescent Guard no longer deals more damage than intended when Xin Zhao hits multiple enemies
Neeko's minimap and announcement banner icons no longer gets stuck for enemies as the ally she transformed into if her Passive – Inherent Glamour breaks in fog of war
Varus' E – Hail of Arrows slow zone VFX no longer fail to appear if Varus cast Hail of Arrows from fog of war
Sterak's Gage's tooltip now shows the exact amount of damage required to trigger its shield as well as the exact shield granted
Jarvan IV's Passive – Martial Cadence no longer deals damage through Pantheon's Passive – Aegis Protection
Death's Dance no longer grants Urgot an excessive amount of healing against Tryndamere's R – Undying Rage or Anivia's Passive – Rebirth
Rengar's hands once again glow when he reaches maximum Ferocity
Fixed Q – Savagery activation and trail VFX for base, SSW, Headhunter, and Night Hunter Rengar
Fixed Empowered Q – Savagery stab splash VFX for base, SSW, Headhunter, and Night Hunter Rengar
Fixed R – Thrill of the Hunt activation VFX for Headhunter and Night Hunter Rengar
Rengar's target once again glows during R – Thrill of the Hunt for base, SSW, Headhunter, and Night Hunter Rengar
Zombie Brand's VO lines no longer overlap
Battle Boss Ziggs' R – Mega Inferno Bomb no longer uses classic VFX for long-range casts
Fixed an issue where Ranked Armor would occasionally appear blurry at some resolutions
Fixed summoner icons not being properly centered in Ranked Armor
Fixed the "Add Friend" button overlapping with the game header in lobby when looking for a match
Fixed Ranked Armor hiding the speech indication from League Voice when looking for a match: The armor's faceplate will now be backlit when players are speaking
