Welcome to patch 8.14. Over the last few patches, the game has seen some pretty hefty changes to the jungle, mid lane, marksmen, and Aatrox. For the next few patches, we’ll be dialing it back and doing some smaller-scope changes, mostly balance tweaks.
First, you’ll notice two new section as of last patch: simple buffs and simple nerfs. For the most part, that’s for self-explanatory changes designed at making a champion stronger or weaker but not really altering their playstyle all that meaningfully.
We’re also following up on the Aatrox rework, looking to reduce some of his overbearing lane presence and give him more to do in late-game teamfights. Finally, we’re taking a small dive into two of our AP assassins (Fizz and Ahri) to make their gameplay a bit more intuitive and satisfying.
GLHF!
Champions
Aatrox
Base health decreased. Q base damage decreased. E recharge rate decreased early, increased later. R bonus attack damage increased. Q timer freezes while reviving.
Now that Aatrox players have gotten some games under their belt and mastered his pretty unique spells, it turns out he’s pretty strong, especially in lane. We’re pulling some of his early game power in exchange for some more late-game consistency.
General
Base Stats
Q – The Darkin Blade
Q – The Darkin Blade E – Umbral Dash
E – Umbral Dash R – World Ender
R – World EnderMid-Patch 8.13 Updates
These changes went live partway through 8.13.
Fizz
W no longer deals bonus damage against primed targets. W base damage increased. W now grants on-hit damage if empowered attack does not kill its target.
The mark-priming mechanic on Fizz’s W was unsatisfying, asking players to hold one of their damage tools until later. As an assassin, his role is to lay down damage quickly and get out, which made that wait feel particularly awkward. We’re removing the priming mechanic, and bringing back an on-hit buff on the active, but keeping the cooldown reset on kills. The new W still does damage over a longer period of time, but more of that damage is front-loaded so Fizz players can more quickly make like a trident and stab.
UPDATE DW – Seastone Trident
Fizz’s next basic attack deals bonus damage. If it kills a unit, W’s cooldown and mana cost are partially refunded. If it doesn’t, Fizz’s subsequent basic attacks are empowered for 5 seconds.
Jinx
Base health increased. Health growth decreased.
Part of the reason marksmen (notably the immobile, late-scaling ones) are struggling is low lane durability against the new aggressive champions they face.
Base Stats
Karma
Base mana regen increased; growth decreased. Base armor increased; Q splash radius increased. Empowered detonation damage decreased at early ranks.
Support Karma is struggling hard at most skill levels, but at this point a straight buff might push her too high up in organized play. We’re upping her baseline spellcasting and durability, but pulling back some of her waveclear to keep her from becoming overbearing at the highest levels of play.
Base stats
Q – Inner Flame
Q – Inner Flame
Sion
Q base damage and damage ratio increased at later ranks.
Sion’s last round of nerfs was necessary while Banner of Command was the top pick for top laners. Now that the item has been removed from the game, he’s landing on the weak side.
Q – Decimating Smash
Q – Decimating Smash
Twitch
Base health increased. Health growth decreased.
Part of the reason marksmen (notably the immobile, late-scaling ones) are struggling is low lane durability against the new aggressive champions they face.
Base Stats
Mid-Patch 8.13 Updates
Because last patch was three weeks long (compared to our usual two weeks), we put out a larger balance update than usual in the interim. We’re reposting those changes in this patch to make sure you’ve seen them.
Aatrox
AatroxCaitlyn
CaitlynTristana
TristanaVarus
VarusNocturne
NocturneTaliyah
TaliyahSFX Updates
Updated the SFX for a few champions.
Simple Buffs
Ahri
E mana cost decreased. E charm duration increased early.
Picking opponents off with her mobility and Charm is Ahri’s core pattern, so we want to make sure that Charm feels appropriately impactful, even early on.
E – Charm
E – Charm
Cassiopeia
Q base damage increased late. Q damage ratio increased.
Q – Noxious Blast
Q – Noxious Blast
Corki
E base damage and resistance reduction per stack increased.
E – Gatling Gun
E – Gatling Gun
Elise
Health growth increased.
Base Stats
Nasus
Passive lifesteal increased early.
Passive – Soul Eater
Passive – Soul Eater
Pantheon
Bonus attack speed at level 1 added. W base damage increased.
Attack speed should help Pantheon’s jungle without pushing his top lane up too much.
Base stats
W – Aegis of Zeonia
W – Aegis of Zeonia
Rek’Sai
Q and R damage ratios increased.
Q – Queen’s Wrath
Q – Queen’s Wrath Q – Prey Seeker
Q – Prey Seeker R – Void Rush
R – Void Rush
Sivir
Q cooldown decreased.
Q – Boomerang Blade
Q – Boomerang Blade
Vel’Koz
Q damage ratio increased.
Q – Plasma Fission
Q – Plasma Fission
Vayne
W damage increased late.
W – Silver Bolts
W – Silver Bolts
Vi
Base attack speed increased. R cooldown decreased.
Base stats
R – Assault and Battery
R – Assault and Battery
Viktor
W cast range increased.
W – Gravity Field
W – Gravity FieldSimple Nerfs
Dr. Mundo
Q health refund decreased.
Q – Infected Cleaver
Q – Infected Cleaver
Rakan
Q cooldown increased late. R cooldown increased.
Q – Gleaming Quill
Q – Gleaming Quill R – The Quickness
R – The Quickness
Sejuani
R stun duration decreased.
R – Glacial Prison
R – Glacial Prison
Shen
Q slow decreased early.
Q – Twilight Assault
Q – Twilight Assault
Swain
R explosion damage ratio decreased.
R – Demon Flare
R – Demon Flare
Talon
W return damage decreased late.
W – Rake
W – Rake
Wukong
E base damage decreased late.
E – Nimbus Strike
E – Nimbus Strike
Zoe
W base damage decreased late. W damage ratio decreased.
W – Spell Thief
W – Spell ThiefItems
Jungle Items
If you have the most individual total gold on your team, lane minions kills grant less gold.
Jungle funneling tends to be a very passive and unengaging strategy, largely rooted in avoiding conflict. This is subverting a lot of normal laning patterns, so we’re looking to significantly nerf the strategy. We’ll be pursuing cleaner system solutions to the problem in preseason, but for now we’re just trying to decrease the viability of funneling.
Hunter’s Machete/Hunter’s Talisman
Hunter’s Machete/Hunter’s TalismanMid-Patch 8.13 Updates
Because last patch was three weeks long (compared to our usual two weeks), we put out a larger micropatch in the interim than usual. We’re reposting those changes in this patch to make sure you’ve seen them.
Stormrazor
Stormrazor Brawler’s Gloves
Brawler’s Gloves Zeal
ZealSummoner Spells
Teleport
Cooldown increased.
Teleport has emerged as a dominant summoner spell in most lanes. This is particularly problematic bot lane, where it’s often taken on champions who simply wish to avoid conflict in the laning phase and scale into the late game. For now, we’re increasing the cooldown to give combat summoners a longer window in which to punish Teleport users.
Runes
Conqueror
Bonus attack damage decreased.
Conqueror has been crowding out other keystone options for fighters, as well as room for non-fighter champions in top lane. Reducing some of its laning strength should give other keystones (and champions) more ability to fight back.
Ghost Poro
Ghost Poro now requires an active placement.
Zombie Ward
Zombie Wards no longer spawn from friendly wards which time out. Damaging a champion after destroying a ward inflicts bonus damage.
Cursor Update
(Left to right, top row: Default Cursor, Ally Hover, Enemy Hover, Enemy Hover – Colorblind)
(Left to right, bottom row: Target, Ward Bush + Target Ally, Attack Move + Target Enemy)
After nine and a half years, we’re updating the in-game cursor! It’s got all the same functionality as the bronze gauntlet we’ve worn for years but with a bunch of improvements.
Wards Collection
Wards are joining the Collection tab soon after 8.14 goes live! You’ll be able to see all ward skins you own, filter to show unowned or unavailable ward skins, and group and sort your collection view just like the Skins and Icons collections.
Champ Select
Failing to ban a champion no longer kicks you from champ select. This change went live during 8.13.
It’s a bit harsh to break up a champ select lobby on a missed ban selection, so instead, failing to ban a champion will default to “No Ban” and champ select will keep on truckin’. Failing to select a champion for yourself will still incur a dodge.
Bugfixes
- Recurve Bow no longer incorrectly applies on-hit damage to towers if the champion has enough ability power to deal magic damage to towers
- Charm effects now correctly cause Scuttle Crab to take increased damage
- Wukong’s W – Decoy now correctly takes true damage from champions with Conqueror
- Fixed a bug where Bone Plating’s cooldown was incorrectly reset when revive effects were triggered
- Fixed a bug where Bone Plating would cause Zac to revive if all of his Passive – Cell Division blobs were killed at the same time
- Shields on Star Guardian Ezreal are no longer misplaced during his dancing animation
- PROJECT: Leona’s E – Zenith Blade’s VFX no longer pass through Yasuo’s W – Windwall
- Meowkai’s Laugh SFX no longer stack when the emote is spammed
- Skin-specific SFX have been restored for Santa Draven
- Dark Waters Diana’s R – Lunar Rush no longer causes frame drops when used on an enemy from Fog of War
- Certain shield particles from items and champion abilities no longer render through terrain during the animation of God-King Darius’ R – Noxian Guillotine
- Updates have been made to Pulsefire Twisted Fate to increase gameplay clarity
- Hextech / Star Guardian Poppy no longer display base Poppy’s VFX when an enemy destroys the P – Iron Ambassador buckler
- Twisted Fate’s E – Stacked Deck empowered attacks now correctly deal their bonus damage if Twisted Fate dies while they are traveling
- Twisted Fate’s E – Stacked Deck counter no longer gets confused after he is affected by a revival effect (Guardian Angel, Zilean’s R – Chronoshift)
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