Patch 14.15

W cooldown reduced at higher ranks. R damage increased and cooldown increased at lower rank.

Akali should be more powerful early when trying to dominate her lane opponent instead of waiting to scale. And once she does scale, we’d like if she was less reliant on her ultimate for succeeding in combat. Making her first ult more lethal should make her a better laner, whereas her late game ult base damage decrease somewhat pays for Twilight Shroud’s improved cooldown.

• 

  W - Twilight Shroud

  Cooldown: 20 → 20/19/18/17/16

• 

  R - Perfect Execution

  Initial Damage: 80/220/360 (+30% AP) (+50% Bonus AD) → 110/220/330 (+30% AP) (+50% Bonus AD)

• 

  R - Perfect Execution

  Second Cast Minimum Damage: 60/130/200 (+30% AP) → 70/140/210 (+30% AP)

• 

  R - Perfect Execution

  Second Cast Maximum Damage: 180/390/600 (+90% AP) → 210/420/630 (+90% AP)

• 

  R - Perfect Execution

  Cooldown: 100/80/60 → 120/90/60

Q mana cost increased. W range reduced at higher ranks. E mana cost increased.

Aurelion Sol’s changes last patch ended up making him stronger than we wanted to, so we’re addressing that boost in power with some direct nerfs that ensure he doesn’t spike too hard too quickly, relying on stacking under duress to reach his maximal star dragon heights.

• 

  Q - Breath of Light

  Cost per Second: 30/35/40/45/50 → 35/40/45/50/55

• 

  W - Astral Flight

  Range: 1500/1600/1700/1800/1900 → 1500

• 

  E - Singularity

  Mana Cost: 80 → 90

Passive movement speed decreased and spirit bonus formula changed. Q recast delay decreased. W cooldown increased and invis break timing adjusted. E dash speed decreased. R damage decreased.

We’re doing customary first-patch follow up on League’s newest champion, adding some quality-of-life to make the newest member of Anima Squad even smoother to play. Alongside these quality-of-life changes, we’ve also noticed she’s a bit overpowered, especially in higher-level play, so we’re bringing down some of her more elite-skewed strengths.

• 

  Passive - Spirit Abjuration

  Base Movement Speed: 5 (+0.25% per level) → 5 (+0.2% per level)

• 

  Passive - Spirit Abjuration

  Bonus Movement Speed per spirit: 5% → 2% (+.015% AP)

• 

  Q - Twofold Hex

  Recast Cooldown: 0.5 seconds → 0.1 seconds

• 

  Q - Twofold Hex

  Q2 can no longer miss its original target

• 

  W - Across the Veil

  Cooldown: 18/17/16/15/14 → 22/21/20/19/18

• 

  W - Across the Veil

  Invisibility breaking on auto attacks will now happen on launch of auto attack instead of pre-attack

• 

  E - The Weirding

  Dash Speed: 800 speed → 150+2x move speed

• 

  R - Between Worlds

  Damage: 250/375/500 (+65% AP) → 200/325/450 (+60% AP)

Base Mana increased and mana growth decreased. Q mana cost reduced at higher ranks and damage reduced. W mana cost decreased. E mana cost decreased and damage decreased.

Cassiopeia has had a very poor laning phase where she can only afford to interact with minions for a while now, waiting for a long time until she scales up and has the mana pool to finally fight. Despite those weaknesses, she’s still holding her own. This patch we’re giving her the space to interact with her opponents more in lane but taking down some of that eventual late-game damage since her road there is much smoother.

• 

  Q - Noxious Blast

  Mana Cost: 50/60/70/80/90 → 50/55/60/65/70

• 

  Q - Noxious Blast

  Damage: 75/110/145/180/215 (+90% AP) → 75/110/145/180/215 (+70% AP)

• 

  W - Miasma

  Mana Cost: 70/80/90/100/110 → 70/75/80/85/90

• 

  E - Twin Fang

  Mana Cost: 50/48/46/44/42 → 40

• 

  E - Twin Fang

  Poisoned Bonus Damage: 20/40/60/80/100 (+60% AP) → 20/40/60/80/100 (+55% AP)

Q damage decreased.

We’re walking back on our recent increase to Ezreal’s Q AD ratio while keeping the other buffs from that patch since he’s currently too strong of a pick in both Pro play and Solo Queue and will indirectly benefit from some of the other item nerfs in this patch.

• 

  Q - Mystic Shot

  Physical Damage: 20/45/70/95/120 (+140% AD) (+15% AP) → 20/45/70/95/120 (+130% AD) (+15% AP)

Base Health increased and Health growth decreased.

Irelia’s early game has two small issues: First, she has too little control over winning and losing her matchups, and second her overall sustain is so high that it’s often too hard to interact with her as the opponent. This patch we’re trying to make Irelia’s laning phase more dynamic: She can be poked out more reliably but she has more up-front power in order to win the fights that she takes.

Passive damage decreased. W damage decreased.

Leona is performing well in Solo Queue and is the highest presence support in Pro so we’re nerfing her. We’d like to keep her durability intact but we’re reducing her kill threat due to how strong Sudden Impact and Bloodsong are on her.

• 

  Passive - Sunlight

  Magic Damage: 32-168 → 32-151

• 

  W - Eclipse

  Magic Damage: 55/90/125/160/195 (+40% AP) → 55/85/115/145/175 (+40% AP)

E damage increased.

Shyvana players have cooked and found themselves an incredibly scrumptious build with Spear of Shojin and Liandry’s Torment. We respect the genius, but she’s just winning too many games now. She only needs a fairly light tap, as she’s one of the easier champions to play and so a balanced Shyvana should have a win rate above 50% for most players. We’re functionally bringing down some of Shyvana’s base damages by converting from total AD ratios to bonus AD ratios and buffing them, which should weaken her current high-AP builds but bring up the power of AD Shyvana, who’s currently pretty unplayed.

• 

  E - Flame Breath

  Base Damage: 60/100/140/180/220 (+40% Total AD) (+90% AP) → 85/125/165/205/245 (+50% Bonus AD) (+80% AP)

• 

  E - Flame Breath

  R-Empowered Damage: 60/100/140/180/220 (+75-135 based on level) (+70% Total AD) (+120% AP) → 85/125/165/205/245 (+75-135 based on level) (+100% Total AD) (+100% AP)

• 

  E - Flame Breath

  R-Empowered Damage-over-Time: 30-60 based on level (+5% Total AD) (+10% AP) → 30-60 based on level (+15% Bonus AD) (+10% AP)

• 

  E - Flame Breath

  Bugfix: Damage over time no longer states that it deals 12% more damage than it really does

Base health growth increased. Q Mana Cost decreased. E no longer grabs targets behind Skarner.

After our last round of nerfs to Skarner, he’s landed in a spot where he’s moderately too weak. However, he’s also got a gameplay flaw where casting E backwards can instantly snatch up an enemy and teleport them into his claws... pincers? We’d like to buff Skarner and remove his E-sec interaction at the same time with the hope of ensuring he’s still a tanky tank and has the tools to play out early fights as well.

• 

  Q - Upheaval

  Mana Cost: 50 → 45

• 

  Q - Upheaval

  The first attack after casting the spell should come out more quickly and smoothly without player intervention

• 

  E - Ixtal’s Impact

  NEW: Can no longer grab units behind him

Base Armor increased. Q cooldown and explosion damage decreased. W heal ratio changed, and damage decreased. E damage decreased.

We’re adjusting Sylas to function more like a skirmisher and less like an AP assassin. To that end, we’re lowering AP ratios while preserving base damages and lowering cooldowns, all of which pushes Sylas toward repeated casts (valuing Ability Haste and durability overall) instead of maximizing AP per slot. On top of that, we’re adding a bonus health ratio to W to further push him back to the HP-AP items he used to enjoy back when Mythics were a thing. Ideally, Sylas should be extremely good in smaller-numbered fights as his healing should make him scary in skirmishes, while his ult stealing should be what allows him to teamfight successfully.

• 

  Q - Chain Lash

  Cooldown: 11/10/9/8/7 → 10/9/8/7/6

• 

  Q - Chain Lash

  Explosion Damage: 70/125/180/235/290 (+90% AP) → 60/115/170/225/280 (+80% AP)

• 

  W - Kingslayer

  Heal: 20/40/60/80/100 (+35% AP) → 20/60/80/100 (+20% AP) (+5% Bonus Health)

• 

  W - Kingslayer

  Damage: 65/100/135/170/205 (+80% AP) → 65/100/135/170/205 (+70% AP)

• 

  E - Abscond/Abduct

  Damage: 80/130/180/230/280 (+100% AP) → 80/130/180/230/280 (+80% AP)

Q dash now lands closer to target.

Talon is slightly weaker than he should be and he’s got a frustration-point where his spells can sometimes betray him. We’re buffing his Q to dash toward his opponent in almost all cases to help him get that follow-up basic attack.

• 

  Q - Noxian Diplomacy

  Short-range casts now dash to within 150 units of his target

Base AD increased. Passive Attack Speed bonuses increased. W on-hit damage decreased.

We adjusted Varus a couple patches ago with the goal of making him more balanceable for most players without dominating Pro play. We’re pretty confident in the direction right now but he’s now in a state where he’s a little too weak for regular players and his optimizations are unintuitive. We’re bringing down the value of maxing W first and putting that power back into places we took away, namely base AD and his passive. We’re further buffing his champion takedown passive to ensure he thrives in high-kill environments.

• 

  Passive - Living Vengeance

  Minion Kill Attack Speed: 10% → 10/15/20% (at level 1/7/13)

• 

  Passive - Living Vengeance

  Champion Takedown: 40% Attack Speed and 15% Attack Speed as Attack Damage → 50% Attack Speed and 25% Attack Speed as Attack Damage and Ability Power

• 

  Passive - Living Vengeance

  Champion Takedown AS cap: 2.763 → 3.0

• 

  W - Blighted Quiver

  On-hit Damage: 7/14/21/28/35 → 5/10/15/20/25

Base armor increased. E damage increased.

Yasuo’s early game should be much more active than current and he should be able to rely on short trades around his E to get an edge in the early game. As Yasuo’s currently weaker than he ought to be, these are strict buffs to the OG wind samurai.

• 

  E - Sweeping Blade

  Damage: 60/70/80/90/100 (+20% Bonus AD) → 70/85/100/115/130 (+20% Bonus AD)

• 

  E - Sweeping Blade

  Bonus Damage Per Stack: 15-25% (60-100% max) → 25% (100% max)

Q damage increased. R cooldown increased at higher ranks.

Yone is currently one of the weakest early laners in mid with a really dominant late-game and we’d like to flatten out that power curve slightly. We’re increasing his Q lethality in lane and bringing down his target access late-game as compensation.

• 

  Q - Mortal Steel

  Damage: 20/40/60/80/100 (+105% Total AD) → 20/45/70/95/120 (+105% Total AD)

• 

  R - Fate Sealed

  Cooldown: 120/90/60 → 120/100/80

Q AD ratio decreased and damage increased at higher ranks. R cooldown increased.

Last patch’s Zed buffs gave him the power level we wanted but we want to further adjust his power curve. We’d like if his strengths were expressed more in lane dominance and less about being a late game scaler. As a stretch goal, it’d also be cool to see him in Pro. So we’re adjusting his Q to be stronger for the early and mid game and slightly bringing down his R frequency to bring down his late game power in his typical normal and Ranked games.

• 

  Q - Razor Shuriken

  Damage: 80/115/150/185/220 (+110% Bonus AD) → 80/120/160/200/240 (+100% Bonus AD)

• 

  R - Death Mark

  Cooldown: 120/100/80 → 120/110/100

A few patches ago we tried to make Abyssal Mask enticing both for low-income support tanks and for any offensively-skewed income tanks as well.

A few patches ago we tried to make Abyssal Mask enticing both for low-income support tanks and for any offensively-skewed income tanks as well. The income tanks are the ones who have shown the most desire to pick it up, so we’re embracing them with some changes to make the item even more exciting. A significant boost to the MR shred aura with a moderate increase in price should not only make magic damage tanks happy but also give players an option when they find their team composition is too magic-heavy.

Berserker’s Greaves is losing around 150g worth of attack speed, nudging players toward finishing other items first.

We’re giving Swities the low-end 100g nerf as they have a clear place in the system and we think it’s fine if a few more champions pick these up for some new boot goofin’.

We’re buffing several AP items this patch, starting with Cosmic Drive.

We’re buffing several AP items this patch, starting with Cosmic Drive. In general, we identified AP items that we thought had a clear purpose but weren’t strong enough to pull the attention of enough champions, so by giving them some direct buffs, we hope to boost the power of AP champions in general and enrich their decision making.

We adjusted Dark Harvest last month to make it a high risk option that rewards early dominance.

We adjusted Dark Harvest last month to make it a high risk option that rewards early dominance. Our hope was to make it slightly stronger than it was before, which didn’t quite happen, so we’re delivering some direct buffs to the rune. A lower baseline cooldown will nudge it up for laners specifically, while a quicker reset on takedown should buff it for everyone in team fights.

Death's Dance is more uncommon than we think is ideal, especially in a meta where high AD compositions are powerful, so we're buffing its armor to solidify its place as an answe…

Death's Dance is more uncommon than we think is ideal, especially in a meta where high AD compositions are powerful, so we're buffing its armor to solidify its place as an answer to those compositions.

Fleet Footwork is providing too much early safety, making champions who have an early advantage run over their lane opponents with pure sustain.

Fleet Footwork is providing too much early safety, making champions who have an early advantage run over their lane opponents with pure sustain. This patch, we’re lowering the early healing on Fleet and backloading it until level 14+.

Rocketbelt isn’t appealing to enough champions right now and for an item that says, “Go dive directly into the enemy team,” we think the stat line should support that play…

Rocketbelt isn’t appealing to enough champions right now and for an item that says, “Go dive directly into the enemy team,” we think the stat line should support that play style better.

Lucidity boots are getting nerfed a bit over 100g worth of value.

Lucidity boots are getting nerfed a bit over 100g worth of value. We like that going for ability haste can be a compelling choice versus flat magic penetration for mages, so we’re not going too hard here.

Kraken Slayer was retooled to be an early game gambit: If ADCs wanted to skip out on crit chance and lower their three-item DPS, they could pick up Kraken instead for some early priority.

Kraken Slayer was retooled to be an early game gambit: If ADCs wanted to skip out on crit chance and lower their three-item DPS, they could pick up Kraken instead for some early priority. Turns out the opportunity cost of skipping Kraken is too high and it’s too strong for these champions. We’re lowering Kraken’s damage for ranged users specifically and reducing the degree to which they can permanently keep melee champions at harpoon’s reach.

When we adjusted LDR in the mid-year patch, we pushed the armor penetration high enough that it was no longer enough of a penalty to stack physical damage ADCs on a team, so we’re walking its armor penetration back to its pre-patch value, which should still make it clearly good when the situation calls for it but also bringing down the cap on pure physical damage teams.

When we adjusted LDR in the mid-year patch, we pushed the armor penetration high enough that it was no longer enough of a penalty to stack physical damage ADCs on a team, so we’re walking its armor penetration back to its pre-patch value, which should still make it clearly good when the situation calls for it but also bringing down the cap on pure physical damage teams. Meanwhile, Mortal Reminder was made strictly more powerful by gaining 5% crit chance, so we’re dropping 5 AD (everyone’s favorite nerf).

Overall the nerfs to tier two boots are meant to make them the correct buy once you actually want the move speed, instead of just the best early items in the game.

Overall the nerfs to tier two boots are meant to make them the correct buy once you actually want the move speed, instead of just the best early items in the game. Ideally building your first legendary should be the optimal way to play out your laning phase but upgrading your move speed could be worthwhile if you need to dodge skill shots or close the gap on a ranged opponent.

See Lord Dominik’s Regards

We’re making a big change in nerfing tier two boots.

We’re making a big change in nerfing tier two boots. In order to make that happen, we needed to tap down on Null Magic Mantle as well. This has a nice side benefit of making this item shut down mage opponents less hard, which we like. Unless otherwise mentioned, all items that build from Null Magic Mantle have the same total stats and total price.

We generally buffed Steelcaps back in 14.10 by making it cheaper, giving it more armor, and taxing the anti-attack passive lightly.

We generally buffed Steelcaps back in 14.10 by making it cheaper, giving it more armor, and taxing the anti-attack passive lightly. It’s so strong that it’s become a default pick in many AD-vs-AD lanes, making the lane more about pushing in the wave as fast as possible and less about interactions. By bringing its overall gold efficiency back down, it’ll be slightly weaker than 14.9’s version.

Sorcerer’s Shoes loses head’s-up 1v1 to Mercury’s Treads and that will still be true next patch, but the hope is that with price disparities and an overall push toward finishing the first legendary that it won’t matter as much.

Sorcerer’s Shoes loses head’s-up 1v1 to Mercury’s Treads and that will still be true next patch, but the hope is that with price disparities and an overall push toward finishing the first legendary that it won’t matter as much. Since we’re overall lowering the amount of MR in the game via Null Magic Mantle and Mercury’s Treads, we’re giving only a light tap to Sorcerer’s Shoes in line with the smaller boot nerfs from this patch.

Statikk Shiv is stronger than people give it credit for.

Statikk Shiv is stronger than people give it credit for. While it’s a common purchase on Zeri, Kai’Sa, and Sivir, it’s growing in popularity (and very good) on Jhin and Ashe as well. Since we’re nerfing its direct competition in Kraken Slayer, we’re delivering a slightly smaller tap to Shiv as well. As with Kraken, we’re keeping the bonus move speed but lowering it to help melee champions chase down their prey.

Stormsurge is quite a bit less popular than Shadowflame and we think it should see more play.

Stormsurge is quite a bit less popular than Shadowflame and we think it should see more play. To make its purpose more distinct, we’re increasing Stormraider’s bonus movement speed to encourage more playmaking. We’re also softening Squall’s nerf for ranged users to make it more appealing to them.

We’re specifically not nerfing Symbiotic Soles as they’re a little weak relative to other boot options.

We’re specifically not nerfing Symbiotic Soles as they’re a little weak relative to other boot options. A few champions may find themselves moving over as a result of the other nerfs here.

We buffed Void Staff a little bit ago and we’d like to go a bit harder to ensure that it’s clearly an exciting piece for burst mages.

Wit’s End had its on-hit damage scaled back when it used to give flat attack damage as well, which had made it overbearing in lane against magic damage champions.

Wit’s End had its on-hit damage scaled back when it used to give flat attack damage as well, which had made it overbearing in lane against magic damage champions. Now that the AD is gone, it’s become somewhat of a trap as an early purchase. By smoothing out its early game damage, it should once again be viable as a first item.