Patch 16.2

Aatrox has struggled to find a place on the Rift in the new season with split pushing on the rise and fewer chances to flex his team fighting strengths.

Aatrox has struggled to find a place on the Rift in the new season with split pushing on the rise and fewer chances to flex his team fighting strengths. We're giving him some additional power this patch, primarily in the jungle, where his growing audience has been kneecapped, as well as in the top lane where he could use more ways to benefit from experience. We hope this satiates Aatrox players, especially those with Endless Hunger.

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  Passive - Deathbringer Stance

  Bonus Magic Damage based on Target Max Health: 4-8% (based on level) → 4-10% (based on level)

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  Q - The Darkin Blade

  Bonus Damage to Monsters: 15 → 25

Ashe is underperforming in the new season so we’re here to bring her back up near her former power level.

Ashe is underperforming in the new season so we’re here to bring her back up near her former power level. We like that she has a strong affinity for buying attack speed, so we’re just making those purchases multiply a little bit harder.

Gwen jungle has skyrocketed in both pickrate and winrate.

Gwen jungle has skyrocketed in both pickrate and winrate. While we're excited to see her loving the new season and snipping from dusk til dawn, we need to make sure she's not turning all opponents (especially jungle camps) into paper.

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  Passive - A Thousand Cuts

  Monster Damage Cap: 5 (+10% AP) → 3 (+5% AP)

Jayce jungle (AKA Jungle Jayce) has become extremely popular and is also much too strong.

Jayce jungle (AKA Jungle Jayce) has become extremely popular and is also much too strong. One of those two things is awesome and the other isn’t. We’d like to retain JJ as a viable option in the jungle, but without him dominating the competition. So we’re delivering a light nerf that’s intended to bring him more in line with other junglers.

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  Q - To the Skies / Shock Blast

  Bonus Damage to Monsters : 50 → 25

Lillia has been in a dream since the changes to Rift.

Lillia has been in a dream since the changes to Rift. Unfortunately we need to wake her up as it’s become a nightmare for her opponents. We want her to maintain her spot as our premier in-and-out skirmisher in the jungle, but without her prancing out of control. We are looking to nerf her ability to stay topped up as well as bring down some of her late game damage.

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  Passive - Dream-Laden Bough

  Heal Against Large Monsters: 39 (+15% AP) → 39 (+9% AP)

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  Q - Blooming Blows

  AP Ratio: 35% AP → 30% AP

Malphite’s been a frontrunner on the Rift for a while, both in top and in the jungle.

Malphite’s been a frontrunner on the Rift for a while, both in top and in the jungle. We’re actually very happy that he’s found a real audience in the jungle! That said, he’s still overperforming, so we need to bring him down now while still leaving him with two roles to play. To do that, we’re reducing some of his trading and clearing damage while retaining his high durability to physical damage and strong engage power. We’re also hitting jungle a little more as it’s meant to be slightly weaker than his top lane, as opposed to slightly stronger, which is currently the case.

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  W - Thunderclap

  Monster Damage: 2x → 1.8x

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  E - Ground Slam

  Damage: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+ 60% AP) (+ 40% armor) → 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+ 60% AP) (+ 40% armor)

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  E - Ground Slam

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

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  R - Unstoppable Force

  Cooldown: 130 / 105 / 80 → 130 / 115 / 100

Master Yi has been struggling as a result of the changes in the new season.

Master Yi has been struggling as a result of the changes in the new season. We’re looking to return some of his power so that he can keep up with other junglers and better live up to his full hyper carry potential.

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  Q - Alpha Strike

  On-Hit Damage Mod: 65% → 75%

Nunu & Willump are devouring the competition in the new season, so we’re here to bring them back to a fairer level of power.

Nunu & Willump are devouring the competition in the new season, so we’re here to bring them back to a fairer level of power. To do that, we’re reducing a mix of the PvP and PvE power out in their kits to give opponents a fighting chance.

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  Q - Consume

  Cooldown: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 → 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 seconds

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  W - Biggest Snowball Ever!

  Maximum Damage: 180 / 225 / 270 / 315 / 360 (+ 150% AP) → 150 / 195 / 240 / 285 / 330 (+ 150% AP)

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  E - Snowball Barrage

  Damage per Hit: 16 / 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 (+ 15% AP) → 14 / 21 / 28 / 35 / 42

Sivir has become an extremely dominant ADC pick, regardless of whether or not she buys Essence Reaver, so it’s time to bring her down a notch.

Sivir has become an extremely dominant ADC pick, regardless of whether or not she buys Essence Reaver, so it’s time to bring her down a notch. Since she has very strong wave control and great damage scaling, we’re looking to bring down her top end a little.

As expected Smolder has become much more powerful with the new Essence Reaver and increased minion counts.

As expected Smolder has become much more powerful with the new Essence Reaver and increased minion counts. Since we’ve tuned our systems to our liking for now, it’s time to take stock of individual champions, Smolder being one. We want to make sure Smolder’s strong late-game damage has durability tradeoffs, even when buying the occasional HP item.

Taliyah’s been missing from the jungle as of late and the gameplay changes for the new season didn’t help her, quite the opposite actually.

Taliyah’s been missing from the jungle as of late and the gameplay changes for the new season didn’t help her, quite the opposite actually. To that end we want to get her rocking and rolling in the jungle again so we’re buffing up her mid game clear speed to help her out.

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  Q - Threaded Volley

  Bonus Damage to Monsters : 20 → 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 (Note: Empowered Boulder damage is still increased by 80% to primary target.)

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  E - Unraveled Earth

  Monster Damage Modifier: 190% → 225%

Varus isn’t doing very well in the new season so we’re here to lift up his two primary builds, on-hit and AD caster.

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  Q - Piercing Arrow

  Maximum Charge Base Damage: 80 / 150 / 220 / 290 / 360 → 80 / 160 / 240 / 320 / 400

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  W - Blighted Quiver

  On-Hit Base Damage: 6 / 14 / 22 / 30 / 38 → 8 / 17 / 26 / 35 / 44

Viego is performing worse this season due to direct adjustments and overall game-wide changes.

Viego is performing worse this season due to direct adjustments and overall game-wide changes. As a result he needs some power added back in, both compensating some crit scaling that he lost and generally just making him a better fighter.

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  Q - Blade of the Ruined King

  Percent HP On-Hit Bonus Crit Damage Mod: 50% → 70%

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  Q - Blade of the Ruined King

  Active Bonus Crit Damage Mod: 50% → 60%

Zed’s recent jungle changes didn't affect him as strongly as we had anticipated, and players have noticed, resulting in a resurgence of pick and ban rate.

Zed’s recent jungle changes didn't affect him as strongly as we had anticipated, and players have noticed, resulting in a resurgence of pick and ban rate. We’d like to slow his clear and lower his potency, this time with more accuracy now that we have a better understanding of how to tune him in the jungle.

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  Passive - Contempt for the Weak

  Monster Damage: 1.8x → 1.2x

The pipes are sounding good on the rift but they're crowding out other support options due to their low price point.

The pipes are sounding good on the rift but they're crowding out other support options due to their low price point. While we’re excited for their newfound popularity, we don’t want them to completely steal the spotlight.

Fiendhunter Bolts is doing what it's supposed to do, but it's not quite well enough to get picked over its competition.

Fiendhunter Bolts is doing what it's supposed to do, but it's not quite well enough to get picked over its competition. We’re buffing up a little bit all around on the Bolts to help it hold up better against the other Zeal items.

Hexoptics has found a place in some situational builds for longer range champions, but is a bit too niche and a little weaker than needed for it to function for most of the mark…

Hexoptics has found a place in some situational builds for longer range champions, but is a bit too niche and a little weaker than needed for it to function for most of the marksman roster, so we’re giving it a general appreciable AD buff and easing the range requirement.