9.14 changes according to Riot Repertoir (Blitzcrank, Leona, Akali, Lux, Tahm kench)

TahmKench : Reducing the slow hurts his support, but his support play is already dead. Since he can now eat the big buffs, does that mean jungle Kench is back? Also Greyhealth looks to be a one point wonder now.

Poppy : Did she need buffs? I mean, I'm not against her getting buffs as this makes her wall slam W combo into enemy toplaners with dashes all the better, but I get worried when my favorite champions get good buffs.

D357R0Y3RJul 1, 201913 votes

repertoir made it clear that from now on, riot wants champions to have cleare strengths

poppy's strength to counter mobility was just not enough tbh her having a grounding effect now emphases on that strength

swain health scaling

yes he does

tahm kench jungle

yes

tahm kench support

he's still too strong, still pick/ban in pro but his W is already not that good pros are still picking him because his Q is too strong atm

RalanrJul 1, 201939 votes

I’m fine with this. I really do want Riven players to suffer.

ProfirixJul 1, 201916 votes

Its actually a pretty big nerf to Kench damage as well since passive stacks mean nothing except stunning and devouring. No more extra damage from either. Sizable damage nerf to all of his offensive abilities. There really isn't much of a reason to play him anywhere anymore after these changes is there? His jungle clear will be so bad without Tiamat.

I hated top Kench with a passion and liked using him as a support but I just don't see him being worth it. Might as well just burst your laners down with Zyra or some other mage. If you are looking for peel play Leona, Naut, or Alistar. In this case, "less annoying" means not viable if you hope to actually win your games and are not on a pro team.

Karn BishopJul 2, 201910 votes

Yes poppy needed the buffs, actually if you look at the total changes on the PBE you will notice a rather interesting theme which is a combination of anti healing, anti mobility, and shield break effects on multiple champions.

It looks like the balance team is finally working on fixing an issue they have been pretending does not exist for a long long time and thats a good thing.

TheCheekySneakJul 1, 201924 votes

Tahm may as well not exist after these changes in all honesty

ProfirixJul 1, 201915 votes

That is pretty much the tone I get from the changes. Destroy his top lane ability (which I really am ok with) and also cripple the dead horse of his ability to support. The champion is in desperate need of a true rework.

Mark my words, he will be B A D. You will lose every bottom lane match up, even against tanks because you won't be doing enough offensively or defensively. Not being able to devour after a stun will KILL this champion. There is no where near enough compensation for what they are taking out.

Spicy RiceJul 2, 20199 votes

honestly, it looks like they want to transition him to being a jungler.

AS I LAY FEEDINGJul 2, 201924 votes

they never stop with the renekton buffs. Renekton otps just one shot combo people all the time, even under tower.

Haze97Jul 2, 20199 votes

As someone who plays Renekton he didn't need any buffs. This one however fucks Riven up so I'll still welcome it.

wolviusJul 1, 201920 votes

Those changes look pretty good except the renekton shield-break that is too overloaded of an abilty and very strong against tanks who he already destroys in-lane.

Finally tahm top is nerfed in a way that makes him less frustrating.

Not sure how the swain changes effect him though.

i4got2pull0utJul 2, 201916 votes

Why on earth is Pykes R getting buffed.

You now want to give him 600 gold for every kill PLUS a major buff onto the damage? So much for nerfing solo lane pyke.

Being able to double the amount of gold your team gets from a kill is broken. Idk who or why the balance team, whom I normally defend in all cases, thought this was a good idea.

Silent ReaperJul 1, 201915 votes

Gotta love those leona nerfs.... Not to mention they are adding more shield breakers into the game....

Does riot just hate support champions?

A girl Supp MainJul 2, 201910 votes

Pyke This is the ideal support pick. You may not like it, but this is what peak supporting looks li--PENTAKILL

HotarµJul 1, 201915 votes

Those Pyke changes look a little overkill to be honest, I love him but they should probably tone back the scalings a bit. Maybe I'm wrong idk :p

PB4UAMEJul 2, 20198 votes

Its a MASSIVE damage buff, even if he doesn't kill, the AD ratio, a fucking TOTAL AD RATIO AT THAT was just increased to, oh. . . 220% of what it used to be!? And the Lethality ratio went up too? AND HE GETS TWICE AS MUCH FREE GOLD FOR NOT EVEN GETTING A KILL WITH IT.

Excellent changes RIOT, just fucking brilliant.

Wild GeeseJul 1, 201913 votes

Excellent stuff.

The Renekton change makes absolutely no sense and I expect confusion...

Mostly though happy of the Tahm and Lux nerfs, nice Poppy buff, good adjustments on Akali and Pyke.

D357R0Y3RJul 1, 20199 votes

renekton w changes are in line with riot's new philsophy

basically they used a lot of words to say that they want counterpicks to be a thing in league which is why you see leona having flat damage reduction, or poppy countering mobile champions even more, or ahri having her charm stopping dashes again, or kled having healing reduction on Q

ApocalypsicJul 1, 20199 votes

I personally think that Renekton changes and poppy changes are aimed at providing more hardcounters for Riven, and champs like herself.

RagnaveilJul 2, 20194 votes

Yeah, if they go through with this change, Ren will 100% go back to being a good counter to Riven.

Anu3isIIJul 1, 20199 votes

What?!!

Didn't they have the philosophy of avoiding extreme counters to especially avoid impossible to win lanes? This feels the extreme opposite of the foundation of League. If I wanted that, I would play Dota instead...

I can see tho why most of these changes would reflect this philosophy. However, there are a few things I think you kinda overlook:

Leona is mainly played as a Support and she is mostly laning against ADCs which attack a ton of times with minimal damage for most of the game, so it makes sense to give her Damage Reduction to survive against them.
Ahri used to stop Dashes with her Charm some time ago (which received a lot of backlash from the community). Returning it is basically a revert.
Poppy basically traded one skill that was most of the times relevant at negating only one other skill, without really giving any reward to it. People with multiple mobility tools could basically try to engage and if Poppy W-ed, they would run away with their other tools, barely punished by a good Poppy W. Plus, I doubt she has room to be buffed in her other skills since I think she is almost good.

But I completely agree with you that Renekton, Blitzcrand and Kled changes are part of this new philosophy. They seem random and completely unnecessary. Irelia rework was the first "weird" thing, but looking back at it, she doesn't seem as bad as these after the changes.

GayFluffyUnicornJul 2, 20192 votes

That is EXACTLY the opposite of the foundations of league.

This one thing is what was riots philosophy to never have a counterpick heavy gameplay and instead letting the players be able to play around a tough lane by being more skillfull and thus being able to win even against supposed counters. Riot now just shits all over that philosophy and frankly with how the game is at its core right now this is surely going to be the death of it. Stuff like toplane is already counterpick heavy now they make renekton and kled impossible to lane against for a bunch of champions. This is absolutely stupid and needs to get pulled ASAP.

Anu3isIIJul 2, 20195 votes

I completely agree, this new direction may ruin the game we used to like.

iTaLenTZJul 2, 20193 votes

{quoted}

renekton w changes are in line with riot's new philsophy

basically they used a lot of words to say that they want counterpicks to be a thing in league which is why you see leona having flat damage reduction, or poppy countering mobile champions even more, or ahri having her charm stopping dashes again, or kled having healing reduction on Q

They basically want the game to be decided in champ select. Whoever has the first pick in his lane is fucked. Interactive and skillful....

EonslegacyJul 1, 201912 votes

Soooo pyke does more R damage by a LOT and gives twice as much gold. Well... No more penta dunk but one dunk means four kills worth of gold. Nice.

ProfirixJul 1, 20191 votes

He gets gold on assists too now. He doesn't need to take the kills.

i4got2pull0utJul 2, 20194 votes

Its an execute. Pyke always got gold for the R not killing someone, he just got the cut instead of the most recent assister. This is giving Pyke 600 for doing either.

If he gets the kill, he gets the kill gold + a "your cut". If he gets an assist, he gets the assist gold, plus 2 "your cut"'s.

There really isnt any room to defend this change. ESPECIALLY for a 50% win rate assassin.

Nea104Jul 1, 201910 votes

Terrible, as expected from this people.

BlakiepugJul 2, 201910 votes

This balance team is the worst.

Linna ExcelJul 2, 201910 votes

Why did riot kill Leona's empowered attacks? I thought they intentionally gave her that so she could do more in a team fight after casting her spells.

NY64Jul 2, 20199 votes

I don’t understand why all these drastic changes.

Renekton I thought we learned from Irelia that dealing bonus damage to shields is broken so why are we putting this on a lane bully that can just delete it instantly. Your just removing the counter play to this guy.

Kled I don’t know how long Grevious Wounds usually last but why does he get a better version for 5 SECONDS! That’s gotta be the longest lasting debuff in the game! This isn’t giving a champion clearer strengths this is just removing counter play.

Blitzcrank These changes were confusing to me but what the heck is that W, will his purpose be to just charge in super fast, pull someone and then die because he is rooted in front of the enemy team. Also even that R is ridiculous, like I said I thought Irelia proved shield breaking was op. Are we just repeating history?

Leona Confused about this one. Does that W make her tankier or less Tanky?

TahmKench WHAT THE ABSOLUTE HELL! If you wanted to nerf him, fine but why are you reverting his 9.9 changes and kicking even more with additional nerfs? Seriously what reason will players have to pick this guy? His issue was that he was too strong of a lane bully so you handle it by taking everything he has to function as a champion. Give him a break, he has been gutted for 3 seasons and gets to be playable for only 4 patches then gets gutted again. Oh but let’s not nerf the champions that are also problematic in top lane like Riven or Darius because we need more skins for them.

MakarakarnJul 1, 20198 votes

These swain changes please me greatly.

NineTailedMysticJul 2, 20198 votes

Ahri E stopping dashes again HNNG YES

Baron BarianJul 1, 20197 votes

I don't quite understand what was removed on Tahm's Q. Does it do some AOE damage that I've never known about?

vyodaJul 2, 20197 votes

Blitzcrank now roots himself?!!

[sg-lux-2]

hhaavviikkJul 2, 20197 votes

so we gets the strength of shields nerfed, we get the duration of shields significantly nerfed and now we are getting even more champions that just flat out remove shield, does riot just absolutely hate shield supports with a passion?

Lord CoffeeJul 2, 20197 votes

Blitzcrank Blitz changes are honestly very stupid and dont solve anything.

His W doesn't need to be changed and the new W doesn't do anything different besides having to waste time to ramp it up to engage but than you self morgana root yourself anyway.

Wtf is that ult change? I pick blitz because he has the potential to snowball my team early game. This change contradicts blitzcranks identity.

Support PositionJul 2, 20197 votes

For those thinking Pyke changes are a nerf lets do some math shall we?

These are level 11 Values with +1 damage for no .XX number decimals. It is also ONLY with item 3147 item 3134

Live: Total Damage at level 11 with item 3147 item 3134 = 160 (Same value for changes coming.) Lethality total at level 11 = 26

Live Ult Level 11 = 430 Add 80% of 160 = 558 (Ult damage) Add 150% Lethality = 597 (Ult Damage total.)

Changes coming ult at 11 = 350 Add 200% of 160 = 670 (Ult damage) Add 200% of 26 = 722 (Ult total damage)

HUMMMMM big "nerf"

EDIT: if the original maker of this post wishes to put this in their post they may just give credit ;)

GubaguyJul 2, 20196 votes

Wow, just kill tahm completely then. Removing the passive damage on spells is stupid, he RELIES on that damage. Removing his ability to Q+W an enemy in one go, he will NEVER be able to trade again, he will always get CC'd then enemies wille scape. Not even sure what the 'hit enemies in an arc' thing is, is that a PBE thing? Reducing the slow? Jesus, now hes not good as a support OR toplaner. Why remove the nearsight? I mean it makes basically no diffrence to his overall kit, but it seems like they are just kicking him while hes down at that point. Also removing the stun from it? Cool, so he has 0 real cc in his whole kit now.

AND they are removing nearly HALF his grey health? So let me see if i understand tahms new kit: No CC, no mobility, no tanky abilities, no healing (becuase less grey health means less heals), all his cooldowns have been jacked up, AND he doesnt even get to pop a shield and pray for cooldowns to reset since his E doesnt reset when in use...

R.I.P. Tahm. I will miss you, sad that you have to die becuase 12 year olds cant be bothered ot learn how to counter you with mobility, or dodging, or playing any one of the 20 BS champions that easily beat you in lane.

Abibyama IIJul 1, 20195 votes

The blitz chnages are pretty hype

D357R0Y3RJul 1, 20195 votes

90 sec cd ult tho?

Minimac2000Jul 2, 20194 votes

[{quoted}](name=Abibyama II,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=KMEBQgVE,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2019-07-01T21:57:17.879+0000)

The blitz chnages are pretty hype

Not really, they changed his w to "get the same effect and self root for two seconds instead of a 50% slow or get a slightly better effect and literally morgana q yourself so you die like an idiot" This is terrible

Crescent DuskJul 1, 20195 votes

Giving Kled and Renekton anti-shield and partifularly GW baseline is going to make much of top lane miserably oppressive, since so many Juggernauts flat out rely on self healing skills in top lane. Kled is already one of the more oppressive top laners.

Blue Moon WolfJul 2, 20195 votes

Riot: Irelia was too strong with her being able to do bonus damage to shields at max stacks, so we removed it *adds instant shield breaking mechanics to Blitzcrank and Renekton *

[zombie-brand-mindblown]

EonslegacyJul 1, 20194 votes

Rito seems to have a strong hate for sheilds now.

PICKLERICK254Jul 2, 20194 votes

So.... kled is just going to reduce healing by 100% for 5 seconds with an executioner? No. That cannot be correct right?

iTaLenTZJul 2, 20193 votes

The changes to Blitzcrank W will make him incredibly unfun to play and will kill him. The slow was annoying enough but a 1-3 second root.....come on! Even if you hit your Q you can't even use E because you are rooted for 3 seconds. Also you can' follow up with aa's. His W is supposed to be a very much needed gapcloser. Its not like people are standing still in front of you waiting to get hooked. So you use W --> close the gap --> Q --> stand still for 3 seconds and die. At this point what is even the point of the attack speed boost? What a joke.

D357R0Y3RJul 2, 20191 votes

his ult removes ccs

iTaLenTZJul 2, 20195 votes

{quoted}

his ult removes ccs

So you have to blow your ult each time you use W or you die. Awesome! Just what Blitz needed. You can no longer look for opportunities to make a play or use it to escape or re position yourself.