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Patch 9.18 notes

Riot··5 votes·181,246 views

Hey patch notes readers, want to form a contract with me?

We're coming down to the final stretch! 9.19 will be the patch Worlds is played on, so we're adding in some changes that shouldn't rock the boat too much, but helps get us to place that encourages champion diversity and fun times during the most hype event of the year ~

With that in mind, in this patch we're taking another look at Aatrox and Akali specifically to make sure they don't completely dominate the meta, since they've been seeing high picks and play time in pro throughout the year.

See you in another two weeks! But if you decide to die for the good of the universe, call me anytime.
Hanna “shio shoujo” Woo Paul "Aether" Perscheid

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Patch Highlights



Star Guardian Rakan, Xayah, Zoe, and Neeko (including her Prestige Edition) will be available on September 12, 2019.

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Champions

Aatrox

Passive now heals for less against minions. Q damage to minions reduced and flattened.

Aatrox is still highly valued in pro play, so we're taking another swing at him. We're nerfing his sustain and waveclear at the late laning phase points (around level 7-11) to hit his flexibility in lane matchups and his ability to flex into multiple roles.

Passive - Deathbringer Stance

HEAL Heals for bonus physical damage dealt to anything ⇒ Heals for 25% of the damage dealt when stabbing a minion (healing vs. other targets unchanged)

Q - The Darkin Blade

DAMAGE TO MINIONS 50-100% (levels 1-18) ⇒ 40% at all levels

Akali

R cooldown increased early. R1 stun removed. R2 base maximum damage decreased early.

Similar to Aatrox, we're focusing our changes on Akali's pro presence, specifically in limiting her power before her level 11 spike. We're removing the stun on her R1 too to increase counterplay and open up the number of champions that can play against her. Ultimately, we think it's a good change for her in the long term.

R - Perfect Execution

removedR1 STUN Akali no longer stuns her enemies for 0.5 seconds
R2 MAXIMUM DAMAGE 255/450/645 (+0.9 ability power) ⇒ 195/420/645 (+0.9 ability power)
COOLDOWN 120/110/100 seconds ⇒ 160/130/100 seconds

Annie

E now grants decaying movement speed; damage reduction decreased; cooldown increased.

Giving Annie more pep in her step in lane with an additional benefit on her E so she can make more plays when on her own.

E - Molten Shield

newMOVEMENT SPEED Annie gains 25% + 1.5% per level decaying bonus movement speed over a 1.5 second duration
DAMAGE REDUCTION 16/22/28/34/40% ⇒ 10/13/16/19/22%
COOLDOWN 10 seconds at all ranks ⇒ 15 seconds at all ranks

Aurelion Sol

Base health increased.

Following up on the 9.17 changes and calibrating with a minor tweak now that his early lane phase has more counterplay.

Base Stats

HEALTH 510 ⇒ 575

Caitlyn

Base attack damage increased.

Bumping Caitlyn's early laning power so she can punish those who rely more on scaling.

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE 60 ⇒ 62

Ekko

W cost decreased; stun duration increased.

Our previous buffs to Ekko in 9.16 didn't go as far as we wanted. Nudging him towards a more aggressive playstyle with a higher payout and lower cost.

W - Parallel Convergence

COST 50/55/60/65/70 mana ⇒ 30/35/40/45/50 mana
STUN DURATION 1.75 seconds ⇒ 2.25 seconds

Evelynn

R empowered damage amplifier and max empowered damage increased.

Evelynn isn't overly weak at the moment, but we want her to more reliably take down her targets if she manages to get them under the execute threshold.

R - Last Caress

EMPOWERED DAMAGE AMPLIFIER 100% against enemies below 30% of their maximum health ⇒ 140% against enemies below 30% of their maximum health
EMPOWERED DAMAGE 250/500/750 (+1.5 ability power) ⇒ 300/600/900 (+1.8 ability power)

Jhin

Base attack damage increased.

We're giving Jhin a bit more oomph to better bully out greedy lanes.

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE 57 ⇒ 59

Kai'Sa

E bonus attack speed decreased later.

We're reducing Kai'Sa's consistent damage so she'll be more inclined to assassinate prime targets as opposed to mowing down the enemy charge one at a time.

E - Supercharge

BONUS ATTACK SPEED 40/50/60/70/80% ⇒ 40/45/50/55/60%

Kayle

E base passive damage increased.

We feel good about the Kayle changes we made in 9.17, but she ended up slightly weaker than intended. We're buffing her E passive damage to make her basic attacks feel stronger throughout the game.

E - Starfire Spellblade

BASE PASSIVE DAMAGE 10/15/20/25/30 ⇒ 15/20/25/30/35

Lee Sin

Base health and attack damage increased. R damage increased.

Letting Lee Sin capitalize on early game successes with more powerful ultimates so he can have more of an impact.

Base Stats

HEALTH 570.8 ⇒ 575
ATTACK DAMAGE 69.2 ⇒ 70

R - Dragon's Rage

DAMAGE 150/375/600 ⇒ 175/400/625

Miss Fortune

E slow increased early.

Miss Fortune's E is barely worth casting at its first rank when considering the trade-off in mana, so we're buffing it at the early ranks.

E - Make It Rain

SLOW 28/36/44/52/60% ⇒ 40/45/50/55/60%

Nunu & Willump

Base stats decreased. E slow now scales.

Who knew Nunu & Willump would be so good at snowballing? Reducing some of their early gank potential as well as their scaling defenses, so they're not completely impenetrable once they get to a certain point.

Base Stats

HEALTH GROWTH 90 ⇒ 82
ARMOR GROWTH 3.5 ⇒ 3
MANA 283.56 ⇒ 280
MANA REGEN 7.44 ⇒ 7

E - Snowball Barrage

SLOW 50% ⇒ 30/35/40/45/50%

Teemo

Q and W quality-of-life changes. R mushroom adjustments with more charges and infinite bounce.

These changes should round out some of Teemo’s rougher edges. We're also making his shrooms more functional as the game progresses.

Q - Blinding Dart

THAT GREEN LIGHT, I WANT IT Blinded targets will now see a green light around their screen when they are affected by Teemo's Q

W - Move Quick

DID YOU SCREENSHOT? Move Quick's ability icon will now have a bar above it to show its active duration

R - Noxious Trap

EAT ME Mushrooms will now trigger more responsively, especially on enemies dashing through them quickly
SCUTTLE AWAY Rift Scuttler no longer triggers mushrooms when it's not in combat
LEAP FROG Mushrooms can now bounce once off of each other ⇒ infinitely off of each
MAX CHARGES 3 mushrooms at once at all ranks ⇒ 3/4/5 mushrooms at once

Warwick

W now properly grants bonus attack speed against Blood Hunted enemies.

Noting a bugfix in this section instead of the Bugfixes due to the change being a major buff to Warwick.

W - Blood Hunt

BUGFIX Warwick now properly gains bonus attack speed against all Blood Hunted enemies

Xayah

Base armor decreased. R cooldown increased.

At the highest levels of play, Xayah is an extremely safe and reliable choice due to her damage and safety in the early game. We're reducing the latter so that there's some tangible risk to picking her over other ADCs.

Base Stats

ARMOR 28 ⇒ 25

R - Featherstorm

COOLDOWN 140/125/110 seconds ⇒ 160/145/130 seconds

Zoe

Passive damage increased.

Zoe's early lane phase is weaker than intended right now, so we're propping that up without increasing her one-shot burst.

Passive - More Sparkles!

DAMAGE 10/12/16/20/24/28/34/40/46/
52/60/68/76/84/94/104/114/124
⇒ 16/20/24/28/32/36/42/48/54/
60/66/74/82/90/100/110/120/130

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Video Accessibility Options

A few new options are now available under Video in the in-game settings. For players who need them, these options can be vital in making their gaming experience more comfortable or even possible! Please let us know what you think and what else you'd like to have options for since we're definitely interested in adding more accessibility features in the future.
ENABLE SCREEN SHAKE On by default, but turning it off will remove the screen shake caused by things like Pulsefire Ezreal's recall or Ornn's ultimate.
VISUAL SLIDERS Allows players to control the Color Level, Gamma, Brightness, and Contrast of games. These options will change the overall appearance of the game except for the UI, allowing you to either diminish or highlight visual differences in-game quickly

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Bugfixes

  • Jayce's E - Acceleration Gate now properly functions when cast on top of Jayce
  • Pinging Pantheon's R - Grand Starfall will tell Pantheon's teammates which enemies are in range
  • Wolf no longer grants additional, non-functional vision to Kindred when circling her
  • Champions affected by Stasis no longer move during the effect
  • Allies on their way to enter Tahm Kench's R - Abyssal Voyage will no longer be stuck when Tahm Kench is hit by an enemy
  • When Shaco fears a target with W - Jack in the Box, he'll properly receive an assist if the target is killed shortly after
  • Diana's Passive - Moonsilver Blade's tooltip now properly updates when she ranks up E - Moonfall
  • Jinx's E - Flame Chompers now properly prevent Akali from moving when she uses R - Perfect Execution through them
  • Taliyah's Q - Threaded Volley now properly consumes the full mana cost after she walks out of an area of Worked Ground
  • Illaoi can no longer dash a short distance using W - Harsh Lesson when snared or rooted
  • Bard's Meep cone attacks now properly break spell shields
  • When Karthus is under his Passive - Death Defied effect, his W - Wall of Pain now properly grants vision around the wall

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Upcoming Skins & Chromas

The following skins will be released this patch. Grab the League Displays app for full-res splash art!

The following chromas will be released this patch:

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424 Comments

El Sexo Goato312 votes

What an unnecessary and excessive buff for Evelynn.

LazyMitchell42 votes

Logged in to upvote this. Your comment deserves to be at the top.

RyRy The GOAT14 votes

i think she could've used a very minor buff but not to her god damn most powerful ability thats broken alone

MIXER989 votes

It's only a buff to the empowered Ult which is only in effect after you fall below 30% hp. I've missed tons of kills ulting them when they are below the hp threshold yet they still survive which is silly considering its an execution ability overall not that big a buff she still has to full combo an individual to get you to 30% hp to then ult you which is the entire design of her kit. On top of this the ult is the only significant aoe ability she has so unless your whole team is low enough to clean up she's only going to get 1 or 2 of you anyway.

dandyd00d16 votes

yeah except when she was reworked they explicitly said that her ult was not intended to be a guaranteed kill. https://youtu.be/ep_U4U6YW4E?t=175

blanabas162 votes

I wish you’d stop gutting champions because of pro-play. That seems unfair considering 99% of your player base is not pro play.

Can’t you nerf it for just pro games or something?

Also I haven’t seen a single A-Sol main say they enjoy the changes.

The Ekko buffs are not needed nor wanted. Even Ekko mains are like hey what?

How much did you add to his stun??

Lee sin doesn’t need these buffs I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with him.

Oh it’s for worlds. How about you stop fucking over the player base for worlds. Seriously what is that .02 of the player base?

You guy make me fucking sick sometimes, prestige skins are pathetic cash grab, the new champs are unbalanced as fuck, Sylas has a dash, shield, stun/knock up, a HEAL THAT ALSO IS AN EXECUTE, Mordes ult? New akali? New Irelia? Pykes gold share? Zoe? What the fuck is your balance team smoking and can I have some?

I would 100% quit this game if I wasn’t addicted.

twinks hmu34 votes

"I would 100% quit this game if I wasnt addicted." Has a more relatable statement ever been spoken?

Araderr72 votes

Why buff lee

QMighty85 votes

it's worlds

BEASTIFIED5 votes

I wanna see the return of the best western lee sin this year

AssSlasher19 votes

Best Western? Sounds like a place you'd find Residentsleepers [slayer-jinx-wink]

Jabalor67 votes

Yep 65 health is going to fix Aurelion Sol, thanks Riot Honestly who thought the W change was a good idea? If the early game counterplay was the problem, why not add the toggle back to lvl 9 just like you did with Urgot's W last time?

Bloore17 votes

are you not aware of just how effective health is in the early game?

Keitron46 votes

He could have a additional 500hp but I would still want old sol back.

Revert sol 2k19

The1Adventurer27 votes

as someone who mains tahm kench, if a champion's playstyle, identity or core ideas are lost in the process of a change (aatrox revive, morde's ghost, tahm kench's... anything) it doesn't matter how successful a champion is, the reason you'd play said champ is gone and likely won't return. other stuff like pointless / suboptimal ratios on champs being removed also can take away the fun of a playstyle, even if it isn't what the devs intended (unless it's literally just better)

i'll sum it up like this: if they took out what you liked about a champ, they aren't as fun and if it isn't fun, why bother.

apbuggy14 votes

RIP Galio. All the stat buffs in the world can't bring back the enjoyment of Taunt/Flash.

Stexe12 votes

Agreed. A toggle at level 9 would be amazing. But I think they should at least increase the duration or just completely revert the W changes.

Keitron60 votes

Riot please hear to what the boards and the subreddit r/Aurelion_Sol_mains asking to revert the rework.

SugerRush32 votes

Agreed while it was nice that asol got some love, it was not a step in the right direction.

Shahamut12 votes

Skarner mains say "hi!"

Melon Nub16 votes

Rumble Mains say "hi!"

Icely27 votes

Actually triggers me to no end the shit they do to make champions "easier to play for newer players". Every time they do it they ruin a champion: Rumble, Ryze, and now Asol. Like lmao if you're a newer player play an easier champion, why does Riot have to dumb good champions down for them.

And people are going to tell me "Rumble is fine", but all I have say is that he's even more clunky than before now that you have to wait an extra 0.5s every time you want to hover around 50 heat because of the change they made to it. Ruined for me, at least.

Best Veigar FL58 votes

A normally unseen champ is getting played in pro play? Better nerf them instead of the champs seen every game. Sejuani Ezreal TahmKench Braum Irelia Sylas

Stained Spear40 votes

With these buffs to Evelynn and Lee Sin Ultimates I am seeing a pattern of adding 2-3 hundred damage every time you rank it up. Another Early game jungler who would like to "capitalize on early game successes with more powerful ultimates so he can have more of an impact" is Xin Zhao. His ult only does 75 dmg early game and goes up only by 100. Many times casting the ultimate takes so long that you lose dps.

Average Kayn14 votes

Thank goodness I’m not the only one who agrees with this. They are buffing champion ults that we’re perfectly fine, instead of buffing champions that actually need the ult buffs like you mentioned.

Sir Killalot2 votes

Please show me these champs whose ultimates get "2-3 hundred damage every time you rank it up" I would really like to play them in ranked.

JacobusSimon19 votes

We'll ignore scaling damage ultimates like Akali and Veigar for now: Lee Sin gets 225 base damage with each rank in his ultimate after the first. Evelynn gets 300 on the empowered portion. Pantheon gets 200. If you're interested in non-jungle champions, Caitlyn and Neeko also get 225. Syndra gets as much as 350, depending on the number of active spheres. There are probably more, but that's a good start. Enjoy Ranked.

Walnutter36 votes

REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL REVERT AURELION SOL

Epic Gamer Garen34 votes

garen changes when?Garen

Commit Man28 votes

garen changes when?Garen

Epic Gamer Garen28 votes

garen changes when?Garen

Commit Man15 votes

garen changes when?Garen

xander50113 votes

garen changes when?Garen

LanceTheMighty26 votes

garen changes when?Garen

Hipster build16 votes

garen changes when? Garen

Wordson1x29 votes

I'm going to miss you Aatrox...[cass-cry]

Colorful Dream35 votes

I've missed the real one for a long time now.

Fella Air27 votes

Can we just admit that the akali rework is a total nightmare to balance and at this point it would be better to just admit it was a mistake and revert it? I can't be the only one who feels this way...

DaMangoMan8 votes

Rot has reverted so many reworks. Its kinda sad that they cant get like any of them right, even after extensive balancing.

Wordson1x26 votes

That's not the Wolf bug we wanted fixed Riot.

ltmetal26 votes

World's patch? Better give Lee Sin a buff he doesn't need.

GodKing Thumper24 votes

@Riot

These Akali changes are utter fucking garbage. There's no reason to continually gut her kit. May as well just re-rework her. Would be a better use of your resources. Keep the model and shit, but redo her abilities since you guys can't seem to agree on anything and just made her absolute dogshit to play.

StupendousTurtle12 votes

She's getting the pro play treatment nerf. It's shit that pro play continually ruins champions (See Galio, Tahm Kench, Aatrox,Sylas Ornn (although Ornn they've sent help)

ZT Xperimentor18 votes

Yet another terrible patch buffing damage on several who don't need it, while continuing to beat down some scapegoats; even more unwanted garbage to top it off while ignoring community feedback.

Redesignated38 votes

Accessibility options are not "unwanted garbage." Feel free to be mad about the rest, though.

ZT Xperimentor5 votes

Screen shake doesn't make it easier to see what's going on, that by design goes against clarity, nor does it improve accessibility. Also seen plenty of posts disliking and detailing what's wrong with the skins, I wouldn't get them anyway so I wasn't going to explain that.

Komodoco34 votes

There's always been screen shake. This is the option to turn it OFF. Please read closer next time.

TwitchTv Buuzac18 votes

Still no Zac buffs? Please revert w damage from 25 to 40 and make him viable in high elo for once. Just because he is simple to use does not mean he should be so weak. Literally cannot carry games with him with how weak he is. Khazix recently got a 10 damage buff on his Q, so I am certain that a 15 damage buff on Zac's W would be fair and give him the little extra he needs to become viable in challenger. Really hoping to see this change next patch please.

Bad at games5 votes

Where is all the TFT stuff???

Scarletmeow90 votes

tft has its own patch notes, go there.

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