Patch 9.8 Notes
How do you do, fellow kids? Welcome to the MSI 2019 patch.
Champions we've been seeing a lot of like Gnar, Kayle, Nautilus, and Trundle are getting more adjustments. But some not-too-commonly-seen champs like Amumu and Renekton have joined them. On the items front, we're making Grievous Wounds more consistent across items that have it and adjusting the cost of some marksmen items in light of similar reductions to others in the category over the past couple of patches.
To all you Gangplank and Miss Fortune cosplayers, say goodbye to Butcher's Bridge as it sets sail until next time in ARAM. But to all your Braum and Ashe fan girls and boys, let's welcome back the Howling Abyss! The team have assessed the feedback and data from the 9.7 ARAM mini-event and have made some decisions to changes that will be applied permanently (or not) starting 9.8.
Now skedaddle out of here and read on for more details.
Patch Highlights
Champions
Amumu
Passive damage increased. Q cooldown decreased. Amumu now follows enemies hit by Q if they move while he's mid-flight.
The sad boi has some room for buffs so we're helping him. While these buffs won't feel too different between skill levels, we expect them to be felt a bit more in higher ranked games.
Passive - Cursed Touch
Q - Bandage Toss
Camille
Base attack speed increased.
Camille's attack speed nerf at the end of last year slowed her camp clear in the jungle, but also left her weaker in lane. We're buffing it back up since we don't expect it to make her swing too strong in either roles.
Base Stats
Cassiopeia
E cost decreased at later ranks.
With the recent increases to her Q and W mana costs, we find that Cassio is having trouble staying afloat in lane and in mid-game skirmishes. Since E-max on Cassio makes for a great and aggressive playstyle anyways, we're killing two birds with one stone, helping her stay in those situations longer and keeping her kill potential high.
E - Twin Fang
Fiora
W damage and slow/stun duration increased. E cost flattened at all ranks.
We're rewarding Fiora when she successfully outplays her opponents and making it easier for her to wave clear and take towers without running out of mana in the middle of taking one down.
W - Riposte
E - Bladework
Gnar
R cooldown decreased.
More throwing people against walls when Gnar is big and angry.
R - GNAR!
Jhin
E trap duration increased, traps recharge faster at later ranks. R damage multiplier increased and level-up tooltip corrected.
We're buffing Jhin's traps and ultimate, two skills that generally felt lackluster compared to the rest of his kit.
E - Captive Audience
R - Curtain Call
Kayle
Base attack damage, armor, attack speed ratio decreased. Kayle ascends based on level and R rank.
For a champion who’s supposed to have a risky and weak early game in relation to how powerful she becomes late game, Kayle is succeeding early too often. Changes to her base stats will keep her weaker early and when she ascends later compared to before. Also, shout out to Elixir of Skill, and you luckerdogs who saw it drop enough to use the strat.
Base Stats
Passive - Divine Ascent
Kayn
E Shadow Assassin cooldown decreased.
Shadow Assassin has almost always been overshadowed by Rhaast. We're hoping that by doubling down on Shadow Assassin's signature mobility, Kayn players will have more of an option when deciding between the two.
E - Shadow Step
Master Yi
Master Yi is now ghosted during R.
We're modernizing Master Yi's ultimate to be in line with similar powerful, long duration movement speed buff-type spells released in the present.
R - Highlander
Nautilus
Passive root duration increased. Q damage increased.
The Nautilus buff to end all Nautilus buffs. We promise.
Passive - Staggering Blow
Q - Dredge Line
Ornn
Living Forge's Forgefire Cape, Frozen Fist, and Infernal Mask base stats increased.
We want Ornn to be stronger, but in a way that's unique to him. As such, we're bulking up the items that come out of his passive to strengthen him late-game.
Passive - Living Forge
Renekton
Base health, attack speed growth, and armor growth rounded up. Q healing vs. champions increased.
Get out of here decimals, we only like whole numbers for this crocodile. Clean numbers for our scaly god that'll help him in the midst of a duel or trade.
(Ignore the fact that attack speed growth still has decimals.)
Base Stats
Q - Cull the Meek
Sejuani
W damage ratio increased.
Small buffs to her scaling should help Sejuani's clear speed, gank potential, and team fight presence without making her too overwhelming in all three fields.
W - Winter's Wrath
Singed
Base health regen increased. W slow increased. E cost decreased.
Changes to items like Dark Seal have been indirectly weakening Singed. Along with his general weakness to ranged top lane champs, he's seen better days. These buffs will help compensate for Singed's past reliance on Dark Seal and let him cast Fling more often without having to go back to base.
Base Stats
W - Mega Adhesive
E - Fling
Trundle
Q bonus damage increased late. R cooldown decreased.
More chomping! More subjugation!
Q - Chomp
R - Subjugate
Zed
Q damage decreased. W cooldown increased.
We're reducing Zed's burst potential a bit and giving his opponents more chances to catch him.
Q - Razor Shuriken
W - Living Shadow
Items
Bilgewater Cutlass
Cost increased.
We're rolling back part of the cost reduction on BotRK from 8.11 by increasing the early cost of Cutlass. We first decreased the price in a cost-cutting sale across the board, following a noticeable increase in price of marksmen items. But the "discount price" since then has made the item too valuable for marksmen.
Blade of the Ruined King
Cost increased.
We're rolling back part of the cost reduction on BotRK from 8.11 by increasing the early cost of Cutlass. We first decreased the price in a cost-cutting sale across the board, following a noticeable increase in price of marksmen items. But the "discount price" since then has made the item too valuable for marksmen.
Hextech Gunblade
Combine cost decreased.
To compensate for Cutlass' price increase, we're decreasing the additional cost to keep Gunblade's total cost unchanged.
Bramble Vest
Grievous Wounds duration increased.
Making Bramble Vest's Grievous Wounds duration consistent with the effect on other items.
Enchantment: Cinderhulk
Minion and monster aura damage increased.
We changed the tooltip in 9.7, but didn't actually apply the change… Fixed it now, woops.
Stormrazor
Energized effects increased and slow decays over a longer period of time.
Right now, the only champion who's really buying Stormrazor is Kai'Sa, which is mainly due to its stat profile than its Energized passive. We want players considering it for its unique effects too.
Thornmail
Grievous Wounds duration increased.
Making Thornmail's Grievous Wounds duration consistent with the effect on other items.
Runes
Coup De Grace
No longer grants adaptive force for 10 seconds. Damage to champions increased.
Simplifying Coup De Grace to be entirely focused around dealing more damage to low health targets.
ARAM
Butcher's Bridge is sinking below the depths! 9.8 marks the end of the ARAM - Back to Bilgewater event and we've made some decisions on which experimental changes to keep based on your feedback! Here are the changes; stay tuned for a more in-depth post about these decisions on Nexus.
- At 15:00, they start gaining movement speed every minute until 20:00 ⇒ 25:00 when they’ll have 425 movement speed.
- From game start to 15:00, champions deal 10% ⇒ 0% more damage to structures.
- At 15:00, that value increases linearly until 25:00 when they’ll deal 30% ⇒ 15% bonus damage to structures.
New Nerfs in 9.8
New Buffs to 9.8
Bugfixes
- Fixed a bug where the Master tier ladder displayed incorrectly and would only show the first 101 people multiple times
- Karthus can now dance
- Corporate Mundo's voice lines are no longer replaced by his base skin's
- Diana's W - Pale Cascade no longer deals more than double the damage when using R - Lunar Rush at close range
- Pajama Guardian Lulu's right wing is no longer pointing in a different direction during her Homeguard animation
- Fixed a bug where Teemo's blind did not correctly display on Battlecast Kog'Maw
- Fixed an issue where 4-digit XP gains would make the progress circle wrap weirdly
- Range/Cast indicators for certain champions' abilities (Lucian's Q - Piercing Light, Poppy's E - Heroic Charge, Jhin's Q - Dancing Grenade, Ryze's E - Spell Flux, Miss Fortune's Q - Double Up, Jayce's Q - To the Skies!, Jayce's E - Thundering Blow, and Orianna's E - Command: Protect) are now appearing correctly
Upcoming Skins & Chromas
The following skins will be released this patch. Grab the League Displays app for full-res splash art!




OK
and
buffs! CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY!