League of Legends 9.23 patch notes: the pre-season is here

Patch 9.20 Highlights - YouTube

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Riot is making big changes to three heroes in this patch: Garen, Shaco, and Viktor. The developer doesn't consider these changes large enough to be called "reworks," though the differences are fairly drastic. Rounding out the patch are some bug fixes and changes to the Locket of the Iron Solari item.

9.20 Champion Changes

Blitzcrank

Base Stats

• ARMOR: 44 ⇒ 40
• ARMOR GROWTH: 4 ⇒ 3.5

"We like the extra range from 9.19 but think he's a little too strong right now."

Garen

Base Stats

• ATTACK SPEED GROWTH: 2.9% ⇒ 3.65%
• HEALTH: 616.28 ⇒ 620
• HEALTH GROWTH: 84.25 ⇒ 84

Passive - Perseverance

• REGENERATION: 2/8% (based on level) of his maximum health per 5 seconds ⇒ 1.5-10.1% (levels 1-18) of his maximum health per 5 seconds
• REMOVED - EMPOWERED REGENERATION: Garen no longer passively doubly regenerates health while below 25/50% (based on level) of his maximum health
• UPDATED - REGENERATION INTERRUPTION: 9 seconds when hit by non-minions before level 11; 4 seconds when hit by epic monsters, towers, or champions after level 11 ⇒ 7 seconds when hit by epic monsters, towers, or champions

Q - Decisive Strike

• NEW - CAST TIME: Now scales with Garen's attack speed, behaving more similarly to a basic attack
• BUGFIX: Fixed a bug where when Garen is slowed, his Q's lockout time dramatically increased

W - Courage

• RESISTANCES PER KILL: 0.33 bonus armor and magic resistance (max of 50 at 150 unit kills) ⇒ 0.25 bonus armor and magic resistance (max of 30 at 150 unit kills)
• UPDATED - SHIELD ME: Grants 30% extra damage reduction and Tenacity for the first 0.75 seconds ⇒ Grants a shield for 10% of his maximum health and 60% Tenacity for the first 0.75 seconds

E - Judgment

• SPINS: 5-10 (levels 1-16) ⇒ 7 (+1 per 20% attack speed from items and levels)
• DAMAGE PER SPIN: 14/18/22/26/30 (+0.36-0.4 attack damage) ⇒ 8/12/16/20/24 (+0-8 based on level) (+0.32-0.4 attack damage)
• BONUS DAMAGE: 33% to a single enemy ⇒ 25% to the nearest enemy
• SPINS BEFORE SHRED: 4 ⇒ 6
• NEW - ALEXANDER THE GREAT: Now grants stacks of Conqueror on each spin

R - Demacian Justice

• REMOVED - PASSIVE: Garen no longer marks enemies with the most kills in the last 5 minutes as the Villain
• NEW - LASIK: Grants vision of the target for 1 second, preventing it from cancelling if the target breaks line of sight
• DAMAGE: 175/350/525 (+0.286 /0.333 /0.4 of the target’s missing health) as magic damage ⇒ 150/300/450 (+0.2/0.25/0.3 of the target’s missing health) as true damage

"Making big changes to our resident good guy, namely removing the Villain mechanic on his ultimate. Disliked by both Garen players and their opponents, the mechanic wasn't making his gameplay healthier and took control from Garen when choosing his targets, frequently setting him up for failure.

We're also cleaning up his passive and allowing him to gain Conqueror stacks, a Rune other juggernauts get. Garen should now feel more intuitive to play too and not so linear due to more options when considering items."

Ivern

Base Stats

• BASIC ATTACK RANGE: 125 ⇒ 475 (Ivern is now classified as a ranged champion for all runes, items, etc.)

W - Brushmaker

• REMOVED - LONG ARMS: No longer increases Ivern's range

"Making Ivern more approachable (and stronger!) by not forcing him to get accustomed to multiple basic attack ranges."

Lissandra

Base Stats

• ARMOR: 20.216 ⇒ 22

Passive - Iceborn Subjugation

• DAMAGE RATIO: 0.3 ability power ⇒ 0.5 ability power

W - Ring of Frost

• DAMAGE RATIO: 0.5 ability power ⇒ 0.7 ability power

"We're sharpening her niche as a bursty, engage mage while trying not to impact her pro-leaning power."

Pantheon

General

• BUGFIX: Pantheon's Q - Comet Spear and W - Shield Vault now properly work when taking Thresh's W - Dark Passage within 0.2 seconds or less

Q - Comet Spear

• BASE DAMAGE: 75/115/155/195/235 ⇒ 75/110/145/180/215

"Pantheon remains a top-tier pick in more skilled games. We've decreased some of his early-game damage as it's more impactful in higher-skill ranked games. Also, a bugfix!"

Qiyana

Q - Edge of Ixtal

• BASE DAMAGE: 80/100/120/140/160 ⇒ 60/85/110/135/160

"We're hitting Qiyana's trade damage, especially after she hits level 3, since it is deceptively high and is making her oppressive in the early game."

Shaco

Base Stats

• ATTACK DAMAGE: 66 ⇒ 63
• ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH: 3.5 ⇒ 3

Passive - Backstab

• NEW - BASIC ATTACK DAMAGE: Basic attacking an enemy now deals an additional 10-25 (levels 1-18) (+0.15 bonus attack damage) damage from behind (this damage can critically strike)
• NEW - TWO-SHIV POISON DAMAGE: Two-Shiv Poison now deals an additional 15-50 (levels 1-18) (+0.1 ability power) damage from behind

Q - Deceive

• STEALTH DURATION: 1.5/2.25/3/3.75/4.5 seconds ⇒ 2.5/2.75/3/3.25/3.5 seconds
• COOLDOWN: 16/15.5/15/14.5/14 seconds ⇒ 12/11.5/11/10.5/10 seconds
• REMOVED - T-TIME IS TICKING AWAY: Deceive's cooldown no longer reduces when exiting invisibility and dealing his next basic attack
• DAMAGE: 10/20/30/40/50 (+0.4 bonus attack damage)(+0.3 ability power) ⇒ 25/35/45/55/65 (+0.25 bonus attack damage) When striking from behind, Deceive is guaranteed to critically strike for 130% damage.

W - Jack In The Box

• UPDATED - YOU ALL GET A BOX: When triggered, the boxes can now attack multiple enemies in an AoE range
• NEW - AOE DAMAGE: 15/20/25/30/35 (+0.1 ability power) (single target damage unchanged)
• NEW - NON-CHAMPION FEAR DURATION: 2 seconds on all non-champions
• FEARED MOVEMENT SPEED: 100 movement speed for all enemies ⇒ 60 movement speed for minions and monsters, 100 movement speed on champions

E - Two-Shiv Poison

• DAMAGE TYPE: Physical damage ⇒ Magic damage
• DAMAGE: 55/80/105/130/155 (+0.6/0.75/0.9/1.05/1.2 bonus attack damage)(+0.75 ability power) ⇒ 70/95/120/145/170 (+0.8 bonus attack damage) (+0.6 ability power)
• EXECUTE DAMAGE: 0-50% increased damage based on missing health ⇒ 50% increased damage on targets below 30% health

R - Hallucinate

• BOX TRIGGER TIME: Boxes trigger after 2 seconds ⇒ Boxes trigger immediately
• DAMAGE: 200/300/400 (+1.0 ability power) ⇒ 150/225/300 (+0.7 ability power)
• NEW - BOX AOE DAMAGE: 10/20/30 (+0.1 ability power) (single target damage unchanged)
• FEAR DURATION: 0.75/1/1.25 seconds ⇒ 1 seconds

"Shaco's playstyle and identity have both changed considerably post-rework, and the gameplay gains have been dubious at best. He should feel empowered to interact with enemies, especially in the early game, but struggles to do so. With these changes, we’re aiming to round out the amount of damage he deals throughout the game instead of having his damage centered around his late-game one-shot potential.

Additionally, we want to support both the more common AD and the more niche AP Shaco builds as meaningfully different playstyles. So, we've changed E's damage type and moved some ratios around to encourage each build to play differently around their abilities."

Sona

General

• PASSIVE QOL: Added a resource bar so that it's easier for Sona to track her own passive (only visible to Sona)

Varus

Base Stats

• ATTACK DAMAGE: 59 ⇒ 61
• MANA REGEN: 7.34 ⇒ 8
• MANA: 360.5 ⇒ 360
• HEALTH: 499 ⇒ 500

"Giving Varus some general, reliable power."

Viktor

General

• BUGFIX: Hex Core stats now update upon purchase instead of when Viktor next levels up
• BUGFIX: Augmented: Aftershock Death Ray missiles are now the same width as the initial missile

Q - Siphon Power

• SHIELD: 8% of his maximum mana (+0.15 ability power) ⇒ 30-115 (levels 1-18) (+0.15 ability power)

W - Gravity Field

• UPDATED - AUGMENT: MAGNETIZE: Enemies stunned by Gravity Field are dragged into the center ⇒ Direct hits slow enemies by 20% for 1 second (does not proc on R ticks)

R - Chaos Storm

• NEW - DO YOU KNOW THE MUFFIN MAN?: Chaos Storm will continue chasing champions even after Viktor dies
• NEW - KRACKO: Chaos Storm can now move over terrain
• TICK CADENCE: 2 seconds ⇒ 1 second
• TICKS: 3 ⇒ 6
• DAMAGE PER TICK: 130/210/290 (+0.85 ability power) ⇒ 65/105/145 (+0.45 ability power)
• AUGMENT: PERFECT STORM MOVEMENT SPEED: Chaos Storm moves 20% faster ⇒ 25% faster (minimum movement speed is now 200 ⇒ 250; maximum movement speed is now 300 ⇒ 375)

"Giving Viktor some love by offering him more exciting Augments for his W and R, two abilities that are generally underpowered, and decreasing some of his mana dependency."

9.20 Items

Locket of the Iron Solari

• SHIELD STRENGTH: 30 (+15 per level) ⇒ 120 (+10 per level)

"Looking to broaden the uses of the Locket, especially in a meta where there are less AoE burst champions. The change will also apply to Circlet of the Iron Solari!"

9.20 Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where after the ally Yuumi is attached to dies while she's in Stasis (via Zhonya's Hourglass or Stopwatch), she will lose the ability to gain turret aggro for the remainder of the game
• Fixed a bug where casting R - Featherstorm with the cursor exactly below Xayah would cause the ability's rotation lock to be removed
• Nunu's E - Snowball Barrage is no longer able to slow enemies more than once within the same cast of snowballs
• When casting Wukong's R - Cyclone as Vi's Q - Vault Breaker hits and kills Wukong, Wukong's R - Cyclone no longer loses its functionality
• Diana's R - Lunar Rush's cooldown now successfully refresh even if the ability hits an enemy at the edge of an explosion from her Q - Crescent Strike
• Diana's Q - Crescent Strike explosion VFX no longer can be seen in Fog of War
• Winter Wonder Neeko will no longer lose a significant amount of base stats and the ability to basic attack when Lulu uses W - Whimsy on her as Neeko is using R - Pop Blossom while disguised
• When Lulu polymorphs Gnar with W - Whimsy just before he transforms back from Mega to base form, Gnar will no longer acquire extra buffs and have Mega Gnar's attack and crit animations and particles
• Cho'Gath's R - Feast execute indicator now properly appears on clones' health bars
• Lux's Passive - Illumination is now properly tagged as a single target ability

9.20 Upcoming Skins & Chromas

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