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

League of Legends 9.16 patch notes: Pantheon rework and more balance changes

Patch 9.16 Highlights - YouTube

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League of Legends 9.16 brings a bunch of balance changes to more than 20 champions while introducing a full rework of Pantheon. The patch also brings big changes to Biscuit Delivery and Ranked adjustments. Let's dive in.

Champion changes

Pantheon rework

Pantheon Gameplay Preview | League of Legends - YouTube

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"Pantheon crashes through the enemy frontline and causes havoc in their ranks starting in 9.16."

• Pantheon Gameplay Preview
• Pantheon Champion Theme
• Pantheon Biography
• Pantheon Behind the Scenes

"High-res versions of Pantheon's updated splash arts are available on League Displays!"

Azir

Q - Conquering Sands

COOLDOWN: 15/12.5/10/7.5/5 seconds ⇒ 15/13/11/9/7 seconds

"We're opening up late game windows of opportunity for Azir's enemies so he and his soldiers can't just chase them relentlessly."

Corki

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE: 60 ⇒ 55

ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH: 3 ⇒ 2.5

"Corki's been too present in pro play due to his all-too-reliable damage, so we're nerfing him."

Dr. Mundo

W - Burning Agony

TENACITY: 10/15/20/25/30% ⇒ 30% at all ranks

E - Masochism

COOLDOWN: 6 seconds ⇒ 6/5.5/5/4.5/4 seconds

"With four patches worth of smaller changes already under his belt, the mad lad's been asking for something more substantial."

Ekko

E - Phase Dive

BONUS DAMAGE: 40/65/90/115/140 ⇒ 50/75/100/125/150

R - Chronobreak

COOLDOWN: 110/90/70 seconds ⇒ 110/80/50 seconds

"Ekko has room for more power in all areas of play."

Ezreal

Q - Mystic Shot

RATIO: 0.3 ability power ⇒ 0.15 ability power

E - Arcane Shift

COOLDOWN: 19/17.5/16/14.5/13 seconds ⇒ 25/22/19/16/13 seconds

"AP Ezreal's burst has made him a bit of a terror, so we're taking some power out of the build and hitting his early game safety."

Fiora

E - Bladework

COOLDOWN: 13/11/9/7/5 seconds ⇒ 11/9.5/8/6.5/5 seconds

BONUS ATTACK SPEED: 50% at all ranks ⇒ 50/60/70/80/90%

"Giving Fiora more strength to capitalize on momentum she gets from a lead in lane."

Jax

Q - Leap Strike

COOLDOWN: 10/9/8/7/6 seconds ⇒ 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 seconds

"As a melee champion, Jax will benefit from having more opportunities to jump on the ranged enemies who otherwise steadily chip him down in lane."

Kassadin

W - Nether Blade

EMPOWERED BASIC ATTACK DAMAGE: 40/65/90/115/140 (+0.8 ability power) ⇒ 70/95/120/145/170 (+0.8 ability power)

"Strengthening the aspects of Kassadin that can keep some of the shorter ranged mid laners in check, especially if they're champions he should naturally be good against anyways (AP assassins)."

LeBlanc

Q - Sigil of Malice

RATIO: 0.3 ability power ⇒ 0.4 ability power

"We're reverting the nerf LeBlanc received earlier this year since she can use more power in a way that average players can utilize."

Lux

W - Prismatic Barrier

SHIELD: 50/65/80/95/110 ⇒ 50/75/100/125/150

MAX SHIELD: 100/130/160/190/220 ⇒ 100/150/200/250/300

"When we hit Lux's shield with nerfs in 9.14, we were mainly quelling the builds that took advantage of its safety. However, as a result we ended up hitting support Lux a lot harder than anticipated. We’re giving back some of that damage mitigation so she can still keep her partner meaningfully safe in the bot lane."

Nocturne

Base Stats:

ARMOR: 36 ⇒ 38

HEALTH: 582.8 ⇒ 585

MANA: 273.8 ⇒ 275

MANA REGEN: 6.756 ⇒ 7

W - Shroud of Darkness

BONUS ATTACK SPEED: 20/25/30/35/40% ⇒ 30/35/40/45/50%

"Nocturne has been overshadowed by other junglers as a competitively viable option, so we're buffing him."

Riven

Q - Broken Wings

COOLDOWN: 12/11.5/11/10.5/10 seconds ⇒ 12 seconds at all ranks

"We're reverting the scaling cooldown change to Riven's Q from 9.10. The cooldown increase on her E from that patch didn't offset the strength of the Q buff in higher levels of solo queue games, and our intent wasn't to buff her in that patch."

Senjuani

Passive - Fury of the North

FROST ARMOR: 20 (+0.25 bonus armor) bonus armor and 20 (+0.25 bonus magic resistance) bonus magic resistance ⇒ 10 (+0.35 bonus armor) bonus armor and 10 (+0.35 bonus magic resistance) bonus magic resistance

Q - Arctic Assault

COOLDOWN: 17/15.5/14/12.5/11 seconds ⇒ 20/18/16/14/12 seconds

"Sejuani has been a dominant force in pro play for awhile, despite receiving some recent nerfs. Taking a more substantial swing at her power."

Shen

Q - Twilight Assault

EMPOWERED CHAMPION DAMAGE RATIO: 4/4.5/5/5.5/6% of target's maximum health ⇒ 5/5.5/6/6.5/7% of target's maximum health

E - Shadow Dash

BASE PHYSICAL DAMAGE 50/75/100/125/150 ⇒ 60/85/110/135/160

"Shen could use a little more power when split-pushing in the mid-to-late game."

Singed

Base Stats

MANA: 290.6 ⇒ 330

ATTACK DAMAGE: 62.32 ⇒ 63

MANA REGEN: 7.524 ⇒ 7.5

ATTACK SPEED GROWTH: 1.81% ⇒ 1.9%

R - Insanity Potion

BONUS STATS 30/55/80 ⇒ 30/60/90

"Giving Singed a little extra oomph so his Insanity can lead him to some more wins if he makes it to the late game."

Sion

Base Stats

MANA 325.6 ⇒ 330

HEALTH 542.64 ⇒ 545

MANA REGEN 8.0008 ⇒ 8

Q - Decimating Smash

BASE MINIMUM DAMAGE: 20/40/60/80/100 ⇒ 30/50/70/90/110

BASE MAXIMUM DAMAGE: 60/120/180/240/300 ⇒ 70/135/200/265/330

Removed

REDUCED DAMAGE ON MONSTERS: Decimating Smash no longer deals 80% damage against monsters

"Smoothing out some of Sion's rougher edges, like rounding out his base stats and removing a mechanic that no longer seems needed. Overall, he'll have more chances to brawl with his opponents in the top lane, especially with other fighters."

Sivir

W - Ricochet

RATIO: 50/55/60/65/70% attack damage ⇒ 30/40/50/60/70% attack damage

"Sivir is strong. When coupled with Yuumi, she's ESPECIALLY strong. The cat is getting nerfed (spoiler alert if you haven't gotten to her section yet), but we think Sivir could use nerfs too to quell her early game wave clear and give opponents a chance to put her on the back foot."

Sylas

Q - Chain Lash

DETONATION DAMAGE: 45% reduced damage against minions ⇒ against minions and monsters

R - Hijack

BUGFIX: Sylas now properly heals himself when casting a Hijacked R - Mantra empowered W - Renewal from Karma

"Sylas has been thriving in the jungle after his latest set of changes. Following up on those by toning down his clear speed a bit."

Syndra

Q - Dark Sphere

TRANSCENDENT 15% bonus damage against champions ⇒ 25% bonus damage against champions

E - Scatter the Weak

BASE DAMAGE 70/115/160/205/250 ⇒ 85/130/175/220/265

"Syndra's weak in all levels of play at the moment so we're giving her some general power."

Tahm Kench

Base Stats

MOVEMENT SPEED 345 ⇒ 335

E - Thick Skin

SHIELD DURATION 3 seconds ⇒ 2 seconds

"We're making Tahm Kench more vulnerable to ganks as a countermeasure to the safety he brings his already-safe bot lane buddies (like Ezreal)."

Yuumi

Q - Prowling Projectile

EMPOWERED DAMAGE: 50/95/140/185/230/275 ⇒ 50/85/120/155/190/225

SLOW: 40/48/56/64/72/80% ⇒ 20/32/44/56/68/80%

SLOW DURATION: 1.25/1.35/1.45/1.55/1.65/1.75 seconds ⇒ 1.5 seconds

COOLDOWN: 11/10/9/8/7/6 seconds ⇒ 13.5/12/10.5/9/7.5/6 seconds

"Yuumi's damage is too high for how reliable it is, especially when coupled with other high-damage bot lane partners."

Ziggs

W - Satchel Charge

RATIO: 0.35 ability power ⇒ 0.5 ability power

COOLDOWN: 24/21/18/15/12 seconds ⇒ 20/18/16/14/12 seconds

R - Mega Inferno Bomb

COOLDOWN: 120/105/90 seconds ⇒ 120/95/70 seconds

"Ziggs isn't doing so hot right now, so we're buffing up one of his less potent abilities and letting him access his ultimate more frequently."

Runes

Biscuit Delivery

BISCUITS DELIVERED: 4 ⇒ 3

DELIVERY INTERVAL: 3:00, 6:00, 9:00, 12:00 ⇒ 2:00, 4:00, 6:00

HEALTH PER BISCUIT: 15% of missing health ⇒ 10% of missing health

HEALTH PER BISCUIT (MANALESS CHAMPIONS): 20% of missing health ⇒ 12% of missing health

MANA PER BISCUIT: 15% of missing mana ⇒ 10% of missing mana

HEALING DURATION: 15 seconds ⇒ 5 seconds

PERMANENT MAXIMUM MANA INCREASE: 40 mana per biscuit consumption ⇒ 50 mana per biscuit consumption

"These biscuits are too fresh, giving too much sustain to its holders during laning phase. Many of these changes are to the rune itself, but the ones that affect the Biscuits directly will also apply to the Biscuits occasionally acquired through Kleptomancy."

ARAM balance changes

9.16 Nerfs

SWAIN -5% damage dealt ⇒ -6% damage dealt & +6% damage taken

9.16 Buffs

MORGANA: -6% damage dealt & +6% damage taken ⇒ -6% damage dealt

VOLIBEAR: +5% damage taken ⇒ Unchanged

YORICK: -5% damage dealt & +5% damage taken ⇒ -5% damage dealt

Honor 5 rewards

YOU DID IT: Your Honor 5 capsule will contain a random emote or ward skin, as well as an Honor 5 token you can redeem for Medieval Twitch, Grey Warwick, or one of the two new chromas shown above if you already own the base skin. You don't need to own both skins before being able to pick a chroma for a skin you own.

BUT ACTUALLY: This season only, your Honor 5 capsule will contain two Honor 5 tokens because we promised you two chromas this season, not one.

BELATED ELATED: If you hit Honor 5 before 9.16 and already owned both Medieval Twitch and Grey Warwick prior to getting your capsule, we'll add your two Honor 5 tokens directly to your account during patch 9.16. (It'll take a little bit to get to everyone. Stop being so honorable. Actually, don't.)

Ranked

LADDER DOWN: Losing a game at 0 LP in Grandmaster or Challenger demotes you to Master, 0 LP ⇒ Diamond 1 with 75, 50, or 0 LP based on whether your MMR is higher than the Master cutoff, between the Master and Diamond 1 cutoffs, or lower than the Diamond 1 cutoff

"We're unifying Challenger and Grandmaster's 0 LP demotion rules with Master's existing rules. This is mainly an edge-case change since losing LP over a few days or weeks naturally demotes players into Master before they reach 0 LP, though in smaller servers it'll also address situations where it was near-impossible to demote out of Challenger."

Bug fixes

• Gnar can no longer change the direction of E - Hop after transforming through R - GNAR! before bouncing on a minion
• Allies with Orianna's E - Command: Protect on them will now see an indicator centered on her
• Malzahar's R - Nether Grasp now adds a Revealed marker to the target (including stealthed targets)
• Xayah's Passive - Clean Cuts basic attacks now properly spawn feathers behind her target and not around her
• Master Yi's basic attack immediately following his Q - Alpha Strike now properly grants an additional stack of Conqueror or Electrocute
• Darius' Passive - Hemorrhage no longer incorrectly displays a ranged indicator
• If Katarina drops a dagger near a wall and then casts E - Shunpo so that she can blink to the other side of the wall, she now properly gets a reset on the ability
• Nautilus' W - Titan's Wrath will now properly proc Electrocute instead of granting only one stack while active
• Lee Sin's hitbox will no longer warp across the map when casting Q - Resonating Strike
• Twitch is no longer able to cast Q - Ambush without consuming any mana 3 seconds after its cooldown resets when an enemy champion dies from his Passive - Deadly Venom
• Selling any stacking consumable item will no longer sell two of them at a time if there are more than one
• Karma's W - Focused Resolve now properly lowers R - Mantra's cooldown while damaging enemy champions
• Phase Rush and Electrocute activates properly when Poppy casts E - Heroic Charge in specific combos

Upcoming skins

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