GOOD GRIEF, WE'RE FINALLY HERE. It's the Worlds patch!!
Similar to our philosophy for last year's Worlds patch, we've been making steady changes throughout the last few patches as to not completely throw everything in flux and have the pros invalidate whatever playbooks they've been developing for the most exciting event of the year. More than completely neutralizing top priority picks, we've been working on elevating more champions to competitive viability and are continuing that work in 9.19.
This change process has resulted in smaller buffs or a couple of impactful nerfs across a slew of champions and more pro-focused changes that should even out the scales and create fun, diverse, and impactful picks for the next few weeks of Worlds games.
On to the changes!
We're reverting some of Sylas' nerfs! Since the combination of his armor and passive nerfs ended up being too much, we're pulling back on one of them.
Q minion damage reduction decreased.
We overnerfed Aatrox in 9.18 and are giving back some of the waveclear he lost.
R2 max damage increased.
We also overnerfed Akali in 9.18. With her ultimate now sufficiently gated, we're returning some of the damage.
E movement speed increased; cooldown now scales.
Following up on the 9.18 changes since we ended up going with a more conservative approach than necessary.
Passive slow increased. Q now an auto attack reset.
Increasing Ashe's utility so she can be considered a good pick when a player wants to run down opponents in the early game. In addition, we're returning the full auto attack reset to her Q. We've decided that the minimal gameplay gains weren't worth the adverse effect on the satisfaction of playing Ashe.
Q range increased. R max stacks increased.
Blitzcrank is the Hook and should always be even as we release other champions who just happen to have hooks in their abilities alongside other things.
Q can now hit turrets and wards. E2 can now crit turrets.
Fiora's in an acceptable place when it comes to matchups in lane, but she struggles to convert her lane victories into game victories.
W cooldown increased; damage ratio decreased.
Gragas has been dominating the pro meta for a while, so we're nerfing his clear speed.
Base attack damage increased. Rounding out some other base stats.
We're giving Graves some more reliable power via his base attack damage so he feels generally stronger at all points of a game. Also rounding out some other stats since we're here!
Q and R turret AP ratio increased. E stun duration increased.
Buffing Heimerdinger all-around since he's on the weaker side.
Q1 AP ratio decreased.
Nerfing Karma's non-support damage so she isn't so strong as a blind pick generalist. Teams will now have to consider losing a considerable amount of damage if they want to pick her.
W shield from damage dealt increased. Spectators can now see champions in the Death Realm as spirits.
Lightly buffing Mordekaiser in a way that might be most felt in pro games.
R damage increased.
Orianna is feeling generally weak right now so we're powering up her ultimate for the sweet wombo combos.
Free Masterwork upgrades happen earlier.
Making Ornn's unique attributes happen earlier in the game.
Base magic resist decreased. W empowered damage now scales.
More follow-up post release on the stronk man.
Base armor increased. Unburrowed Q now works on turrets.
We're making Rek'Sai's auto attacks work the way players expect them along with some more durability.
Q cooldown increased. E cooldown decreased.
Our last few Riven changes didn't hit the results we were looking for, disproportionately weakening the players who are newer to her and don't have the same level of familiarity. We're trying again by reverting back to her pre-9.10 state and adding a simpler nerf to her E instead.
Passive damage ratio flattened.
Sejuani's damage is very high when considering all of the utility she has, especially in pro play. We're nerfing her dueling power and mid-game damage.
W base shield increased.
Sion is unusually weak in skilled play. We're buffing his on-demand shielding, since this is more helpful in higher-level play.
Base armor and armor growth decreased. Passive damage ratio adjusted.
One of Sylas' main strengths lies in his generalist kit and high AoE power from his very reliable passive. This combination created no-fail situations which led to Sylas' 3-role, omnipresent, pro flex status.
So basically, we're nerfing him so he's not 100% pick-ban at Worlds.
E’s Grey Health heal now scales.
Tahm Kench is one of the best champs for protecting teammates from being picked off by enemies, and he should therefore be more vulnerable to poke.
E attack speed increased; base damage increased.
Buffing TF in a way so he's better in the match-ups that favor him, but that preserve his existing vulnerabilities to ranged champions.
R base AD increased.
Vayne is still a tad weak after the last round of buffs, so we’re giving her more late-game power.
E cooldown decreased later.
Despite Veigar's scaling nature, his contributions to teamfights struggle to keep pace with what's necessary in the late game, so we're buffing the ability that helps out the most in those situations.
Passive base heal increased. Q base damage increased later.
Xin could use some love after the Scuttler changes decreased his early game power value so we're helping out.
Q slow strength now flattened, duration decreased, no longer decays over time.
Yuumi has been a fuzzy menace in the pro scene, so we're nerfing one of the more pro-impacting elements of her kit.
Bloblets restore more health.
With more value on his bloblets, Zac should be able to scale better into late game and feel more satisfaction in this unique part of his kit.
We've removed "The" from some item names and descriptions!
The following skins will be released this patch. Grab the League Displays app for full-res splash art!