Mid-Season magic!

As we witness the best teams in the world duke it out for international fame and fortune, the mid-season intermission that follows is about all of us taking a deep breath and reflecting on how far we've come and how far we have to go. This mid-season, significant updates will be rolled out to our most magical roster of champions, sorcerous new items will be introduced, and the elemental dragons are taking flight. How do my enemies want to win, and how do I stop it? Now, more than ever, League is about playing your opponent as you play the game.

It's Mid-season Magic!

Magical Updates

Mages are one of League’s most established classes but, over the years, their strategic identities have become muddied and their gameplay hasn’t kept up with evolving standards. Much like our work on the juggernauts and marksmen, we saw the opportunity to update a ‘roster’ of champions to ensure the class as a whole is relevant and satisfying to play. Ultimately our goal is to bring distinction, cohesion and, yes, game health to the mages, giving them a unique reason to be picked.

This mid-season, the mages are taking center-stage!

Malzahar

Malzahar is still a low-mobility lockdown mage, but now he's got more friends from the void to protect him. The Prophet's also amping up his ability to get close during teamfights thanks to his new passive, Void Shift.

Brand

Brand's mid-season changes are about lighting the whole world on fire. He'll have a harder time nuking lone targets, but when enemies huddle together for safety, it's time for the Burning Vengeance to blow them up.

Vladimir

Vladimir's still the sustain-focused blood mage, but we're dialing up his ability to tap into health to wreak havoc.

Zyra

Zyra is the control mage with the greenest thumb in League, and her new passive lets her spread even more flora across the Rift. Give Zyra a little time to tend to her thorny forest, and she'll have abundant opportunities to counter-engage on attackers.

Vel'Koz

Vel'Koz is the monster of choice when you need long-range poke damage or... a true-damage laser beam! Melt their frontline, then obliterate their backline.

Cassiopeia

When the enemy team is fleet of foot, Cassiopeia is the serpent to call. With Cass, we're introducing an entirely new type of debilitation—"Grounded"—that negates an enemy's ability to flash, dash, or even take a friendly Thresh lantern to safety for the duration of the debuff.

… and many more!

Annie

Tibbers now viciously mauls Annie's stunned targets.

Annie

Swain

Decrepify now sends Beatrice to a targeted location to cripple enemies.

Swain

Fiddlesticks

A new passive means if Fiddlesticks stands still for a moment, he'll gain a movement speed boost.

Fiddlesticks

Ziggs

Satchel Charge will execute turrets when they're under a certain amount of health.

Ziggs

Syndra

An updated passive allows Syndra to spawn—and pick up—more Dark Spheres!

Syndra

Xerath

Barrages that successfully hit enemy champions grant an extra barrage, up to a maximum. Gains more barrages as he ranks up Rite of the Arcane.

Xerath

Anivia

Glacial Storm now expands over time and deals bonus damage at maximum size.

Anivia

Veigar

A new passive grants Veigar Extreme Evil (Ability Power) for hitting enemy champions with spells, killing minions, and takedowns.

Veigar

Magical Items

Hand-in-hand with the mage update, their sorcerous apparatus are undergoing a bewitching transformation. Before, mages would turn to items just for the stats they need, with minor changes in their build path as a game unfolds. Now mage items are focused on their tactical impact, with each enabling or augmenting how a mage contributes to a fight. Choose how your power manifests and watch what your opponents do in kind.

Components

Updated

Tear of the Goddess

When casting spells is all you want to do.
Summary
  • Mana
Passive: Refunds a portion of your mana costs.
Passive - Mana Charge: Grants additional maximum mana (up to a cap) for each spell cast and mana expenditure. Gains mana every 8 seconds.
No longer has mana regeneration.
New

Catalyst of Aeons

For all you scrappy mages out there.
Summary
  • Health
  • Mana
Passive: A portion of your damage taken is gained as mana. Spending mana restores a portion spent as health, up to a cap.
Updated

Chalice of Harmony

Literally.
Summary
  • Magic Resistance
  • Mana Regeneration
Passive: Grants a large portion of health regeneration if your health % lower than your mana %. Grants a large portion of mana regeneration if your mana % is lower than your health %.
Updated

Hextech Revolver

It's a gun, it should shoot things.
Summary
  • Ability Power
Passive - Magic Bolt: Damaging an enemy with a basic attack shocks them for bonus magic damage (30 second cooldown).
No longer has Spell Vamp.
New

Lost Chapter

A stepping stone for Morellonomicon.
Summary
  • Ability Power
  • Mana
Passive: Upon leveling, restores a portion of the holder's maximum mana over 3 seconds.
Updated

Fiendish Codex

Still fiendish.
Summary
  • Ability Power
  • Cooldown Reduction

Hextech Devices

Updated

Hextech Gunblade

Still shooting.
Summary
  • Attack Damage
  • Ability Power
Recipe: Bilgewater Cutlass + Hextech Revolver + Gold
Passive - Omnivore: Instantly heal for portion of all damage dealt, including physical, magical and true damage. This effect is reduced for area-effect spells.
Active - Lightning Bolt: Deals instant magic damage and slows the target.
New

Hextech GLP-800

If you need to slow the enemy's approach.
Summary
  • Ability Power
  • Health
  • Mana
Recipe: Hextech Revolver + Catalyst of Aeons + Gold
Passive: A portion of your damage taken is gained as mana. Spending mana restores a portion spent as health, up to a cap.
Active - Frost Bolt: Fires a spray of icy bolts, dealing magic damage and slowing enemy champions.
New

Hextech Protobelt-01

If you want to make an explosive entrance.
Summary
  • Ability Power
  • Health
  • Cooldown Reduction
Recipe: Hextech Revolver + Kindlegem + Gold
Active - Fire Bolt: Dash forward and unleash a ring of fire bolts that deal magic damage.

Magical Devices

Updated

Archangel's Staff

Archangel's Staff
Summary
  • Mana
  • Ability Power
Recipe: Tear of the Goddess + Needlessly Large Rod
Passive - Insight: Gain ability power equal to a small % of your maximum mana.
Passive - Mana Charge: Grants additional maximum mana (up to a cap) for each spell cast and mana expenditure.
Passive: Refunds a portion of your mana costs.
Updated

Morellonomicon

When the enemy team's packing heals and regeneration.
Summary
  • Mana
  • Ability Power
  • Cooldown Reduction
Recipe: Lost Chapter + Fiendish Codex + Gold
Passive: Dealing magic damage to an enemy champion below 40% health inflicts Grievous Wounds.
No longer has mana regeneration.
Updated

Athene's Unholy Grail

Athene's Unholy Grail
Summary
  • Ability Power
  • Mana Regeneration
  • Magic Resistance
  • Cooldown Reduction
Recipe: Chalice of Harmony + Fiendish Codex + Gold
Passive: Grants a large portion of health regeneration if your health % lower than your mana %. Grants a large portion of mana regeneration if your mana % is lower than your health %.
Passive: Gain a portion of damage dealt to champions as blood charges. Healing or shielding another ally consumes blood charges to heal them for the amount stored.
Updated

Rod of Ages

Your item to rush on brawling mages.
Summary
  • Ability Power
  • Mana
Recipe: Catalyst of Aeons + Needlessly Large Rod + Gold
Passive: This item gains health, mana and ability power every minute, up to 10 times.
Passive: A portion of your damage taken is gained as mana. Spending mana restores a portion spent as health, up to a cap.
Removed

Will of the Ancients

Ancient and antiquated!
Removed from the game.

Defensive Devices

Updated

Abyssal Scepter

Your magic defense apparatus.
Summary
  • Ability Power
  • Magic Resistance
  • Cooldown Reduction
Recipe: Fiendish Codex + Negatron Cloak + Amplifying Tome + Gold
Passive Aura: Reduces magic resistance of nearby enemy champions. Scales with level.
Updated

Zhonya's Hourglass

Your physical defense apparatus.
Summary
  • Ability Power
  • Armor
  • Cooldown Reduction
Recipe: Seeker's Armguard + Fiendish Codex + Gold
Active - Stasis: Put yourself in Stasis for a few seconds, rendering yourself untargetable and invulnerable for the duration, but also unable to move, attack, cast spells, or use items during this time.

Elemental Dragons

We saw that early to mid objectives (aside from turrets) were struggling to stay relevant in many games, and so began investigating ways to augment those decisions during mid-season. When we came to Dragon, we realized that most individual buffs would simply shift its balance back and forth between “nice to have” and “mandatory,” so we instead set out to create a unique ecosystem of adaptation that augments a variety of team compositions and strategies.

The elemental dragons are taking flight!

For the first 35 minutes of the game, one of four elemental dragons will spawn. The moment you take that one down, the minimap will indicate the elemental type of the next.

Both sides will always know which dragon spawns next, and multiple elemental buffs will stack on each other, making you even stronger in that aspect. In this way, you may want to think twice about giving up those two Earth Dragons—that might just cost you all of your base turrets!

Fire Dragon

Increases champion killing power. Augments your dueling and team fighting abilities.

Earth Dragon

Increases turret and epic monster damage. Augments your ability to take objectives.

Water Dragon

Increases health and mana regeneration. Augments your ability to siege and poke.

Air Dragon

Increases out of combat movement speed. Augments your ability to outmaneuver opponents on the map.

Elder Dragon

After 35 minutes into the game, all future dragon spawns become Elder Dragon spawns. The Elder Dragon is far more difficult to kill than his elemental counterparts, but taking him out grants a powerful burn-over-time on spells and attacks and a buff that is stronger for each elemental stack you have.

Discuss

Malzahar

Malzahar is still a low-mobility lockdown mage, but now he's got more friends from the void to protect him. The Prophet's also amping up his ability to get close during teamfights thanks to his new passive, Void Shift.

Passive - Void Shift

Malzahar enters Void Shift when he hasn't taken direct damage over a period of time. During Void Shift, Malzahar takes massively reduced damage and is immune to crowd control effects, remaining in Void Shift for a small period of time after taking damage.

Call of the Void

Malzahar opens two portals to the Void that fire projectiles inward, dealing magic damage and silencing enemies.

Void Swarm

Malzahar summons a Voidling that lasts for a set period of time. The first time a Voidling attacks a champion, large monster, epic monster, or assists in killing a unit, Malzahar spawns a new Voidling with the same remaining duration. When three or more Voidlings are active, they all gain bonus attack speed.

Malefic Visions

Malzahar infects his target's mind with cruel visions of their demise, dealing damage each second. If the target dies while afflicted by the visions, they pass on to a nearby enemy unit and Malzahar gains Mana. Malzahar's Voidlings are attracted to affected units.

Nether Grasp

Malzahar suppresses a target champion over time, creating a zone of negative energy around them. All enemies (and the suppressed target) in the zone are dealt a percentage of their maximum health as magic damage per second.

Brand

Brand's mid-season changes are about lighting the whole world on fire. He'll have a harder time nuking lone targets, but when enemies huddle together for safety, it's time for the Burning Vengeance to blow them up.

Passive - Blaze

Brand's spells light his targets ablaze, dealing a percentage of their maximum health as magic damage over time. On the third stack, the Blaze becomes unstable over a few seconds and detonates, dealing a large percentage of the target's maximum health in an area-of-effect.

Sear

Brand launches a ball of fire forward that deals magic damage. If the target is ablaze, Sear will stun the target.

Pillar of Flame

After a short delay, Brand creates a pillar of flame at a target location, dealing magic damage to enemy units within the area. Units that are ablaze take an additional 25% damage.

Conflagration

Brand conjures a powerful blast at his target, dealing magic damage to them. If the target is ablaze, Conflagration spreads to nearby enemies.

Pyroclasm

Brand unleashes a devastating torrent of fire, dealing magic damage each time it bounces. If a target is ablaze, Pyroclasm will prioritize champions for the next bounce. Blaze now briefly slows enemies it hits.

Vladimir

Vladimir's still the sustain-focused blood mage, but we're dialing up his ability to tap into health to wreak havoc.

Passive - Crimson Pact

Every point of bonus Health gives Vladimir Ability Power, and every point of Ability Power gives Vladimir bonus Health (does not stack with itself).

Transfusion

Vladimir drains life from his target. After casting Transfusion twice, Vladimir gains Crimson Rush for a few seconds the next time Transfusion is available to cast, granting him bonus movement speed and bonus damage.

Sanguine Pool

Vladimir sinks into a pool of blood, becoming untargetable for a couple seconds. Additionally, enemies in the pool are slowed and Vladimir siphons life from them.

Tides of Blood

Vladimir charges up a reservoir of blood, paying a large portion of his maximum health over a period of time to increase Tides of Blood's damage. On release, or after a couple seconds, Vladimir unleashes a sphere of blood, dealing magic damage. At full charge, Tides of Blood slows Vladimir while he holds it, and will briefly slow targets by when he releases it.

Hemoplague

Vladimir infects an area with a virulent plague. Affected enemies take increased damage for the duration. Hemoplague deals additional magic damage after a few seconds to infected enemies and heals Vladimir for each enemy hit.

Zyra

Zyra is the control mage with the greenest thumb in League, and her new passive lets her spread even more flora across the Rift. Give Zyra a little time to tend to her thorny forest, and she'll have abundant opportunities to counter-engage on attackers.

Passive - Garden of Thorns

Seeds spawn around Zyra periodically, becoming faster with level and lasting a long period of time (with a maximum number of seeds planted). If an enemy Champion steps on a seed, the seed dies. If Zyra casts Deadly Spines or Grasping Roots near seeds, she grows plants. Extra plants striking the same target deal less damage.

Deadly Spines

Zyra grows a bed of spines at the target location. After a brief delay, it explodes, launching damaging thorns at all nearby enemies. If cast upon a seed, Deadly Spines grows a Thorn Spitter plant, which fires at enemies from afar.

Rampant Growth

Zyra plants a seed. Other spells cast on seeds will turn them into plants, which fight for Zyra. Rampant Growth passively increases plant maximum health.

Grasping Roots

Zyra sends forth vines through the ground to ensnare her target, dealing magic damage and rooting enemies they come across. If cast upon a seed, Grasping Roots grows a Vine Lasher, whose short range attacks reduce enemy movement speed.

Stranglethorns

Zyra summons a twisted thicket at her target location, dealing damage to enemies as it expands and knocking them airborne as it contracts. Plants within the thicket are enraged, dealing bonus damage.

Vel'Koz

Vel'Koz is the monster of choice when you need long-range poke damage or... a true-damage laser beam! Melt their frontline, then obliterate their backline.

Passive - Organic Deconstruction

Vel'Koz's spells build Organic Deconstruction stacks on enemies. The third spell hit consumes the stacks and deals bonus true damage. This true damage scales with level and ability power.

Plasma Fission

Vel'Koz shoots a bolt of plasma that splits in two on reactivation or upon hitting an enemy. The bolt slows and deals magic damage on hit. Plasma Fission refunds half its mana cost if it kills a unit, and the target indicator now only displays for Vel'Koz.

Void Rift

Vel'Koz opens a rift to the void that deals an initial burst of magic damage, then explodes for a second burst of damage after a delay.

Tectonic Disruption

Vel'Koz causes an area to explode, knocking up enemies, and knocking close enemies slightly away.

Lifeform Disintegration Ray

Vel'Koz unleashes a channelled beam that follows the cursor for 2.5 seconds that deals damage and slows enemies. All enemies that are deconstructed become researched. Lifeform Disintegration Ray deals true damage to researched champions, but no longer deconstructs enemies.

Cassiopeia

When the enemy team is fleet of foot, Cassiopeia is the serpent to call. With Cass, we're introducing an entirely new type of debilitation—"Grounded"—that negates an enemy's ability to flash, dash, or even take a friendly Thresh lantern to safety for the duration of the debuff.

Passive - Snakes Don't Need Boots

Cassiopeia gains movement speed per level. This does not stack with movement speed from Boots items.

Noxious Blast

Cassiopeia blasts an area with Poison after a brief delay, granting her increased Movement Speed if she hits an enemy champion.

Miasma

Cassiopeia spews venom in an arc in front of her, leaving toxic clouds on the ground. Enemies in the clouds are continually afflicted with debilitating poison, slowing them and grounding them, prohibiting the use of movement abilities. They also take damage per second.

Twin Fang

Cassiopeia lets loose a damaging attack at her target, healing her in the process. If poisoned, the target takes additional damage. If the target dies, Cassiopeia regains mana.

Petrifying Gaze

Cassiopeia releases a swirl of magical energy from her eyes, stunning any enemies in front of her if they're facing her and slowing those with their backs turned.

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