League of Legends Patch 11.16 Highlights

League of Legends Patch 11.16 has arrived. With few patches left before the end of the competitive season, Riot have thrown together a slew of nerfs to meta picks and buffs to ones on the edge of relevance. Karma and Sona have also received some Enchanter love in the form of ability changes. Finally, Dark Seal and Redemption have been given balance passes. Without further ado, here are the League of Legends Patch 11.16 highlights. For the full patch notes, click here.

Champion Nerfs

Lee Sin

W – Iron Will

• OMNIVAMP 10/15/20/25/30% ⇒ 5/10/15/20/25%

Losing half of his Omnivamp at levels 1-3 will make Lee Sin slightly weaker in terms of clear sustain and 1v1 potential. Missing 5% permanently should also hurt his overall ability to drain tank through fights.

Lulu

W – Whimsy

• COOLDOWN 15/14/13/12/11 seconds ⇒ 16/15/14/13/12 seconds

R – Wild Growth

• COOLDOWN 110/95/80 seconds ⇒ 120/100/80 seconds

The W cooldown buff from Patch 11.9 has been reverted, along with a 10-second cooldown increase to her ultimate. Lulu’s prominence as the premier denial enchanter should lessen after this.

Tahm Kench

Passive – An Acquired Taste

• BASE DAMAGE 12-60 (level 1-18) ⇒ 8-60 (level 1-18)

Q – Tongue Lash

• BASE HEAL 15/20/25/30/35 ⇒ 10/15/20/25/30

Tahm Kench has been near unbeatable in top lane trading due to his high bonus damage and sustain. Hitting both of these at once will allow more champions to go toe to toe with him.

Ziggs

Base Stats

• MANA 420 (level 1) ⇒ 480 (level 1)

E – Hexplosive Minefield

• BASE DAMAGE PER MINE 40/75/110/145/180 ⇒ 30/70/110/150/190
• SLOW 30/35/40/45/50% ⇒ 10/20/30/40/50%

The previous 11.14 mana nerf to Ziggs didn’t stop him from dominating with his raw power. Riot are trying a new direction, giving Ziggs his mana back and instead nerfing one of the abilities that keeps him so safe. By reducing the slow on E to 10% level one, Ziggs’s opponents will find it much easier to track him down. Once Ziggs hits that level 13 mark, however, he will be even stronger than before.

Champion Buffs

Jarvan IV

Passive – Martial Cadence

• DAMAGE 8% of target’s current health ⇒ 10% of target’s current health

R – Cataclysm

• BONUS DAMAGE RATIO 150% AD ⇒ 180% AD

Jarvan IV has been grappling with irrelevance for a while now. This buff to damage on his passive and ultimate will help turn him from a team-focused front liner to another bruiser damage threat with a Goredrinker.

Jhin

W – Deadly Flourish

• DAMAGE 50/85/120/155/190 ⇒ 60/95/130/165/200

R – Curtain Call

• MINIMUM DAMAGE RATIO 20% AD ⇒ 25% AD

Jhin was already beginning to flourish in solo queue and pro play as a more niche pick. Giving him 10 damage on W and an extra 5% AD on each ultimate shot could be the buff Jhin needs to propel himself into the spotlight.

Nunu

Base Stats

• MOVEMENT SPEED 340 ⇒ 345

E – Snowball Barrage

• DAMAGE RATIO PER SNOWBALL 6% AP ⇒ 10% AP
• TOTAL DAMAGE RATIO 54% AP ⇒ 90% AP

Nunu has always been a terror to solo queue since his rework. These changes will make him even more prominent on ladder since he’ll be able to get even more ganks, kills, and gold.

Vladimir

Passive – Crimson Pact

• AP TO BONUS HEALTH CONVERSION 140% ⇒ 160%
• BONUS HEALTH TO AP CONVERSION 2.5% ⇒3333333%

Vladimir now gains an extra chunk of stats when buying health and AP items. With his current two-item spike of Protobelt and Cosmic Drive, Vladimir will be gaining about 35 HP and 3.6 AP. This change will only grow as he gets items like Deathcap.

Champion Changes

Karma

Passive – Gathering Fire

• No longer reduces Mantra’s cooldown by 1 second whenever she uses her basic attacks against an enemy champion
• COOLDOWN REDUCTION FROM ABILITIES 2/3.5/5 seconds (level 1/6/11) ⇒ 5 seconds

Q – Inner Flame

• BASE DAMAGE 90/135/180/225/270 ⇒ 70/120/170/220/270
• COOLDOWN 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 seconds ⇒ 9/8/7/6/5 seconds
• COST 55 mana ⇒ 45 mana

Q2 – Soulflare

• INITIAL DAMAGE 25/75/125/175 ⇒ 40/100/160/220

E – Inspire

• BASE SHIELD 80/120/160/200/240 ⇒ 80/125/170/215/260
• BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED 40/45/50/55/60% ⇒ 40%
• DEFIANCE BUFFS TO NEARBY ALLIED CHAMPIONS 30% of the total shield’s amount, 100% bonus movement speed ⇒ 30% of the total shield’s amount, 30% bonus movement speed

Karma is notorious for being buffed and nerfed on a cycle every season. Her mix of laning power and scaling team utility makes The Enlightened One a difficult balance point. This year’s attempt includes nerfs to her Mantra E’s utility. In return, her Q is gaining power when maxed, which will also work with her new Passive CD reduction on spells to have more Mantra casts. It will be interesting to see if this forces Karma permanently into the mid lane.

Maokai

Passive – Sap Magic

• HEAL 5-65 (+5-13% maximum health) ((level 1-18) (due to heal and scaling bugs) ⇒ 5/15/25/35/45/55/65 (+7/8.5/10/11.5/13/14/15% maximum health) (level 1/6/9/11/13/15/17)

E – Sapling Toss

• DETONATION DAMAGE 25/50/75/100/125 (+7/7.25/7.5/7.75/8% (+0.8% per 100 AP) of target’s maximum health) ⇒ 20/45/70/95/120 (+7/7.25/7.5/7.75/8% (+0.7% per 100 AP) of target’s maximum health)

Maokai has been much more prominent in the Support role with an off-AP build consisting of Imperial Mandate. In order to try and restore him to top lane tank status, Maokai’s passive heal has been buffed a fairly notable amount, especially with levels. His E has also taken a hit to its base damage and AP ratio, disincentivizing him from that playstyle.

Sona

Passive – Power Chord

• Sona’s basic abilities grant her permanent Accelerando stacks. She gains +.5 non-ultimate ability haste per stack, up to 60 non-ultimate ability haste. Once she reaches 60 non-ultimate ability haste, instead of gaining additional Accelerando stacks, her ultimate ability’s current cooldown reduces by 1.5 seconds each time she would gain an Accelerando stack.
• Now persists through revives (such as Zilean’s ult and Guardian Angel)

Q – Hymn of Valor

• COST 75/80/85/90/95 mana ⇒ 50/55/60/65/70 mana
• Now grants a stack of Accelerando for each bolt that hits an enemy champion
• Granting an ally Hymn of Valor’s aura no longer refunds 30 mana per cast

W – Aria of Perseverance

• COST 105/110/115/120/125 mana ⇒ 80/85/90/95/100 mana
• Aria of Perserverance’s aura now grants a stack of Accelerando each you time you heal another injured ally or prevent at least 25-125 damage from another ally with the aura’s shields
• Granting an ally Aria of Perserverance’s aura no longer refunds 30 mana per cast

E – Song of Celerity

• COST 90 mana ⇒ 65 mana
• Granting an ally Song of Celerity’s aura no longer refunds 30 mana per cast

R – Crescendo

• No longer reduces Sona’s basic abilities
• Hits champions ⇒ Hits champions, minions, and monsters

Sona has suffered for seasons now due to her scaling squishy Support style in a meta of tanky engage picks. This laundry list of changes is Riot’s attempt to bring that style of play more into her control. All of her mana costs have been lowered with the refund on ally interaction removed. Additionally, she has a new Passive feature, Accelerando.

Whenever Sona’s abilities impact teammates or enemies, she gains stacks that give permanent ability haste. Once these stacks are maxed, new stacks convert into ultimate cooldown reduction. While these changes likely won’t force Sona into the meta, she should at least feel more satisfied and in control of her gameplay.

Item Changes

Dark Seal

• DREAD AP PER GLORY STACK 5 ⇒ 4
• GLORY STACKS LOST ON DEATH 4 ⇒ 5

Dark Seal is purchased incredibly often, even just for its pure laning power and potential for stacks. This nerf is attempting to curve the item’s power before its fully upgraded into a Mejai’s Soulstealer.

Redemption

• INTERVENTION HEAL 180-360 (based on ally’s level) ⇒ 200-400 (based on ally’s level)
• INTERVENTION COOLDOWN 120 seconds ⇒ 90 seconds

Redemption has been the worst Enchanter item throughout Season 11. A buff to its healing and uptime should increase its purchase rate when Chemtech Putrifier or Mikael’s Crucible aren’t totally needed.

Those are the most important changes of League of Legends Patch 11.16. Overall, it is a pretty interesting patch. A good number of champions will need to be experimented with in order to find out how good they still are or have become.