League of Legends Patch 11.18 Highlights: Pre-Worlds Patch

Meta Champion Nerfs

Ashe

W – Volley

• Cooldown 14/11.5/9/6.5/4 seconds ⇒ 18/14.5/11/7.5/4 seconds

Ashe’s status as a lane bully will be significantly impacted by this four second cooldown increase to her level one spell. While it does scale back to its final four second cooldown when maxed, Ashe will still be missing two seconds on W at level six.

Camille

Passive – Adaptive Defenses

• Cooldown 16/13/10 seconds (at levels 1/7/13) ⇒ 20/15/10 seconds (at levels 1/7/13)

This nerf to Camille has a similar impact as the Ashe nerf. Losing four seconds on one of her primary trading tools early will hurt Camille in her brawly matchups. Again, she gets the old cooldown later down the line, but is still missing two seconds at level seven.

Kalista

R – Fate’s Call

• Knockup Duration 1.5/1.75/2 seconds ⇒ 1/1.5/2 seconds

Kalista’s R has seen its crowd control duration reduced by 33 percent. Since knockups cannot be reduced by Tenacity, this will always have the same large impact. Throwing the support into the enemy team should now be less of a guaranteed play.

Renekton

W – Ruthless Predator

• Empowered Stun Duration 1.5 seconds ⇒ 1 second
• Empowered Self-Lockout Duration 0.75 seconds ⇒52 seconds (matches normal W)

Renekton has been a famously potent kill lane due to his massive 1.5 second point-and-click stun which makes it easy for junglers to land follow-up skills. Cutting this crowd control by half a second should make the window of survival much more forgiving.

Thresh

Base stats

• Move Speed 335 ⇒ 330

E – Flay

• Maximum Passive Bonus Magic Damage 100/125/150/175/200% Attack Damage + 1 per Soul ⇒ 80/110/140/170/200% Attack Damage + 1.5 per Soul

Thresh’s millionth nerf of the season has arrived, this time with a five MS reduction and a decent nerf to his Flay empowered auto attack. Nerfing movement speed on roaming champions is always a way to cut their effectiveness. Combined with a loss of trading power, Thresh might actually feel this hit sting.

Trundle

E – Pillar of Ice

• Slow 32/39/46/53/60% ⇒ 30/34/38/42/46%

Trundle’s effectiveness in pro play has always been entirely dependent on his Pillar’s potency. Trundle has been meta every time it gets buffed. Now, his Pillar is taking a 14 percent slow nerf at max rank. This is likely going to kill support Trundle and move jungle Trundle out of favor as well since pros even started maxing Pillar early on it.

Champion Buffs

Draven

Passive – League of Draven

• Draven’s Adoration stack count updates will now be displayed in All chat, not just Team chat

R – Whirling Death

• If Whirling Death drops an enemy’s health to or below Draven’s current Adoration stacks, it executes them.

Draven can be incredibly strong in the right hands, but any mistakes are that much more punishing. This added execute on his ultimate should make his window of success much more attainable. No longer will a Draven be stuck on hundreds of stacks unable to cash in.

Dr. Mundo

R – Maximum Dosage

• On cast, immediately heals 20% of missing HP ⇒ grants 15/20/25% of missing HP as Bonus HP for 10s
• Heals 20/45/70% ⇒ 20/40/60% of max HP over 10s

As with any heal tank, Mundo suffers quite a bit from Grievous Wounds. Changing the instant health gain from healing to bonus HP, similar to Lulu ultimate, will greatly help his effectiveness when faced with healing reduction.

Gangplank

Base stats

• Health 540 ⇒ 570
• Health Growth 82 ⇒ 90

The previous changes to Gangplank have weakened his lane considerably, but given him more power in the later stages. This buff to his HP pool should help the pirate survive early and get to his late game crit barrel fantasy.

Karma

Base stats

• Base Armor 26 ⇒ 28

E – Inspire

• Base Shield 80/125/170/215/260 ⇒ 90/135/180/225/270

Karma was recently removed from the pro play pool with nerfs to her team utility. While this change won’t fully compensate her, it should help Karma win more in lane and be more effective with increased healing and shielding percentages.

Kog’Maw

E – Void Ooze

• Damage 75/120/165/210/255 (+50% Ability Power) ⇒ 75/120/165/210/255 (+70% Ability Power)

AP Kog’Maw has been a long-standing off-meta build that has even seen some pro attention. A 20 percent AP buff is nothing to scoff at and could help the Mouth of the Abyss sneak back into the mid lane.

Lillia

Base stats

• Base Health Regen 1.5 ⇒5
• Health Regen Growth 0.75 ⇒55

Passive – Dream-Laden Bough

• Healing Against Large Monsters 18-94 (based on level) ⇒ 27-104 (based on level)

Q – Blooming Blows

• Passive Stack Duration 5.5 seconds ⇒5 seconds

E – Swirlseed

• Cooldown 18 seconds ⇒ 16 seconds

The base stat reductions serve to nerf top lane Lillia’s sustain with the passive buff giving it back for jungle Lillia. After that, an increase in her Q movement speed stacks and a two second reduction for Swirlseed should help Lillia maintain effectiveness in skirmishes.

Singed

R – Insanity Potion

• Singed now applies Grievous Wounds on targets upon dealing any damage during Insanity Potion’s duration

With all of the Goredrinkers and in-built healing in top lane, Grievous Wounds is nearly a necessity. Getting GW for free when ulting is a massive buff for Singed. Not only can he reliably go for kills at level six, his team now doesn’t have to worry about buying GW items themselves if Singed is just going to throw it on everybody in a fight.

Soraka

R – Wish

• Clears Grievous Wounds on allies before applying the heal

In the same way that Singed is now great against heal-heavy teams, Soraka has been given a big buff for heal-heavy teams. Clearing Grievous Wounds before applying her ultimate heal will ensure she maintains a high level of base value on the global ability. Additionally, cleansing GW at the right time could have a massive impact if done right before a Goredrinker proc, etc.

Taliyah

Q – Threaded Volley

• Casting Threaded Volley on Worked Ground now refunds 50% of the spell’s cooldown
• Worked Ground Radius 450 ⇒ 300
• Worked Ground Duration 45 seconds ⇒ 25 seconds

Taliyah has long been removed from one of her original roles only to be forced into the jungle where Worked Ground wasn’t an issue. Now that she can stand in lane and reliably use her full Q, the Stoneweaver should be able to find success in mid once again.

Yuumi

Passive – Bop ‘n’ Block

• Cooldown 18-6 seconds (based on level) ⇒ 14-6 seconds (based on level)

Yuumi excels in lanes where she can punish low-range ADCs and melee supports with constant Q spam. By reducing her passive cooldown by four seconds early, Yuumi has much more access to her extra mana and shielding for more trading power.

Zoe

E – Sleepy Trouble Bubble

• Cooldown 20/18.5/17/15.5/14 seconds ⇒ 16/15/14/13/12 seconds

Zoe was once a staple of the professional meta until her utility and pick power was greatly reduced. Now that Riot have removed four seconds off of her catch spell’s cooldown, Zoe is now much more able to fish for big plays and one-shots. Doing Baron against a red side Zoe will be a terrifying experience once again.

Items and Runes

Titanic/Ravenous Hydra

• Cleave no longer activates on turrets

Quality of life buff that allows split pushers to hit towers without gaining tower aggro.

Umbral Glaive

• Cost 2600 ⇒ 2400
• Lethality 12 ⇒ 10

Umbral Glaive used to be a must-buy for any lethality user in pro play. Reducing its cost by 200 gold should make it much more viable to pick up for the vision control that it provides.

Predator

• Move Speed Ramp-Up Time 1.5 seconds ⇒ 1 second
• Maximum Move Speed 45% ⇒ 60%

Predator has recently been shafted by its primary users in favor of other keystones. This buff will certainly catch the eye of its classic champions and some lesser-known ones like Gragas.

Those are the most important changes of League of Legends Patch 11.18. This patch was absolutely massive and has a lot of other small changes in preparation for Worlds. The next patch should be quite a bit smaller so there is less that can go wrong right before the big event.