League of Legends Patch 11.19 has just rolled onto the rift. Along with Patch 11.18, these patches were meant to bring meaningful changes to the game right before the 2021 World Championship. With Worlds now just two weeks away, League of Legends Patch 11.19 will be the final patch before the season’s grand finale. Here are the most important changes of the Worlds Patch. For the full patch notes, click here.
With Worlds 2021 just around the corner, many champions have received changes to either push them forward towards being meta, or pull them back to avoid dominating the meta. (Images Credit Riot Games)
Nerfs
Kennen
Q – Thundering Shuriken
- Damage 85/130/175/220/265 (+80% AP) ⇒ 75/120/165/210/255 (+75% AP)
The buff Kennen received in Patch 11.15 elevated him to a prominent pick in pro play. Riot are pulling back on parts of that buff. The rank one damage and AP scaling are now at its previous values, with only the damage when maxed being higher.
Ryze
Q – Overload
- Magic Damage 75/100/125/150/175 (+45% AP) (+3% bonus mana) ⇒ 75/100/125/150/175 (+40% AP) (+3% bonus mana)
E – Spell Flux
- Cooldown 3.25/3/2.75/2.5/2.25 seconds ⇒5/3.25/3/2.75/2.5 seconds
As usual, Ryze has been causing problems for pro play while being low impact in solo queue. These nerfs are meant to lower his overall damage output. The 0.25 second cooldown increase to his E will be noticeable in both wave clearing and team fighting.
Sona
Base Stats
- Base Armor 28 ⇒ 26
Passive – Power Chord
- BUGFIX Power Chord damage increases by 20-245 (based on level) ⇒ 20-240 (based on level)
Q – Hymn of Valor
- BUGFIX No longer targets enemies Sona cannot see
E – Song of Celerity
- BUGFIX Power Chord – Tempo’s slow no longer bypasses the target’s slow reduction effects
Enchanters have risen greatly in power over the past couple of patches. Sona is one of the biggest offenders and has taken a variety of nerfs as a result. Losing two base armor when she already has so little will make her noticeably easier to take down in lane. The bug fixes to her Power Chords both lower her overall impact. Sona also utilized her Q to refrain from face-checking and keep control in lane with enemies in the brush, which she can no longer do. All of this combined should be a sizable nerf.
Soraka
R – Wish
- Base Heal 150/250/350 (+55% AP) ⇒ 130/215/300 (+55% AP)
Soraka’s nerf is much simpler. Riot wanted to keep the Grievous Wounds cleanse introduced last patch, so Soraka’s ultimate now heals for 20 less at rank one and 50 at rank three. Keep in mind, these numbers are all multiplied by five to account her all of her teammates.
Varus
Q – Piercing Arrow
- Cooldown 16/14.5/13/11.5/10 seconds ⇒ 16/15/14/13/12 seconds
Last patch, Varus received nerfs to his base AD and attack speed on minion kills in an attempt to weaken his laning phase. He’s still as good a laner as ever, so now his mid to late game are being targeted. Losing two seconds off of his primary wave clear and damage should help to reel in his effectiveness.
Varus is still dominating the bot lane despite eating multiple nerfs previously. Will this change be enough to take him down a peg? (Image Credit Riot Games)
Buffs
Aatrox
W – Infernal Chains
- Cooldown 26/23/20/17/14 seconds ⇒ 20/18.5/17/15.5/14 seconds
Due to Aatrox maxing his W last, its cooldown stayed a massive 26 seconds for the majority of the game. It now still scales to the same 14 seconds at level 18, but taking a whole six seconds off it for the first 13 levels will be incredibly helpful for Aatrox to go for trades more consistently.
Cho’Gath
Q – Rupture
- Cooldown 7 seconds ⇒ 6 seconds
Cho’Gath is a unique champion in that he can put points into any of his skills depending on his needs. Reducing the cooldown on his Q will help him put out more utility with his tankier builds and deal more damage with his Everfrost builds.
Fizz
Passive – Nimble Fighter
- Bonus damage reduction against champion basic attacks removed
W – Seastone Trident
- On-Hit Damage 20/25/30/35/40 (+35% AP) ⇒ 10/15/20/25/30 (+35% AP)
E – Playful / Trickster
- Cooldown 16/14.5/13/11.5/10 seconds ⇒ 16/14/12/10/8 seconds
R – Chum the Waters
- Guppy Damage 150/225/300 (+70% AP) ⇒ 150/250/350 (+80% AP)
- Chomper Damage 200/275/300 (+85% AP) ⇒ 225/325/425 (+100% AP)
- Gigalodon Damage 250/325/400 (+100% AP) ⇒ 300/400/500 (+120% AP)
In Patch 11.18, Fizz had a lot of work done to his kit in order to try and emphasize a less bursty playstyle. These changes ended up being a nerf to Fizz. As a result, they’ve been completely reverted and replaced with a two-second cooldown reduction to his Playful/Trickster. This change should be much more effective in bringing Fizz up in power.
Galio
W – Shield of Durand
- Cooldown 18 seconds ⇒ 18/17.5/17/16.5/16 seconds
Galio is one of those champions who will dominate pro play when he’s good due to the vast amount of utility he provides. This buff to his W cooldown when maxed plays into that utility, especially for Support Galio who invests in the ability first.
Mordekaiser
E – Death’s Grasp
- Cooldown 22/19/16/13/10 seconds ⇒ 18/16/14/12/10 seconds
In a similar vein to Aatrox, Mordekaiser’s primary engage and utility spell was always a long cooldown due to skill priority. A four second reduction to his pull back should help him fish for trades and picks more frequently.
Poppy
Passive – Iron Ambassador
- Cooldown 16/12/8 seconds (at levels 1/7/13) ⇒ 13/10/7 seconds (at levels 1/7/13)
Poppy has been in a unique position as a champ for a while. She’s one of the better pure tanks in League of Legends, but she’s often not able to survive early on in this meta, forcing her into the Jungle often. This three-second cooldown reduction on her buckler will help keep Poppy healthy in all of her roles.
Qiyana
Q – Edge of Ixtal
- If the target of Qiyana’s E+Q combo is still within Qiyana’s default attack range (150 units) of Qiyana at the end of her E, it will not be dodgeable
- Bonus Damage VS Monsters 25% ⇒ 50%
The Patch 11.18 nerfs to Qiyana were incredibly frustrating for the champion. Many of her damage combos simply stopped working consistently, making Qiyana an unnecessarily wonky to play. Riot have attempted to correct this by making the Q damage undodgeable if Qiyana is in auto attack range. Also, they’ve thrown one more bone to Qiyana jungle, clearly wanting to see it at Worlds.
Qiyana’s mechanics have been in an unfortunate state as a result of Riot’s buffs to her jungle clear. With a fix to one of her main damage combos plus another clear buff, Qiyana could be back on the menu. (Image Credit Riot Games)
Renekton
Base Stats
- Base Health 575 ⇒ 590
- Health Growth 87 ⇒ 92
W – Ruthless Predator
- Empowered animation sped up by ~13%
- Self-Lockout Duration 0.525 seconds ⇒375 seconds (for both normal and empowered)
The previous nerf to Renekton’s empowered W was incredibly effective in curbing one of his greatest strengths. It was so effective that Renekton actually needed a compensation buff. He has been given 15 plus five HP per level, and a much quicker animation for his W with less lockout.
Sejuani
Q – Arctic Assault
- Cooldown 20/18/16/14/12 seconds ⇒ 18/16.5/15/13.5/12 seconds
- Damage 80/130/180/230/280 (+60% AP) ⇒ 90/140/190/240/290 (+60% AP)
Sejuani has been struggling to find relevance in season 11. This two-second buff to her primary engage spell will certainly be a good start for her. By giving Sej more access to terrain scaling, ganking, and teamfight utility, we could see her start to pop up more.
Seraphine
R – Encore
- Cooldown 180/150/120 seconds ⇒ 160/130/100 seconds
Whereas the other enchanters were slapped with nerfs this patch, Seraphine was actually buffed instead. The powerful Moonstone user has seen 20 seconds shaved off of her incredibly long cooldown ultimate. Expect to see Seraphine at Worlds.
Those were the most important changes in League of Legends Patch 11.19. All of the changes made were targeted in some way towards making a more diverse meta for the World Championships. For the most part, Riot have avoided any sweeping changes in fear of breaking something entirely. We’ll have to see how exactly this patch affects things in two weeks’ time when Worlds 2021 kicks off.
