League of Legends Patch 11.21 is now live. Much like the previous patch, 11.21 is focused on making changing moving forward into the offseason. Many champions have received a balance pass with only two picks with Worlds presence being hit. Instead, nerfs have arrived for the most powerful Mythic item in the game, along with some of the most popular Rune choices for multiple roles. Without further ado, here are the most important changes of League of Legends Patch 11.21. For the full patch notes, click here.
While a few dominant picks have been hit in Patch 11.21, many more under-performing champions have been buffed up. (Images Credit Riot Games)
Nerfs
Akshan
E – Heroic Swing
- Base Damage per Shot 30/50/70/90/110 ⇒ 30/45/60/75/90
Akshan has seen his E damage targeted once again. Despite an 11.17 change that was supposed to nerf his E max build, a compensation buff to the AD scaling kept it relevant. This time, there is no compensation for the Rogue Sentinel. With only 15 damage being gained per level, he will likely start indexing into his Q more often.
Graves
E – Quickdraw
- Bonus Armor per Stack: 6/9/12/15/18 ⇒ 4/7/10/13/16
Graves has been running amuck in both top and mid lane. With this being a heavy AD solo lane meta, the bonus armor that Graves gets from pressing his E key gives a ton of value. Since Graves gains two Stacks when dashing at an enemy champion, he will essentially be losing four armor in his quick trades. That number is increased by four for every additional dash he can cast in extended fights, up to a max of 16 armor lost.
Miss Fortune
Base Stats
- Mana 325.84 ⇒ 300
W – Strut
- Mana Cost 30 ⇒ 45
Miss Fortune has come out of the woodworks this Worlds and become one of the top ADC picks. Her incredible laning phase is one of the reasons for this. Riot are cutting down on her base Mana and increasing the cost of W to try and force MF to use her oppressive Q less often. This won’t fully erase her lane dominance, but it should help her opponents to feel less pressure overall.
Miss Fortune has been dominating the field at Worlds. This hit to her mana pool should slightly reel in her lane phase. (Image Credit Riot Games)
Quinn
W – Heightened Senses
- Bonus Attack Speed 20/35/50/65/80% ⇒ 20/30/40/50/60%
Quinn has risen to new heights as a solo queue top lane bully thanks to her W max build. The bonus attack speed and movement speed upon proccing the Harrier mark increase to ludicrous levels when maxed. Quinn becomes incredibly difficult to keep in check with her quick, bursty trade style. Cutting down on the bonus attack speed by 20 percent (500 gold worth of AS) should slow Quinn’s damage output.
Buffs
Jinx
Passive – Get Excited!
- Total Attack Speed 15% ⇒ 25%
E – Flame Chompers!
- Range 900 ⇒ 925
R – Super Mega Death Rocket!
- Cooldown 90/75/60 seconds ⇒ 75/65/55 seconds
Jinx is one of those champions that is always really close to being meta, but just lacks the final tools needed to get the job done over other picks. This array of buffs all give Jinx some way to keep her snowball rolling. More attack speed on resets, easier follow-up engage with Flame Chompers, and more casts of her global ultimate will all make it easier for Jinx to get going.
Lux
Base Stats
- Attack Speed per Level 1% ⇒ 2%
Passive – Illumination
- Illumination mark duration extended if Lux’s basic attack is already in flight to the target, or if R – Final Spark is being cast
E – Lucent Singularity
- Damage 60/110/160/210/260 (+65% AP) ⇒ 70/120/170/220/270 (+70% AP)
R – Final Spark
- Cooldown 80/60/40 seconds ⇒ 60/50/40 seconds
Just like Jinx, Lux has received a variety of buffs that all make her job easier. In addition to some nice quality of life with her passive, the extra 10 flat damage and 5 percent AP on her primary poke and wave clear spell will be very impactful. On top of that, 20 seconds off of her ultimate at rank one will help Lux either fish for kills more often, or ult the wave for pressure with less downtime.
Teemo
Q – Blinding Dart
- Cooldown 8 seconds ⇒ 7 seconds
- Blind Duration 1.5/1.75/2.0/2.25/2.5 seconds ⇒0/2.25/2.5/2.75/3 seconds
- Missile Speed 1500 ⇒ 2500
Teemo just got a whole lot more annoying for AD and bruiser top laners. His signature Blinding Dart now has a lower cooldown, blinds for half a second longer, and moves 1000 speed faster. What this means is that the windows to counter his Q are much smaller since he can start trades off with Q at range and almost never take an auto attack for it.
Viego
Q – Blade of the Ruined King
- AD Ratio 60% ⇒ 70%
W – Spectral Maw
- Self-Slow While Charging 15% ⇒ 10%
R – Heartbreaker
- Critical Strike Chance Ratio 75% ⇒ 100%
After all the nerfs to Viego’s ability to build for tankiness and sustain, Riot are opting to continue indexing into his more AD-focused builds. With a now 100 percent critical strike ratio, Shieldbow will be one of Viego’s best friends moving forward.
Viego continues to be given buffs to his AD and crit-focused builds. (Image Credit Riot Games)
Xayah
Base Stats
- Move Speed 325 ⇒ 330
Q – Double Daggers
- Cooldown 10/9/8/7/6 seconds ⇒ 10/8.5/7/5.5/4 seconds
Another patch, another round of Xayah buffs. This time, the cooldown on her Q has been reduced by two seconds at max rank. As a result, many pros have shifted from maxing this ability last to maxing it second over W. Five movement speed is always a nice buff as well, since it allows ADCs to space more effectively.
Items
Goredrinker
- Thirsting Slash 100% Total AD ⇒ 175% Base AD
- Goredrinker now grants 8% Omnivamp
- Goredrinker no longer grants 150% health regen
- No longer grants 0-15% (based on missing health) of your AD as bonus AD
Stridebreaker
- Attack Damage 45 ⇒ 50
- Halting Slash 100% Total AD ⇒ 175% Base AD
Ironspike Whip
- Crescent 75% Total AD ⇒ 100% Base AD
Goredrinker has completely taken over as the Mythic choice for almost all bruisers and even some assassins like Talon. Riot are attempting to target the item’s damage and burst-focused functions by removing the bonus AD given with missing HP and lowering the damage of the slash. In compensation, the item has had Omnivamp added onto it. Ironspike Whip has had its slash updated to mimic this, now scaling off of Base AD instead. Stridebreaker has received five AD as a compensation buff to keep it power neutral.
Runes
Conqueror
- Adaptive Force per Stack 2-5 (based on level) ⇒ 2-4 (based on level)
- Buff Duration 6 seconds ⇒ 4 seconds
Conqueror has continued to be a one size fits all rune for many classes of champions. This very general nerf should help tone down its frequency among the less intended users.
Guardian
- Shield 70-150 (based on level) (+15% Guardian’s AP) (+9% Guardian’s bonus health) ⇒ 50-130 (based on level) (+15% Guardian’s AP) (+9% Guardian’s bonus health)
In the same vein as Conqueror, Guardian has become an all-purpose rune for supports. Enchanters have started to greatly favor Guardian over their specifically designed Aery keystone, so Guardian has been hit with a 20 shield reduction.
Ingenious Hunter
- Base Item Haste 10 ⇒ 20
- Item Haste per Stack 5 ⇒ 6
- Max Item Haste at Full Stacks 35 ⇒ 50
Ingenious Hunter has remained an underutilized rune at the bottom of the Domination tree. With all the stiff competition down there, an extra 10-15 item ability haste could funnel more champions into preferring it.
Ravenous Hunter
- Omnivamp per Stack 1.5% ⇒2%
- Max Omnivamp at Full Stacks 7.5% ⇒ 6%
The favorite son of the Domination tree bottom row has also been taken down a peg. Its base Omnivamp is still the same, but Ravenous now loses 1.5 percent when fully stacked.
Those are the most important changes of League of Legends Patch 11.21. There are many champion changes that need to be experimented with, as well as rune and item changes to be reconsidered. This patch was still a decent size considering that preseason is just around the corner.
