League of Legends Patch 11.9 Highlights

Patch 11.8 Follow Up

A total of five champions who received direct buffs in Patch 11.8 are being nerfed immediately in response to their newfound strength. While this may bring some of them down to size, none of the nerfs go past what they were given in 11.8.

Diana

Base Stats

• ARMOR GROWTH 3.6 ⇒1
• HEALTH REGEN 7.5 ⇒5

Passive – Moonsilver Blade

• BONUS ATTACK SPEED 20-40% (based on level) ⇒ 15-40% (based on level)

Diana is currently a very powerful mid and jungle flex pick. Her win rate in mid spiked to a whopping 53.61 percent with her jungle win rate not far behind. Lowering her base armor growth, health regeneration, and passive attack speed at early levels should help to slow down her clear and weaken her lane.

Vladimir

Q – Transfusion

• COOLDOWN 9/7.75/6.5/5.25/4 seconds ⇒ 9/7.9/6.8/5.7/4.6 seconds

Speaking of spiked win rates, Vladimir has also been one of the best mid laners on 11.8. His win rate is not far behind Diana’s with a much higher pick rate to boot. As it turned out, lowering the cooldown on his primary combat spell, bringing much more damage and healing into his kit, was enough to push Vlad over the edge. While he still has that same one-second reduction at level one, his late-game spamming will be closer to its pre-11.8 state.

Rumble

Passive – Junkyard Titan

• OVERHEATED BONUS ON-HIT DAMAGE 10-50 (+30% AP) ⇒ 5-40 (+25% AP)

Rumble is the last of the buffed mid lane trio that has been terrorizing the game. All of the extra damage potential he was given via the E and Passive buffs brought The Mechanized Menace front and center. Instead of pulling back on the MR shred or attack speed, the damage on his Overheated auto attacks has been cut in half early and will scale less. This won’t change how he interacts with ranged champions, but melees should have a bit of an easier time with him.

Dr. Mundo

Base Stats

• ARMOR GROWTH 3.5 ⇒ 3
• AD GROWTH 3.5 ⇒ 3

Riot’s attempts to shift Mundo into the top lane were successful. He is far and away the best tank in the game. Unlike the other champions in this category, Mundo isn’t too oppressive in his current state. All of Mundo’s previous buffs are staying, but his scaling armor and attack damage are being hit. Losing 9 armor and 9 AD at level 18 isn’t too bad, but it should still impact his win rate.

Morgana

W – Tormented Shadow

• DAMAGE AGAINST MONSTERS 200% ⇒ 185%

The change everyone has been waiting for, Morgana is having the bonus damage to monsters on her W lowered. Morgana emerged as the best jungler in solo queue in Patch 11.8 with a 53.27 percent win rate. Her ban rate is currently nearing the 50 percent mark, a metric that is absolutely insane. Riot states that they “still think she’s a great new addition to the jungle”, so the majority of the clearing power Morgana was given will remain. Hopefully, some strong dueling junglers are now able to keep up with her speed and keep her in check.

Champions

Gragas

E – Body Slam

• BASE DAMAGE 80/130/180/230/280 ⇒ 80/125/170/215/260

Yet another base damage nerf is on the table for the king of value. Gragas’s raw utility combined with four damaging abilities continues to be a difficult kit to balance. His triple flex status will likely still be on the table after this, but 20 lost damage on his E should make low AP builds easier to play around.

Hecarim

Base Stats

• ARMOR 36 ⇒ 32
• ARMOR GROWTH 4 ⇒25

Q – Rampage

• DAMAGE AMPLIFICATION PER STACK 5% ⇒ 2% (+1% per 33 bonus AD)

W – Spirit of Dread

• Hecarim no longer heals 30% of damage taken by enemies within the area
• Hecarim now heals for 30% (+1% per 40 bonus AD) of the damage he deals to a target. This is halved to 15% (+1% per 80 bonus AD) for damage dealt by allies.

E – Devastating Charge

• MINIMUM BASE DAMAGE 35/65/95/125/155 ⇒ 30/50/70/90/110
• MAXIMUM BASE DAMAGE 70/130/190/250/310 ⇒ 60/100/140/180/220

After a full Split of total dominance across both solo queue and professional play and multiple attempted nerfs to him and his items, the pony is finally being taken to the glue factory. Tank Hecarim has been heavily outperforming damage Hecarim, so these changes are an attempt to force Hecarim to choose between one or the other. He can either go tank and have less than half of his former Q amplification damage and much less healing on his W, or go for damage and risk a single bad move resulting in death. Either one will be a nice departure from his play pattern throughout early 2021.

Heimerdinger

W – Hextech Micro-Rockets

• INITIAL ROCKET DAMAGE 50/80/110/140/170 ⇒ 50/75/100/125/150
• MAXIMUM ROCKET DAMAGE 90/144/198/252/306 ⇒ 90/135/180/225/270

Heimerdinger has shown up for his yearly stint in the meta. This time, it was his solo queue stats that pushed him into nerf territory. A 52.7 percent win rate in the mid lane has resulted in a nerf to his rockets. Heimer’s first max of W will now be missing 20 full damage on single hit and 36 on a full hit. It’s a shame this nerf hits now, else we would have likely seen more Heimerdinger support at MSI from the likes of Beryl.

Kindred

Q – Dance of Arrows

• COOLDOWN 9 seconds ⇒ 8 seconds
• BASE DAMAGE 60/80/100/120/140 ⇒ 60/85/110/135/160

Kindred is getting her second big buff in the last three patches. If there’s anything we’ve learned from Vladimir, it’s that giving a one-second cooldown reduction on a champion’s primary spamming spell is a dangerous game. Dance of Arrows already received a 10 percent bonus AD ratio increase in 11.7. Now, her main damage, clearing, and mobility spell will be available more often and pack 20 more base damage when maxed.

Kog’Maw

Q – Caustic Spittle

• RESISTANCES REDUCTION 20/22/24/26/28% ⇒ 25/27/29/31/33%

E – Void Ooze

• COST 80/90/100/110/120 mana ⇒ 60/70/80/90/100 mana

On the surface, these buffs may not seem like that big of a deal for Kog’Maw. In reality, Kog’Maw is a perfectly viable Marksman when picked in the right spots. An extra five percent armor and MR shred on his Q can help him and his team shred through tankier threats. The 20 mana reduction on his E also helps him quite a bit. The multiplicative mana cost on his ultimate means that mana management is very important. This change also helps Kog’Maw poke and last hit more reliably in lane. Hyper carry Kog’Maw could be on the rise.

Lulu

W – Whimsy

• COOLDOWN 16/15/14/13/12 seconds ⇒ 15/14/13/12/11 seconds
• ALLY CAST BONUS ATTACK SPEED 20/23.75/27.5/31.25/35% ⇒ 25/27.5/30/32.5/35%

This Yordle could also be a big part in an upcoming hyper-carry meta. Lulu was already a very strong pick in solo queue, holding a 17.7 percent pick rate. She just wasn’t able to show up in pro play because of the prevalence of engage supports and all in-comps. With Jinx, Vayne, and Kog’Maw being three powerful picks, Lulu could be seeing some time in the sunshine. A full second off of her W and five percent more attack speed at rank one will make trading against her even more difficult.

Sett

W – Haymaker

• DAMAGE RATIO 10% per 100 bonus AD ⇒ 20% per 100 bonus AD

R – The Show Stopper

• AD DAMAGE RATIO 100% bonus AD ⇒ 120% bonus AD

Earlier in the season, Sett was bouncing between a couple of builds. In the end, a full tank build featuring a Dead Man’s Plate rush won out. After the nerfing of the tank items he liked, Sett fell off in effectiveness. These buffs are an attempt to bring him back with the alternative Stridebreaker build. There could be a place for him in top lane or as a support alongside a fasting Senna.

Shen

R – Stand United

• MINIMUM SHIELD 175/350/525 (+135% AP) ⇒ 140/320/500 (+17.5% bonus health) (+135% AP)
• MAXIMUM SHIELD 280/560/840 (+216% AP) ⇒ 224/512/800 (+28% bonus health) (+216% AP)

Shen was already one of the stronger tank picks in League of Legends. Although his effectiveness as a pure damage sponge isn’t the best, the utility and playmaking potential he brings makes The Eye of Twilight very potent at higher levels of play. These changes to his ultimate make Shen even better at protecting allies (psst, hyper carry meta).

For a bit of math on this one, a rank one ultimate from a Shen with a Bami’s Cinder and Doran’s Shield, not taking into account HP from Grasp or Overgrowth, will now shield for 206.5 instead of 175 at minimum. This change becomes even more drastic once Shen has more items. A two-item spike of Sunfire and Titanic will make a max effectiveness rank two Shen ult give a whopping 750 HP shield instead of the previous 560.

Trundle

E – Pillar of Ice

• SLOW 20/30/40/50/60% ⇒ 32/39/46/53/60%

Trundle just hasn’t been the same since his Pillar lost its oomph. Even with buffs in other places, Trundle just never found a home to thrive in. A perfect storm could be approaching for the Troll King. With tanky engage supports being the current meta and other beefy fighters like Mundo and Shen preparing to take the spotlight, Trundle might find himself some presence. Increasing the base slow of pillar from 20 percent to 32 percent means that his crowd control will be way more effective for the entirety of the game without having to sacrifice a W second max.

Items

Dead Man’s Plate

• HEALTH 400 ⇒ 300

A simple nerf meant to hurt Hecarim, Udyr, and other Chemtank users.

Turbo Chemtank

• BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED 60% ⇒ 40%

Well, one split of full movement speed meta was enough wouldn’t you agree? In all seriousness, users of Turbo Chemtank will see their catching effectiveness gimped once again. The item will still be built by champs like Skarner and Rammus as they really have few other options that cater to their niche. The exceptions will be champions who received changes that force them onto new builds like Hecarim and Sett.

Moonstone Renewer

• STARLIT GRACE HEAL 60 ⇒ 70

The Moonstone rework predictably hit the item a bit too hard. Even champions that revolved around their healing and shielding like Yuumi and Lulu found themselves swapping to Shurelya’s. This compensation buff should make that decision more interactive with enchanters needing to decide if fights will last long enough for Moonstone to be useful.

And those are the League of Legends Patch 11.9 highlights! A long laundry list of champions could be showing up at MSI thanks to all the changes present here and in Patch 11.8. After what has been a pretty stale Spring Split around the world, some fresh faces would certainly be a welcoming sight.