The latest major League of Legends update, patch 9.7, has arrived, and it’s a big one for champion balance, with Kayle and Urgot taking the biggest hits.
While a new take on the League of Legends meta usually emerges with each major patch, sometimes the shift is more significant than others. With a large number of champions, items, and runes getting balance changes in 9.7, it seems likely that in this case the result could be a very noticeable shift in the prevailing meta.
The primary targets of the champion updates are Kayle and Urgot. Riot are still figuring out how best to balance the recently-reworked Kayle, and the latest changes are designed to make hitting her late-game power spikes more reliant on good performance. Meanwhile, Riot are pulling back on Urgot buffs made in the last patch.
A further 10 champions are also getting more targeted adjustments, mostly focusing on a single ability or aspect of the champion’s kit. In addition, changes to several items and runes are likely to affect a broader range of champions indirectly.
Patch 9.7 also heralds the arrival of new skins for Ivern and Jarvan IV, as well as the “Back to Bilgewater” update to ARAM, the personalized discounts of the “Your Shop” feature, as well as the usual host of bug fixes.
The following video offers an overview of the update, and the full patch notes can be found below.
Champion Changes
Kayle
Armor growth, health regen decreased. Q cost increased. W movement speed decreased, cost increased. E damage reduced but now has a ratio
We’re following up with more adjustments to Kayle to make her late-game spikes more reliant on doing well and getting items rather than coasting off raw power from levels.
Base Stats
HEALTH REGEN: 6 ⇒ 5
ARMOR GROWTH: 3.5 ⇒ 3
Q – Radiant Blast
COST: 60/65/70/75/80 mana ⇒ 70/75/80/85/90 mana
W – Celestial Blessing
BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED: 26/32/38/44/50% ⇒ 24/28/32/36/40%
COST: 70/75/80/85/90 mana ⇒ 60/70/80/90/100 mana
E – Starfire Spellblade
BONUS MAGIC DAMAGE: 10/12.5/15/17.5/20% target’s missing health ⇒8/10/12/14/16% (+1% per 100 ability power) target’s missing health
Urgot
Passive damage decreased late. E cooldown increased early; cost increased. R damage decreased.
Was told we can’t use the Urgod joke again. We’re pulling back on some of the buffs he received last patch.
Passive – Echoing Flames
DAMAGE: 2/3/4/6/8% target’s max health ⇒ 2/3/4/5/6% target’s max health (still at levels 1/6/9/11/13)
E – Disdain
COOLDOWN: 14 seconds ⇒ 16/15.5/15/14.5/14 seconds
COST: 50/60/70/80/90 mana ⇒ 60/70/80/90/100 mana
R – Fear Beyond Death
DAMAGE: 125/250/375 ⇒ 100/225/350
Azir
Health regen growth increased. Q damage increased.
Even with 9.4’s attack speed buff, Azir still has room to grow without becoming a pro play nightmare. Probably.
Base Stats
HEALTH REGEN GROWTH: 0.55 ⇒ 0.75
Q – Conquering Sands
DAMAGE: 60/80/100/120/140 ⇒ 70/90/110/130/150
Cho’Gath
Q cooldown decreased.
We’re helping out Cho’Gath with some power to his primary crowd control and zoning.
Q – Rupture
COOLDOWN: 9 seconds ⇒ 7 seconds
Dr. Mundo
Q damage increased. E attack damage increased.
We’re following up on the Doctor’s 9.5 buffs. More damage!
Q – Infected Cleaver
DAMAGE: 15/17.5/20/22.5/25% target’s current health ⇒ 20/22.5/25/27.5/30% target’s current health
E – Masochism
MINIMUM BONUS ATTACK DAMAGE: 30/45/60/75/90 ⇒ 40/55/70/85/100
MAXIMUM BONUS ATTACK DAMAGE: 60/90/120/150/180 ⇒ 80/110/140/170/200
Garen
W passive stats increased, cooldown decreased, duration decreased late.
First line: Increasing Garen’s scaling with last-hits.
Second line: Giving Garen more opportunities to use Courage’s initial window of tenacity and increased damage reduction.
Third line: Making sure he doesn’t go nuts by keeping the uptime roughly similar.
W – Courage
PASSIVE RESISTANCES: 0.25 per stack, up to 40 ⇒ 0.33 per stack, up to 50
COOLDOWN: 24/23/22/21/20 seconds ⇒ 23/21/19/17/15 seconds
DURATION: 2/3/4/5/6 seconds ⇒ 2/2.75/3.5/4.25/5 seconds
Leona
E cooldown decreased.
We’re increasing Leona’s late-game crowd control so she can start fights more often when players invest more points into her E.
E – Zenith Blade
COOLDOWN: 13/12/11/10/9 seconds ⇒ 12/10.5/9/7.5/6 seconds
Lissandra
Q cooldown increased.
We’re hitting Lissandra’s waveclear so she can’t consistently out-shove her opponents.
Q – Ice Shard
COOLDOWN: 6/5.25/4.5/3.75/3 seconds ⇒ 10/8.5/7/5.5/4 seconds
Morgana
Health regen growth decreased. W ratio decreased.
Lookin’ good and feelin’ fine. But maybe a little too fine, especially in mid. Trimming off some excess power from her update in 9.5. While we’re aiming mainly at mid-lane Morg, support will also be affected.
Base Stats
HEALTH REGEN GROWTH: 0.6 ⇒ 0.4
W – Tormented Shadow
MINIMUM TOTAL DAMAGE RATIO: 0.8 ability power ⇒ 0.7 ability power (still at 0% target missing health)
MAXIMUM TOTAL DAMAGE RATIO: 2.16 ability power ⇒ 1.89 ability power (still at 100% target missing health)
Pyke
Q cooldown decreased early. E stun duration increased.
We’re giving Pyke’s all-in more power.
Q – Bone Skewer
COOLDOWN: 16/14/12/10/8 seconds ⇒ 14/12.5/11/9.5/8 seconds
E – Phantom Undertow
STUN DURATION: 1.1 seconds ⇒ 1.25 seconds
Rumble
W movement speed increased. R cooldown decreased.
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We’re giving Rumble some love so he can compete better against other top laners.
W – Scrap Shield
MOVEMENT SPEED: 10/15/20/25/30% ⇒ 20/25/30/35/40%
R – The Equalizer
COOLDOWN: 110/100/90 seconds ⇒ 100/85/70 seconds
Sylas
Health regen decreased. W damage decreased. E cooldown increased early.
We’re continuing with the adjustments to Sylas since he’s become frustrating to deal with in all levels of play. These nerfs are aimed around creating weaknesses in his laning phase so that he can’t be both mobile and have higher all-in damage and healing than his opponent
Base Stats
HEALTH REGEN: 9.5 ⇒ 7.5
W – Kingslayer
DAMAGE: 60/90/120/150/180 ⇒ 50/75/100/125/150
EMPOWERED DAMAGE: 90/135/180/225/270 ⇒ 75/112.5/150/187.5/225
E – Abscond / Abduct
COOLDOWN: 12/11.5/11/10.5/10 seconds ⇒ 18/16/14/12/10 seconds
Item Changes
Enchantment: Cinderhulk
Minion and monster aura damage increased.
We’re helping tank junglers feel a more meaningful power spike upon completing Cinderhulk and bringing it closer to the other jungle enchants in clear speed.
GRILLED RAZORBEAK: Deals 200% ⇒ 300% bonus magic damage to minions and monsters
The Dark Seal
Ability power, sell-back value decreased.
Dark Seal is meant to be a greedy purchase to eventually upgrade into an even greedier Soulstealer, but its stat efficiency is so high and its sell-back value so good it’s become the correct choice to buy (sometimes in multiples) in too many situations.
ABILITY POWER: 15 ⇒ 10
SELLBACK VALUE: 245 gold ⇒ 140 gold
Wit’s End
Attack speed, magic resist, cost increased. Now grants movement speed. On-hit damage lower early, higher late. No longer steals magic resist but now heals on-hit.
Making Wit’s End more slot-efficient for attack speed bruisers. It can now fill the gap where one would consider Maw of Malmortius, but can’t due to the overlap in passives with Sterak’s Gage (Lifeline). It’ll also be less of an early-rush item now that its new UNIQUE effect scales better throughout the game.
TOTAL COST: 2400 gold ⇒ 2900 gold
BUILD PATH: Recurve Bow + Negatron Cloak + Dagger + 380 gold ⇒Recurve Bow + Negatron Cloak + Dagger + 880 gold
ATTACK SPEED: 40% ⇒ 50%
MAGIC RESIST: 40 ⇒ 50
NEW – MOVEMENT SPEED: 5%
ON-HIT DAMAGE: 42 ⇒ 15-80 (levels 1-18)
NEW – HEALTH STEAL: Heal for the amount of on-hit damage dealt by Wit’s End (33% effective for ranged)
REMOVED – MAGIC RESIST STEAL: Basic attacks no longer steal 6 magic resist (3 for ranged), up to 30
Immolate Item Combat Text
People like big numbers.
DISCO INFERNO: Combat text for Immolate effects on Cinderhulk, Bami’s Cinder, and Sunfire Cape now display running totals of how much damage each target has taken
Rune Changes
Eyeball Collection
Max stacks decreased, total stats unchanged. Kills and assists both grant one stack; no longer stacks off wards.
Eyeball Collection’s 30 adaptive force has been crowding out Ghost Poro and Zombie Ward. All three runes now grant the same adaptive force bonuses, so your choice is now how you want to stack those bonuses up rather than what kind of bonus you want. Eyeball Collection is about killing people.
MAX STACKS: 20 ⇒ 10
STACKS: 2 per champion kill, 1 per champion assist, 1 per ward kill ⇒ 1 per champion takedown (kill or assist)
ADAPTIVE FORCE: 1 per stack (20 total) ⇒ 2 per stack (20 total)
COMPLETION BONUS: 10 adaptive force (unchanged)
Ghost Poro
Your wards spawn a ghost poro and grant stacks of adaptive force when they expire. Gain extra adaptive force at full stacks.
Eyeball Collection’s 30 adaptive force has been crowding out Ghost Poro and Zombie Ward. All three runes now grant the same adaptive force bonuses, so your choice is now how you want to stack those bonuses up rather than what kind of bonus you want. Ghost Poro is about warding cleverly.
REMOVED – HAUNTED TRINKET: Standing in brush no longer converts your trinket into a Ghost Poro. Placing a Ghost Poro in enemy territory no longer grants adaptive force.
NEW – SPOOKY: Your wards now spawn a Ghost Poro when they expire, giving vision in the area until it’s scared away be enemy champions. Wards killed by enemies don’t spawn Ghost Poros.
NEW – BOO: Spawning a Ghost Poro grants 2 adaptive force up to 10 times (max 20). At 10 Ghost Poro spawns, gain an additional 10 adaptive force
Zombie Ward
No longer grants on-hit damage versus champions when clearing a ward. Ward clears now grant stacks of adaptive force. Gain extra adaptive force at full stacks.
Eyeball Collection’s 30 adaptive force has been crowding out Ghost Poro and Zombie Ward. All three runes now grant the same adaptive force bonuses, so your choice is now how you want to stack those bonuses up rather than what kind of bonus you want. Zombie Ward is about clearing wards.
REMOVED – TOUCH OF DEATH: Damaging a champion after clearing a ward no longer deals bonus damage
NEW – WARD GRAVEYARD: Clearing a ward grants 2 adaptive force up to 10 times (max 20). At 10 ward clears, gain an additional 10 adaptive force.
Cut Down
Damage versus extremely high health targets increased.
It was still bad even after 9.5’s buff.
DAMAGE: 5-12% ⇒ 5-15% (still at 10-100% max health difference)
Demolish
Max health ratio increased.
It was bad compared to almost all other minor runes.
DAMAGE: 100 (+30% max health) ⇒ 100 (+35% max health)
Overgrowth
Completion bonus grants more max health.
Making it better, especially for people who actually build health items.
COMPLETION BONUS: 2.5% max health increase ⇒ 3.5% max health increase
Predator
Look, a small usability improvement!
ZOOM: The monster burn effect of Hunter’s Talisman and its upgrades no longer interrupts Predator’s channel
Ultimate Hunter
Ult cooldown reduction increased.
It was bad.
ULT COOLDOWN REDUCTION: 5 (+2% per stack), max 15% ⇒ 5 (+3% per stack), max 20%
Practice Tool
Minor additions to the Cheat Menu for players’ convenience.
WIN THE GAMECan now destroy the enemy team nexus through the Cheat MenuCRY IT OUTCan now stack your Tear of the Goddess item immediately through the Cheat Menu
ARAM – Back to Bilgewater
Sail back to Butcher’s Bridge to hunt for treasure and test our experimental ARAM changes. Check out the Back to Bilgewater /dev post on Nexus for more details on the gameplay changes, item additions, and balance updates.
FOLLOW THE COMPASS: Butcher’s Bridge is back for a limited time
NEW – BAN TO DAVY JONES’ LOCKER: Ban your least favorite champions. After bans are set, random champions will be assigned and they won’t show up in rerolls
NEW – FINISH HIM: After 15 minutes, minion waves’ spawn rate will increase, minions will gain more movement speed, and champions will deal 10% more damage to structures
NEW- OUCH; Damage from champions further than 900 units away is reduced by 15%
NEW – SUMMONER SPELL: Barrier has been replaced by Backtrack. When activated, Backtrack gives players a small blue shield (less powerful than Barrier) and then 3 seconds later zooms them back towards their Fountain
UPDATED – ITEM UPDATES: Mariner’s Vengeance and Ghostwalkers have been added to the store for ARAM games and Warmog’s Armor has been adjusted
RUNES ADJUSTMENT: Runes have been adjusted for ARAM similar to Nexus Blitz and ARURF+
CHAMPION BALANCE: Champions have been adjusted to narrow the gap between the top and bottom champions in ARAM
Mac Client
MORE BITS: The Mac client is becoming 64-bit this patch. No downloads or reinstalls needed—just patch up like normal!
KNOWN ISSUE: End of Game Victory/Defeat screens have reverted to static images
Your Shop Returns
Personalized discounts are back from April 4th, 2019, at 01:00p.m. PT – April 25th, 2019, at 11:59 p.m. PT!
Bugfixes
- Fixed a bug where Akali’s W – Twilight Shroud‘s cooldown was incorrectly calculated with her cooldown reduction
- Jarvan IV’s R – Cataclysm cast VO lines no longer plays during its recast
- Buffs auras on Battlecast Alpha Skarner, Zombie Brand, AstroNautilus, Star Guardian Jinx, Pool Party Fiora, Underworld Wukong, Snow Day Malzahar, Pool Party Leona, PROJECT: Leona, and Guardian of the Sands Rammus now properly follow the models during certain animations
- Morgana’s R – Soul Shackles no longer hits targets if the effect ends prematurely by her death
- Vi’s E – Excessive Force no longer fizzles when Phantom Hit triggers on Guinsoo’s Rageblade
- Fixed a bug where Taliyah’s E – Unraveled Earth was scaling incorrectly
- Conqueror now properly procs from pets (except for Malzahar’s Voidlings and Yorick’s Maiden of the Mist are still bugged)
- Omni-vamp effects now properly grant reduced healing from pets
Upcoming Skins
The following skins will be released this patch.
