The latest major League of Legends update, Patch 9.8, has arrived, bringing with it a host of champion and item balance changes as well as an update to the ARAM game mode.

A total of sixteen champions are receiving balance updates, along with updates to several items that could have a broader impact.

Of particular note are even further changes to Kayle, who has been adjusted in every patch since her overhaul as Riot continue to fine-tune her power level, along with an apparent move in favor of aggressive top-lane play with buffs to Fiora, Renekton, and Camille.

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This update is particularly noteworthy for fans of professional League of Legends as it will be the patch that one of the biggest tournaments of the year, the Mid-Season Invitational, will be played on.

Patch 9.8 will also see the introduction of some new skins, with Galaxy Slayer Zed and the Prestige Edition of K/DA Evelynn arriving. In addition, the World Championship skins honoring Invictus Gaming’s 2018 victory will also make their way into the game in Patch 9.8.

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An overview of the patch highlights can be seen below, followed by the full patch notes.

Full Patch Notes

Champion Updates

Amumu

Passive damage increased. Q cooldown decreased. Amumu now follows enemies hit by Q if they move while he’s mid-flight.

The sad boi has some room for buffs so we’re helping him. While these buffs won’t feel too different between skill levels, we expect them to be felt a bit more in higher ranked games.

Passive – Cursed Touch

BONUS TRUE DAMAGE: Cursed targets take an additional 10% ⇒ 13% of pre-mitigation magic damage as true damage

Q – Bandage Toss

COOLDOWN: 16/14/12/10/8 seconds ⇒ 12/11/10/9/8 seconds

DON’T LEAVE ME: Amumu now follows his target for up to a reasonable distance from where he cast Bandage Toss, in case targets get out of the stun before he arrives

Camille

Base attack speed increased.

Camille’s attack speed nerf at the end of last year slowed her camp clear in the jungle, but also left her weaker in lane. We’re buffing it back up since we don’t expect it to make her swing too strong in either roles.

Base Stats

ATTACK SPEED: 0.625 ⇒ 0.644

Cassiopeia

E cost decreased at later ranks.

With the recent increases to her Q and W mana costs, we find that Cassio is having trouble staying afloat in lane and in mid-game skirmishes. Since E-max on Cassio makes for a great and aggressive playstyle anyways, we’re killing two birds with one stone, helping her stay in those situations longer and keeping her kill potential high.

E – Twin Fang

COST: 40/50/60/70/80 mana ⇒ 40/45/50/55/60 mana

Fiora

W damage and slow/stun duration increased. E cost flattened at all ranks.

We’re rewarding Fiora when she successfully outplays her opponents and making it easier for her to wave clear and take towers without running out of mana in the middle of taking one down.

W – Riposte

SLOW/STUN DURATION: 1.5 seconds ⇒ 2 seconds

DAMAGE: 90/130/170/210/250 (+1.0 ability power) ⇒110/150/190/230/270 (+1.0 ability power)

E – Bladework

COST: 40/45/50/55/60 mana ⇒ 40 mana at all ranks

Gnar

R cooldown decreased.

More throwing people against walls when Gnar is big and angry.

R – GNAR!

COOLDOWN: 120/100/80 seconds ⇒ 90/60/30 seconds

Jhin

E trap duration increased, traps recharge faster at later ranks. R damage multiplier increased and level-up tooltip corrected.

We’re buffing Jhin’s traps and ultimate, two skills that generally felt lackluster compared to the rest of his kit.

E – Captive Audience

TRAP DURATION: 2 minutes ⇒ 3 minutes

TRAP RECHARGE RATE: One trap every 28/27/26/25/24 seconds ⇒28/25/22/19/16 seconds

R – Curtain Call

DAMAGE MULTIPLIER: 1.0 to 3.5 (based on target’s missing health) ⇒ 1.0 to 4.0 (based on target’s missing health)

TOOLTIP: Fixed a bug where the level-up tooltip was displaying incorrect values

Kayle

Base attack damage, armor, attack speed ratio decreased. Kayle ascends based on level and R rank.

For a champion who’s supposed to have a risky and weak early game in relation to how powerful she becomes late game, Kayle is succeeding early too often. Changes to her base stats will keep her weaker early and when she ascends later compared to before. Also, shout out to Elixir of Skill, and you luckerdogs who saw it drop enough to use the strat.

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE: 52 ⇒ 50

ARMOR: 28 ⇒ 26

ATTACK SPEED RATIO: 0.695 ⇒ 0.667 (the number bonus attack speed uses to calculate its effectiveness, not Kayle’s actual attack speed)

Passive – Divine Ascent

MEGA EVOLUTION: Ascensions are now based on Kayle’s level and skill points

Kayn

E Shadow Assassin cooldown decreased.

Shadow Assassin has almost always been overshadowed by Rhaast. We’re hoping that by doubling down on Shadow Assassin’s signature mobility, Kayn players will have more of an option when deciding between the two.

E – Shadow Step

SHADOW ASSASSIN COOLDOWN: 21/19/17/15/13 seconds ⇒ 8 seconds at all ranks

Master Yi

Master Yi is now ghosted during R.

We’re modernizing Master Yi’s ultimate to be in line with similar powerful, long duration movement speed buff-type spells released in the present.

R – Highlander

NEW – PATRICK SWAYZE: Master Yi can now move through units during Highlander

Nautilus

Passive root duration increased. Q damage increased.

The Nautilus buff to end all Nautilus buffs. We promise.

Passive – Staggering Blow

ROOT DURATION: 0.5/0.75/1/1.25/1.5 (at levels 1/6/11/16/18) ⇒0.75/1/1.25/1.5 (at levels 1/6/11/16)

Q – Dredge Line

DAMAGE: 80/120/160/200/240 (+0.75 ability power) ⇒100/145/190/235/280 (+0.9 ability power)

Ornn

Living Forge’s Forgefire Cape, Frozen Fist, and Infernal Mask base stats increased.

We want Ornn to be stronger, but in a way that’s unique to him. As such, we’re bulking up the items that come out of his passive to strengthen him late-game.

Passive – Living Forge

FORGEFIRE CAPE: Health increased from 625 ⇒ 750 and armor increased from 90 ⇒ 100

FROZEN FIST: Armor increased from 95 ⇒ 125

INFERNAL MASK: Health increased from 550 ⇒ 750 and magic resist increased from 90 ⇒ 100

Renekton

Base health, attack speed growth, and armor growth rounded up. Q healing vs. champions increased.

Get out of here decimals, we only like whole numbers for this crocodile. Clean numbers for our scaly god that’ll help him in the midst of a duel or trade. 

(Ignore the fact that attack speed growth still has decimals.)

Base Stats

HEALTH: 572.16 ⇒ 575

ATTACK SPEED GROWTH: 2.65% ⇒ 2.75%

ARMOR GROWTH: 3.8 ⇒ 4

Q – Cull the Meek

HEALING VS CHAMPIONS: 9/13.5/18/22.5/27 ⇒ 12/18/24/30/36

EMPOWERED HEALING VS CHAMPIONS: 27/40.5/54/67.5/81 ⇒36/54/72/90/108

EMPOWERED HEALING CAP: 150/225/300/375/450 ⇒200/300/400/500/600

Sejuani

W damage ratio increased.

Small buffs to her scaling should help Sejuani’s clear speed, gank potential, and team fight presence without making her too overwhelming in all three fields.

W – Winter’s Wrath

FIRST CAST DAMAGE RATIO: 1.5% Sejuani’s max health ⇒ 2% Sejuani’s max health

SECOND CAST DAMAGE RATIO: 4.5% Sejuani’s max health ⇒ 6% Sejuani’s max health

Singed

Base health regen increased. W slow increased. E cost decreased.

Changes to items like Dark Seal have been indirectly weakening Singed. Along with his general weakness to ranged top lane champs, he’s seen better days. These buffs will help compensate for Singed’s past reliance on Dark Seal and let him cast Fling more often without having to go back to base.

Base Stats

HEALTH REGEN: 8 ⇒ 9.5

W – Mega Adhesive

SLOW: 40% ⇒ 60%

E – Fling

COST: 80/95/110/125/140 mana ⇒ 60/70/80/90/100 mana

Trundle

Q bonus damage increased late. R cooldown decreased.

More chomping! More subjugation!

Q – Chomp

BONUS DAMAGE: 20/35/50/65/80 ⇒ 20/40/60/80/100

R – Subjugate

COOLDOWN: 110/90/70 seconds ⇒ 100/80/60 seconds

Zed

Q damage decreased. W cooldown increased.

We’re reducing Zed’s burst potential a bit and giving his opponents more chances to catch him.

Q – Razor Shuriken

BASE DAMAGE: 90/125/160/195/230 ⇒ 80/115/150/185/220

W – Living Shadow

COOLDOWN: 20/18.5/17/15.5/14 seconds ⇒ 22/20/18/16/14 seconds

Item Changes

Bilgewater Cutlass

Cost increased.

We’re rolling back part of the cost reduction on BotRK from 8.11 by increasing the early cost of Cutlass. We first decreased the price in a cost-cutting sale across the board, following a noticeable increase in price of marksmen items. But the “discount price” since then has made the item too valuable for marksmen.

COMBINE COST: 250 gold ⇒ 350 gold

TOTAL COST: 1500 gold ⇒ 1600 gold

Blade of the Ruined King

Cost increased.

We’re rolling back part of the cost reduction on BotRK from 8.11 by increasing the early cost of Cutlass. We first decreased the price in a cost-cutting sale across the board, following a noticeable increase in price of marksmen items. But the “discount price” since then has made the item too valuable for marksmen.

TOTAL COST: 3200 gold ⇒ 3300 gold (combine cost unchanged due to Bilgewater Cutlass cost increase)

Hextech Gunblade

Combine cost decreased.

To compensate for Cutlass’ price increase, we’re decreasing the additional cost to keep Gunblade’s total cost unchanged.

COMBINE COST: 850 gold ⇒ 750 gold (total cost unchanged due to Bilgewater Cutlass cost increase)

Bramble Vest

Grievous Wounds duration increased.

Making Bramble Vest’s Grievous Wounds duration consistent with the effect on other items.

GRIEVOUS WOUNDS DURATION: 1 second ⇒ 3 seconds

Enchantment: Cinderhulk

Minion and monster aura damage increased.

We changed the tooltip in 9.7, but didn’t actually apply the change… Fixed it now, woops.

GRILLED RAZORBEAK: Deals 200% ⇒ 300% bonus magic damage to minions and monsters

Stormrazor

Energized effects increased and slow decays over a longer period of time.

Right now, the only champion who’s really buying Stormrazor is Kai’Sa, which is mainly due to its stat profile than its Energized passive. We want players considering it for its unique effects too.

GIVES YOU WINGS: Energized effects are increased by 30% ⇒ 35%

SLOW BURN: Energized effects slow the target by 40%, decaying over 1 second ⇒ 1.5 seconds

Thornmail

Grievous Wounds duration increased.

Making Thornmail’s Grievous Wounds duration consistent with the effect on other items.

GRIEVOUS WOUNDS DURATION: 1 second ⇒ 3 seconds

Runes

Coup De Grace

No longer grants adaptive force for 10 seconds. Damage to champions increased.

Simplifying Coup De Grace to be entirely focused around dealing more damage to low health targets.

REMOVED – ADAPTIVE FORCE: No longer grants 9 bonus attack damage or 15 ability power for 10 seconds on champion takedown

BONUS DAMAGE: 7% ⇒ 8% (to champions below 40% max health)

ARAM

Butcher’s Bridge is sinking below the depths! 9.8 marks the end of the ARAM – Back to Bilgewater event and we’ve made some decisions on which experimental changes to keep based on your feedback! Here are the changes; stay tuned for a more in-depth post about these decisions on Nexus.

WINTER IS HERE: Howling Abyss has returned. Butcher’s Bridge is gone until next time!

REMOVED – PIRATE’S BOUNTY: Mariner’s Vengeance and Ghostwalkers are going down with the ship. Bridge. Whatever.

WARMOG’S: Warmog’s Armor will continue to grant health regen based on missing health rather than max health

REMOVED – SUMMONER SPELL: Backtrack is going back into nonexistence

NEW – RUNE ADJUSTMENTS: Rune adjustments from 9.7 will continue as a permanent feature in ARAM

REMOVED – BANS: After much discussion and weighing your feedback, bans will not be a permanent feature in ARAM.

UPDATED – END IT MY DUDES: After 15 minutes in all ARAM games, minion waves’ spawn rates will increase, minions will gain more movement speed, and champions will deal more damage to structures

• At 15:00, they start gaining movement speed every minute until 20:00 ⇒ 25:00when they’ll have 425 movement speed.
• From game start to 15:00, champions deal 10% ⇒ 0% more damage to structures.
• At 15:00, that value increases linearly until 25:00 when they’ll deal 30% ⇒ 15%bonus damage to structures.

UPDATED – POKE POKE: Built-in poke reduction range increased from 900 ⇒ to 1000 in all ARAM games

NEW – CHAMP BALANCE: Champions will continue to receive balance changes in ARAM every few months

New Nerfs in 9.8

ALISTAR +5% damage taken

GALIO +5% damage taken

ILLAOI -5% damage dealt

KAI’SA -3% damage dealt

NAUTILUS +5% damage taken

SION -8% damage dealt

YORICK -5% damage dealt

New Buffs to 9.8

ELISE +5% damage dealt

FIDDLESTICKS +1% damage dealt & -6% damage taken

FIZZ +5% damage dealt

KARTHUS +2% damage dealt

LUCIAN +5% damage dealt

MAOKAI +2% damage dealt & -2% damage taken

NUNU & WILLUMP -5% damage taken

PANTHEON +5% damage dealt

RIVEN +5% damage dealt

VI +5% damage dealt

XIN ZHAO -5% damage taken

ZED +5% damage dealt

Bugfixes

• Fixed a bug where the Master tier ladder displayed incorrectly and would only show the first 101 people multiple times
• Karthus can now dance
• Corporate Mundo’s voice lines are no longer replaced by his base skin’s
• Diana’s W – Pale Cascade no longer deals more than double the damage when using R – Lunar Rush at close range
• Pajama Guardian Lulu’s right wing is no longer pointing in a different direction during her Homeguard animation
• Fixed a bug where Teemo’s blind did not correctly display on Battlecast Kog’Maw
• Fixed an issue where 4-digit XP gains would make the progress circle wrap weirdly
• Range/Cast indicators for certain champions’ abilities (Lucian’s Q – Piercing Light, Poppy’s E – Heroic Charge, Jhin’s Q – Dancing Grenade, Ryze’s E – Spell Flux, Miss Fortune’s Q – Double Up, Jayce’s Q – To the Skies!, Jayce’s E – Thundering Blow, and Orianna’s E – Command: Protect) are now appearing correctly

New Skins

Galaxy Slayer Zed

K/DA Evelynn Prestige Edition

World Championship Skins

The skins representing the 2018 World Championship winners, Invictus Gaming, will also be arriving this patch.

• Invictus Gaming Camille
• Invictus Gaming Fiora
• Invictus Gaming Irelia
• Invictus Gaming Kai’Sa
• Invictus Gaming LeBlanc
• Invictus Gaming Rakan