Patch 9.2

Hello everyone, and welcome to 9.2. This is our season start patch, and while it's a big one, it's pretty straightforward. Names we've heard way too often in recent months (Urgot, Ignite, Red Smite) are getting nerfs, while others we haven't heard in some time (Shyvana, Yorick, Sunfire Cape) are being buffed up. Remember: Knowledge is power, so make sure you're read up on 9.2's changes before charging into Ranked!

Best of luck in your placements,

Paul "RiotAether" Perscheid

Patch Highlights Season Start Game Modes Champions Items Runes Summoner Spells Game Pacing Jungle Bugfixes Upcoming Skins & Chromas

Patch Highlights

Youtube link

Season Start

Your 2019 Ranked climb begins this patch. Here's a quick TL;DR of the changes this season:

PLACEMENTS : You'll get a provisional rank after your first Ranked game, which is the lowest rank you can end placements in. Placement wins grant bonus LP; losses don't cost LP. Your rank becomes visible to others after finishing placements.

TIERS & DIVISIONS : We've added Iron tier below Bronze and Grandmaster tier between Master and Challenger. Division V has been removed from all tiers.

RANKED ARMOR : This new reward reflects your current rank across your profile, Ranked dashboard, and hovercard as well as game lobbies

SPLITS : Season 2019 is broken into three splits, with your performance in each split upgrading your ranked armor. There's no soft reset or time off between splits. End of season rewards are still based on your overall performance across the season.

POSITION RANKS : We're previewing position ranks in Korea and North America for split 1 and plan to roll them out globally in split 2. Each position has its own matchmaking rating and rank, with matches rewarding LP and rating for the position you played, plus a little for your other positions to recognize overall improvement as you climb.

For a full rundown of this season's changes to Ranked (new tiers, season splits, position ranks, placements, and more), we've got a library of past Nexus posts at your disposal:

Game Modes

After a rowdy month and a half of Bardle Royales, Battle Sledding, and Nexuses running it down mid, the Nexus Blitz queues shut down earlier this week. Thanks for playing—we'll be back with updates on our future plans a little further down the road! If you're looking for something new to scratch your fast-paced-game-mode itch, we've got something new coming down the pipe later this patch! Stay tuned.

Champions

		Sylas
	Sylas, the Unshackled, will break out during patch 9.2! Unlock the revolution with these links: Champion Reveal Champion Trailer Classic Lunar Wraith Lunar Wraith Sylas Chromas Full-res splash art is available on League Displays!

Aatrox
Q damage ratio decreased. E recharge time increased.

True to his nature as an unkillable ancient terror, Aatrox survived the nerfs we threw at him during preseason and is still savaging both pro and regular play. This patch, we're dropping his damage across the board (higher E cooldown means less reliability on Q) but are especially focusing on his early game.

Q - The Darkin Blade

BASE DAMAGE : 10/25/40/55/70 (unchanged))

RATIO :	[0.64/0.68/0.72/0.76/0.80]
⇒	0.55/0.60/0.65/0.70/0.75	total attack damage

FULL COMBO BASE DAMAGE : 56.25/140.63/225/309.38/393.75 (unchanged)

FULL COMBO RATIO :	[3.6/3.825/4.05/4.275/4.5]
⇒	3.09/3.38/3.66/3.94/4.22	total attack damage (numbers rounded because they're gross)

E - Umbral Dash

RECHARGE TIME :	[24/20/16/12/8]
⇒	26/22/18/14/10	seconds

Aurelion Sol
Q recast time reduced; stun duration shorter if recast quickly, longer for big stars.

Aurelion Sol's Q, Starsurge, has always suffered from two points of frustration. First, while its reactivation delay plays a crucial role in Aurelion's vulnerability to all-ins, not being able to cast and immediately pop Q feels unintuitive. Second, the reward for landing a giant star from halfway across the map feels underwhelming. Scaling Starsurge's stun duration lets us address both issues without fully eliminating Aurelion's intended vulnerability to all-ins.

Q - Starsurge

MINIMUM RECAST TIME : [0.65] ⇒ 0.25 seconds (can be buffered by double-tapping Q on cast)

STUN DURATION :	[1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4/1.5]
⇒	0.55/0.6/0.65/0.7/0.75 seconds, scaling to 1.65/1.8/1.95/2.1/2.25 seconds after traveling for 5 seconds

STUN SCALING : Previous stun duration reached after 0.75 seconds (when Q reaches Aurelion Sol's outer limit if he stands still)

		Brand Passive damage over time decreased.
	Brand shells out too much safe damage just by landing a spell and backing off—he should need to more actively make risky, aggressive plays to find success.
		General RECOMMENDED ITEMS : Updated! Passive - Blaze DAMAGE PER STACK : [4%] ⇒ 3% target's max health over 4 seconds

Cassiopeia
W cooldown increased late; damage decreased late.

As a followup to the Noxious Blast nerf at the end of last year, we're reducing Miasma's effectiveness so Cassiopeia has to rely more on Twin Fang for damage. This forces her to get close to enemies, offering them an opportunity to fight back rather than melting helplessly from a distance.

W - Miasma

COOLDOWN :	[18/17/16/15/14]
⇒	18/17.5/17/16.5/16	seconds

DAMAGE PER SECOND :	[20/35/50/65/80]
⇒	20/30/40/50/60

MAX DAMAGE :	[100/175/250/325/400]
⇒	100/150/200/250/300

Galio
Q damage decreased, cost increased. E damage decreased early.

Galio underwent big changes at the end of last year with the goal of weakening his pro play strengths and amplifying his normal play strengths. With those mechanical shifts in place, he's now too strong at both levels of play, so we're going for raw power nerfs.

Q - Winds of War

COST :	[70/75/80/85/90]
⇒	80/90/100/110/120	mana

WINDBLAST DAMAGE :	[70/110/150/190/230]
⇒	70/105/140/175/210

WINDBLAST RATIO : [0.9] ⇒ 0.75 ability power

TORNADO RATIO : [4%] ⇒ 2% target's max health per 100 ability power (base 6% max health damage unchanged)

E - Justice Punch

DAMAGE :	[100/130/160/190/220]
⇒	80/115/150/185/220

Irelia
Passive bonus damage vs shields removed. Q deals bonus damage to minions instead of double damage. R duration decreased late; damage increased; slow increased; no longer disarms.

Irelia's got a lot going on across her abilities, which makes her effective in an extremely broad range of team comps and scenarios. We're removing a few mechanics that weren't essential to her blade dancer combat style as well as reining in Bladesurge's late game insta-waveclear.

Passive - Ionian Fervor

SHIELD BREAKER Irelia no longer deals bonus damage to shields at max stacks

Q - Bladesurge

BONUS DAMAGE VS MINIONS : [Double damage] ⇒ Flat bonus

NUMBERS :	[5/25/45/65/85 (+0.6 total AD)]
⇒	45/60/75/90/105

R - Vanguard's Edge

DURATION :	[2.5/3/3.5 seconds]
⇒	2.5 at all ranks

DISARM Enemies who pass through the wall are no longer disarmed

WALL SLOW : [60%] ⇒ 90%

WALL DAMAGE :	[75/125/175]
⇒	125/200/275

Jarvan IV
E attack speed increased.

Buffing Jarvan's clear speed as well as the unique aura he provides his team.

E - Demacian Standard

BONUS ATTACK SPEED :	[15/17.5/20/22.5/25%]
⇒	20/22.5/25/27.5/30% (reminder: Jarvan has this bonus at all times and gains it a second time while near his flag)

Jax
Attack damage decreased. Q damage decreased early.

Nerfing Jax's early game damage to slow his roll into a late-game raid boss and give enemies a wider window to beat him early.

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE : [69.97] ⇒ 68

Q - Leap Strike

DAMAGE :	[80/120/160/200/240]
⇒	65/105/145/185/225

		Kassadin Armor decreased.
	We're playing into Kassadin's anti-magic theme by opening up a weakness to physical-damage lane bullies.
		Base Stats BASE ARMOR : [23.376] ⇒ 19 ARMOR GROWTH : [3.2] ⇒ 2.8

Kayn
Transformation rules are smoother and more intuitive.

There's a lot of text below, but here's the gist: Unlock progress for Red and Blue Kayn are no longer separate (violence always gets you closer to transformation), and capitalizing on advantageous mid-game opportunities against one range type no longer risks undoing the work you did to unlock the other type first. If you still end up unlocking the form you don't want, now you can unlock the form you do want faster by continuing to fight the other range type.

Passive - The Darkin Scythe

TRANSFORMATION PROGRESS : Darkin and Shadow Assassin [unlock progress are separate] ⇒ [share unlock progress]. When transformation becomes available, the form that unlocks is chosen based on which champion type Kayn dealt more damage to.

TRANSFORMATION THRESHOLD :	[400 points per champion type]
⇒	500 points from any champion type (offsetting the rate increase from combining transformation progress)

CLOSE CALL : If Kayn unlocks his transformation when the two forms are near-even, Kayn unlocks the form of the champion type he damaged last

TIME WEIGHTING : Damage dealt later in the game is still worth more transformation progress but doesn't count for more in terms of which form Kayn unlocks

FASTER OTHER FORM Once Kayn's first form is unlocked, he can continue collecting orbs of the other form's type to reduce the timer until his second form unlocks

Transformation Clarity

COLORING Kayn's transformation bar now changes color based on which champion type Kayn has dealt more damage to

PINGING : Kayn can now ping various aspects of his passive to his team:

Pinging the transformation bar tells allies roughly how close Kayn is to transformation (early in the transformation process, midway to transformation, or very near transformation)
Pinging the "Form available" button tells allies Kayn can transform into that form
Pinging the "Form unavailable" button tells allies the time remaining before that form unlocks

E - Shadow Step

LET ME GO HOME : Kayn can now recall before Shadow Step expires as long as he isn't still in terrain

R - Umbral Trespass
Giving Shadow Assassin Kayn a better shot at escaping sticky situations.

SHADOW ASSASSIN EXIT DASH : [300] ⇒ 300-500 range based on Shadow Assassin Kayn's cursor position

Bugfixes

MISSTEP : Fixed a Shadow Step into basic attack into Reaping Slash bug where, if Shadow Step's buff expired during Q's cast time (due to the basic attack putting Kayn in combat), Q dealt no damage

NO SHORTCUTS : Kayn no longer immediately harvests orbs when damaging ranged champions who hadn't yet damaged him. He'll now properly wait until exiting combat.

....HIGHLANDER? : Fixed a bug where Soulhunter Kayn would hear the audio for Master Yi's Highlander forever if he transformed into Rhaast with Master Yi in the game

		Neeko W clone, haste duration increased; clone travels in target direction rather than pathing to target location. R no longer slows but Neeko lands faster after jumping.
	We're playing up Neeko's clone baiting potential with Shapesplitter and trimming an extraneous strength from Pop Blossom (with an accompanying buff to keep the change net-neutral).
		W - Shapesplitter CLONE AND HASTE DURATION : [2] ⇒ 3 seconds (stealth duration still 0.5 seconds) PATHING : Neeko's clone now travels in the target direction until it runs into terrain, rather than pathing to the target location BUGFIX : Shapesplitter's passive once again works on turrets R - Pop Blossom SLOW Enemies in Pop Blossom's radius are no longer slowed by 40% JUMP TIME : [0.75] ⇒ 0.6 seconds TOOLTIP FIX : Tooltip now indicates the ability power ratio on Pop Blossom's shield (actual scaling unchanged)

		Ornn Health and armor increased.
	When we took a mechanics pass on Ornn last patch, our intent was that he'd be slightly stronger overall. This isn't the case—in particular, players are struggling in lane without Bellows Breath's shield so we're giving him some more baseline tankiness.
		Base Stats HEALTH : [565.64] ⇒ 590 ARMOR : [33.04] ⇒ 36

Rakan
Armor decreased. W dash speed decreased but activates faster upon reaching the destination.

This patch's changes to Grand Entrance are a targeted nerf for Rakan's R-W initiation: The Quickness's speed boost made Grand Entrance's dash fast enough for Rakan to reliably charm enemies at the dash's end point, holding them in place for the knockup and—for coordinated teams—a truckload of follow-up damage from Rakan's allies. Slowing Grand Entrance's dash speed gives foes more time to react to Rakan's dive while reducing the delay before it pops keeps it effective when Rakan isn't trying to do fancy combos with it.

General

Items

		Oblivion Orb Cost increased, ability power decreased.
	Oblivion Orb is a ubiquitous mage pick-up due to the ability to stack its magic penetration with Sorcerer's Shoes relatively early in the game. That being the case, why didn't we nerf the magic penetration? We're shrinking Oblivion Orb's contribution toward ability ratios so it's less attractive for late-scaling mages while still satisfying to rush for champions with high base damages or are looking for an early power spike before moving onto main-build items.
		COST : [1500] ⇒ 1600 gold ABILITY POWER : [25] ⇒ 20

		Morellonomicon Ability power decreased.
	Like Oblivion Orb above, we want to push Morellonomicon a bit further toward its unique identity. In this case, that identity is the magic damage Grievous Wounds item. If the enemy team doesn't have significant sources of healing or regen, finishing Morellonomicon should be less attractive than sitting on Oblivion Orb and building something else.
		COMBINE COST : [650] ⇒ 550 gold (total cost unchanged due to Oblivion Orb cost increase) ABILITY POWER : [80] ⇒ 70

		Sunfire Cape Cost decreased.
	Despite its historical place in many tank and fighter builds, Sunfire Cape isn't showing up in many inventories these days. Making it cheaper provides earlier access to the full-powered Immolate effect, giving core users a leg up in lane and reopening the door to Sunfire builds for champs who've rotated onto other first items.
		COST : [2900] ⇒ 2750 gold

Runes

Overheal
Ally healing grants less shielding; self-healing grants more shielding late. Shield decays gradually instead of immediately.

Overheal's effectiveness relies on whether your allies know to... well... overheal you, which often isn't the case in solo queue. We're siphoning that coordinated play strength into more self-sufficiency, plus shifting the shield decay to the Bloodthirster model to make Overheal a more consistently rewarding defensive choice.

ALLY HEAL CONVERSION : [300%] ⇒ 40-100% (at levels 1-18)

SELF-HEAL CONVERSION : [40%] ⇒ 40-100% (at levels 1-18)

SHIELD DECAY :	After 6 seconds,	[Falls off immediately]
⇒		decays by 2.5% of the max shield value each second

BUGFIX : Overheal's tooltips and post-game stats now properly track total damage blocked rather than just the last instance of damage blocked

		Legend: Bloodline Lifesteal per stack decreased; max stacks doubled.
	The choice between Bloodline and Alacrity isn't all that exciting, with the majority of potential users simply defaulting to Alacrity without much thought. We're shifting Bloodline to be a stronger late game option, adding a new decision point on top of "attack speed or lifesteal?"
		LIFESTEAL PER STACK : [0.8%] ⇒ 0.6% MAX STACKS : [10] ⇒ 20 MAX LIFESTEAL : [8%] ⇒ 12%

		Cut Down Bonus damage scales based on percent max health difference rather than flat max health difference. Maximum bonus decreased.
	Cut Down scales dramatically over game time due flat health differences being much narrower before level scaling and items kick in. Switching to a percent model makes it useful even in the early game, though the max bonus is going down to accommodate this increase in relevance.
		BONUS DAMAGE : [4%-12% vs targets with 150-2000] ⇒ [4%-10% vs targets with 10%-100%] more max health than you

		Absolute Focus Adaptive stats decreased.
	Absolute Focus is overtuned, particularly for champions who extract tons of PvE value from the bonus stats (marksmen, junglers). We're bringing its effectiveness down across the board.
		ADAPTIVE STATS : [3-24 AD or 5-40 AP] ⇒ [1.8-18 AD or 3-30 AP] (at levels 1-18)

	Rune Stats Adaptive damage decreased. Armor and magic resist increased.
	The adaptive damage stat has proven to be the best option in the offense row and especially the flex rows, so we're nerfing it. Buffs to the armor and magic resist rune will bring flex in line overall, with magic resist needing more of a leg up. While the individual buffs and nerfs here might look fiddly, a change in pick rates creates a far more noticeable effect: Champs who switch their flex from adaptive to armor or magic resist will lose ten damage, not one.
		ADAPTIVE DAMAGE : [10] ⇒ 9 ARMOR : [5] ⇒ 6 MAGIC RESIST : [6] ⇒ 8

Summoner Spells

Ignite
Damage and cooldown decreased.

Ignite's damage nerf should come as no surprise: it's been flooding summoner spell choices across multiple lanes. The cooldown buff may look confusing, but shifting power out of Ignite's burn into its uptime lets us swing harder on damage without killing the spell entirely.

COOLDOWN : [210] ⇒ 180 seconds

DAMAGE :	[80-505]
⇒	70-410

Game Pacing

Hand of Baron
Baron buff is weaker in the early game.

During preseason, we made Baron buff less mandatory for sieges (by buffing minions) to reduce the degree games revolve around it. We're following suit by weakening the combat strength early Barons offer to reduce the number of games that snowball off one good play into an abrupt end.

Hand of Baron

SCALING :	[Scaling is linear and increments every minute]
⇒	Scaling accelerates over time and increments every second

ATTACK DAMAGE :	[24-48 at 20-40 minutes (36 at 30 minutes)]
⇒	12-48 at 20-40 minutes (26 at 30 minutes)

ABILITY POWER :	[40-80 at 20-40 minutes (60 at 30 minutes)]
⇒	20-80 at 20-40 minutes (43 at 30 minutes)

MINION DAMAGE REDUCTION VS CHAMPIONS :	[70% at all times]
⇒	50%-70% at 20-40 minutes (58% at 30 minutes)

	Inhibitor & Nexus Turrets Inhibitor and Nexus turrets have late-game resistances at all times.
	On a similar note as Hand of Baron above, we're making base defenses more resilient to early sieges to avoid games falling into an unrecoverable state due to one good early push.
		INHIBITOR AND NEXUS TURRET RESISTANCES : [55-70 armor and magic resist at 31-45 minutes] ⇒ 70 at all times

Jungle

Jungle Camp Experience
Camp experience scaling decreased. Rift Scuttler gold scaling also decreased.

Our preseason changes to camp experience didn't result in the jungler power and influence reduction we intended, so we're following up.

Small Camps

Experience scales every second level instead of every level; scaling reduced from +50% to +25%.

XP SCALING :	[Every level 1-7]
⇒	Levels 1/3/5/7

GROMP XP :	[115-172.5]
⇒	115-143.75

GREATER MURK WOLF XP :	[65-97.5]
⇒	65-81.25

MURK WOLF XP :	[25-37.5]
⇒	25-31.25

CRIMSON RAPTOR XP :	[20-30]
⇒	20-25

RAPTOR XP :	[20-30]
⇒	20-25

ANCIENT KRUG XP :	[100-150]
⇒	100-125 (reminder: first clear still grants 30% reduced XP)

KRUG XP :	[35-52.5]
⇒	35-43.75

LESSER KRUG XP :	[7-10.5]
⇒	7-8.75

Buff Camps
Experience scales every second level instead of every level; scaling reduced from +57% to +25%.

XP SCALING :	[Every level 1-7]
⇒	Levels 1/3/5/7

RED BRAMBLEBACK :	[115-180]
⇒	115-143.75

BLUE SENTINEL :	[115-180]
⇒	115-143.75

Rift Scuttler
Gold and experience scaling reduced from +100% to +80%.

GOLD :	[70-140]
⇒	70-126

EXPERIENCE :	[115-230]
⇒	115-207

Challenging Smite
Damage decreased. No longer grants vision of the target.

We're reining in the kill pressure Challenging Smite grants junglers.

VISION Challenging Smite no longer grants vision of the target while the effect is active

DAMAGE VS CHAMPIONS :	[60-162 over 3 seconds]
⇒	48-125 over 2.5 seconds

Bugfixes

Jayce's ranged basic attack animation has been fixed to synchronize with the attack's actual wind-up and launch
Kai'Sa can now properly dash to an untargetable enemy with Killer Instinct
Fiora's Riposte now properly blocks Pyke's Death From Below when Fiora is below the execute threshold
When cast during Lunge, Fiora's Riposte now properly activates in the area designated by the indicator rather than toward the original target position
When moused over, Lissandra's Iceborn Subjugation now properly shows the range within which slain enemies will become Frozen Thralls
Mordekaiser's Harvester of Sorrow reactivation no longer grants double the intended amount of shielding from his Iron Man from enemies hit by both zones
Hail of Blades now properly procs when the first basic attack causes a champion to exit Camouflage (ex. Twitch's Ambush, Rengar's Thrill of the Hunt)
Rek'Sai's Queen's Wrath attacks now interact properly with Hail of Blades
Fixed an edge case where Hail of Blades' cooldown would become unable to reset after selling or refunding a fully charged Dead Man's Plate
Nidalee's basic attack no longer cancels if a Hunt activates mid-attack animation
Lux's basic attack no longer cancels if issued the moment Prismatic Barrier reaches max range
Saving multiple highlights from the same game without renaming them no longer causes them to overwrite each other due to all of them using the same default name
Restored on-hit VFX for Base, High Noon, and PROJECT Yasuo's Steel Tempest tornado
Restored missing VFX on Base, High Noon, and PROJECT Yasuo's Sweeping Blade-Steel Tempest combo cast
Restored missing buff particles on Base and PROJECT Yasuo's sword after casting Last Breath
Restored missing swipe trails on High Noon and PROJECT Yasuo's basic attacks
Restored some missing audio on Kled's basic attacks while Violent Tendencies is on cooldown