Mid-July Patch Incoming!

 edit ( 4:30 PST) : The NA servers are back up! Go out and enjoy the new content!

The patch is coming! The patch is coming! Check out these forum threads ( EUNE, EUW, and NA ) for more info as the Mid July Patch is deployed to the various servers! Check out the rest of the post for patch notes, info on the new skins, and a recap of the three new champion reworks.

It may be a thorn in our sides, but we have to wait just a bit longer for Zyra.

Before we scoot on to the juicy stuff, you might want to know that Zyra is NOT being released along with this patch. The the patch notes address the matter by saying: "Pending the completion of some further testing on PBE, Zyra will be released at a future date." I can only assume this means Riot will load her assets into the game and release a hot fix for any bugs, ratio changes, or whatever before actually enabling her for play. If you are just itching for something Zyra related, you can check out Riot's newly posted interview about the creation process behind her aesthetic presentation.

Here are the Mid July Patch patch notes:

New Skins in the Store

• Mythic Cassiopeia

PvP.net v1.63

• New Matchmaking Upgrades
  • Players who are under Level 30 are far less likely to face Level 30s
  • Greatly improved matchmaking for premade groups of 4
  • Matchmaking improved for highly skilled players trying to queue with lower skilled friends
  • Matchmaking in Ranked Solo/Duo Queue now restricts the number of duo queue pairings on each team to 1 per team
• Improved initial seeding for Ranked Teams composed of skilled Ranked Solo/Duo players
• Summoner Profiles now display the highest Ranked Team rating, instead of Arranged Team ratings

League of Legends v1.0.0.143
Zyra, Rise of the Thorns

• Pending the completion of some further testing on PBE, Zyra will be released at a future date.

Akali

• Fixed: Mark of the Assassin's tooltip now states the correct Energy return amount

Amumu

• Fixed: Despair now displays a range indicator when hovered over

Corki

• Fixed: Valkyrie's targeting indicator now scales with distance from Corki

Evelynn (Remade)

• Shadow Walk (Passive)
  • Evelynn fades away into the shadows. She can only be seen by nearby enemy Champions or true sight
  • While in stealth, Evelynn regenerates 1% of her max Mana every second
  • Casting spells, taking damage, or dealing damage unstealths Evelynn for 8 seconds
• Hate Spike
  • 19/23/27/31/35 Mana, 1.5 second Cooldown
  • Evelynn fires a line of spikes through a nearby enemy, dealing 40/60/80/100/120 (+0.45 Ability Power) (+0.4 bonus Attack Damage) magic damage to all enemies in its path
  • Hate Spike prioritizes what Evelynn has attacked recently
• Dark Frenzy
  • No Cost, 20 second Cooldown
  • Passive: Evelynn's spell hits on enemy Champions grant her 4/8/12/16/20 Movement Speed for 3 seconds (effect stacks up to 4 times)
  • Active: Evelynn removes all slows affecting her and gains 30/40/50/60/70% Movement Speed for 3 seconds
  • Champion kills and assists refresh Dark Frenzy's cooldown
• Ravage
  • 50/55/60/65/70 Mana, 9 second Cooldown
  • Evelynn slashes a target enemy 2 times, dealing 35/60/85/110/135 (+0.5 Ability Power) (+0.4 bonus Attack Damage) magic damage with each strike
  • Evelynn then gains 60/75/90/105/120% Attack Speed for 3 seconds
• Agony's Embrace
  • 100 Mana, 150/120/90 second Cooldown
  • Evelynn impales all enemies in the targeted area, dealing 15/20/25% (+1% per 50 Ability Power) of their maximum Health in magic damage and slowing their Movement Speed by 30/50/70% for 2 seconds
  • Evelynn siphons their pain, gaining a 150/225/300 health shield for each enemy Champion hit which lasts up to 6 seconds

Gangplank

• Parrrley
  • Now refunds half the mana cost if Parrrley kills the target

Garen

• Perseverance
  • Added a buff timer to show when Perseverance will reactivate

Gragas

• Fixed: Body Slam no longer stops when encountering created terrain (ex: Anivia's Crystallize)

Graves

• Smokescreen
  • Sight reduction range reduced to 675 from 800

Jax

• Fixed: Counter Strike's dodge component now works properly against Shen

Kassadin

• Riftwalk
  • Damage reduced to 60/70/80 from 60/90/120
  • Ability Power ratio increased to 0.8 from 0.5

Malphite

• Ground Slam
  • Armor ratio reduced to 30% from 50%
  • Now has a 0.2 Ability Power ratio
  • Attack Speed reduction duration reduced to 3 seconds from 4

Malzahar

• Summon Voidling (Passive)
  • Voidlings prioritize enemies Malzahar is autoattacking if Malefic visions isn't present
  • Voidling pathing and general AI improved
  • Voidlings will now hide in brush and won't attack if Malzahar is in brush and not in combat
  • Voidling dance animation added
• Call of the Void
  • Delay is now consistent at 0.6 seconds
  • Now deals damage in a single hit - rather than two separate hits
  • Now grants vision along the entire line path - rather than only at the two end points
  • Now deals damage to units surrounding the end points
• Null Zone
  • Cast time removed - Malzahar may now cast this ability while moving
  • Damage now starts 0.25 seconds after casting the ability
• Nether Grasp
  • Malzahar ignores orders that would cancel his ultimate within the first 0.5 seconds of Nether Grasp
  • Voidlings prioritize champions immobilized in Nether Grasp above all other priorities

Mordekaiser

• Fixed: Children of the Grave's initial damage now correctly draws turret aggro

Morgana

• Black Shield
  • Cooldown increased at earlier ranks to 23/21/19/17/15 seconds from 15 at all ranks
  • Cast range increased to 750 from 600
  Soul Shackles
  • Leash range is now more accurate (now updates every 0.25 seconds from 0.5 seconds)

Nocturne

• Shroud of Darkness
  • Shield duration reduced to 1.5 seconds from 2
• Paranoia
  • Cooldown increased at earlier ranks to 180/140/100 seconds from 160/130/100
  • Updated Umbra Blades tooltip

Nunu

• Fixed: Visionary will now grant free cost spells even if spells were ranked up while the Visionary buff was already active

Orianna

• General
  • Fixed: Attack Range is now 525 at all times.
• Command: Attack
  • Ability Power ratio increased to 0.5 from 0.4
• Command: Shockwave
  • Fixed: Now stuns enemies that were in the middle of a movement skill.

Sejuani

• Fixed: Arctic Assault no longer stops when encountering created terrain (ex: Anivia's Crystallize)

Sona

• General
  • Basic attack and Power Chord missile speeds increased to 2000 from 1500
  • Aura persistence duration reduced to 1 second after deactivation from 2
  • Global cooldown reduced to 0.5 seconds from 2
• Power Chord
  • Power Chord now resets your attack timer so you can use it immediately
• Crescendo
  • Now deals all its damage instantly, rather than over time
  • Fixed: Opponents can no longer Cleanse the damage portion of Crescendo

Shen

• Ki Strike
  • Damage reduced to 4 + 4 per level from 4 + 6 per level

Teemo

• Camouflage (Passive)
  • Fixed: Teemo now gains the Attack Speed buff instantly after leaving invisibility

Tristana

• Explosive Shot
  • Fixed: Passive damage no longer activates from spell damage
  • Fixed: Tooltip now reflects the Ability Power ratio

Twitch (Remade)

• Stats
  • Attack Range increased to 550 from 500
  • Base Health increased to 389 from 356
  • Health per level increased to 81 from 78
  • Base Mana increased to 220 from 180
  • Mana per level increased to 40 from 35
  • Base Attack Damage reduced to 47 from 51.56
  • Attack Damage per level reduced to 3 from 3.3
  • Attack animation improved
• Deadly Venom (Passive)
  • Damage reduced to 12/24/36/48 per stack from 15/30/45/60
• Ambush
  • 60 Mana, 16 second Cooldown
  • After 1.25 seconds, Twitch becomes invisible for 4/5/6/7/8 seconds and gains 20% Movement Speed. Twitch gains 30/40/50/60/70% Attack Speed for 5 seconds after revealing himself
• Venom Cask
  • 50 Mana, 13/12/11/10/9 second Cooldown
  • Twitch hurls a cask full of venom to target area that slows targets by 25/30/35/40/45% for 3 seconds and adds 2 stacks of Deadly Venom
• Expunge
  • 70/75/80/85/90 Mana, 12/11/10/9/8 second Cooldown
  • Deals 20/35/50/65/80 plus 15/20/25/30/35 (+0.2 Ability Power) (+0.25 bonus Attack Damage) per stack of Deadly Venom as physical damage to all nearby enemies affected by Deadly Venom
  • No longer removes Deadly Venom stacks
• Spray and Pray
  • 100/125/150 Mana, 120/110/100 second Cooldown
  • Twitch's basic attacks become powerful piercing bolts with 300 bonus range, and Twitch gains 20/28/36 Attack Damage. Each bolt deals 20% less damage to subsequent targets down to a minimum of 40% damage. Lasts 7 seconds.

Urgot

• Acid Hunter
  • Damage adjusted to 50/80/110/140/170 (+1.2 bonus Attack Damage) from 10/40/70/100/130 (+0.85 total Attack Damage)
  • Lock-on missile cast range reduced to 1200 from 1500
  • Fixed: Rank 1 range is no longer higher than the other ranks
• Noxian Corrosive Charge
  • Cooldown increased to 15/14/13/12/11 seconds from 11 at all ranks
  • Cast range reduced to 900 from 950
• Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser
  • Cast range reduced to 550/700/850 from 700/775/850

Vladimir

• Sanguine Pool
  • Movement Speed bonus now decays over time

Xerath

• Arcane Barrage
  • Reduced the delay between casting the spell and the impact to 0.5 seconds from 0.875 seconds
  • The visual indicator for the ultimate will appear at the start of the cast bar instead of at the end

Xin Zhao (Remade)

• Stats
  • Base Attack Speed increased to 0.672 from 0.658
  • Attack Speed per level increased to 2.7% from 2.5%
  Challenge (Passive)
  • Xin Zhao challenges his target with his basic attacks and Audacious Charge, reducing their Armor by 15% for 3 seconds. Only one target can be challenged at a time.
• Three Talon Strikes
  • Now reduces his other ability cooldowns by 1 second with each strike
  • Attack Damage ratio increased to 1.2 from 1.0
  • Cooldown reduced to 9/8/7/6/5 seconds from 10
• Battle Cry
  • Passive: Heals Xin Zhao for 26/32/38/44/50 (+0.7 Ability Power) every third basic attack
  • Active no longer reduces other abilities' cooldowns
  • Cooldown reduced to 16/15/14/13/12 seconds from 24/22/20/18/16
  • Mana Cost increased to 40 from 35
• Audacious Charge
  • Now challenges the target
  • Damage increased to 70/115/160/205/250 (+0.6 Ability Power) from 70/110/150/190/230 (+0.4 Ability Power)
  • Slow increased to 25/30/35/40/45% from 20/25/30/35/40%
  • Slow duration increased to 2 seconds from 1.5
  • Range reduced to 600 from 650
  • Cooldown reduced to 13/12/11/10/9 seconds from 16/15/14/13/12
• Crescent Sweep
  • Now knocks all unchallenged targets back
  • Now has a 1.0 bonus Attack Damage ratio
  • Cooldown increased to 100/90/80 seconds from 75
  • Armor and Magic Resist bonus adjusted to 15/20/25 per champion hit from 25 + 7/10/13 per champion hit
  • Now has a new particle

Yorick

• Fixed: Unholy Covenant (Passive) no longer reduces true damage

Ziggs

• Satchel Charge
  • Cooldown reduced at earlier ranks to 26/24/22/20/18 seconds from 30/27/24/21/18

Summoner's Rift

• Outer turret vision range increased to 1095 from 800

Twisted Treeline

• The Dragon on Twisted Treeline now has the same chat kill announcement as the Dragon on Summoner's Rift

Items

• Heart of Gold
  • Health reduced to 200 from 250
• Ionic Spark
  • Added a counter to show when Ionic Spark will be charged
• Philosopher's Stone
  • Health Regen per 5 seconds reduced to 15 from 18
• Avarice Blade, Heart of Gold, Kage's Lucky Pick, and Philospher's Stone now have counters in their tooltip to indicate how much gold the item has generated over the course of the game

Co-op vs. AI

• Changed the way bots evaluate towers to better take into account minions and enemies
• Changed return to base logic for bots to make them more likely to heal and purchase items
• Dominion bots should now properly ignore invisible units when deciding to defend capture points
• Beginner bots are now less likely to assist each other during kill and retreat situations
• Fixed: Bot assist logic now works during the laning phase
• Updated Ashe Bot's item build
• Master Yi Bot should now properly purchase Sanguine Blade on Dominion instead of The Bloodthirster

General

• Added character portraits to the Spectator-mode Dragon and Baron kill announcements
• Fixed: Spectator no longer occasionally causes floating text announcements to be permanently displayed throughout the game
• Fixed: When using time controls, gold numbers will no longer get stuck on the screen for some users
• Fixed several issues that occur when reconnecting, including ghost minions, invisible champions, untargetable towers, and strange store behavior
• When disconnected, the game will now attempt to reconnect automatically

Now that you are all caught up on the balance and champion changes, have a looksie the new champion spotlights highlighting the Twitch and Evelynn reworks.

While Xin Zhao doesn't have a fancy spotlight detailing the radical changes to his kit, you can check them out, in action, at around the 3 minute mark of our most recent patch preview. Alternatively, you can take a look at the handy screen caps I snapped while on the PBE.



If the reworks are of no interest to you, peep the the ne Cass skins that will be hitting the store.

Edit: The new Lee Sin skin is actually not available and has been removed from the patch notes on Riot's side. It will be made available when the Thai LoL servers receive the patch in about a week.