Patch 8.8 Notes

Posted on at 11:14 AM by Aznbeat

Patch 8.8 is on the way and the official patch notes have been posted!
Continue reading for more information!

Here are the full Patch 8.8 notes (be sure to check regional editions for slight variations!):
Greetings, Summoners,

Welcome to patch 8.8! As we move towards the middle of the season, the next few months will be jam-packed with a bunch of events (MSI, the launch of Clash, and start of the summer split to name a few). This puts a lot of pressure on specific patches, so "big patch, small patch" is gonna look like "medium patch, medium patch" for a little while.

That being said, there are some pretty big changes this patch! First, we're taking a look at a duo of champions who we've struggled to handle. As we tried to make LeBlanc and Ahri less frustrating to play against, we ended up shifting them too far away from being assassins; instead shaping them into mages that kite opponents with mobility and crowd control. This patch, we're trying to push them back into an assassin playstyle, while keeping some of the fairness gains of their prior updates. We'll have to keep an eye on them in the coming patches, but in general they should excel at bursting priority targets and snowballing that lead into a win.

GLHF, and we'll see you on the Rift!
 Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman Paul "Aether" Perscheid

Patch Highlights


Champions

LeBlanc

Updated. Just read it!
First things first, this is a partial revert of the changes we made to LeBlanc during the Assassin Update. At the time, we had two goals for the update. For assassins as a whole, we wanted to give champions more time to play against assassins. For LeBlanc specifically, we wanted to reinforce her identity as a combo-based assassin who cared about the order in which she cast her spells. In LeBlanc's case, we feel that we've missed the mark on those goals, and we're turning back the clock on some of her changes.

Those two goals can most be exemplified by two abilities: Passive - Sigil of Malice, and R - Mimic. However, neither of these changes have quite hit the mark, so we'll be reverting them, and making some tweaks to the rest of her kit for balance purposes. More on the changes to each ability below.

UPDATEDPassive - Mirror Image

At the moment, no matter how far ahead she is, LeBlanc needs to stick around for around 2 seconds to have a shot at killing a target. It feels pretty awkward having the right thing to do often be holding off on using your abilities (until your passive has cooked).
WHAT IS OLD IS NEW AGAINWhen LeBlanc drops below 40% health, she becomes invisible for 1 second and creates a Mirror Image that deals no damage and lasts for up to 8 seconds
BUGFIXFixed a bug where an attack launched by the clone from Passive - Mirror Image could deal damage if the clone died before that basic attack landed. Funny story, we had this bugfix ready to go when we initially reworked LeBlanc, but there was no need to ship it because that ability no longer existed. So now we're finally shipping it!

Q - Sigil of Malice

NAMEShatter Orb ⇒ Sigil of Malice
NEWSIGIL OF MALICEApplies a mark to the target. Damaging the marked target with an ability detonates the mark to deal additional damage.
ORB BASE DAMAGE55/90/125/160/195 (unchanged)
ORB DAMAGE RATIO0.5 ability power ⇒ 0.4 ability power
MARK BASE DAMAGE55/80/105/130/155
MARK DAMAGE RATIO0.4 ability power
COST40/45/50/55/60 mana ⇒ 50/60/70/80/90 mana

W - Distortion

BASE DAMAGE40/55/70/85/100 ⇒ 85/125/165/205/245
DAMAGE RATIO0.2 ability power ⇒ 0.6 ability power
COOLDOWN18/16/14/12/10 seconds ⇒ 14/13/12/11/10 seconds
SPEED1600 ⇒ 1450
REACTIVATION DELAY0.85 seconds from initial cast ⇒ 0.2 seconds from finishing dash

E - Ethereal Chains

LATCH-ON BASE DAMAGE40/60/80/100/120 (unchanged)
LATCH-ON DAMAGE RATIO0.5 ability power ⇒ 0.3 ability power
ROOT BASE DAMAGE40/60/80/100/120 ⇒ 60/90/120/150/180
ROOT DAMAGE RATIO0.5 ability power ⇒ 0.7 ability power
COST40 mana ⇒ 70 mana
TETHER RANGE885 ⇒ 865

UPDATEDR - Mimic

LeBlanc's reworked ult was supposed to give her more interesting combos by allowing her to choose which ability to duplicate. In practice, however, it allows her to go all in and still have Mimicked Distortion to get far, far away if mistakes were made.
MIMICCasts LeBlanc's most recently cast spell upon pressing R
RQ ORB BASE DAMAGE70/140/210
RQ ORB DAMAGE RATIO0.4 ability power
RQ MARK BASE DAMAGE140/280/420
RQ MARK DAMAGE RATIO0.8 ability power
RW BASE DAMAGE150/300/450
RW DAMAGE RATIO0.75 ability power
RE LATCH-ON BASE DAMAGE70/140/210
RE LATCH-ON DAMAGE RATIO0.4 ability power
RE ROOT BASE DAMAGE140/280/420
RE ROOT DAMAGE RATIO0.8 ability power

Ahri

E now amplifies Ahri's subsequent ability damage on the target it strikes. R and E base damage decreased. R damage ratio increased. Q no longer grants movement speed. W prioritizes targets Ahri has recently charmed or basic attacked.
A lot of players enjoy to play Ahri as an aggressive, snowballing assassin who specializes in isolating a target and eliminating them. With her reach and playmaking potential allowing her to surge into other lanes, she wants to rack up kills around the map and lead her team to victory. At the moment, Ahri getting ahead just isn't the terrifying prospect it should be. We're upping her ability to prioritize all of her damage onto one champion so she has a better chance of going from fed to victorious.

In exchange, that's going to mean Ahri has to give up some safety. As it is, the bonus movement speed attached to her Q allows her to toss it out just to avoid ganks. Making that Movement speed buff harder to access—and changing up her sustain model—should make her easier to punish in lane.

UPDATEDPassive - Vastayan Grace

VASTAYAN GRACEIf Ahri earns 2 spell hits against an enemy champion within a 1.5 second period, she gains 20% movement speed for 3 seconds (9 second cooldown)

Q - Orb of Deception

REMOVEDNOT SO FASTNo longer grants movement speed
NEWTHREE THREE HIT COMBOIf Ahri earns 9 spell hits (max 3 per cast), she gains Essence Theft, causing her next Q cast that lands to restore 3/5/9/18 (at levels 1/6/11/16) health for each enemy hit.

W - Fox-Fire

COST50 mana ⇒ 40 mana
NEWFOX'S CUNNINGFox-Fire prioritizes any enemy champion affected by Charm's damage amp and the target Ahri most recently basic-attacked within the past 3 seconds
RANGE VS PRIORITY TARGETS725 (range vs non-priority targets unchanged at 700)
DELAY FOR NON-PRIORITY TARGETING0.25 seconds ⇒ 0.4 seconds (delay vs priority targets unchanged at 0.25 seconds)

E - Charm

BASE DAMAGE60/95/130/165/200 ⇒ 60/90/120/150/180
DAMAGE RATIO0.60 ability power ⇒ 0.40 ability power
NEWHERE IT COMESWhen Charm damages a champion, Ahri's abilities deal 20% more damage to them for 5 seconds

R - Spirit Rush

BASE DAMAGE70/110/150 ⇒ 60/90/120
DAMAGE RATIO0.25 ability power ⇒ 0.35 ability power

Irelia

Base armor increased. Q damage to minions increased. R cooldown increased. R damage (missile and wall) decreased, especially at later ranks.
Irelia's laning phase is pretty weak, but if she makes it to late game she's extremely strong. We're trimming her late-game power by decreasing her ult's base damage, and giving her more consistent lane strength in exchange .

Base Stats

BASE ARMOR31 ⇒ 34

Q - Bladesurge

DAMAGE TO MINIONS60% ⇒ 70%

E - Flawless Duet

BUGFIXNo longer credits Irelia for several minion kills with each cast

R - Vanguard's Edge

COOLDOWN120/105/90 seconds ⇒ 140/120/100 seconds
MISSILE DAMAGE150/275/400 ⇒ 125/225/325
WALL DAMAGE125/200/275 ⇒ 75/125/175

Azir

Soldier damage to non-primary targets decreased at earlier levels.
Azir's ranged waveclear allows him to avoid punishment in his tougher matchups, while giving him more time to harass in his stronger matchups. Less waveclear should force him to make harder decisions about when to trade.

W - Arise!

DAMAGE TO NONPRIMARY TARGETS40/70/100% (at levels 1/6/11) ⇒25/50/75/100% at (at levels 1/6/11/16)

Braum

Armor growth decreased. W bonus resistances decreased.
He's too tanky! Cannot do shit when he's so tanky.

Base Stats

ARMOR GROWTH4.5 ⇒ 4

W - Stand Behind Me

RESISTANCES GRANTED17.5/20/22.5/25/27.5 ⇒ 10/14/18/22/26
STAND AT ATTENTIONBonus resistances are now applied more responsively

Galio

R cooldown increased.
As players have learned how to position themselves preemptively to use Galio's ultimate well, it's become pretty clear that it's available too often.

R - Hero's Entrance

COOLDOWN180/150/120 seconds ⇒ 200/180/160 seconds

Graves

Health growth increased. R cooldown decreased.
For a ranged champion, Graves has to get pretty up close and personal to contribute, and right now his baseline tankiness isn't enough to consistently sustain that.

Base Stats

HEALTH GROWTH84 ⇒ 92

R - Collateral Damage

COOLDOWN120/100/80 ⇒ 110/85/60

Janna

Movement speed decreased. W damage decreased.
Janna is just too effective overall.

Base Stats

MOVEMENT SPEED320 ⇒ 315

W - Zephyr

BASE DAMAGE60/105/150/195/240 ⇒ 55/100/145/190/235

Kai'sa

Health regen and health regen growth decreased. Q damage ratio decreased.
In her early patches, Kai'Sa was struggling to get through the laning phase, so we boosted her laning phase with some buffs. As players continue to learn how to play her, we're stripping that strength away.

Base stats

BASE HEALTH REGEN6.2 ⇒ 5.5
HEALTH REGEN GROWTH0.75 ⇒ 0.55

Q - Icathian Rain

DAMAGE RATIO0.4 bonus attack damage ⇒ 0.35 bonus attack damage
6 MISSILE DAMAGE RATIO1.0 bonus attack damage ⇒ 0.875 bonus attack damage
12 MISSILE DAMAGE RATIO1.72 bonus attack damage ⇒ 1.505 bonus attack damage

Lissandra

Q mana cost decreased. R cooldown decreased at earlier ranks.
Lissandra does strong things—in the right situations. Right now she's struggling, so we're giving her more opportunities to do those things.

Q - Ice Shard

COST85 mana ⇒ 75 mana

R - Frozen Tomb

COOLDOWN130/105/80 seconds ⇒ 120/100/80 seconds

Nautilus

Mana increased. Attack damage increased. Q cooldown decreased at earlier ranks.
Nautilus is struggling a bit, and we want to try to give him strength that will help him find success in all of his historical roles (top, jungle, and support). His identity as a giant anchor-thrower should be pretty relevant in each of those lanes, so that's a good place to start.

Base Stats

BASE MANA334 ⇒ 400
BASE ATTACK DAMAGE57.54 ⇒ 61

Q - Dredge Line

COOLDOWN18/16/14/12/10 seconds ⇒ 14/13/12/11/10 seconds

Ryze

E mana cost increased at early ranks.
High waveclear in mid lane is particularly worrisome in two cases: when it over-enables a champion to roam and affect side-lanes, and when it allows a hard-scaling champion to avoid fights until late-game. In Ryze's case, we've got both problems at play, so we're making his waveclear more expensive to keep up early game.

E - Spell Flux

COST40/55/70/85/100 mana ⇒ 60/70/80/90/100 mana

Sion

Q damage ratio decreased at earlier ranks.
Sion doesn't currently sacrifice much damage in order to max E - Roar of the Slayer instead of Q - Decimating Smash. In return he gains strong ranged poke, which is making him a dominant pick not only in top lane, but also mid in some matchups. There are times when it should make sense to max E first (ranged harass, using the slow to make Q easier to hit), but we want to make this less of a clear-cut choice.

Q - Decimating Smash

DAMAGE RATIO0.65 total attack damage ⇒ 0.45/0.5/0.55/0.6/0.65 total attack damage
FULL CHARGE DAMAGE1.95 total attack damage ⇒1.35/1.5/1.65/1.8/1.95 total attack damage

Tahm Kench

E health restore decreased. W no longer grants Tahm Kench movement speed while moving towards enemy champions with a friend in his belly.
Tahm Kench is good at protecting allies by hiding them in his belly, but the high durability his E grants him means opponents don't feel great about the damage they land on him instead of his allies. Dialing that back should help him feel more fair to play against.

There's also something a bit more complicated here, and that's the bonus movement speed Devour gives Tahm Kench when running towards enemy champions. Because "towards" has a lot of leeway, in scattered teamfights "away from the person who is killing me" often means "towards some other opponent", which is allowing Tahm Kench too much escapability for both him and an ally.

W - Devour

REMOVEDNO MORE FAST FOODTahm Kench no longer gains movement speed while moving towards enemy champions with a friend in his belly

E - Thick Skin

% GREY HEALTH RESTORED OVER TIME25/30/35/40/45% ⇒15/20/25/30/35%

Taliyah

Base health decreased. Q Cooldown increased at earlier ranks.
Taliyah has become a prized pick, thanks to her ability to shove and roam. We're pulling back some of her waveclear, but also decreasing her tankiness so that assassins can be a more consistent counterpick against her.

Base Stats

HEALTH532 ⇒ 502

Q - Threaded Volley

COOLDOWN9/7.5/6/5.5/3 seconds ⇒ 11/9/7/5/3 seconds

Varus

W on-hit damage decreased. W now has an active which empowers Varus' next Q to deal bonus damage.
Piercing Arrow is Varus' most iconic spell, but it's pretty underwhelming in many of his current builds. We're not looking to change the way he builds, but we do want to create more incentives for him to care about charging his Q, even when he's building on-hit. Given that he was pretty balanced before, adding a whole new active requires us to trim some power elsewhere.

Passive - Living Vengeance

BONUS ATTACK SPEED ON CHAMPION KILL50% ⇒ 30%
BONUS ATTACK SPEED ON MINION KILL25% ⇒ 15%

W - Blighted Quiver

ON-HIT DAMAGE10/14/18/22/26 ⇒ 5/9/13/17/21
NEWACTIVEVarus' next Q - Piercing Arrow deals additional damage equal to 6/7/8/9/10% of the target's missing HP. Damage is increased by up to 50% (to 9/10.5/12/13.5/15%) based on charge time.

Vi

Base armor decreased. Armor growth increased. Health regen and health regen growth increased. Passive and Q cooldowns decreased at early levels. E mana cost decreased.
We're looking to buff Vi, but also think it would be cool if she could sneak back into top lane (fun fact, Vi was designed as a top laner before becoming a jungler). By bringing some of her cooldowns and costs down and upping her health regen, we're aiming to give her more strength in solo lanes as well as in the jungle.

Base Stats

BASE ARMOR35 ⇒ 30
ARMOR GROWTH3.5 ⇒ 4
BASE HEALTH REGEN9 ⇒ 10
HEALTH REGEN GROWTH0.9 ⇒ 1

Passive - Blast Shield

COOLDOWN16-8 seconds (at levels 1-9) ⇒ 12-8 seconds (at levels 1-9)

Q - Vault Breaker

COOLDOWN16/14/12/10/8 seconds ⇒ 12/11/10/9/8 seconds

E - Excessive Force

COST40/45/50/55/60 mana ⇒ 26/32/38/44/50 mana

Xayah

Base health regen decreased. Base attack damage decreased.
Xayah is currently able to coast through hard matchups and get to her strong mid and late game too easily.

Base Stats

BASE HEALTH REGEN6 ⇒ 5
BASE ATTACK DAMAGE64 ⇒ 62

Rek'Sai

Bugfixin'

Passive - Fury of the Xer'Sai

UPDATEDHANGRYRek'Sai's fury no longer decays from being out of combat while she is consuming it for burrowed regeneration
UPDATEDTIMELYRek'Sai's out of combat fury decay now begins precisely at 8 seconds (as opposed to 8-9 seconds)

Swain

Bugfixin'

E - Nevermove

UPDATEDNO RUSHNow only gives one stack for Phase Rush purposes

Items

Archangel's Staff

Mana-to-ability-power conversion decreased.
Archangel's Staff is spiking too early, so we're decreasing some of its ability scaling before it upgrades to Seraph's Embrace.
MANA TO ABILITY POWER CONVERSION3% ⇒ 1% (unchanged on Seraph's Embrace)

Runes

Lethal Tempo

Attack speed bonus increased.
Lethal Tempo still isn't doing well on most champions, so we're increasing the strength of the effect.
ATTACK SPEED30-80% (at levels 1-18) ⇒ 40-110% (at levels 1-18)

Dark Harvest

BUGFIXFixed a bug where a VFX box appeared when a soul was dropped on the ground
BUGFIXFixed a bug where, if multiple players took Dark Harvest, only one of them could see the soul glow on units that will drop Dark Harvest Souls
BUGFIXOn ARAM, tooltip now properly indicates that champion souls are worth less soul essence

Trinkets

Sweeping Lens removed. Oracle Alteration now available at level 1. Swapping trinkets now retains the same percentage cooldown as the previous one.
The decision-making surrounding trinket swaps is currently a bit more complicated than it needs to be. By making swaps more consistent and decreasing the number of potential swaps, we're hoping to make the gains from those swaps more clear.

REMOVED Sweeping Lens

SOLD OUTSweeping Lens is no longer available in the store

Oracle Alteration

LEVEL REQUIREMENT9 ⇒ 1

Trinket Swap Rules

SAME COOLDOWNSwapping from one trinket to another now retains the same percentage cooldown as the previous one, rather than resetting to a 120 second cooldown

Homestart

Homestart buff is granted by fountain until slightly later in the game. Homestart now begins to fall off at outer turrets, not the river.
Homestart gives too significant of a defender's advantage to champions who never cross into the river. Defensively, champions can run out to the brush near the river, retain the movement speed buff, and easily run away from any invaders - who lost their movement speed bonus once they set foot in the river. We're changing the movement speed buff to fall off a bit closer to your side of the map to make early aggression slightly more likely to succeed.
FOUNTAIN GRANTS HOMESTART BUFF UNTIL35 seconds into the game ⇒ 55 seconds into the game
REMOVEDCOLD FEETHomestart buff no longer falls off instantly after crossing the river line
NO PLACE LIKE HOME :Homestart buff rapidly decays over 0.75 seconds after crossing the outer turret line

Bugfixes

  • Fixed another way where Warwick's Q could double-cast. We're pretty sure it's the last one.
  • Cannon minion gold value now correctly scales past 87 gold
  • Clones can now correctly be feared by Volibear's Majestic Roar
  • Fixed a bug where Tiamat counted towards procs for Electrocute or Phase Rush.
  • Snow Fawn Poppy's recall and spell SFX have been restored and no longer use base SFX
  • Seams have been minimized on Pool Party Graves and all of his chromas when on lower graphics settings
  • Seams have been minimized on Renektoy chromas when on lower graphics settings
  • Seams have been minimized on Arcade Miss Fortune chromas when on lower graphics settings
  • Texture compression is now more consistent across Darius' chroma pack
  • Sandstorm Ekko's hourglass and Chrono Blade are now better attached to his model during all of his animations
  • The orb during Reaper Soraka's Recall has been restored
  • Santa Draven's Q - Spinning Axe landing location's particles are no longer overlapped by on-ground area of effect abilities' particles
  • Pool Party Lulu's Pix attack projectiles are no longer missing their trail particles
  • Nightbringer Yasuo's and PROJECT: Yasuo's Q - Steel Tempest ground particle no longer clips into the ground on elevation change
  • Iron Solari Leona's R - Solar Flare decal will no longer be improperly rotated on lower graphics settings
  • Q - Light Binding for Elementalist Lux no longer fade out prematurely when compared to other Lux skins
  • Dreadnova Darius' idle VFX have been restored
  • Particles during Woad King Darius and Dunkmaster Darius' critical attacks are no longer misplaced
  • Unique particles have been restored for Cosmic Reaver Kassadin's Auto Attack on-hits and W - Nether Blade
  • Unique particles have been restored for all of Conqueror Karma's spells
  • Blood Moon Twisted Fate's Recall animation no longer has missing pixels
  • The catling that Meowkai holds in his hand has been found and safely returned to him!
  • Snow Day Graves' eyes now properly follow his head's movement during all animations
  • Nami's laugh VFX once again play properly when emote is used
  • Leprechaun Veigar's W - Dark Matter VFX once again have rainbows!
  • Star Guardian Soraka's homeguard VFX once again properly overlay the champion's model
  • Freljord Taliyah once again has basic attack on-hit VFX when hitting structures and jungle monsters
  • SKT T1 Ryze's crowd cheers have been restored in his Recall animation
  • Shiny VFX are no longer missing on Ashen Lord Aurelion Sol's sunglasses during his joke animation
  • Secret Agent Xin Zhao's recall SFX have been restored
  • SKT T1 Ekko is no longer missing VFX during his joke, taunt, dance, and death
  • Steel Legion Garen's Villain Mark is now at the same height when comparing it to enemy and ally perspectives
  • Battle Boss Malzahar’s recall VFX have been restored
  • Lancer Paragon Blitzcrank / Lancer Rogue Blitzcrank’s Recall is no longer missing lightning effects VFX
  • Astronautilus’ helmet VFX no longer linger after W - Titan’s Wrath has expired

Upcoming Skins & Chromas

The following skins will be released in patch 8.8:

Conqueror Varus

The following chromas will be released in patch 8.8:

Badlands Baron Rumble (Ruby)

Badlands Baron Rumble (Meteorite)

Badlands Baron Rumble (Turquoise)

Badlands Baron Rumble (Pearl)

Badlands Baron Rumble (Rose Quartz)

Badlands Baron Rumble (Obsidian)

Badlands Baron Rumble (Catseye)

Badlands Baron Rumble (Emerald)

Hextech Crafting

Fixed a bug that was causing gemstones to drop 5% more often than intended.

Points of Interest from the 8.8 PBE Cycle

Here's a brief look at many of the new things included in patch 8.8. This coverage includes preview screen shots and video taken during the 8.8 PBE cycle and may vary slightly from what is pushed to live.

New Skin

With MSI 2018 right around the corner, Conqueror Varus will be available this patch:

Conqueror Varus

975 RP / Legacy
[Will have a limited edition loading screen border included in bundle available 4/26-5/21]


New Chroma

New chroma for Badlands Baron Rumble will be available sometime this patch:

Badlands Baron Rumble

       

New Summoner Icons

A slew of new summoner icons will also be available this patch!

We have eight new cute champion that are similar to the Blue Essence Emporium's Mystery Minis icons champion icons seen during preseason.
    
   

A summoner icon featuring the new Conqueror Varus will also be available:

MSI 2018 Summoner Icons

Several new MSI esports icons will be available during MSI! [Note: Only the teams who qualify for MSI will have their icons/emotes available for purchase.]

    
     
     
    
    
    
    
    
   

MSI 2018 & Team Emotes

During MSI 2018, new emotes will also be available, including a general emote, as well as team emotes which will match the team summoner icons:

(note: while we have a lot here, remember that qualified teams are typically the only emotes to reach live servers for release!)


    
    
    
     
    
   
    
   
   

New Ward Skin

The 2018 Conqueror Ward will be available this patch:

2018 Conqueror Ward


MSI 2018 Login Theme

With MSI right around the corner, a new MSI themed login will be featured on the client:


Miscellaneous 

  • Conqueror Baron skin added, look for this skin during MSI 2018!
  • Summoner's Rift banners for MSI 2018 will be featured this patch:

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