Patch 8.19 Notes

Darius

As a valuable counter pick to tanks in top lane, we’re looking to help Darius cleave through some of that armor to encourage teams to think strategically when drafting top lane champions. Although it’s somewhat generic power, percentage armor penetration is considerably more effective against champions like Cho’gath and Ornn than against other fighters like Camille or Aatrox.

W - Crippling Strike

E - Apprehend

Fiora

Fiora is a really sharp champion, with matchups where she dominates and matchups where she struggles to gain an edge. We’re being careful with her, but our changes in 8.17 still haven’t gone far enough to reward aggressive play in lane. Increasing the sustain she gets when going for vital procs on her opponents should help resolve this.

Passive - Duelist's Dance

Q - Lunge

Kha'Zix

Kha’Zix has been struggling since our changes to his evolved R in patch 8.11. We’d like to give it a bit more oomph in a way that relies on the clever use of ultimate casts to eke out the full value. We’re also amping up the utility of Void Spikes to help Kha’Zix set up plays in ways that aren’t just… murdering you faster.

Passive - Unseen Threat

W - Void Spike

Elise

Elise used to dominate the early game and facilitate aggressive plays across the map. We want to bring that back, so we’re decreasing the cooldown on some of her playmaking tools so she can more frequently seek out risky opportunities to dominate her opponents.

W - Skittering Frenzy

E - Rappel

Jarvan IV

Jarvan IV has been pretty absent from the meta for the past year and needs a bit more power for players who want to flex him into top lane or jungle. Passive procs enable a faster clear and also encourage an aggressive trading pattern if played in the top lane.

Passive - Martial Cadence

Nunu & Willump

Since Nunu & Willump’s release, we’ve seen a large number of players trying for the super-hype Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark AP snowball builds. While his tank build is seeing far more success, we want to try to support the fun playstyle that meshes well with their whimsical thematic.

Q - Consume

E - Snowball Barrage

W - Biggest Snowball Ever!

Janna

Janna is currently struggling to find a home in the bot lane in a meta dominated by some of her beefier counterparts. Her defensive attributes are already as powerful as we’re comfortable pushing them right now. We’re increasing her early game poke damage for players that are able to play her aggressively and want to harass their opponents every chance they get.

Passive - Tailwind

Thresh

Against a cast of champions that can reliably shut Thresh out of making aggressive plays in lane, he needs more opportunities to throw hooks in the early stages of the game. We don’t want to make his hooks hit harder, or cc for longer, so we’re just bumping up how frequently he can cast them.

Q - Death Sentence

Pyke

Pyke’s performance scales down pretty steeply when played against higher-tier opponents who more frequently dodge his fairly projected abilities. We think his reliability is in a pretty solid spot, but want to increase the damage payout Pyke gets for hitting good ults that help close out fights. This power only impacts his early and mid game, and his damage from levels 11-18 is unchanged.

R - Death From Below

Tahm Kench

Similar to Braum last patch, we’re looking to drain some of Tahm Kench’s baseline sturdiness. Reducing Tahm’s base HP should make him rely more on his defensive tools to find success in lane, while increasing his HP gained per level will make it slightly easier for him to wade into the enemy team late game.

Base Stats

W - Devour

Kog'Maw

In a meta that often sees two or more tanks on a team and short-range ADCs in bot lane, Kog’Maw has been surprisingly absent. We’re giving him some base movement speed to help him kite aggressively and go for trades against some of those short-range champions like Kai’sa and Xayah. Early game buffs to his ult’s range will also help him chase down opponents after ganks or trades.

Base Stats

R - Living Artillery

Liandry's Torment

Liandry’s has a pretty clear purpose—build it when you have damage over time and CC in your kit, or when the enemy has a really tanky team. While it has a solid set of core users who meet the first condition, it could do a better job of dealing with multiple tanks. We’re adding more max HP burn to address this while reducing its AP to limit burst power slightly.