Surrender at 20: Patch 9.4 Notes

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Patch 9.4 is on the way and the official patch notes have been posted!

Continue reading for more information!

Check out the Patch 9.4 notes (be sure to check regional editions for slight variations!):

Hey y'all. Congratulations, you survived last patch's spiciness! You win nothing.

We're taking another pass at nerfing Urgot, along with first-time nerfs to some other dominant champerdogs. But we're also giving a little love to a troll, a horse, and a screeching Void monster. As a quick follow-up to marksman items, we're making some minor adjustments to Essence Reaver and Kai'Sa's recommended items (stop building Stormrazor first), but otherwise have kept things mostly untouched.

We also kneecapped the top lane Frostmancy strat partway through last patch, but it bears repeating here given the notoriety the strategy attained. We're looking into more permanent solutions to both Spellthief's Edge and Ancient Coin item lines, but for now we're carrying 9.3's mid-patch update forward.

Let's get into it!

Paul "Aether" Perscheid

Hanna “shio shoujo” Woo

Patch Highlights

Champions

Karthus

Q damage decreased.

Preseason's changes to Dark Harvest and rune stats were more than "just a little" nice for Karthus. Now he's everywhere and ruining your life. Less damage on Lay Waste will help opponents have a chance at fighting back. Here's the caveat we'll add for our "5 damage lul" change— Karthus spams his Q more often than most champs cast their abilities, so the numbers definitely add up.

Q - Lay Waste

BASE DAMAGE50/70/90/110/130 ⇒ 45/65/85/105/125

BASE DAMAGE ON SINGLE TARGET100/140/180/220/260 ⇒90/130/170/210/250

BUGFIXNow procs Runes more consistently

Lucian

W cost increased; base damage decreased.

Ardent Blaze allows Lucian to rapidly max out Manaflow Band, trivializing the cost of spamming his abilities. We're forcing more of a tradeoff if Lucian goes the Manaflow optimization route by sapping his resources faster and weakening the strength of his all-in when he does.

W - Ardent Blaze

COST50 mana ⇒ 70 mana

BASE DAMAGE85/125/165/205/245 ⇒ 75/110/145/180/215

Rek'Sai

Burrowed Q now grants Fury. Unburrowed Q ends when burrowed for more than 1 second. Rek'Sai now burrows on respawn. Tremor Sense visuals brightened. R is undodgeable.

We took a quality-of-life pass at Rek'Sai's abilities, implementing smaller visual additions and kit revisions to help her feel better to play. Queen's Wrath will come off cooldown earlier after clearing a camp since Rek'Sai no longer has to wait for the buff to expire before the cooldown starts, and (a couple of very specific cases aside) Void Rush is no longer avoidable.

Passive - Fury of the Xer'Sai

NOT ORANGE BUTFury Bar now changes color from yellow to red when charged to max

Burrowed Q - Prey Seeker

FAST AND THE FURY-OUSNow grants 25 Fury to match Rek'Sai's other abilities

Unburrowed Q - Queen's Wrath

CALM DOWNEffect now ends and goes on cooldown if Rek'Sai is burrowed for more than 1 second

Unburrowed W - Burrow

TREMOR SENSETracking visuals for nearby enemies brightened

6 MORE WEEKS OF WINTERRek'Sai immediately burrows on respawn once she has at least one point in W

R - Void Rush

GOTTA GO FASTEnemies can now only dodge Void Rush by dashing or blinking massive distances away from Rek'Sai

Sylas

Q radius increased vs champions. W heal decreased. R no longer fizzles if Sylas loses vision of his target.

Sylas has landed in a pretty good spot since release, but there are a few usability issues on Chain Lash which we want to address. These fixes (plus a small Kingslayer nerf) will offer Sylas players a more meaningful choice between maxing Q or W first.

Q - Chain Lash

DETONATION RADIUS200 vs minions and monsters, 150 vs champions ⇒200 vs minions and monsters, 180 vs champions

CAST RANGE INDICATORNow includes an indicator to show the detonation location and radius

W - Kingslayer

BASE HEAL50/85/120/155/190 ⇒ 50/80/110/140/170

ICONIcon border now glows when Sylas is within the max healing threshold

NUMBERSKingslayer's damage displays as a crit if Sylas' target was within the bonus damage threshold

R - Hijack

TURRET AGGRESSIONSylas no longer draws turret aggro when stealing an enemy's ultimate

???Hijack no longer fizzles if Sylas loses sight of his target before the cast finishes

Thresh

Q cost increased; cooldown increased early.

Before Worlds, we gave Thresh some buffs that allowed him to throw his hook more often in the early game. We're partially reverting those changes since he's proving to be too oppressive in lane.

Q - Death Sentence

COST60 mana ⇒ 70 mana

COOLDOWN16/15/14/13/12 seconds ⇒ 20/18/16/14/12 seconds

Urgot

Q cost increased. W shield decreased, cost increased early.

We thought we had put Urgie in a good place after the last nerfs in 9.2. Alas, he's continued to be an unstoppable force in lane with help from his low-cost shield and canisters. Urgot players will now have to choose between poking from range or shielding up to duel when spending their mana.

Q - Corrosive Charge

COST60 mana ⇒ 80 mana

W - Purge

COST45/50/55/60/65 mana ⇒ 65 mana at all ranks

SHIELD60/90/120/150/180 (+0.3 bonus health) ⇒30/70/110/150/190 (+0.15 bonus health)

Yasuo

Attack damage decreased. Q crit damage decreased.

We buffed Yasuo last midseason when Infinity Edge lost its critical strike chance and bonus crit damage. As of last patch, Infinity Edge once again has critical strike chance and bonus crit damage so we're mostly reverting his midseason buffs (Steel Tempest gets to keep some buff since IE didn't get all its bonus crit damage back).

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE63 ⇒ 60

Q - Steel Tempest

CRITICAL STRIKE DAMAGE+80% ⇒ +60%

Zed

Attack speed growth increased. Q damage increased. W recast range increased; cooldown decreased. R no longer grants attack damage on kill.

The theory behind Zed's R - Death Mark passive—kill high-AD threats to get stronger—breaks down in practice because the highest-AD target is often not the most important threat for Zed to go after. At the same time, buffs to make hunting the highest-AD target correct at all times would make Zed entirely reliant on Reaper of Shadows, preventing him from finding success in other ways. We're removing it and giving its power back to Zed in areas he's been struggling in, namely a better early lane and more powerful late-game splitpushing.

Base Stats

ATTACK SPEED GROWTH2.1% ⇒ 3.3%

Q - Razor Shuriken

DAMAGE80/115/150/185/220 (+0.9 bonus attack damage) ⇒90/125/160/195/230 (+1.0 bonus attack damage)

W - Living Shadow

RECAST RANGE1300 range ⇒ 1950 range

COOLDOWN22/20/18/16/14 seconds ⇒ 20/18.5/17/15.5/14 seconds

R - Death Mark

REMOVEDREAPER OF SHADOWSZed no longer gains 5 (+5/10/15% target's attack damage) attack damage when Death Mark earns him a takedown on a target that would grant him a higher bonus than his current one

Runes

UPDATED

Conqueror

Grants stacking adaptive force on damaging enemy champions. At max stacks, converts a portion of damage vs champions to true damage and heals for that amount.

Conqueror was designed to help fighters in extended combat, but it offers too much immediate power since users can bypass its initial delay—the window where opponents should have the upper hand—by staying in combat against minions so Conqueror is prepped at all times. We're removing this workaround, meaning users will actually have to grapple with its ramp-up. They now gain Conqueror's bonus damage steadily over their first few hits in combat, so they won't be completely helpless when a fight breaks out. (Note: Conqueror gives adaptive force instead of attack damage now. Go wild, AP champs.)

In terms of Conqueror's "unlocked" state, we've turned half of its true damage conversion into healing. This gives tanks, who were previously melted by the conversion, a reasonable shot at standing against Conqueror champs while still giving fighters a tool to avoid being ground down in teamfights before reaching the enemy backline.

REMOVEDTHE OLD THINGAfter 4 seconds in combat, your first basic attack against an enemy champion grants 6-35 attack damage (levels 1-18) for 3 seconds and converts 20% of your damage against champions to true damage. Melee champions can refresh the duration by damaging an enemy champion.

NEWTHE NEW THINGDamaging attacks and abilities grant 3-15 adaptive force (levels 1-18) for 3 seconds (8 seconds for melee), stacking up to 5 times to a max of 15-75. At 5 stacks, 10% of your damage against champions is converted to true damage and you heal for that amount.

ATTRITIONDamage-over-time effects and ongoing sources of damage (ex. Yorick's R - Maiden of the Mist) can grant one stack every 5 seconds

Items

Essence Reaver

Attack damage increased. Cooldown reduction is now unique.

Essence Reaver was a little weak after the marksman item changes from the last patch. We're buffing it.

ATTACK DAMAGE60 ⇒ 65

WHOOPSCooldown reduction is now UNIQUE

SHOPNow appears in the correct shop categories

Mid-Patch 9.3 Item Updates

These changes went live last patch, but bear repeating for those who missed them. We took a heavy-handed approach to remove the "Frostmancy" strategy (harass your lane opponent with Tribute procs and maintain their income with Kleptomancy while ignoring last hitting) in top lane and are working on a more refined solution for the long-term.

Spellthief's Edge Line

NEWBUDDY SYSTEMTribute procs now require an allied champion within 2000 range to grant gold, otherwise they only deal extra damage

TRIBUTE GOLD10/20/20 gold (Spellthief's Edge/Frostfang/Remnant of the Watchers)⇒ 11/22/22 gold (Spellthief's Edge/Frostfang/Remnant of the Watchers)

Ancient Coin Line

NEWBUDDY SYSTEMFavor procs now require an allied champion within 2000 range to drop gold coins, otherwise they only drop mana coins

FAVOR GOLD25/45/45 gold (Ancient Coin/Nomad's Medallion/Remnant of the Ascended) ⇒ 28/50/50 gold (Ancient Coin/Nomad's Medallion/Remnant of the Ascended)

Simple Changes

Azir

Base attack speed growth increased.

Increasing Azir's late game damage.

Base Stats

ATTACK SPEED GROWTH1.5% ⇒ 3%

Gnar

Mega Gnar's armor and magic resist increased.

Increasing Mega Gnar's ability to get in the middle of the ruckus and duke it out while transformed.

Base Stats

MEGA GNAR ARMOR GROWTH4.5 ⇒ 5.5

MEGA GNAR MAGIC RESIST GROWTH2 ⇒ 4

Hecarim

Q cost, E cooldown decreased.

We're giving Hecarim some light performance boosts in his early game to help him stirrup the competition against others.

Q - Rampage

COST32/34/36/38/40 mana ⇒ 28/31/34/37/40 mana

E - Devastating Charge

COOLDOWN24/22/20/18/16 seconds ⇒ 20/19/18/17/16 seconds

Rengar

Fixed a bug where Empowered Q dealt more rank 1 damage than intended.

Bugfixin'.

Empowered Q - Savagery

LEVEL 1 BASE DAMAGE70 ⇒ 30

Sivir

Fixed a bug where W dealt more damage than intended.

Bugfixin'.

W - Ricochet

BOUNCE DAMAGE0.55/0.6/0.65/0.7/0.75 total attack damage ⇒0.5/0.55/0.6/0.65/0.7 total attack damage

Varus

Fixed a bug where Blight stacks dealt less damage than intended.

Bugfixin'.

W - Blighted Quiver

BLIGHT STACK DAMAGE2.5% (+2% per 100 ability power) target's max health per stack ⇒ 3/3.5/4/4.5/5% (+2% per 100 ability power) target's max health per stack

Kai'Sa

Removed Stormrazor from recommended items.

We changed Stormrazor. Stop building it first on Kai'Sa.

WE RECOMMEND...Stormrazor removed in favor of Infinity Edge and Runaan's Hurricane

Tryndamere

Removed Spear of Shojin from recommended items.

We thought Spear of Shojin would be ace on Tryndamere. Turns out, Ravenous Hydra is better. Build Ravenous Hydra.

WE RECOMMEND...Spear of Shojin removed in favor of Ravenous Hydra.

Nunu & Willump

Q - Consume

ICONIcon border now glows when Nunu & Willump are within the max healing threshold

Trundle

W cost decreased; attack speed increased.

We're helping Trundle cast W more liberally in lane and increasing his late game threat when opponents are in his domain

W - Frozen Domain

COST60 mana ⇒ 40 mana

BONUS ATTACK SPEED20/35/50/65/80% ⇒ 20/40/60/80/100%

First Minion Spawn

First wave of top and bot lane minions are ghosted for longer after spawning.

This change addresses some edge cases and unintuitive interactions that (pro) players can use to interfere with the first minion wave of the game.

GHOSTEDThe first wave of top and bot lane minions are ghosted for 18 ⇒ 28 seconds after spawning (mid lane minions unchanged at 18 seconds of ghosting)

ARURF Changes

Balance Changes & Fixes

Things've been stable on the ARURF balance front over the past few weeks. We've got one new nerf for Garen and an official heads-up on some changes that shipped earlier but got lost somewhere in the bucket of champion balance updates.

Garen

NERF-5% damage

Arcane Comet

This change went live a while back so this is just formal notice!

BUGFIXProccing Arcane Comet while inside the Catapult of Champions no longer lets you right click to fire a second Arcane Comet like a skillshot

Elder Dragon

This change went live a while back so this is just formal notice!

NERFThe first Elder Dragon buff is less tower-melty

ARURF Poro Pets

Once 9.4 drops, equip a poro pet summoner icon to bring a fluffy (or spiky or fiery or whatever) buddy along for the ride in your ARURF matches! These are the same icons that summoned poro pets in other modes like Legend of the Poro King and Nexus Blitz.

Champion VFX and SFX Updates

Kennen

Bringing Kennen's attacks and abilities up to current League quality and readability standards.

BASIC ATTACKShuriken model and hit VFX updated for readability between basic attack, empowered attack, and Thundering Shuriken

PASSIVE - MARK OF THE STORMProc VFX updated to better indicate source of the stun. Passive marks on minions are dimmer.

Q - THUNDERING SHURIKENShuriken model and hit VFX updated for readability between basic attack, empowered attack, and Thundering Shuriken

W - ELECTRICAL SURGESurge VFX updated. Empowered attack shuriken model and hit VFX updated for readability between basic attack, empowered attack, and Thundering Shuriken.

E - LIGHTNING RUSHVFX updated to indicate area of effect and show Kennen's model during the animation

R - SLICING MAELSTROMVFX updated to reduce visual noise

BLOOD MOON KENNENUnique VFX updated based on the same principles as the above

SUPER KENNENDoes a superhero pose during Lightning Rush

SHURIKENAll other skins use Kennen's base VFX aside from changing the shape of their shuriken where applicable

Olaf

Bringing Olaf's attacks and abilities up to current League quality and readability standards.

BASIC ATTACKNow has swipe VFX. Hit VFX updated.

Q - UNDERTOWNow has hitbox and pick-up range indicators. Pick-up VFX updated.

W - VICIOUS STRIKESBuff and healing VFX updated. Floating runes removed.

E - RECKLESS SWINGOn-hit VFX updated

R - RAGNAROKNew lightning VFX on activation. Buff VFX updated.

BROLAFHas skin-specific Graggy VFX on Q, E, and R. Has the Graggy Ice logo on Q's pick-up indicator and a keg on E hit.

PENTAKILL OLAFHas firey VFX recoloring. Has the Pentakill logo on E hit and R activation.

BUTCHER OLAFQ hitbox indicator recolored to be meatier

SKT T1 OLAFHas golden VFX recoloring. SKT T1 logo added to Q pick-up indicator, E hit, and R activation.

Riven

Bringing Riven's attacks and abilities up to current League quality and readability standards.

BASIC ATTACKVisual noise reduced

PASSIVE - RUNIC BLADERiven's sword and hand now glow instead of creating a green energy ball with rune trails on top of her hand

Q - BROKEN WINGSVFX updated to be less noise and unique per cast. Ground damage VFX added to indicate area of effect.

W - KI BURSTVFX updated to reduce visual noise on the ground symbol and better indicate area of effect

E - VALORDash and shield VFX updated. Shield runes changed to be the pieces of Riven's sword.

R - BLADE OF THE EXILEBuff VFX surrounding Riven cleaned up; stronger buff VFX added to her sword. Other ability VFX properly indicates increased area of effect while R is active. Wind Slash VFX is clearer and now appears as a single strike.

BATTLE BUNNY RIVENVFX infused with beta keratin (they're recolored orange). E shield runes are carrots.

DRAGONBLADE RIVENHas skin-specific smokey/firey VFX. Passive VFX is a flame ring around her hand. E shield runes are dragon crests.

CHAMPIONSHIP, ARCADE, DAWNBRINGER, PULSEFIREVFX unchanged

Wukong

Bringing Wukong's attacks and abilities up to current League quality and readability standards.

SFX UPDATESBase, Volcanic, General, Jade Dragon, and Underworld Wukong have received updated basic attack, Q, E, and R SFX

BASIC ATTACKNow has swipe VFX. Hit VFX added.

Q - CRUSHING BLOWBuff and swing VFX updated to reduce visual noise. Hit VFX updated to be more impactful. Armor debuff icon now appears on target.

W - DECOYCloud VFX on clone despawn updated to reduce visual noise

E - NIMBUS STRIKECloud VFX on dash updated to be wispier and leave a slight trail

R - CYCLONEVFX updated to be cloudier, less noisy, and easier to read. The tip of Wukong's staff now leaves a bright VFX trail to better indicate area of effect.

GENERAL WUKONGHas gray recoloring on basic attack swipe and R VFX

JADE WUKONGHas jade green recoloring on basic attack swipe, Q, and R VFX

UNDERWORLD WUKONGHas spectral green recoloring on all VFX

RADIANT WUKONGQ uses base's new swing and hit VFX. E dash and R VFX updated but still use skin-specific cloud effects.

Champion Animation Updates

Dr. Mundo

Q - INFECTED CLEAVERThrowing animation updated

Gragas

ZOOMINBase run animation updated

Katarina

ZOOMINBase run animation updated

GO FASTFast run animation updated

SKIDMovement stop animation updated

Lux

ZOOMINBase run animation updated

Quinn

ZOOMINBase run animation updated

Shen

SAUNTERBootless walk animation added

Twisted Fate

SAUNTERBootless walk animation added

FLAPPYTwisted Fate's cape turns more realistically as he moves

Zyra

SAUNTERBootless walk animation added

Ranked

We've been working on fixes and improvements to Ranked since the season started in 9.2. Here's a rundown of some changes coming this patch, as well as a quick summary of stuff we've already done that you might've missed!

New to 9.4

CHALLENGERChallenger opens on February 20

SPLASH UPLP splashing can now put your off-positions into promotion series

HEADS UPYou now get decay warnings for your off-positions

RANKED EMOTESOnce you've earned the Ranked emote, it'll upgrade as you complete promo series and climb the ladder

NAME DROPThe animated celebrations for promoting into a new tier now includes your summoner name

PAPER TRAILHovering over your split points now shows you how you earned those points

Already shipped

GRANDMASTERGrandmaster opened on February 7

SWAP STOPRanked is better at preventing position swap abuse

TOP HEAVYLP gains and losses at Diamond and above were adjusted due to too many players rapidly climbing into Master and above

Bugfixes

Fixed debug text in the Collection and Profile tabs
Neeko's W - Shapesplitter passive now properly damages turrets when Neeko has more ability power than attack damage
Kalista can no longer cast E - Rend with insufficient mana
Anivia's Q - Flash Frost and R - Glacial Storm slow particles no longer persist on enemies
Twitch's R - Spray and Pray now properly procs Energized effects when attacking from Rapid Firecannon's max range
Urgot's R - Fear Beyond Death execute indicator no longer shows up on enemies when Urgot is dead
Fixed an issue where chargeable abilities (ex. Varus' Q - Piercing Arrow could sometimes become unable to be cast, causing champions to sit through the entire charge window until the ability fizzled
Restored Festival Queen Anivia's SFX on her joke, taunt, dance, laugh, idle, and death animations
Restored Gun Goddess Miss Fortune's SFX on her death, homeguard, and recall animations
Turning off the "Show Loss of Control UI" toggle now properly keeps the option disabled across matches

Upcoming Skins & Chromas

The following skins will be released this patch. Grab the League Displays app for full-res splash art!

Papercraft Anivia

Papercraft Nunu & Willump

The following chromas will be released this patch:

Papercraft Anivia

Papercraft Nunu & Willump

Points of Interest from the 9.4 PBE Cycle

Here's a brief look at many of the new things included in patch 9.4. This coverage includes preview screen shots and video taken during the 9.4 PBE cycle and may vary slightly from what is pushed to live.

Champion Skins

Two skins will be available this cycle - Papercraft Anivia and Papercraft Nunu & Willump:

Papercraft Anivia

1350 RP

At the tallest paper mountain in the whole paper world, Nunu and Willump found a great paper phoenix. "You cannot go to the top of the mountain," said the phoenix, "or your mother will be very angry." So Nunu and Willump thought and thought, but they couldn't find any way to get past...

Papercraft Nunu & Willump

1350 RP

Papercraft Nunu & Willump
One day, Nunu awoke to a world made entirely of paper, with his mother nowhere to be seen. He took a square off the wall, folded it into a wild Willump, and said "Now we will go find mom!" Willump agreed, and the two embarked upon a grand adventure...