Patch 6.9 Notes

Tear of the Goddess

Tear of the Goddess creates an odd conflict: it’s the mage item which gives the most raw mana (attractive to champions with high mana costs), but it has to be stacked up by constantly casting spells (something champions with high mana costs can’t afford to do). As such, it tends to be picked up by champions who can spam spells, making them effectively manaless as it stacks.We’re changing Tear’s pure regen to a mana refund, opening it up to high-mana cost champions, not just a select few spammers.

Catalyst of Aeons

For some mages, the world is their 1v1. The current mana items don’t feel great for them, given how many options are aimed at passively surviving the laning phase. We’re making Catalyst the item for constant mage brawlers who want to shoot first, shoot later, and then shoot some more, allowing them to make full use of their skirmishing tendencies.

Chalice of Harmony

Chalice is the go-to pick for champions who can easily clear waves, leading to a non-interactive lane phase as they spam their skills to keep the minions fighting at a safe distance. The new Chalice is still oriented at lane sustain, but in a way that encourages taking the occasional risk. If your health dips, Chalice will switch to healing you back up, ensuring you’ve got access to whichever regen effect you need most to dig your heels in for the long haul.

As a quick point of differentiation: while the new Catalyst rewards champions while they fight, Chalice lets them stay in lane after trades, making it ideal for champions who fall on the more ‘opportunistic’ side of the spectrum.

Lost Chapter

With Morellonomicon emerging as the go-to kill pressure item (spoilers!), Forbidden Idol’s safe regen no longer belongs its build path. We’re pulling Lost Chapter out of the Black Market as a component item for champions like LeBlanc who are in lane to net early kills, offering timed bursts of massive sustain to set up a full spell rotation or two.

Fiendish Codex

When we looked at Fiendish Codex’s upgrades, we noticed one pattern: ridiculous combine costs. With more power in Fiendish Codex, players won’t have to sit on mid-tier components for so long.

Will of the Ancients

With the removal of Spell Vamp from items, Will of the Ancients is sailing into the sunset.

Rod of Ages

Rod of Ages has always offered the promise of a delayed but significant stat payout. These days, however, the identity of ‘big stat stick’ has lost meaning as items have evolved to serve more unique strategic purposes. The new Rod of Ages takes cues from Catalyst of Aeons: ride the efficiency of an early stat payoff (and a head start on your second item) to secure dominance over your enemies before they’ve built into more specialized item choices.

Morellonomicon

For the duration of their existences, Morellonomicon and Athene’s Unholy Grail have had significant overlap, sharing three stats, two component items, and the same distinction of offensive mage items with best-in-slot mana regen. While they go about defining ‘offense’ in different ways - Morellonomicon makes it easier to secure kills while Athene’s gives you the mana to go for more kills - these two items just aren’t meaningfully different from one another.

Since we’re creating a split between mana and mana regen items, we’re taking the opportunity to split Morellonomicon and Athene’s as well. Morellonomicon is fully embracing its identity as an aggressive mage item, going so far as to absorb the old ‘mana resets’ passive of its former sibling Athene’s on top of its hallmark Grievous Wounds.

Athene's Unholy Grail

Athene’s Unholy Grail has taken on a new role as a team sustain item for aggressive supports (and off-supports) like Lulu, Morgana, and Karma. These enchantresses naturally alternate between directly engaging in combat and protecting their team; Athene’s rewards them for striking an optimal balance by granting them a bit of persistent sustain that most lack.

Abyssal Scepter

In a mage-vs-mage matchup, the winner often comes down to who finishes Abyssal Scepter first. Its 30 ability power bump on completion synergizes with its magic resist reduction aura to create a huge combat advantage upon completion. If that weren’t enough, the aura also makes it much easier to push minion waves into the enemy turret, denying opponents the gold necessary to finish their own Scepter. We’re repositioning Abyssal Scepter to play up its defensive aspects, while tuning its aura to be less oppressive in lane but more relevant in the late game.

Zhonya's Hourglass

Zhonya’s Hourglass struggles to maintain two very expensive characteristics: it’s a top-tier ability power item that also boasts one of the strongest actives in the game. Historically, this duality has forced us to lock Zhonya’s behind a steep price tag or awkward build path - usually both. There are other items which offer tons of ability power, but no other item shares Zhonya’s’ active, so we’re going all-in on its identity as a defensive utility item. That decision has allowed us to drop the price of Zhonya’s to the lowest it’s ever been in League history, making it more readily available in times its stasis effect is truly needed.

Hextech Revolver

Heading into our upgraded Hextech weaponry prompts an important question: why is all the spell vamp gone?

Let’s start by comparing it to lifesteal. Thematically, lifesteal gives the feeling that you’re fighting back against death, creating tense 1 on 1 duels with uncertain outcomes. Mechanically, lifesteal says ‘I may have a small health bar but you’ve got to focus me down or I’ll regenerate to full.’ Spell vamp, while sounding similar, doesn’t quite hit the same bar. Unlike basic attacks, no two abilities are the same, which makes the stat wildly variable in value.

This means that it’s functionally impossible to make spell vamp work the way you’d expect, and it instead operates on myriad edge-cases to avoid feeling abusive and unintuitive. Cut to today’s world where it’s only used on Vladimir (whose balance is kept lock-step with the stat), it’s easy to see why it had to go.

So why buy into Hextech? Revolver (and its upgrades) are all about benefitting the mid-range mages that have to scrap to survive. Like Catalyst for sustain or Tear for becoming a late-game monster, Revolver represents a commitment to securing advantages through combat. While everyone’s waiting to power-up, Hextech provides the power spike you need to get the snowball rolling.

Hextech GLP-800

While back-line artillery or shield-heavy utility mages can load up on ability power in whatever combination to get by (thanks to range or mitigation), mages that get up close and personal are forced to buy whatever will give them the stats to survive combat. Following in Revolver’s footsteps, Hextech remedies this situation by saying ‘If you have to be in the middle of a fight, you should have the extra firepower to customize how your encounters play out’.

Enter the GLP-800. Targeted at CC-heavy mages that like to skirmish, GLP provides an extra spell cooldown and source of damage that allows you more in-fight flexibility. Need to peel an ally from a pesky diver? GLP’s got that. Worried you can’t land your combo? GLP can let you hit-confirm your CC and lock opponents down for good. You can even waveclear with it in a pinch! Whatever your particular in-fight need is, the GLP-800’s got your back to enable the beefier mages out there with the tools to get the job done.

Hextech Protobelt-01

Where the GLP-800 is all about controlling distance via CC, the Hextech Protobelt’s all about picking the right moment for a daring maneuver. Whether you’re extending the effective range of a Flash Tibbers stun or dodging a crucial skillshot, Protobelt improves playmaking potential for those quick-witted enough to use its active. It’s not all sunshine and dash-extensions however; Hextech’s actives all share a cooldown, and Protobelt’s the least efficient in a six-item build. This means you’ll need to make every Fire Bolt count, and hopefully close out the game before it becomes obsolete.

Hextech Gunblade

We’ll square with you - Gunblade hasn’t changed much. Its ‘Omni-Vamp’ passive sidesteps a lot of spell-vamp’s issues, proving effective on a wide range of mixed-damage champions. Instead of rocking the boat, we tied it to a lightning mechanic (and made the active match) so it plays nice with the other Hextech upgrades. If you’re looking for pure, hybrid offense - look no further.

Azir

The flashy playmaking nature of Azir's ult befits his status as ruler of an empire, but Emperor's Divide becomes oppressive when it pins enemies against terrain for 5+ seconds. We're removing the abuse case to keep Azir honest.

R - Emperor's Divide

Illaoi

Despite being Illaoi’s most interesting ability, Test of Spirit mostly ends up testing the patience of those involved. Being tested forces a tough choice onto Illaoi’s opponents, telling them fight or suffer the consequences. This choice is usually a trap - fighting Illaoi in close quarters is a death sentence given her massive area damage. Escaping the zone means slogging through waves of tentacles, which isn’t much better most of the time.

On Illaoi’s side, turning someone into a vessel is really only a consideration for the laning phase. Once you’re testing spirits in teamfights, the minute-long debuff rarely matters. We want allparticipants of the Test to feel like they’re getting a fair shake, so we’re shifting around some mechanics to compress what it means to be a vessel. Illaoi gets to pressure opponents in a way that’s meaningful in teamfights (her forte), but her victims don’t have to deal with her lectures for an eternity.

Passive - Prophet of an Elder God

E - Test of Spirit

Kindred

Let’s call a wolf a wolf - Kindred’s early game is out of line. We want Kindred to be able to pressure the map (especially through expert control of their Marks), but invading top-tier duelists with impunity is pushing it. We’re adjusting their clearing ability to stay roughly the same, but Kindred will need to pick their battles a little more carefully if they want to start scaling out of control.

Q - Dance of Arrows

W - Wolf's Frenzy

Nidalee

While we’re on the subject, you can’t mention powerful early game junglers without mentioning the Bestial Huntress herself. Another outlier, we’re taking a crack at Nidalee’s early kill pressure while ensuring she has the bite she needs for her risky late-game assassination plays.

Q - Takedown

Rengar

These are mostly bugfixes, with the exception of Bola Strike. Previously, Bola Strike would always try to fire at the location Rengar targeted once its cast delay completed. When targeting distant points, Rengar's movement (ex. a jump strike out of ult) during Bola Strike's short cast time wouldn't change much. When targeting a nearby spot, however, Rengar could suddenly end up in front of the target location he had previously been behind. Bola Strike would then fire in the complete opposite direction it was cast. We're changing Bola Strike's targeting system to fix that unreliability.

Passive - Unseen Predator

Q - Savagery

E - Bola Strike

R - Thrill of the Hunt

Soraka

Soraka’s changes are all about injecting more risk when she wades into the fray to provide assistance. For a champion that already pumps out amazing heals, the strength of Soraka’s kiting doubles up on denying any sort of aggression that comes her way. By cutting down on Starcall’s over-the-top protective tools, Soraka becomes less of a one-stop-shop for protection without losing the healing potential she’s picked for.

Lastly, a quick note on Rejuvenation’s on interaction with Windspeaker’s Blessing. Windspeaker’s was made in a world without any healing over time effects - and as such, wasn’t really balanced around high uptimes. Enter Soraka’s Rejuvenation mechanic back in 6.5 and now she’s tossing around 6-8 second armor and magic resist buffs off of a single spellcast. It’s possible that we revisit this mechanic and work on clearly defined rules about how HoT’s (and other heals) should interact with Windspeakers, but for now we’re not comfortable with the amount of strength it’s adding to a single champion.

Q - Starcall

Taric

An old champion with a new coat of gems, Taric’s tearing up the battlefield while keeping his teammates spotless. A protector in the truest sense, the issue of Taric’s current power level isn’t how well he saves his allies - but rather the considerable range at which he’s able to influence the fight. This doesn’t come up much in lane (as Taric’s usually next to his bastion-buddy), but once ganks and teamfights start entering the picture things get messy. We’re trimming Taric’s excess power and focusing him around being the dependable shield you carrywith youto a fight, committing him to stick close to his team if he wants to have the same impact.

General

W - Bastion

E - Dazzle

Teemo

Alright. We know people are going to come into this section thinking ‘Why buff Teemo?’, but let’s be honest with ourselves. While Teemo’s always been a serviceable laner, the Swift Scout has been on the weaker side of the spectrum for a long while. The root causes are many, but we’re targeting two: Teemo’s awkward mana usage, and his inability to set up the mushroom fields he’s known for.

Getting into specifics, Teemo players find themselves opting into sometimes ranking up W - Move Quick not because it’s particularly good, but so the costs of his other spells don’t go through the roof. Similarly, a Teemo that’s behind is pressured against laying traps due to their high cost and cooldown, making them lackluster when the enemy team’s already gaining control of the map. Releasing the mana pressures across Teemo’s kit allows him to spend more time thinking critically about when and where to use his abilities.

Passive - Camouflage

Q - Blinding Dart

R - Noxious Trap

Zac

Most tanks have been excited to jump into the fray in 2016, but Zac’s been unexpectedly absent. Zac’s already best-in-class when it comes to getting into sticky situations, but Cell Divison shifts dramatically from an early-game boon to a limp extended late-game death. Considering long-range initiation is kind of Zac’s thing, the fact that he tends to land in risky situations shouldn’t feel as punishing as it does later on. We’re tweaking the Secret Weapon’s specs to help him maneuver the backlines and to give him a fighting chance of bouncing back into action (should his team provide the necessary assistance).

General

Passive - Cell Division

Enchantment: Devourer

For years we’ve tried to provide junglers an item that helps them burn through the jungle, but despite multiple seasons of iteration we’ve failed to find an incarnation of ‘stacking jungle rewards’ that wasn’t problematic. While Devourer is an incremental improvement over past incarnations (shout-outs to those who remember Feral Flare’s insane healing and vision control), the primary problem with ‘farming junglers’ is that you don’t see them for half the game. Junglers are an integral part of how teams in League operate, and incentivizing them to AFK for the 15 minutes is too high a cost to be healthy long-term. We still want to support junglers that like high attack speed and on-hit builds, but this isn’t the way to do it.

Enchantment: Bloodrazor

Bloodrazor’s back from its years of traveling the world to be the jungle item we deserve. Attack speed junglers break down into different audiences, and Bloodrazor caters to both. Tankier on-hit champions (like Shyvana and Warwick) will find it an appropriate centerpiece to their natural synergies, while Kindred and Master Yi can pair it with Blade of the Ruined King and armor penetration for scaling builds.

The removal of Devourer and the inclusion of Bloodrazor means that junglers will feel better about jumping directly into battle after finishing their item rather than waiting for it to power up. There will always be junglers who prioritize farming, and there will always be junglers that will rarely gank your lane - the key is that these decisions will be up to the player and their champion’s kits, not forced by the items they buy into.

Guinsoo's Rageblade

We couldn’t have a section with Devourer without addressing Guinsoo’s Rageblade as well. Rageblade’s a controversial item on live, but we’re convinced it feels far more overbearing than it actually is. Its power blooms specifically in the hands of basic-attack focused champions looking to snowball a lead, versus being generically too powerful. Even when it’s played on other champions (shout-outs to Tristana), it’s to fill a specific early-game niche.

That said, a large part of Guinsoo’s balance depends on it being kept behind a few really unsatisfying barriers. For instance, it has the worst build path in the game - creating a low point of power as you struggle to accumulate its exorbitant combine cost. On the flip side, finishing Rageblade spikes you far harder than most items at that price point, creating a race to keep Rageblade users down before they can become relevant. When the correct play against Rageblade is ‘snowball incredibly hard or lose,’ we can do better.

Our solution is to upgrade Guinsoo’s into a top-tier endgame item for the champions who value hybrid stats and on-hit builds. This allows for a more steady progression of power, as well as allowing us to put the much-coveted ‘Phantom Hit’ passive within arm’s reach of non-junglers. We’ll let you think of some of the more powerful combos (Aatrox?), but rewarding champions with access to top-shelf on-hit insanity once they’ve committed to combat feels like an appropriate gate for skirmishers and divers alike.

The Black Cleaver

For those keeping up with recent top lane trends, builds have skewed toward the tankier end for the majority of 2016. Black Cleaver is a natural ‘release valve’ to help counter these champions, providing necessary shred and sticking power to run down even the beefiest defenders. When we noticed that its primary users (Renekton, Gnar, Riven to name a few) weren’t in the best spot performance wise, it made sense to bring the item that binds them together down to the price-points of other important powerspikes.

Spectre's Cowl

After reshaping and reinforcing the equipment mages have at their disposal, it stands to reason that we’d bolster the options to defend against them as well. Maw and Abyssal Scepter are solid purchases for the damage-minded, but the marquee tank options of the magic resist family need some work.

All of that begins with Spectre’s Cowl. Funnily enough, Cowl actually has the opposite problem of its upgrades - it’s too efficient for its cost, to the point that tanks are often happy leaving it un-upgraded far into the game. We want them to feel good about sitting on Cowl in lane, but tinkering with its efficiency should pressure tanks into spending more gold to get their desired magical defenses.

Banshee's Veil

Banshee’s Veil offers an entirely unique effect in the item lineup, but its similar price-point and statline to Spirit Visage do more harm than good for BV’s chances of actually being purchased. Normally too expensive compared to its cousin, we’re shrinking Veil to be the earlier buy that guards against a burst mage gone wild, with an accordingly slimmer stat line. This makes it less effective in a full item build if you’re aiming for pure defense, but more accessible for those in need of a spell shield on a budget.

Spirit Visage

On the other side of the Spectre’s Cowl, Spirit Visage is a popular pick-up that’s purchased for its pure protective stats. To differentiate it from Veil’s more immediate benefits, we’re pushing Spirit Visage to more comfortably fit within final builds by emphasizing its synergies with other tank items (like Warmog’s).

Guardian Angel

Despite our changes in 6.5, Guardian Angel’s still not pulling its weight as a reactionary defensive buy. Putting it on sale at the cost of a bit of mitigation helps cement GA as the go-to item when looking for life insurance against physical divers and assassins.

Bami's Cinder

Compared to Giant’s Belt, Bami’s Cinder provides everything you want and more out of a defensive component. Given that it’s already got the offensive edge, we’re pulling back on Cinder’s efficiency so it’s not always a no-brainer.

Sunfire Cape

Similar to Bami’s Cinder, Sunfire’s efficient stats and hybrid offense/defense means it’s just the best early buy in most cases. Nudging it back to the price point of the other big Health/Armor makes it easier to pick the one for the right situation, not just whichever’s the cheapest.

Enchantment: Cinderhulk

For an item meant to help tanks scale into the lategame, Cinderhulk’s been all but forgotten next to the shiny base damage of Runic Echoes. With Cinderhulk’s intended role as an investment toward a tank’s endgame statline, it didn’t make much sense for it to end up weaker than Sunfire Cape’s aura (considering they don’t stack). We’re fixing things to break even with old Cinderhulk at level 6, around when most junglers are completing it anyways.

Vision Ward

Yes, this is technically a Jhin buff.

With their rise in popularity (ever since Stealth Wards sold out), the prevalence of Vision Wards has highlighted how cumbersome it is to clear them out. In keeping with the themes of Midseason, we’re easing the burden of cutting down successive pinks while making them more valuable to defend. Vision Wards have always been a mini-objective, so now we’re formalizing it.

Farsight Alteration

When it comes to diversity of Trinkets, Farsight’s been on top of the vision-throne for long while. Come mid-game, stacking Farsight trinkets changes the vision game drastically - rendering certain strategies revolving around making picks or ambushing virtually obsolete. We’re happy that Farsight’s more flexible in a wider number of vision-control strategies, we’re just adjusting so it’s not also crowding out the space entirely.

Righteous Glory

In its current incarnation, Righteous Glory presents us with a few balancing troubles. When it’s too strong, it replaces traditional initiation and warps the environment to be ‘who are the best carriers of Righteous Glory and why aren’t you playing them?’ We’re removing that consideration altogether and really pushing its synergies with individual champions. It’ll be easier than ever for Righteous Glory users to run down fleeing targets, but they'll need more clever coordination than just ‘run as 5 in a straight line’ to start off a chaotic brawl.

Warmog's Armor

Despite its game-changing out-of-combat regeneration, Warmog’s Armor struggles to find a spot in builds for tanks and juggernauts alike. It’s not that the item’s subpar, but it simply doesn’t fit what most champions in these classes really need out of a gold investment. Tossing in a Kindlegem should help Warmog’s feel comparable to say, Spirit Visage when planning out your needs in a 6-item build.

Arcane Sweeper

It’s a creepy eyeball. Was this ever really hextech to begin with?