Surrender at 20

Patch 6.18 Notes


Patch 6.18 is on the way and the official patch notes have been posted!
Continue reading for the complete notes, including a look at the Yorick champion update, new cooking skins and Championship Zed, tons of balance changes, and more!

Here's the full 6.18 patch notes with an introduction from Scarizard and friends:
Greetings, Summoners.

Welcome to Patch 6.18, the one that Worlds will be played on. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a year since our last clash of fates, but we’re hard at work putting the finishing touches on the balance state to give teams an ideal environment to rise to the occasion. 

Speaking of that balance state - as you can guess, the majority of these changes are aimed at professional play. Given how teams are adapting to the resurgence of standard lanes, we’re committed to tossing love to some old favorites (MF, Lux) and taking down some powerhouses (Vladimir, Gnar) in order to give folks the wiggle room necessary to experiment. While the ‘worlds meta’ usually shakes out over the course of the tournament itself, we feel it’s important to give teams options - and so a lot of our work and goals from 6.17 carry over here.

Pros aren’t the only ones having fun - after years of being forgotten, Yorick Mori’s been remembered in an all-new update looking to spook the flesh right off your bones. Sporting a new entourage of brain-hungry undead minions and a very complicated relationship with the concept of death, Yorick’s ready to shamble his way into a side-lane near you and get to shoveling some fools. When we said pros aren’t the only ones having fun, we meant it - Yorick’s disabled for Worlds on account of being fresh-off-the-press. I’m sure he’ll be okay.

And that’s all for us! Patches are looking to be a bit quieter from here on out as we put the finishing touches on Preseason - but we’ll still be back with a couple more rounds of exciting changes (and exciting bugfixes!) before the insanity of 2017 approaches.

So sit back, relax, and get ready to watch the world’s best beat the living sh*t out of one another to prove who’s the best. We’ll be kicking it with our buddy Yorick (pass the brains).

Good luck, have fun.
 Patrick "Scarizard" Scarborough Paul "Aether" Perscheid Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman

Champions

Yorick

Yorick, the Shepherd of Lost Souls, will be updated with the launch of patch 6.18! To learn more, check the following links:

Ashe

W cooldown increased.
Ashe’s Volley cooldown was originally tailored for a world where Marksmen didn’t have much access to cooldown reduction. We’re no longer in that world - Essence Reaver has worked its way into Ashe’s preferred itemization. Volley’s cooldown has become problematically low, even for an ability designed to have a low cooldown in the mid/late-game.

W - Volley

COOLDOWN12/10/8/6/4 seconds ⇒ 15/12.5/10/7.5/5 seconds

Aurelion Sol

Visual bugfix for Aurelion’s stars.

Passive - Center of the Universe

BUGFIXFixed a bug where, upon gaining vision of Aurelion Sol, his passive stars could briefly appear at his last known location

Ekko

Base AD down.
While Ekko’s not exactly up to the same ‘pure defense’ shenanigans from earlier this season, the Boy Who Shattered Ranked is just as effective as before when it comes to sticking on targets and training them down. Ekko’s supposed to lean on his mobility to dart in and out of combat while whittling opponents down. However, his raw effectiveness when standing toe-to-toe with opponents means he’s comfy just wailing on his targets and only using his mobility if he needs to escape. In the interest of keeping Ekko’s trading windows short and sweet, we’re hitting his basic attacks and Sheen scaling to enforce the notion that smart spellcasting is how Ekko should get the upper-hand.

General

BASE ATTACK DAMAGE59 ⇒ 55

Gnar

W damage down. E cooldown up.
With professional play’s return to standard lanes, we’re upping our vigilance when it comes to dealing with powerful lane bullies. As for the current toplane metagame, that means Gnar. Known for preying on tanks unable to race Hyper’s damage output, Gnar’s a little too effective at shutting down almost all forms of aggression - not just the really durable kind. We’re hitting his baseline effectiveness with respects to trading and gank-avoidance to open up the kinds of aggressive picks and pressure that should be key in punishing Gnar’s temper tantrums.

W - Hyper

BASE DAMAGE15/25/35/45/55 ⇒ 10/20/30/40/50

E - Hop / Crunch

COOLDOWN18/16.5/15/13.5/12 ⇒ 22/19.5/17/14.5/12

Lee Sin

W2's lifesteal and spell vamp increased.
One of the jungle's flashiest all-stars, Lee Sin's become a rare sight in the professional scene as of late. Like we mentioned with Gragas and Rek'Sai last patch, teams are optimizing around early-game pressure harder than ever - meaning the healthier you are, the more valuable you'll be. This means that although Lee Sin is still one of the strongest champions when you want to gank lanes, falling behind other premier junglers ever-so-slightly in health could mean all the difference when a fight breaks out. We're nudging Lee's sustain up a notch to keep him healthier in those crucial early levels.

W - Iron Will

LIFESTEAL AND SPELL VAMP5/10/15/20/25% ⇒ 10/15/20/25/30%

Lissandra

Health per level down.
Lissandra’s ult is perhaps the strongest defensive ability among any of our burst mages, giving her the ability to make aggressive plays and live to tell the tale. However, her innate tankiness is also outclassing other burst mages, making her choice too easy: ult an enemy because she’s probably going to live anyway. If Lissandra expects to live through dangerous situations, she should need to ult herself or itemize defensively. Either way, we’re reducing the durability she gets just for existing.

General

HEALTH GROWTH STAT84 ⇒ 75

Lulu

Glitterlance slow now lasts the intended duration.
In Patch 6.13, we made a few changes to Lulu, including increasing Glitterlance’s slow at lower levels. That slow increase was not in effect, so we’re updating Glitterlance with our previous intent.

Q - Glitterlance

BUGFIXSlow duration now lasts the intended 2 seconds at all ranks, rather than 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds

Lux

E’s slow increased.
Compared to her game-ending burst combos, Lux is weakest while charging her lasers early on. While we’re happy with her power curve overall, we’re aiming to toss some love where to help enforce the non-damaging parts of Lux’s identity - namely, her strong kiting. While we’re going light on the changes, the added bit of disruption on her earliest rank-up should see the Lady of Luminosity able to secure more getaways from anyone looking to knock her lights out.

E - Lucent Singularity

SLOW20/24/28/32/36% ⇒ 25/30/35/40/45%

Miss Fortune

Passive does full damage to turrets.
Miss Fortune’s doing great at the things she’s designed to do: bully opponents in lane and melt teamfights with Bullet Time. Unfortunately, she isn’t passing muster on one of the marksman class’s main jobs: damage to turrets. (We addressed the same issue with Vayne a few patches back.) While demolition isn’t meant to be one of MF’s strengths, it’s not meant to be a liability, either. Upping her reward for landing a shot on a turret brings her more in line with the expectations of her class.

Passive - Love Tap

DAMAGE TO TURRETS50% ⇒ 100%
UNREQUITED LOVE TAPFixed a bug where Miss Fortune’s next basic attack would sometimes not activate Love Tap after casting Double Up (particularly at higher attack speeds)

Nocturne

E terrify duration increased.
Nocturne is League’s spookiest diver, slicing up opponents as they flee in literal terror. He’s currently seeing a bit less success than we’d like, particularly in the early-to-mid-game skirmishes he’s meant to thrive in. Upping the payoff on Unspeakable Horror will give the Eternal Nightmare a bit more time to prey upon his victims.

E - Unspeakable Horror

TERRIFY DURATION1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds ⇒ 1.25/1.5/1.75/2/2.25 seconds

Rek'Sai

Base armor and armor per level down.
When Rek’Sai was released, we positioned her as a member of the Fighter class: a durable, damage-focused melee champion that wants to hunt down prey and finish it off herself. In the months following release, however, our balance work on Rek’Sai de-emphasized her damage threat in favor of her team utility strengths. Her optimal playstyle settled into the Vanguard (offensive tank) space, and that identity mismatch has caused a lot of player frustration. So, when Rek’Sai’s competitive dominance put her on the balance radar, we resolved not to make the same mistake twice.

Overall, fixing Rek’Sai’s role requires more than being cognizant of where to cut power, and we won’t promise that this’ll be the last time Rek’Sai visits the patch notes. That said, pushing her back toward kill-or-be-killed skirmishes is the first step in the process.

General

BASE ARMOR28.3 ⇒ 24
ARMOR GROWTH STAT3.75 ⇒ 3.4

Ryze

Realm Warp’s rank 1 tooltip and indicator have been fixed.
While we could have documented this with the other bugfixes at the bottom of the patch notes, the truth is that with a busted range indicator, most players probably haven’t been taking advantage of Realm Warp’s increased range. In other words, this bugfix might create more impact than the actual buff last patch. Hence, full-fledged patch notes.

R - Realm Warp

BUGFIXRealm Warp's tooltip and range indicator have been updated to match last patch’s cast range increase (now 1750 at rank 1)

Shen

Passive shield and Q damage decreased.
Shen’s global presence should come at a tradeoff: when he teleports to defend his allies, he’s sacrificing his own success. If his presence doesn’t turn the tide of a fight, Shen should return to lane at a disadvantage - after all, his opponent was collecting uncontested gold and experience while Shen was elsewhere. At present, however, it’s almost impossible to put Shen on the back foot due to how much dueling strength is baked into his kit. Shen will still be able to out-trade his opponents if he can purchase the damage to do so, but will no longer be as successful without offensive items.

Passive - Ki Barrier

BASE SHIELD52-120 (at levels 1-18) ⇒ 50-101 (at levels 1-18)

Q - Twilight Assault

DAMAGE3/3.5/4/4.5/5% of the target’s maximum health ⇒2/2.5/3/3.5/4% of the target's maximum health
ENHANCED DAMAGE5/5.5/6/6.5/7% of the target's maximum health ⇒4/4.5/5/5.5/6% of the target's maximum health

Taliyah

Q no longer deals bonus damage to minions. E damage down.
Taliyah’s ability to impact other lanes has established her as a premiere pick for the player who wants to win by exerting pressure in other lanes. At the moment, she’s able to push waves without much thought, letting her roam to the side lanes on a whim. We want Taliyah’s roaming to require more setup so opponents have a fair chance of forcing her to stay in lane.

Q - Threaded Volley

REMOVEDBONUS DAMAGE TO MINIONS50% ⇒ Removed

E - Unraveled Earth

DAMAGE80/105/130/155/180 ⇒ 70/90/110/130/150

Vladimir

Q’s empowered heal down. E cooldown up, but costs less.
Vladimir’s midseason update focused on creating windows of meaningful interaction between Vlad and his opponents. Higher health costs on his abilities were meant to allow opponents to punish Vladimir for careless trades, but the Crimson Reaper’s gameplay isn’t currently delivering on that promise. Even when Vladimir suffers a bad trade, he gets to waveclear as a fallback while he sustains back up. We’re reducing Vladimir’s options while on the back foot, as well as how easily he recovers from punishment.

General

BASE HP550 ⇒ 525

Q - Transfusion

CRIMSON RUSH HEALING BONUS40-240 (at levels 1-18) ⇒ 30-200 (at levels 1-18)

E - Tides of Blood

HEALTH COST TO BONUS DAMAGE CONVERSION2.5% - 10% max health, based on duration ⇒ 2.5% - 8% max health, based on duration)
COOLDOWN9/8/7/6/5 seconds ⇒ 13/11/9/7/5 seconds

Yasuo

Less attack speed per level, higher base attack speed. R’s bonus penetration only applies to crits.
Yasuo belongs to the class we’ve been calling Slayers, known informally as ‘melee carries.’ These champions (like Riven or Fiora) are nimble yet squishy duelists with the damage to slay anyone, provided they make proper use of their windowed defensive tools (like Wind Wall or Riposte) to survive. By contrast, Fighters (like Vi or Darius) can take a moderate beating as they dish out their own damage, but lack the agility of a Slayer. But what happens if a Slayer gains the tankiness of a Fighter?

Tank Yasuo happens. While lacking the explosive offense of a crit build, Tank Yasuo's damage and mobility remain above average due to his kit, while his items grant him the durability he normally lacks. We’re looking to break up the trifecta and force Yasuo to commit to just a few strengths (instead of all of them). Defensive builds will retain their stickiness, but see a sharp drop in damage. We’re happy when players adapt their styles to the needs of the game, but when Yasuo (like Ekko and Fizz before him) can cover his weaknesses without making tradeoffs, it’s not a fair experience for anyone.

General

BASE ATTACK SPEED.658 ⇒ .670
ATTACK SPEED GROWTH STAT3.2% ⇒ 2.5%

R - Last Breath

DEEP BREATHINGBonus Armor Penetration now only applies to Yasuo’s critical strikes
BUGFIXFixed a bug that allowed Yasuo to get an extra basic attack when casting Last Breath

Items

Frozen Mallet

Health increased, attack damage decreased. Now builds out of Giant’s Belt instead of Pickaxe.
Frozen Mallet’s the kind of item that often seems less effective than it is, thanks to an odd mix of stats only a select few champions really want. That said, seeing some of those performers come to light (Gnar and Tank Yasuo being at the forefront) has shown how powerful the item can be in the hands of our stickier fighters. As a result, we're shifting its statline to favor more defense than offense to align better with the item’s identity. Mallet should be a strong (if occasional) pickup for when you want to opt-in to more of a disruptive role, rather than when you want to kill your opponents faster.
BUILD PATHJaurim's Fist + Pickaxe + Ruby Crystal + 625 gold ⇒ Jaurim's Fist + Giant's Belt + 900 gold (total cost unchanged)
ATTACK DAMAGE40 ⇒ 30
HEALTH650 ⇒ 700

Relic Shield

Spoils of War passive heals for less.
As a group, tank supports have been muscling out their more fragile counterparts. We don’t think they’re too far out of balance (particularly after laning phase ends), but Relic Shield’s heal proc was covering up a bit too much of their intended vulnerability to poke in the early game.
SPOILS OF WAR HEAL20 ⇒ 15

Invulnerability HUD

Champion health bars now gain a golden border during invulnerability.
Invulnerability is one of the most impactful effects in League of Legends, but it’s sometimes hard to tell if a champion is invulnerable or not amidst the chaos of a teamfight. Absolute immunity to enemy damage is the kind of thing you should make decisions around, and given that health bars already track status effects (slows, silences, etc), invulnerability deserves to be represented as well.

Before 6.18

After 6.18

Spectator VFX Cleanup

Taking the “Worlds patch” narrative in a different direction, we’re cleaning up some of the more distracting visuals in spectator mode. For the most part, we’re not touching primary visual effects; rather, we’re taking out various indicators (such as the team-colored lines that wrap around Braum’s R - Glacial Fissure). These indicators aid in-game decision-making (ex. avoid red things), but we as spectators aren’t making those decisions. Toning these effects down makes it easier to track other information at the same time.

Ranked Decay

Challenger and Master tier players will need to play more often to defend their standings.
With the existing decay rules some high-skill players were reaching the prized top spots and then sitting on their rank. Without having to continue defending those spots, accounts stagnated - leading to lower participation at the top of the ladder, where competition and stakes should be at their highest. To improve on this, we’re adding a new set of rules for decay in Challenger and Master tier.
DEPOSIT ACCOUNTSPlayers can play to store up to 10 banked games of decay immunity
MAINTENANCE FEESEach day, 1 banked game is removed from player reserves
INACTIVITY PENALTIESStarting when the number of banked games first reaches 0, players incur 100 points of LP decay per day until they bank additional games of decay immunity
ACCESS YOUR STATEMENTS ONLINEBanked games are tracked on the Leagues tab
MEMBERS ONLYDecay rules in other tiers are unchanged

Bugfixes

  • Fixed a bug where Secret Stash wasn’t extending the duration of Refillable Potion, Hunter’s Potion, or Corrupting Potion
  • When Lee Sin’s Q - Sonic Wave target dies before Lee Sin can cast Q - Resonating Strike, it now cancels Resonating Strike’s 3-second cast window instantly rather than waiting out the remainder of the duration
  • Fixed a bug where Eye of the Equinox’s execute proc was healing nearby allies for less than the intended amount
  • Fixed a bug introduced last patch that caused all abilities to use minimap targeting
  • Kled’s health bar no longer takes forever to reappear if he dies and is revived by Zilean’s ult at the exact instant he remounts Skaarl
  • Fixed a bug where abilities requiring certain conditions to cast (ex. Morgana’s R - Soul Shackles) weren’t HUD-pingable in chat until those conditions were met
  • Trundle’s Passive - King’s Tribute heal now properly procs when Rift Herald and Rift Scuttler are killed
  • Championship Riven’s R - Wind Slash and third cast of Q - Broken Wings once again use custom blue on-hit particles, rather than the green on-hit particles of her base skin
  • PROJECT: Ashe’s R - Enchanted Crystal Arrow no longer explodes slightly earlier than Ashe’s other skins upon hitting an enemy champion
  • Smoothed out the transition between PROJECT: Zed’s emotes back to his idle animation
  • Blood Moon and SKT T1 Elise’s wispy trail particles on E - Cocoon no longer show through objects they pass behind (ex. turrets)
  • SKT T1 Kalista’s clothes no longer turn moldy during her death animation
  • Arcade Ahri’s W - Fox-Fire wisps no longer move closer and farther away from Ahri as they orbit in certain weird scenarios
  • Arcade Ahri’s tail sparkles no longer vanish when switching between graphics settings
  • The heart in Arcade Ahri’s taunt animation no longer sneakily switches back to her orb if you move the camera away and then back to Ahri
  • Un-smushed the tip of one of Arcade Ahri’s tails
  • Arcade Ahri’s right wrist is no longer of variable thickness during several of her animations
  • Sir Kled’s joke animation now loops until canceled (like base Kled), rather than stopping after one runthrough
  • Cottontail Teemo’s chromas no longer use Teemo’s base splash in the loading screen
  • The floating star on the Game On ward skin now properly shows up when enemies gain vision of a ward
  • Centered the Game On ward skin in the ambient ring particles that sit beneath all wards

Upcoming Skins


Points of Interest from the 6.18 PBE

Here's a brief look at a few of the new things included in patch 6.18 including things mentioned above in the patch notes and things discovered during the last PBE cycle! This coverage includes preview screen shots and video taken during the 6.18 PBE cycle and may vary slightly from what is pushed to live.

Yorick Champion Update

After a long wait, Yorick's champion update is available in 6.18! This is a LARGE scope champion update complete with new gameplay, visuals, updated skins, VO, and more!

Yorick, the Shepherd of Lost Souls

Check out his new champion spotlight for more on his updated kit - scaling and such available here.

Along with the new kit and look, both of Yorick's skins have been updated!

Undertaker Yorick
520 RP

Pentakill Yorick
975 RP
In addition to various new sfx and vfx added in the update, note that  Pentakill Yorick 's dance starts playing Lightbringer from the Pentakill album!

New Skins

The 6.18 PBE cycle includes a total of five new skins: Championship Zed and new cooking inspired skins for Akali, Leona, Olaf, and Pantheon.

Championship Zed

975 RP (Legacy)


A shared splash art for the upcoming  Sashimi Akali, Barbecue Leona, Baker Pantheon, and Butcher Olaf skins was also added in:
   

Sashimi Akali

750 RP


Barbecue Leona

750 RP


Baker Pantheon

975 RP


Butcher Olaf

750 RP


New Summoner Icon

A party hardy new poro summoner icon was also added this cycle. No details on release or availability yet!

Mysterious Voice Teaser

A mysterious voice has been discovered during the 6.18 PBE, including both music and several lines that reference jungle camps - Gromp, Blue Buff, and Krugs.

Here's a video of the different lines with the music in the background:
For convenience, here are the VO lines:
  • "Poor Gromp. He was a prince amongst toads. "
  • "You will be missed old friend, warts and all. "
  • "Goodbye Gromp, or as you would say, ribbit. "
  • "Hop to that lilypad in the sky, old friend. "
  • "Wait 'til you see Daisy's dance moves! 
  • "Everyone wins in a dance off."
  • "Next time, more petting and less stabbing. "
  • "A tragic end for such a noble friend."
  • "Can I cut in? Yes? No. I'll- I'll come back later. "
  • "Why kill when you can simply ask?"
  • "What a shame, he could've been a mountain. "
  • "How can anyone kill someone as cuddly as Krugs?"
  • "Farewell Krugs, I shall miss our long talks."

Here is the VO in various non-English languages:

These were all added in the MISC_Attachments_SFX_audio.bnk and MISC_Attachments_SFX_evvevnts.bnk files. There are also new several new files that start with "EE", these presumably the triggers for how to trigger the lines for Blue, Gromp, Krug, and jungle camps - including Killing camps and Dancing with blue.
SPECULATION: This seems to be in line with our usual sort of in-game teasers for new champions.

Lore Changes

Elise and Maokai have had their in-game lore entries updated in the client! Please remember these are only the short form in client entries and typically longer form bio & stories follow!

Elise


''Beauty is power too, and can strike swifter than any sword.'' 
Elise is a deadly predator who dwells in a shuttered, lightless palace, deep in the Immortal Bastion of Noxus. Once she was mortal, the mistress of a once-powerful house, but the bite of a vile spider god transformed her into something beautiful, undying, and utterly inhuman. To maintain her eternal youth, Elise preys upon the innocent, and there are few who can resist her seductions.

Maokai

''All around me are empty husks, soulless and unafraid... but I will bring them fear.'' 
Maokai is a rageful, towering treant who fights the unnatural horrors of the Shadow Isles. He was twisted into a force of vengeance after a magical cataclysm destroyed his home, surviving undeath only through the waters of life infused within his heartwood. Once a peaceful nature spirit, Maokai now furiously battles to banish the scourge of unlife from the Shadow Isles and restore his home to its former beauty


Yorick login theme

To go with his champion update in testing, an eerie Yorick login theme is now on the launcher.


Championship Riven 2016 - return details & skin updates

As mentioned above, Championship Riven (currently a limited skin) will also be returning soon, complete with updated textures and vfx touch ups! Those who purchased her way back in 2012 will also be getting a few extras to make up for the formerly limited skin returning to the shop, including a unique vintage loading screen and the in-game addition of a crown to her model and new R VFX!

The skin will now be split into two "versions" -
  • Championship Riven - "original"version of the skin for folks who previously purchased or obtained the skin, complete with extras such as in-game crown & R vfx, special loading screen, and vintage summoner icon! Will not go on sale.
  • Championship Riven 2016 - version of the skin that will be returning to the store and available for purchase for 975 RP. Does not include extras.
Below is a comparison between the Champion Riven (left) unique R glow and normal Championship Riven 2016 (right) R. Notice the sword glows brighter around the base. 

While there are two versions, both Championship Riven skins have received a texture and vfx pass on the PBE. Below is a comparison between LIVE and PBE versions of Championship Riven

Miscellaneous 

  • Arcade Ahri's splash art has been updated to include the whisker marks on her face.
[Comparison]
  • 2016 World Championship Summoner's Rift decals added!
  • Here's a few examples of the invulnerability HUD added in this patch:

Posted on

No comments

Post a Comment

Top of page Home Full site