League of Legends Steemit News - PATCH 7.14 NOTES - Champions

Salutations, Summoners,

Welcome to patch 7.14. This patch drops a lot of names we haven’t heard in a while, from Singed to Garen to Diana to… well at this point, we’re just rattling off the table of contents in random order. Many of these champions have been sitting in obscurity for a while, and we’re happy to dust them off.

We’ve got some shake-ups on the item front as well. The Thornmail update gives tanky champs access to Grievous Wounds, with Bramble Vest as a stepping stone component along the lines of Hexdrinker, QSS, and other “I build into a bigger version of myself” items. We’ve also taken the lethality items into the shop to ensure they’re offering assassins meaningful, satisfying choices.

And finally, we'd be remiss not to mention the shadow lurking on the horizon. Keep an eye out for Kayn, not that it'll matter once he steps out from the wall behind you.

Nothing personal, kid.

Champions

Kayn, the Shadow Reaper will be unleashed on the Rift later during patch 7.14.

Alistar

Damage reduction on R increased.
Alistar has always needed to get up close and personal, but these days he has to stay there a bit longer to access the full extent of his crowd control. As a result, the Minotaur needs to be a bit tankier when he commits to a fight.
R - Unbreakable Will
DAMAGE REDUCTION50/60/70% ⇒ 55/65/75%
NEWCLARITYNow displays how much damage Unbreakable Will is mitigating per damage instance (visible only to Alistar and his attacker)

Caitlyn

Attack speed per level down.
Our goals today are the same as patch 7.11: we’re continuing to trim strengths aside from Caitlyn’s primary contributions (smart trap placement and juicy Headshots). Our previous changes to reduce the Sheriff’s sustained damage in the late game didn’t go far enough in this direction so we’re continuing along the path.
Base stats
ATTACK SPEED GROWTH4% ⇒ 2%

Cho'Gath

E now only applies to next three attacks, but does significantly more damage. Q mana cost down. W silence duration up at earlier ranks.
In theory, Vorpal Spikes is a lot of consistent power for a melee character. In practice, Cho’Gath’s low mobility makes it a struggle to land more than a few attacks on any moving target. We’re windowing Vorpal Spikes so Cho’Gath only needs to land a few attacks to get the full value, and adding a slow to the ability to give him a better shot at doing so.

UPDATEDE - Vorpal Spikes
Cho’Gath’s next 3 basic attacks launch spikes that damage and slow all targets hit.
NEWCOOLDOWN8/7/6/5/4 seconds
NEWCOST30 mana
BASE DAMAGE20/35/50/65/80 (+0.3 ability power) (unchanged)
NEWMAX HEALTH DAMAGE4% target’s maximum health (+0.5% per Feast stack)
NEWDECAYING SLOW30/35/40/45/50%, decaying over 1.5 seconds
NEWSET AND SPIKENow grants 50 extra basic attack range
NEWSPEEDY SPIKESNow resets Cho’Gath’s basic attack timer
BUGFIXNow correctly applies Hunter’s Talisman’s health drain
Q - Rupture
DAMAGE80/135/190/245/305 ⇒ 80/135/190/245/300
COST90 mana ⇒ 60 mana
W - Feral Scream
SILENCE DURATION1.5/1.625/1.75/1.875/2 seconds ⇒1.6/1.7/1.8/1.9/2 seconds

Diana

Passive’s attack speed now procs off spellcasts and increases with E rank. Passive attack now restores mana. Q cooldown reduced at early levels. W mana cost reduced at early levels.
Diana’s a champion with fractured identities, sitting somewhere in the middle of assassin and diver, laner and jungler. While this multifaceted nature works for some champions, we’ve seen what happens when an assassin gets to be tanky, or when a diver gets to blow people up. This makes Diana difficult to tune on a patch-by-patch basis, since we can’t responsibly balance Diana around a single identity without first giving her the tools to succeed in that role. (Read: she needs an update.)

In the meantime, it’s plain to see Diana simply isn’t fitting in anywhere. We’re tackling two aspects of Diana that hold true regardless of playstyle by alleviating some of her mana problems and better rewarding Diana for playing into her spellcaster/basic-attacker playstyle - the dual nature we’re happy to support.
Passive - Moonsilver Blade
ATTACK SPEEDPassively grants 20% attack speed ⇒ Diana’s spellcasts grant 20% attack speed for her next 3 attacks, increasing with Moonfall’s rank
NEWMANA RESTOREMoonsilver Blade’s attack restores mana equal to 15% of Diana’s ability power
Q - Crescent Strike
COOLDOWN10/9/8/7/6 seconds ⇒ 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 seconds
W - Pale Cascade
COST60/70/80/90/100 mana ⇒ 40/55/70/85/100 mana
E - Moonfall
NEWATTACK SPEEDIncreases Moonsilver Blade’s attack speed bonus to 50/60/70/80/90%

Fiora

Passive’s movement speed down. R no longer grants Duelist’s Dance’s movement speed when near the target.
Playing around Vitals gives Fiora a lot of power, but her opponents are at too much of a disadvantage to stop her from doing so. When Fiora’s striking lone Vitals, the movement speed Duelist’s Dance provides often lets her escape retaliation. When Fiora goes all-in with her ultimate, the movement speed she gets allows her too much leeway to out-maneuver her opponent even before hitting any Vitals at all. In both cases, Fiora’s movement speed rewards need to be toned down so opponents have a fair chance to win the game of footsies.
Passive - Duelist's Dance
BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED20/30/40/50% ⇒ 15/20/25/30%
R - Grand Challenge
REMOVEDDANCE FLOORGrand Challenge no longer grants Duelist’s Dance’s movement speed while near the target

Garen

Passive modernization (and buff). W now grants damage reduction and tenacity briefly after activation, E AD ratio per spin up.
Garen provides his opponents with a healthy amount of counterplay as his opponents learn to kite. This leaves Garen with not that much skill expression of his own, making the “skill” in “skill matchup” pretty one-sided. We’re giving Courage a skill check to make Garen a little less straightforward, letting the beastliest Garens flex their muscles and show off. While we were on Garen, we took this opportunity to modernize his passive by shifting it from a 3-tier model to one that transforms once around the end of laning phase.

All in all, we still think there’s more that can be done to make Garen more compelling in the future, so take these changes as the start of a larger Garen conversation.
Passive - Perseverance
OUT OF COMBAT HEALTH REGEN2%/4%/10% maximum health per 5 seconds (at levels 1/11/16) ⇒ 2%/8% maximum health per 5 seconds (at levels 1/11)
OUT OF COMBAT TIMER9/6/4 seconds (at levels 1/11/16) ⇒ 9/4 seconds (at levels 1/11)
NEWDEMACIAN BOLDNESSRegeneration increases to 4/16% maximum health per 5 seconds when Garen is below 25/50% maximum health (at levels 1/11)
W - Courage
NEWCLARITYNow displays how much damage Courage is mitigating
NEWSTEEL YOUR COURAGENow grants Garen 60% damage reduction and tenacity for the first 0.75 seconds, returning to the normal 30% damage reduction for the remaining duration thereafter
E - Judgment
RATIO PER SPIN34/35/36/37/38% total attack damage ⇒36/37/38/39/40% total attack damage

Rammus

Self-slow on W decreased in intensity.
Defensive Ball Curl’s self-slow is proving a bit too painful for Rammus players, so we’re tuning it less aggressively. Plus, with this patch’s Thornmail update having less synergy with the Armordillo’s passive (less armor and less armor scaling on the new Thornmail), the Armordillo could use a buff anyway.
W - Defensive Ball Curl
SELF SLOW60% ⇒ 30%
BUGFIXDefensive Ball Curl now properly increases the size of Iceborn Gauntlet’s slow zone

Singed

New passive grants movement speed when passing by other champions. Base and scaling health increased. Q base damage down, AP scaling up. W now grounds enemies within it.
Singed isn’t on our VGU list for the near future, so we wanted to find opportunities to bring Singed’s existing abilities into 2017. The big issues we wanted to address: his build inflexibility and his struggles against slippery champions.

Empowered Bulwark meant that Singed relied on mana items for efficient durability. Instead, we’re giving him higher base durability and letting him itemize more freely. His new passive ensures Singed has the stickiness and closing power a growing melee champion needs.

While Noxious Slipstream should assist him in getting to opponents, Singed is still harshly countered by slippery champions. Mega Adhesive grounding those standing within it should give Singed more of a chance to get to those champions.

Finally, we’re shifting Poison Trail’s damage from base values into scaling so Singed can feel good about building damage when snowballing, rather than always feeling best about Righteous Glory.
Base stats
BASE HEALTH542.76 ⇒ 610
HEALTH GROWTH82 ⇒ 90
NEWPassive - Noxious Slipstream
NAMEEmpowered Bulwark ⇒ Noxious Slipstream
NEWNOXIOUS SLIPSTREAMWhen Singed passes within 225 range of a champion, he drifts off of them, gaining 20% bonus movement speed for 2 seconds. This effect has a champion-unique 10 second cooldown.
REMOVEDEMPOWERED BULWARKSinged no longer gains health based on his maximum mana
Q - Poison Trail
BASE DAMAGE44/68/92/116/140 ⇒ 40/60/80/100/120
RATIO0.6 ability power ⇒ 0.8 ability power
UPDATEDMORE CLOUDYParticle size increased to more clearly represent the poison’s area of effect
BUGFIXPoison trail no longer visually disappears when Singed leaves enemies’ vision
W - Mega Adhesive
AREA DURATION5 seconds ⇒ 3 seconds
NEWEXTRA STICKYNow grounds units within the Mega Adhesive puddle
SLOW35/45/55/65/75% ⇒ 40% at all ranks
REMOVEDLINGERMega Adhesive’s slow no longer lingers for 1 second after enemies leave the puddle
COST70/80/90/100/110 mana ⇒ 60/70/80/90/100 mana
COOLDOWN14 seconds at all ranks ⇒ 17/16/15/14/13 seconds
E - Fling
COST100/110/120/130/140 mana ⇒ 80/95/110/125/140 mana
R - Insanity Potion
COST150 mana ⇒ 100 mana
BONUS STATS35/50/80 ⇒ 35/60/85

Taric

Mana regen increased at early levels. Q heals more; charge model updated. E cooldowns higher early; lower later. E deals more damage and stuns for the same duration at all ranks.
While Taric’s ult makes him one of the best supports in the late game, the penalty he’s paying in the early game is currently too steep. Starlight’s Touch is lackluster at early ranks, but prioritizing it can feel like a trap since its mana cost shoots through the roof for the 10-healing-per-charge each rank provides. While the core concept of Starlight’s Touch remains the same, we’re updating most of the details to make it a much more satisfying part of Taric’s kit.

We’re also upping Dazzle’s payoff. It’s a fairly difficult ability to land, and for how vulnerable Taric becomes when Dazzle misses, he deserves to win trades a bit more convincingly when it connects.
Base stats
MANA REGEN5 per 5 seconds ⇒ 8.5 per 5 seconds
MANA REGEN GROWTH1 ⇒ 0.8
Q - Starlight's Touch
HEALING PER CHARGE20/30/40/50/60 (+0.2 ability power) (+1.5% Taric’s bonus health) ⇒ 30 (+0.2 ability power)(+1% Taric’s maximumhealth)
MAX CHARGES3 at all ranks ⇒ 1/2/3/4/5
COST60/80/100/120/140 mana ⇒ 70/80/90/100/110 mana
NEWCOOLDOWN3 seconds
RECHARGE RATE15 seconds (unchanged)
UPDATEDBRAVADOBravado-empowered attacks reduce Starlight’s Touch’s recharge timer by an additional 5 seconds ⇒ reduce Starlight’s Touch’s cooldown by 1 second and instantly grant a charge
E - Dazzle
DAMAGE60/105/150/195/240 ⇒ 100/145/190/235/280
COOLDOWN15 seconds at all ranks ⇒ 17/16/15/14/13 seconds
STUN DURATION1/1.125/1.25/1.375/1.5 seconds ⇒ 1.25 seconds at all ranks

Yorick

Mist Walker base damage down early game. Maiden of the Mists health up late game. Mist Walkers more responsive, graves more consistent.
Yorick does quite well in the early game, but the Shepherd of Souls falls off pretty hard as the game goes on. We want to support his mid-to-late-game split pushing fantasy, so we’re giving the Maiden more late-game durability and a lower cooldown to increase her uptime.
Passive - Shepherd of Souls
NEWMIST JUMPERSMist Walkers now attack immediately upon landing from the E Jump
MIST WALKER BASE DAMAGE10-95 (at levels 1-18) ⇒ 2-100 (at levels 1-18)
MIST WALKER RATIO0.3 total attack damage (unchanged)
MOURNING MIST REACTION RANGE1000 ⇒ 1400
GRAVE DESPAWN RANGE1600 ⇒ 2000
R - Eulogy of the Isles
COOLDOWN160/150/140 seconds ⇒ 160/130/100 seconds
BASE HEALTH700/1500/3000 ⇒ 700/1500/4000