LoL patch 14.9 rundown

LoL patch 14.9 rundown
Gamelevate.com
Michael Jeong

LoL patch 14.9 brings the start of mandatory Vanguard for all PC League of Legends players, as well as a huge round of nerfs for many champs.

This means that any LoL (and Teamfight Tactics) players will have to install and activate Vanguard if they want to play. After its initial test run in patch 14.8, patch 14.9 now brings the requirement to all LoL regions. In spite of reticence around an always-on kernel-level anti-cheat system, Riot has determined the service necessary.

Additionally, as of patch 14.9 League of Legends will no longer support DirectX 9.

In other general system changes, Lee Sin receives his ASU to update his rig, animations and audio. This includes updates to all his skins as well as his base model, with some price changes on some skins to account for new effects.

Split 1 of the ranked season also ends during this patch on May 14 at 11:59 pm, immediately rolling into Split 2 on May 15 at noon.

Finally, the LoL Arena game mode also comes back in patch 14.9, bigger and zanier than ever.

LoL patch 14.9 champion nerfs

Normally the champion changes get a combined section for buffs and nerfs. However, we feel that there are so many nerfs in this patch that they deserve a separate section.

That’s because 13 champions received nerfs this patch as part of Riot’s effort to shake up the largely stagnant metagame.

The nerfed champions are:

Ahri: her W base damage is down and her ultimate cooldown is longer
Aurelion Sol: the damage scaling on his E is lower
Blitzcrank: His passive shield duration is down to 4 seconds from 10, and his W gives less movement speed
Evelynn: The slow on her W is down to 45% from 65% and her R has slightly worse AP scaling
Jinx: Patch 14.9 makes her R cooldown longer
Kassadin: His E has worse AP scaling
Master Yi: The base bonus true damage from his E is lower
Olaf: His Q base damage is worse, in exchange for higher monster damage. His R also gives less passive resistances
Pyke: The mana cost and cooldown on his W are both increased
Skarner: The scorpion receives the most nerfs in patch 14.9 to address his overpowering presence. He gets slightly more mana regeneration. However, his Q has much lower base damage, and his W now slows at a flat 20% at all ranks and the shield is a down from 9% of maximum health to 8%.
Taliyah: Her standard Q has higher mana cost, and does less bonus damage to monsters
Twitch: Twitch has worse base HP in exchange for higher health growth. The AP scaling on his W slow is also down, as is the bonus AD on his R.
Urgot: Urgot has lower Armor growth

Other champion and item changes

With all those nerfs out of the way, here are the few who got straight buffs:

Amumu: He has higher base AD and base armor
Karma: Her Q slow is higher and her R+E combo now gives more shield and movement speed on its AoE effect
Kennen: Kennen now gets a range indicator for the damage on his E. Further, he can now cast R while moving, as well as getting a new R animation.
Malzahar: His Q mana cost and E cooldown are both decreased
Sejuani: Her passive now gives a hefty 75% bonus armor/magic resistance, up from 50%. Her W damage also has lower base damage but a much higher HP scaling ratio.
Seraphine: Patch 14.9 improves the AP ratio on her Q

Meanwhile, the following champions received tweaks to adjust their power:

Akshan: Akshan’s bonus movement speed gain and non-champion damage on his Q is lower to reduce his safety. In exchange, his R gains more base damage and AD damage scaling
Bel’Veth: Bel’Veth’s bonus attack speed now gives a maximum of 1% per passive stack at level 17 instead of level 13, and her Q has lower AD scaling. This is because Riot wants to weaken her mid-game. In exchange, her Q does more damage early to monsters to help her jungle clear.
Janna: Her W damage is lower but her E base shield is stronger
Nilah: Patch 14.9 reverts the attack speed changes on her Q, returning some of her sustained damage. In exchange, her Q damage scaling from AD and crit chance is lower to reduce her initial burst.

Furthermore, LoL champions received changes to their size radii in patch 14.9. This affects how easily they can be selected by the mouse cursor, as well as affecting how their hitbox collides with the environment.

Meanwhile, over in item changes:

Hexdrinker now has an extra Longsword in its components, in exchange for an appropriately lower recipe cost. However, it gives less MR (from 35 to 30)
Maw of Malmortius now has a higher recipe cost, and less MR (from 50 to 40). In exchange, it gives slightly more AD, its Lifeline shield lasts longer, it now gives Ability Haste, and its Lifeline changes from Lifesteal to Omnivamp
Death’s Dance now has a Pickaxe in its components, with appropriately cheaper recipe. It gives more AD and its Defy healing is up from 50% bonus AD to 75%
Sterak’s Gage gets nerf with higher recipe cost and a longer cooldown on its Lifeline
Sundered Sky has a longer cooldown on its per target passive. Additionally, the healing is down from 140% base AD to 120%
Eclipse does less damage for melee champions on its passive

Lastly, there are new skins and chromas out in the Empyrean line for LoL patch 14.9: