League of Legends 9.23 Update Patch Notes

The League of Legends 9.23 update is live, so it’s time to see what Riot has been cooking for all League players. The LoL 9.23 update is a gargantuan one, with tons of changes, fixes, removals, and the introduction of Preseason 2020: Rise of the Elements. The full patch notes below will tell you about all that is happening with League, and how it is going to be from now on, so read on to learn all about it.

League of Legends 9.23 Update Patch Notes | Highlights

The 2019 season has ended and hopefully you managed to accomplish your objectives, closing the season by earning Victorious Aatrox. If you didn’t, it’s time to step up your game for the upcoming season, starting by checking the numerous overhauls to League’s systems and getting used to the new meta.

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The new update brings more opportunities to master the Elemental Rifts, with each one of the four rifts providing plenty of hiding spots and flanking moments. Two new lane alcoves were added to the Rift, and a new brush has been added by the river entrances in both quadrants. The Elemental Drake game saw several adjustments, including buffs and slight mechanic changes.

The Elder Dragon saw some mechanics removed so that it feels as rewarding for the leading team as it does to the group that is striving for a comeback. A new mechanic called Execute was introduced, an impactful buff that drains the remaining health of an enemy when he is at 20%.

A few buffs such as the Elder Dragon or the Hand of Baron, went through visual redesigns, making them look more cohesive as a whole. Junglers are now being encouraged to farm, but the gold and experience earned were reduced so that they don’t step up over the competition.

There are so many changes coming with this update that it’s impossible to narrow it down, so read on to catch up with League.

League of Legends 9.23 Update | Full Patch Notes

PRESEASON SPOTLIGHT

Pulsefire Thresh and Pulsefire Thresh Prestige Edition will be available on November 21, 2019

END OF SEASON

The 2019 season has drawn to a close, and we hope you reached your ranked goals this season. If you achieved Gold or higher in Summoner’s Rift Ranked Solo or Flex, or Twisted Treeline Ranked, you’ve earned Victorious Aatrox. If you achieved Gold or higher in two of those queues, you’ve also earned a Victorious Aatrox chroma.

All ranked rewards—icon, border, skin, and chroma—will be distributed during 9.23.

ELEMENTAL RIFTS

This preseason, we’re adding more game-to-game variety and opportunities for mastery to Summoner’s Rift. After the second Elemental Drake of the game dies, the map will permanently transform to one of four Elemental Rifts, each with unique terrain changes that’ll alter the way you take on teamfights, rotations, vision, and objective control.

Elemental Rifts don’t favor a specific team, so games are still in players’ hands regardless of which one takes shape. We also wanted to ensure the Rifts feel intuitive even in your first game, so they don’t introduce any new mechanics and terrain changes always occur in the same areas no matter which element spawns.

Transformation mechanics

TRANSFORMATION TRIGGER: After the second Elemental Drake dies and the third is announced
RIFT ELEMENT: Same as the element of the third drake
TERRITORIAL: Once the map transforms, all future Elemental Drake spawns will be of that element only
TERRAIN CHANGES: Always occur in the four jungle quadrants, centered around the buff camps, as well as in dragon pit

Infernal rift

New paths make opportunities for a quick flank or sidestep that your opponent isn’t expecting.

JUNGLE: The brush nearest to Blue and Red buffs burn away, and new pathways open up through the Blue and Red buff pits
DRAGON PIT: The entrance to Dragon pit widens

Mountain rift

Extra tight spaces give opportunities for big AOE wombos and create some interesting new hiding spots with fog of war.

JUNGLE: Two new bluffs of rock emerge in each jungle quadrant
DRAGON PIT: A rock formation rises in front of the Dragon pit

Ocean rift

Sneak around the jungle or look for a new ambush opportunity.

JUNGLE: Most of the brush in the jungle grows larger and new Honeyfruit spawns near the buff camps. Water pools into puddles throughout the jungle, which is mostly aesthetic unless you’re the Empress of the Elements or running the Waterwalking rune.
DRAGON PIT: New brush patches sprout up around the Dragon pit

Cloud rift

Dodge skillshots or make a swift collapse on your enemies trying to sneak a far away objective.

JUNGLE: Air currents flow throughout the area around Blue and Red buffs, granting speed boosts to everyone inside
DRAGON PIT: Dragon Pit also becomes a speed boosting wind tunnel

SIDE LANE ALCOVES

We’re adding two new lane alcoves to the Rift, one in each side lane. We don’t expect laning to fundamentally change as a result, but the extra terrain and its impact on line of sight should occasionally offer new playmaking opportunities through positioning, jukes, flanks, and ganks.

BREATHTAKING VISTA OF DEATH: New alcoves have been carved into the outer corners of top and bot lanes
BOT LANE BRUSH: ~~Two long patches~~ ⇒ Three patches, mirroring top lane

RIVER ENTRANCE BRUSH

New brush patches near the blue buff ramps into river add new strategic and tactical options as teams approach and contest objectives.

WHERE’S GAREN?: New brush has been added by the river entrances in both Blue buff quadrants

ELEMENTAL DRAKES

DRAGON SOULS

Dragon Souls are a new end-game payoff for the team who wins the Elemental Drake game, a powerful reward that’s similar to an Epic objective. Dragon Souls don’t offer the same moment-to-moment strength as Baron or Elder buff, but they’re permanent and an additional bonus on top of the drake stacks their bearers already earned.

I GOT SOUL: The first team to slay four Elemental Drakes gains a Dragon Soul matching the Elemental Rift
EXCLUSIVITY: Elder Dragon begins spawning after one team gains a Dragon Soul, meaning only one team can have it.
DURATION: Like Elemental Drake buffs, Dragon Souls are permanent and persist through death

Infernal soul

Every 3 seconds, your next damaging attack or ability on an enemy unit triggers a small explosion, dealing 90 (+0.25 bonus attack damage) (+0.15 ability power) (+0.03 bonus health) damage to the target and nearby enemies.

Mountain soul

After not taking damage for 5 seconds, gain a shield for 225 (+0.2 bonus attack damage) (+0.15 ability power) (+0.15 bonus health)

Ocean soul

Dealing damage to enemies heals you for 180 (+0.4 bonus attack damage) (+0.25 ability power) (+0.1 bonus health) and restores 90 (+0.04 maximum mana) mana over 3 seconds.
Damage to minions or monsters regenerates with 30% effectiveness.

Cloud soul

Passively gain 10% increased movement speed.
After casting your ultimate, gain an additional 30% movement speed for 3 seconds (30 second cooldown).

ELEMENTAL DRAKE BUFFS

We’re updating the buffs to be more equal in power and excitement. Stack for stack, elemental buffs are weaker than before to avoid excessively power creeping SR’s buff ecosystem. With Dragon Souls adding new late game payout to Elemental Drakes, we’re switching from the current frontloaded buff stacks back to a linear model. Last note: You can now get four stacks of an element if the enemy team gets the first two or three drakes (always different elements), then you get the next four (always the same element).

Infernal

Just a balance pass.

INFERNAL MIGHT: ~~+10/17/24% attack damage and ability power~~ ⇒ +5/10/15/20% attack damage and ability power

Mountain

Extra damage to objectives was a subtle-yet-powerful snowballing effect that was often hard to appreciate outside of coordinated play. We’re switching Mountain to a more straightforward effect all players can play around.

MOUNTAINOUS VIGOR: ~~+16/23/30% bonus true damage to epic monsters and turrets~~ ⇒ +8/16/24/32% armor and magic resist

Ocean

We’re removing Ocean’s mana regen to even its power out among users regardless of resource type. That gives us room to allow Ocean’s healing to continue in combat, which is a buff for any user.

OCEANIC WILL: ~~6/9/12% missing health and mana regen per 5 seconds when you haven’t taken champion/turret damage within 8 seconds~~ ⇒ 5/10/15/20% missing health regen per 5 seconds (mana regen removed)

Cloud

Cloud’s movement speed was powerful, but not all that exciting. We’re moving the speed boost to Cloud’s Elemental Rift (where we can support it with visuals) and adding a different kind of haste to Cloud’s buff.

CLOUDBRINGER’S GRACE: ~~+3/4.5/6% bonus movement speed (tripled while out of combat)~~ ⇒ 10/20/30/40% ultimate CDR, ignoring the CDR cap

ELEMENTAL DRAKE MECHANICS

With drake types going down to just one element after the Rift transforms, we’re ensuring the first few you see don’t double up on elements so you still experience a variety of drakes in each game.

DRAKE SPAWN ORDER: ~~Random~~ ⇒ The first three drakes are now always three unique elements. All subsequent drakes will be the same element as the third drake.
DRAKE SPAWN WINDOW: ~~5:00 initial, 5:00 respawn until 35:00~~ ⇒ 5:00 initial, 5:00 respawn until one team has slain four drakes (see Dragon Soul section above)

Since the Elemental Drake buffs are a bit weaker, we’re dropping the health of the first two drakes. The battle over the Dragon Soul begins heating up after that, so drakes after the first two have more health to widen the opportunity for teams to contest.

HEALTH: ~~3500 (+240 per level, minimum level 6)~~ ⇒ 2650 (+240 per level, minimum level 6) before the Rift transforms; 4350 (+240 per level, minimum level 6) for the third drake onward

ELDER DRAGON

Up until now, Elder Dragon massively favored the team that was already ahead due to scaling with drake stacks (and in super long games, itself). We’re removing that scaling to make room for power that’s equally rewarding whether you’re pressing a lead or making a comeback.

removed ELEMENTAL MULTIPLIER: Elder Dragon’s buff no longer increases the effects of Elemental Drake buffs by 50%
BURN DAMAGE: ~~45 (+45 per Elemental Drake stack) true damage over 3 seconds~~ ⇒ 90-270 true damage over 3 seconds (at 25:00-45:00 game time)
removed BURNING BRIGHT Elder Dragon’s burn no longer reveals enemies
removed ELDER MULTIPLIER Taking Elder Dragon a second time no longer increases the Elemental buff multiplier to 100% or the burn damage to 135 (+90 per Elemental Drake stack)

Elder’s new mechanic is an execute, sharpening its identity as the end-game teamfighting buff and making its impact much more obvious than the DoT and drake scaling it used to grant. Note that the 20% threshold looks higher than it is in practice: You’ll rarely bring an enemy to exactly 19.9% before they go boom.

new EXECUTE Damaging an enemy at less than 20% health causes them to die in an Elder Immolation after 0.5 seconds (no cooldown).
DENIED Elder Immolation can’t execute enemies through invulnerability effects like Zhonya’s Hourglass or undying effects like Kindred’s R – Lamb’s Respite

We’re standardizing the duration of Elder and Baron to three minutes. These buffs should last long enough for attacking teams to gain real advantages off coordinated power plays, but not so long that attackers come out ahead if they passively leave opponents stuck on defense for extended periods. If these duration changes make Elder too strong or Baron too weak, we’ll adjust their effects accordingly.

BUFF DURATION: ~~150 seconds; lost on death~~ ⇒ 180 seconds; still lost on death

Final note about how often Elder will actually show up in games. In a complete stomp, the earliest Elder can spawn is 26:00 plus time spent in combat with the drakes. But in a game that’s going even or isn’t seeing many objectives taken, it’s also possible for Elder to never spawn.

SPAWN RULES: ~~First dragon spawn after 35:00; 6:00 respawn~~ ⇒ 6:00 after one team kills their fourth Elemental Drake; 6:00 respawn

BARON BUFF

We’re standardizing the duration of Elder and Baron to three minutes. Though they have different strategic strengths, both buffs should last long enough for attacking teams to gain real advantages off coordinated power plays but not so long that defenders are paralyzed for excessive lengths of time. If these duration changes make Elder too strong or Baron too weak, we’ll adjust their effects accordingly.

DURATION: ~~210 seconds~~ ⇒ 180 seconds

BUFF VISUALS

Visuals for Blue Buff, Red Buff, Red Buff’s burn effect, Hand of Baron, and Aspect of the Dragon (Elder Dragon buff) have all been updated. All monster buffs are now visually cohesive, including the new Dragon Souls.

League of Legends 9.23 Update Patch Notes

Row 1: Blue buff, Red buff, Red buff burn

Row 2: Elder Dragon, Hand of Baron, All buffs + Dragon Soul

TOP LANE INFLUENCE

RIFT HERALD

With the increased importance on drakes on bot side, we’re spawning Rift Herald a bit earlier and letting her respawn once so teams don’t completely abandon their top laners in favor of bot lane presence. (Y’know…more than they already do.)

Rift Herald Fight

INITIAL SPAWN: ~~10:00~~ ⇒ 8:00
new RESPAWN: 6:00
DESPAWN: 19:30, delayed to 19:50 if in combat (unchanged)
HEALTH: ~~10,000-16,000 (levels 6-12)~~ ⇒ 8,250-16,500 (levels 6-12)
ATTACK SPEED: ~~0.5~~ ⇒ 0.4 (it’s easier to poke Rift Herald’s eye before she spins around)

Summoned Rift Herald

EYE OF THE HERALD PICK-UP WINDOW: ~~40 seconds~~ ⇒ 20 seconds
EYE OF THE HERALD CHANNEL: ~~4 seconds~~ ⇒ 1 second
HERALD LEVEL: Average level of all ten champions, determined on ~~using Eye of the Herald~~ ⇒ picking up Eye of the Herald
HEALTH: ~~4000-6400 (levels 6-12)~~ ⇒ 3180-6360 (levels 6-12)
HEADBUTT TURRET DAMAGE: ~~40% current heath (1600-2560), minimum 1500~~ ⇒ 1500-2550 (levels 6-12)
HEADBUTT SELF-DAMAGE: ~~25% current health~~ ⇒ 66% current health

MINION XP

We’re very lightly adjusting minion XP to slightly equalize the influence top and bot laners have on the game. Solo laners will level about 2% faster from minions, while duo laners (or solo laners getting non-stop jungler attention) will level about 2% slower. Put another way, every five waves adds up to an extra caster minion for solo laners and one fewer for bot.

Solo XP

MELEE: ~~58.8~~ ⇒ 60.45
CASTER: ~~29.44~~ ⇒ 29.76
CANNON: 92 ⇒ 93

Shared XP

Divide evenly among the champions sharing XP.

MELEE: ~~76.8~~ ⇒ 75.4
CASTER: ~~38.4~~ ⇒ 37.12
CANNON: ~~120~~ ⇒ 116

TURRET PLATING

Slightly buffing Turret Plating durability to prevent group-and-push blowouts in the early game, especially with the Rift Herald changes in mind.

BULWARK RESISTANCES: 25 ⇒ 35 armor and magic resist per third, fourth, and fifth attacker when a plate is destroyed

DORAN’S SHIELD

Melee regen increased, ranged regen decreased.

Buffing DShield’s regen to make it a stronger option in melee vs ranged matchups.

PASSIVE: Up to 30 health over 10 seconds when damaged by an enemy champion ⇒ Up to 40 health over 8 seconds when damaged by an enemy champion, based on missing health. 66% effective for ranged users or when triggered by AoE, DoT, or proc effects

JUNGLE PACING

We’re incentivizing junglers to prioritize farming rather than just fitting camps in between ganks. Higher camp uptime ensures junglers have consistent access to gold and XP on their side of the map, and the removal of catchup XP steepens the cost of failed ganks. Since junglers will be able to clear their camps more frequently, we’re reducing the gold and experience a full clear grants so they don’t take over games. We’re also ensuring both sides of the jungle get junglers to level 3 in their first clear.

Jungle Item XP

removed CATCH-UP XP: Jungle items no longer grant additional XP on monster kill if you’re behind in levels (epic monsters still innately have catch-up XP though)
FIRST CAMP BONUS XP: ~~120~~ ⇒ 165

Camp Timers

SMALL CAMP RESPAWN: ~~150 seconds~~ ⇒ 120 seconds
new SMALL CAMP RESPAWN ICONS: If your team had vision of a small camp when it was killed, you’ll see a respawn icon on the minimap 15 seconds before respawn
BUFF CAMP RESPAWN ICONS: Buff camp respawn icons change from gray to yellow 20 seconds ⇒ 15 seconds before respawn

Krugs

BASE XP: ~~247 (217 on first clear)~~ ⇒ 160 (Ancient Krug’s first clear penalty removed)
BASE GOLD: ~~125~~ ⇒ 120

Murkwolves

BASE XP: ~~115~~ ⇒ 95
BASE GOLD: 84 ⇒ 70

Gromp

BASE HEALTH: ~~1800~~ ⇒ 2100
BASE XP: ~~115~~ ⇒ 135
BASE GOLD: 86 ⇒ 105

Raptors

BASE XP: ~~115~~ ⇒ 95
BASE GOLD: ~~112~~ ⇒ 85

LETHALITY ITEMS

Though the item system currently has three Lethality options, AD assassins overwhelmingly favor Duskblade and Youmuu’s and typically skip Edge of Night. This leads to a lot of same-ness in terms of how one game feels relative to the next for them. We’re adding two new options and reworking Edge to give assassin players more ways to adapt their build to each game.

Duskblade of Draktharr

AD increased, Blackout removed.

We’re taking away Duskblade’s utility passive (Blackout) and giving it a bit more damage, making it the highest lethality and highest AD upgrade to Dirk.

TOTAL COST: 2900 gold (unchanged)
ATTACK DAMAGE: 55 ⇒ 60
LETHALITY: 21 (unchanged)
COOLDOWN REDUCTION: 10% (unchanged)
UNIQUE PASSIVE NIGHTSTALKER: After being unseen for 1 second, your next basic attack against an enemy champion within 5 seconds of being seen by an enemy champion deals 30-150 (lvl 1-18) bonus on-hit physical damage. Melee attacks slow the target by 99% for 0.5 seconds after a 0.25 second delay. (unchanged)
removed UNIQUE PASSIVE BLACKOUT: No longer disables nearby wards or reveals nearby traps upon being spotted.

Youmuu’s Ghostblade

Active ghosts users.

It’s literally the same except for one quality of life buff. Still buy it if you want to go fast. We’re only putting this here for ease of comparison.

TOTAL COST: 2900 gold (unchanged)
ATTACK DAMAGE: 55
LETHALITY: 18 (unique)
COOLDOWN REDUCTION: 10%
MOVEMENT SPEED: +40 out of combat (unique)
ACTIVE: Gain +20% movement speed for 6 seconds (45 second cooldown) (unique)
new GHOST-BLADE: Youmuu’s’ active now allows its user to ignore unit collision for the duration

Edge of Night (Updated)

Spell shield now works like Banshee’s Veil. Health increased, attack damage and lethality decreased. Cost decreased.

Edge of Night is the defensive Lethality option, but attaching that function to an active with a steep learning curve has made it ineffective for many aspiring assassins. We’re switching Edge of Night’s spell shield to a passive, making it more usable for a much wider skill range. This reliability incurs a damage cost: Edge of Night no longer grants extra AD or Lethality over its components, though we bumped its health to even things out overall.

TOTAL COST: ~~3000 gold~~ ⇒ 2900 gold
ATTACK DAMAGE: 55 ⇒ 50
LETHALITY: 18 ⇒ 10
HEALTH: ~~250~~ ⇒ 325
removed UNIQUE ACTIVE NIGHT’S VEIL: Channel for 1 second to gain a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability within the next 7 seconds (40 second cooldown).
new UNIQUE PASSIVE SPELL SHIELD: Grants a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability. This shield refreshes after no damage is taken from enemy champions for 40 seconds.

Sanguine Blade (New)

Gain attack speed and lethality when near one or fewer enemies.

The first of our two new items. Sanguine Blade offers Duskblade-tier damage when you’re hunting a lone enemy, but drops closer to Edge of Night levels if you’re teamfighting. Go 1v1 somebody. Or 2v1 or 5v1, but where’s the honor in that?

TOTAL COST: 3000 gold
BUILD PATH: Serrated Dirk + Vampiric Scepter + 1000 gold
ATTACK DAMAGE: 50
LETHALITY: 10
LIFESTEAL: 15%
UNIQUE PASSIVE BLOOD PURSUIT: While near one or fewer visible enemy champions gain 8 lethality and 40-100% attack speed (lvl 1-18), decaying over 3 seconds if other enemy champions get too close.

Umbral Glaive (New)

New Blackout item.

The second Lethality addition, and the new home of the Blackout passive. Umbral Glaive’s stats aren’t too high, but it’s also the cheapest Lethality item. Pick it up if you want to black out the enemy’s map. That’s why the passive is called Blackout.

TOTAL COST: 2400 gold
BUILD PATH: Serrated Dirk + Long Sword + Long Sword + 600 gold
ATTACK DAMAGE: 50
LETHALITY: 12
COOLDOWN REDUCTION: 10%
UNIQUE PASSIVE BLACKOUT: When spotted by an enemy ward, reveal traps and disable wards around you for 8 seconds (45 second cooldown). During this time, basic attacks instantly kill disabled traps and deal triple damage to wards.

Serrated Dirk

Headhunter removed.

The item shop has a few component pieces whose passives disappear from their upgrades, and Serrated Dirk is one of them. These days we’re not huge fans of that, since disappearing passives ask you to play around an effect that you lose access to as the game progresses. Since the lethality line’s getting an overall power-up from the adaptability provided by new options, we’re nerfing it by removing the disappearing passive from Dirk.

removed HEADHUNTER: Your next damaging spell no longer deals 40 bonus physical damage after you kill an enemy

SUPPORT ITEMS

MECHANIC UPDATES

We’re refreshing support items to be less poachable by solo laners and have an expanded quest system that provides free, automatic upgrades, letting supports start the rest of their build earlier. (This should also lead to more build diversity between champs that use the same starter.) As a trade-off, Tribute no longer damages and Spoils of War no longer heals, so supports will have less impact in the early lane phase.

At max tier, we’ve removed the Tribute/Spoils of War passives. Most of the gold these effects granted is still earned in the lower tiers and passive gold per 10 is up, so mid/late game economy is still buffed overall considering the gold made available by the free upgrades.

We’re also introducing AD equivalents of the items to broaden the cast of champs who can be played as support. At launch they’ll basically be the same as the AP versions, but that symmetry may break down the road as we balance each item line individually.

Tiers

HOW SATISFYING: Support items still have three tiers, but now upgrade automatically for free as you complete their quests
TIER 1: 400 gold starting item. Earn gold with Tribute or Spoils of War to upgrade.
TIER 2: Increased stats and 3 ward charges. Earn gold with Tribute or Spoils of War to upgrade.
TIER 3: Significantly increased stats and 4 total ward charges. Tribute or Spoils of War go away.
CUMULATIVE COST: ~~1800 gold~~ ⇒ 400 gold

Anti-Poaching

EAT THE RICH: Farming more than 20 CS per 5 minutes (3 out of 10 waves) reduces gold from minions by 50%. The penalty increases with further CS to a max of 80% reduction at 50 minions.
MATH: Once the penalty kicks in, your CS gold is reduced to (70 – CS within 5 minutes)%

Spellthief’s Edge Line

Ability power, health, and Tribute.

The magical-flavored aggressive line (with fancy new icons)! Tribute no longer deals damage, so Spellthief’s users won’t be contributing as much to early skirmishes. The new anti-poaching rule lets us rip out Tribute’s nearby ally requirement and charge rate CS penalty.

Tribute gold is buffed for Spellthief’s but nerfed for Frostfang to maintain the time at which supports gain access to wards (given they can’t pay to upgrade to Frostfang) but push the final upgrade later than when supports previously completed Remnant of the Watchers. Shard of True Ice’s stats on top of the items purchased with freed-up transformation gold would’ve been too much of a buff.

Tribute Changes

removed OLD TRIBUTE: Damaging spells and attacks against champions or buildings deal 13 (upgraded: 18) bonus magic damage and, if an ally is nearby, grant 11 (upgraded: 22) gold. Gain a charge every 10 seconds, up to 3 charges. Before quest completion, Tribute generation pauses for 12 seconds per minion or non-epic monster slain.
new NEW TRIBUTE: Damaging spells and attacks against champions or buildings grant 15 gold. Gain a charge every 10 seconds, up to 3 charges.

Spellthief’s Edge

COST: 400 gold
ABILITY POWER: 10 ⇒ 8
new HEALTH: 10
removed MANA REGEN: No longer grants +25% mana regen
GOLD PER 10: 2 (unchanged)
UNIQUE PASSIVE TRIBUTE: Damaging spells and attacks against champions or buildings grant 15 gold. This can occur up to 3 times every 30 seconds.
QUEST: Earning 500 total gold through Tribute upgrades this item to Frostfang.

Frostfang

ABILITY POWER: 20 ⇒ 15
new HEALTH: 70
removed MANA REGEN: No longer grants +50% mana regen
removed COOLDOWN REDUCTION: No longer grants 10% cooldown reduction
GOLD PER 10: 2 ⇒ 3
UNIQUE PASSIVE TRIBUTE: Damaging spells and attacks against champions or buildings grant 15 gold. This can occur up to 3 times every 30 seconds.
UNIQUE ACTIVE WARDING: Place a Stealth Ward. Holds up to 3 charges which refill upon visiting the shop.
QUEST: Earning 1000 total gold through Tribute upgrades this item to Shard of True Ice.

Shard of True Ice

NAME: ~~Remnant of the Watchers~~ ⇒ Shard of True Ice
ABILITY POWER: 35 ⇒ 60
HEALTH: ~~200~~ ⇒ 150
removed MANA REGEN: No longer grants +50% mana regen
removed COOLDOWN REDUCTION: No longer grants 10% cooldown reduction
GOLD PER 10: 2 ⇒ 3
removed UNIQUE PASSIVE TRIBUTE: Damaging spells and attacks against champions or buildings no longer deal 18 bonus magic damage and, if an ally is nearby, grant 22 gold up to 3 times every 30 seconds.
UNIQUE ACTIVE WARDING: Place a Stealth Ward. Holds up to 4 charges which refill upon visiting the shop.

Spectral Sickle Line

Attack damage, health, and Tribute.

The physical-flavored aggressive line!

Spectral Sickle

COST: 400 gold
ATTACK DAMAGE: 5
HEALTH: 10
GOLD PER 10: 2
UNIQUE PASSIVE TRIBUTE: Damaging spells and attacks against champions or buildings grant 15 gold. This can occur up to 3 times every 30 seconds.
QUEST: Earning 500 total gold through Tribute upgrades this item to Harrowing Crescent.

Harrowing Crescent

ATTACK DAMAGE: 10
HEALTH: 70
GOLD PER 10: 3
UNIQUE PASSIVE TRIBUTE: Damaging spells and attacks against champions or buildings grant 15 gold. This can occur up to 3 times every 30 seconds.
UNIQUE ACTIVE WARDING: Place a Stealth Ward. Holds up to 3 charges which refill upon visiting the shop.
QUEST: Earning 1000 total gold through Tribute upgrades this item to Black Mist Scythe.

Black Mist Scythe

ATTACK DAMAGE: 35
HEALTH: 150
GOLD PER 10: 3
UNIQUE ACTIVE WARDING: Place a Stealth Ward. Holds up to 4 charges which refill upon visiting the shop.

Relic Shield Line

Health, ability power, and Spoils of War.

The magical-flavored defensive line (also with new icons)! Spoils of War is losing its heal, meaning duos aren’t going to have the same staying power in lane as they do now. That, however, allows us to grant ranged champs access to the minion execute.

Like Tribute’s gold values, we’ve standardized Spoils of War’s charge rate to be slightly faster for Relic Shield but slower for Targon’s Buckler. This preserves supports’ access to wards at Tier 2 while maintaining the overall power progression of their item builds via a later Tier 3 upgrade.

Spoils of War

removed OLD SPOILS OF WAR: While nearby an ally, melee basic attacks execute minions below 200-285 / 215-470 / 350-860 (lvl 1-18) (+ 100% AD) health, healing you and the nearest allied champion for 5-30 / 10-60 / 15-90 (based on missing health) health and granting them kill gold. Ranged basic attacks don’t get the execute and heal for half the amount. Gain a charge every 40 / 30 / 20 seconds, up to 2 / 3 / 4 charges.
new NEW SPOILS OF WAR: While nearby an ally, basic attacks execute minions below 50% of their max Health (30% for ranged) and grant your ally kill gold. (These effects recharge every 45 seconds. Max 3 charges.)

Relic Shield

COST: 400 gold
HEALTH: 50 ⇒ 30
new ABILITY POWER: 5
GOLD PER 10: 1 ⇒ 2
UNIQUE PASSIVE SPOILS OF WAR: While nearby an ally, basic attacks execute minions below 50% of their max Health (30% for ranged) and grant your ally kill gold. (These effects recharge every 45 seconds. Max 3 charges.)
QUEST: Earning 500 total gold through Spoils of War upgrades this item to Targon’s Buckler.

Targon’s Buckler

NAME: ~~Targon’s Brace~~ ⇒ Targon’s Buckler
HEALTH: ~~125~~ ⇒ 100
new ABILITY POWER: 10
removed HEALTH REGEN: No longer grants 50% health regen
GOLD PER 10: 1 ⇒ 3
UNIQUE PASSIVE SPOILS OF WAR: While nearby an ally, basic attacks execute minions below 50% of their max Health (no penalty for ranged!) and grant your ally kill gold. (These effects recharge every 45 seconds. Max 3 charges.)
UNIQUE ACTIVE WARDING: Place a Stealth Ward. Holds up to 3 charges which refill upon visiting the shop.
QUEST: Earning 1000 total gold through Spoils of War upgrades this item to Bulwark of the Mountain

Bulwark of the Mountain

NAME: ~~Remnant of the Aspect~~ ⇒ Bulwark of the Mountain
HEALTH: ~~350~~ ⇒ 300
new ABILITY POWER: 40
removed COOLDOWN REDUCTION: No longer grants 10% cooldown reduction
removed HEALTH REGEN: No longer grants +200% health regen
GOLD PER 10: 1 ⇒ 3
UNIQUE ACTIVE WARDING: Place a Stealth Ward. Holds up to 4 charges which refill upon visiting the shop.

Steel Shoulderguards Line

Health, attack damage, and Spoils of War.

The physical-flavored defensive line!

Steel Shoulderguards

COST: 400 gold
HEALTH: 30
ATTACK DAMAGE: 3
GOLD PER 10: 2
UNIQUE PASSIVE SPOILS OF WAR: While nearby an ally, basic attacks execute minions below 50% of their max Health (30% for ranged) and grant your ally kill gold. (These effects recharge every 45 seconds. Max 3 charges.)
QUEST: Earning 500 total gold through Spoils of War upgrades this item to Runesteel Spaulders

Runesteel Spaulders

HEALTH: 100
ATTACK DAMAGE: 6
GOLD PER 10: 3
UNIQUE PASSIVE SPOILS OF WAR: While nearby an ally, basic attacks execute minions below 50% of their max Health (no penalty for ranged!) and grant your ally kill gold. (These effects recharge every 45 seconds. Max 3 charges.)
UNIQUE ACTIVE WARDING: Place a Stealth Ward. Holds up to 3 charges which refill upon visiting the shop.
QUEST: Earning 1000 total gold through Tribute upgrades this item to Pauldrons of Whiterock

Pauldrons of Whiterock

HEALTH: 300
ATTACK DAMAGE: 24
GOLD PER 10: 3
UNIQUE ACTIVE WARDING: Place a Stealth Ward. Holds up to 4 charges which refill upon visiting the shop.

Steel Shoulderguards Line (Removed)

Where Spellthief’s established itself as the aggressive support item line, Ancient Coin and Relic Shield overlapped in rewarding more defensive, attrition-based playstyles. With the switch toward allowing ranged champions to use Relic Shield, we’re retiring the Ancient Coin line.

Steel Shoulderguards Line

Grants health/health regen/heal and shield power instead of ability power/movement speed. Range increased. Build path updated, cost decreased.

We’re sharpening Shurelya’s into an engage/disengage tool that’s specifically for enchanters—whose main function is buffing their allies—rather than leaving it as an ambiguous flex pick that mage supports can also spec into, given they’ve got items that help them peel for their team. (Tank supports have Righteous Glory, so all three support archetypes are covered.)

TOTAL COST: ~~2250 gold~~ ⇒ 2050 gold
BUILD PATH: ~~Kindlegem + Aether Wisp + Faerie Charm + 475 gold~~ ⇒ Forbidden Idol + Crystalline Bracer + 600 gold
HEALTH: ~~200~~ ⇒ 300
COOLDOWN REDUCTION: 10% (unchanged)
MANA REGEN: +100% (unchanged)
new HEAL AND SHIELD POWER: 10%
new HEALTH REGEN: +100%
removed ABILITY POWER: No longer grants 40 ability power
removed MOVEMENT SPEED: No longer grants +5% movement speed
UNIQUE ACTIVE: Grants you and allies within 700 ⇒ 1000 range 40% bonus movement speed for 3 seconds (90 second cooldown)
ACTIVE RANGE: ~~700~~ ⇒ 1000

ENERGIZED AND CRITICAL ITEMS

We’ve struggled in the past to differentiate Energized builds from traditional crit, given that Statikk Shiv and Rapid Firecannon occupy both spaces and the only other Energized item is Stormrazor. This time, we’re embracing the overlap and the goal of our changes is to make Energized a slightly more mid-game-oriented flavor of crit, rather than its own thing entirely. Energized is about the occasional massive hit rather than a non-stop barrage of consistently strong attacks. To that end, we’re lowering the gap between how many procs users get from moving versus attacking—attack speed was giving drastically more procs, making hit-and-run playstyles too ineffective by comparison.

One trend you’ll notice in the items below is a simplification of individual item passives, particularly the ones that change how Energize behaves. Each item now adds just one additional effect—Stormrazor’s slow, RFC’s range, and Shiv’s lightning—and proc damage has been standardized to a flat 120 on each item. All other mechanics changes have been removed or rolled into Energized’s baseline functionality so each item can stand on its own, rather than require other Energized items to become fully effective.

Energized

ZAP: Damage from Energized effects now stacks, rather than choosing the highest-damage source
KEEP MOVING: Energized charges from moving increased by 20%; charges from attacking reduced by 50%
DEMOLITIONIST: Energized effects now always work on turrets

Stormrazor (Updated)

Energized damage increased. Slow is stronger but shorter. Now grants crit chance. Attack damage, attack speed decreased. Build path updated, cost increased.

The absence of crit chance on Stormrazor was the biggest impediment toward Energized working as a crit variant. Adding it in means players can go for Energized builds without having to trade away their crit progression. Per the simplification note above, we’ve removed Stormrazor’s amp on other Energized sources and sharpened its slow to a stronger, shorter effect that offers more play-around opportunities.

TOTAL COST: ~~3100 gold~~ ⇒ 3200 gold
BUILD PATH: ~~B.F. Sword + Long Sword + Kircheis Shard + 850 gold~~ ⇒ B.F. Sword + Cloak of Agility + Kircheis Shard + 400 gold
ATTACK DAMAGE: 60 ⇒ 55
new CRITICAL STRIKE CHANCE: 25%
ATTACK SPEED: ~~30%~~ ⇒ 15%
ENERGIZED DAMAGE: 50 ⇒ 120
ENERGIZED SLOW: ~~40% decaying over 1.5 seconds~~ ⇒ 75% for 0.5 seconds, non-decaying
removed ENERGETIC: No longer amplifies other Energized effects by 35%

Rapid Firecannon

Energized damage higher early, lower late. No longer increases Energized charge rates.

We’re leaving RFC’s range increase as its defining feature and making its turret functionality baseline for Energized. Its charge rate increase is going away per our earlier comments on not wanting an Energized item’s strength to be tied to how many other items in the system you own.

ENERGIZED DAMAGE: ~~60-140 (lvl 1-18)~~ ⇒ 120
removed DEMOLITIONIST: No longer causes Energized effects to work on turrets. Because that’s baseline Energized functionality now.
removed EXTRA ENERGIZED: No longer increases Energized charge rates

Statikk Shiv

Energized damage higher early, lower late. Lightning bounces increased. Lightning no longer crits.

Shiv still makes lightning, but we’re removing the ability for lightning to crit. This is partially for that crit-vs-Energized split we’ve talked about already, but also because fully stacking Energized items (360 damage) gets you more power IE Shiv crits did previously (325 damage). Since this is still an early-to-midgame nerf, we’re also folding Stormrazor’s old bounce increase into Shiv’s baseline. This is also a good time to remind you that Shiv no longer needs RFC to proc on turrets.

ENERGIZED DAMAGE: ~~60-140 (lvl 1-18)~~ ⇒ 120
SHIV LIGHTNING BOUNCES: 5 ⇒ 7
removed EXTRA SHOCKING: Shiv Lightning can no longer critically strike

Kircheis Shard

Energized damage increased, cost increased.

We’re making Kircheis Shard’s Energized proc more powerful so it feels more like you’re starting down the Energized path when you pick it up. It was already efficiently costed, though, so we had to bump its price up a bit.

TOTAL COST: ~~600 gold~~ ⇒ 700 gold
ENERGIZED DAMAGE: 50 ⇒ 80

Brawler’s Gloves (Removed)

We’re streamlining crit items down to one component. This is a slight nerf to build flexibility, particularly early-game, since Cloak requires more time spent farming before it can be picked up.

Cloak of Agility

The good news is we’re buffing Cloak. It now gives the same amount of crit as a completed item, so if you need to hit the crit cap in a hurry, just layer a few of these on! (Probably don’t do this, but the option’s here if you want to experiment)

CRITICAL STRIKE CHANCE: 20% ⇒ 25%

Zeal

Crit increased, attack speed decreased. Build path updated, cost increased.

Zeal’s crit stats got a lot bigger from switching to Cloak of Agility. We dropped its attack speed a bit so we could avoid having to raise its cost too much to keep it balanced.

TOTAL COST: ~~1200 gold~~ ⇒ 1400 gold
BUILD PATH: ~~Brawlers’ Gloves + Dagger + 500 gold~~ ⇒ Cloak of Agility + Dagger + 300 gold
CRITICAL STRIKE CHANCE: ~~15%~~ ⇒ 25%
ATTACK SPEED: ~~15%~~ ⇒ 12%
MOVEMENT SPEED: 5% (unchanged)

Phantom Dancer

Build path updated.

With Zeal’s crit going up, Phantom Dancer didn’t have room for another crit component.

BUILD PATH: ~~Dagger + Zeal + Brawler’s Glove + 700 gold~~ ⇒ Dagger + Zeal + 900 gold

REMOVED ITEMS

Spear of Shojin (removed)

When wielded by its most synergistic users, Shojin’s unique passive reduced the downtime of their CC, mobility, and immunity spells beyond what we think leaves healthy room for counterplay.

FOUND IT IN THE BACK OF THE FREEZER: Spear of Shojin is still available in ARAM

Zz’rot Portal (removed)

Zz’Rot enables split push strategies that don’t involve enough champion interaction. We may revisit this type of strategic item in the future, but if we do it’ll require more risk for wielders to use.

WHAT’S IN A NAME: Malzahar’s W stacks have been renamed from Gathering Swarm to Zz’Rot Swarm. Next patch, his W will also be renamed to Zz’Rot Swarm.

Ohmwrecker (removed)

Ohmwrecker’s been underused and underpowered for a long time. Turret disabling is an interesting mechanic we think could have a place in League, but not one that potentially shows up in every team’s toolkit, which is the risk a good version of Ohmwrecker presents.

WHAT’S IN A NAME: The Penetrating Bullets passive on turrets has been renamed to Ohmwrecker

Raptor Cloak (removed)

With the removal of Zz’Rot and Ohmwrecker, Raptor Cloak doesn’t build into anything. Sorry, Darius.

Item Set Editor Cleanup

While these items were technically “removed” when we turned their respective modes off, we’re removing them from the item set creator to make the tool easier to use.

DOESN’T SPARK JOY: Items from Nexus Siege, Odyssey: Extraction, Nexus Blitz, Poro King, and Dominion have been removed from the item set editor

RUNES

Kleptomancy (removed)

Kleptomancy was designed as a rune that (a) allowed users to build a gold advantage over opponents at the cost of the immediate power other keystones provide, and (b) created moment-to-moment changes in laning dynamics depending on what you got from procs. The experience Klepto created for opponents, however—be farmed for gold by constant harass damage—has been rough, especially for ranged vs melee matchups. Removing gold as an incentive only left the moment-to-moment dynamic changes as Klepto’s design core, and League’s consumable item system isn’t deep enough to carry an entire keystone on its back. Sorry, Klepto—even for an Inspiration rune, you were too weird.

Prototype: Omnistone (new)

Periodically gain a single use of another random keystone.

Enter Omnistone, a keystone meant to be Kleptomancy’s spiritual successor. Like the elixir portion of Klepto’s design, Omnistone is about making use of what you’ve got in the moment. Relative to the individual keystones it offers, Omnistone’s advantage is that users can rapidly cycle through keystones that otherwise have much longer cooldowns.

ROULETTE: Periodically gain a single use of another random keystone. Once a keystone is rolled, it can’t be rolled again until only three options are left, at which point the table resets (you won’t get the keystone you just used, though).
COOLDOWN: Gain a new keystone 8-4 seconds (melee, lv 1-18) or 12-8 seconds (ranged, lv 1-18) after using the last. Scaling is weighted toward later levels.
AUTO-REROLL: Gain a new keystone while out of combat after 40 seconds of not using a keystone
VISIBILITY: Your current keystone shows up to the right of your health bar. All ten players can see it.
ADDITIONALS: Dark Harvest souls persist after you get a different keystone and affect all your other keystones. Grasp of the Undying’s health persists after you get a different keystone, too.

Available Keystones

Press the Attack
Lethal Tempo
Fleet Footwork
Conqueror
Summon Aery
Arcane Comet
Phase Rush
Electrocute
Predator (only if you have boots)
Dark Harvest (souls amplify the effects of all keystones)
Hail of Blades
Grasp of the Undying
Aftershock (only if you can trigger it on a basic ability)
Glacial Augment

Conqueror

True damage conversion removed. Healing is now post-mitigation. Max stacks increased; melee champions now gain double stacks. Ranged stacks no longer expire faster.

Conqueror has been too effective at allowing sustained-damage fighters to deal with tanks, who have lost their place in solo lanes as a result. We’re removing the true damage conversion and changing the heal to post-mitigation damage so Conqueror doesn’t hard-counter tanks, but buffing its adaptive force to keep it strong. We’re also changing up Conqueror’s ranged/melee split so ranged users are a bit less disadvantaged (though Conqueror remains a melee-focused rune).

removed TRUE DAMAGE: Conqueror no longer converts 8% of damage against champions to true damage at full stacks
HEALING: ~~At full stacks, Conqueror heals for 8% of pre-mitigation damage against champions~~ ⇒ 15% of post-mitigation damage against champions
MAXIMUM STACKS: 5 ⇒ 10
STACKS: ~~1 per ability hit or basic attack~~ ⇒ 2 per ability hit or melee basic attack, 1 per ranged basic attack
STACK DURATION: ~~8 seconds for melee, 3 seconds for ranged~~ ⇒ 8 seconds
ADAPTIVE FORCE PER STACK: ~~2-6 (lvl 1-18)~~ ⇒ 2-5 (lvl 1-18)
MAX ADAPTIVE FORCE: ~~10-30 (lvl 1-18)~~ ⇒ 20-50 (lvl 1-18)

Aftershock

Flat resistances decreased, percent bonus resistances increased. Flat damage decreased early. Damage now scales with bonus health rather than max health. Cooldown decreased.

Aftershock’s flat resistances were eliminating a primary weakness of several ranged champions, forcing us to either balance the rune around edge case users (making it weak for its main audiences), or balance those edge case users around Aftershock (whose mains might not even like Aftershock’s playstyle). We’re reshaping this keystone back toward tanks and fighters, and will keep an eye on how former(?) ranged users fare in preseason.

RESISTANCES: ~~70 (+50% bonus resists)~~ ⇒ 35 (+80% bonus resists)
DAMAGE: ~~10-120 (+4% maximum health)~~ ⇒ 25-120 (+8% bonus health)
COOLDOWN: ~~35 seconds~~ ⇒ 20 seconds
BUGFIX: Aftershock’s resistances no longer last for slightly longer than intended

Presence of Mind (updated)

Increases mana or energy pool on takedown instead of refunding ult cooldown. Now restores energy in addition to mana.

This rune’s ult cooldown refund overlaps too much with Cloud Drake’s new buff. Admittedly, so does Ultimate Hunter, but Hunter is usable by more champions and has a clearer goal, so it’s the one that gets to stay. We’re changing Presence of Mind to finally open it up to energy users and grant a resource pool increase (big brain getting bigger) rather than a partial ult reset.

TAKEDOWN BONUS: ~~Restore 20% of your maximum mana and refund 10% of your ultimate’s cooldown~~ ⇒ Restore 20% of maximum mana or energy and increase your maximum mana by 100 (up to 500) or your maximum energy by 10 (up to 50)

Nimbus Cloak

Procs off summoner spells instead of ults.

We turned Nimbus Cloak into Cloud Drake’s Dragon Soul, so we’re changing Nimbus Cloak to work off Summoner Spells instead.

PROC: ~~On ult cast~~ ⇒ On Summoner Spell cast
SPEED BOOST: ~~100 bonus movement speed for 2.5 seconds, decaying over the last second~~ ⇒ 15-35% movement speed for 2.5 seconds depending on Summoner Spell cooldown
LONG COOLDOWN: 35% movement speed (Flash, Teleport)
MEDIUM COOLDOWN: 25% movement speed (Heal, Ignite, Cleanse, Exhaust, Ghost, Barrier)
SHORT COOLDOWN: 15% movement speed (Hexflash, Smite, Zoe’s W – Spell Thief, ARAM’s Mark)

CHAMPIONS

Senna

No longer gains double stacks on ARAM.

Senna launched pretty close to balanced, and we’re waiting to see how she shapes up in the new preseason world before issuing buffs and nerfs. Alternate modes are the exception since most of our changes won’t cross over into other maps, and Senna’s definitely showing up too hard there.

Passive – Absolution
removed SPELLTHIEF’S CONVERSION: Senna no longer converts ability power from Spellthief’s Edge into adaptive force since she can just buy Spectral Sickle
removed ALT MODE BONUS: Senna no longer gains double Mist stacks on ARAM, URF, or their variants

TWISTED TREELINE SUNSET

Twisted Treeline is officially retiring with 9.23. Thank you to every player who’s made the Treeline their home over the years! Your rewards will be distributed during the patch. As a refresher:

Players who played more than 10 games will get an exclusive icon
Players who played more than 50 games will also get an exclusive emote
Players who played more than 100 games will also get a second exclusive icon

ESSENCE EMPORIUM

The Essence Emporium returns for preseason from November 25 to December 10! Spend your blue essence on icons, chromas, and more, including Emporium exclusives like the URFwick skin!

BUGFIXES

The camera no longer becomes locked if, while dead, you use the minimap to move the camera around, then after respawning press the spacebar to center it on yourself
The mute icon has been fixed
If Poppy stuns an enemy with E – Heroic Charge and that enemy is then stunned by another effect during Heroic Charge’s stun, the second stun is no longer removed when Heroic Charge’s stun expires
Darius’ W – Crippling Strike attack no longer hits through Teemo’s Q – Blinding Dart when it critically strikes
If Garen’s Q – Decisive Strike attack is canceled due to losing vision of his target, he’s no longer locked out of casting E – Judgment until Q’s empowered attack window ends
Spoils of War can now properly be proc’d even if the only nearby ally is untargetable or in stasis
Malphite’s W – Thunderclap empowered attack window no longer lasts indefinitely if the first basic attack that would proc it is canceled
Diana now properly gains a stack of Conqueror from the basic attack issued automatically after dashing to a target with R – Lunar Rush
Shyvana’s Dragon Form Q – Twin Bite now properly grants multiple stacks of Conqueror
Evelynn’s Passive – Demon Shade tooltip no longer displays zeros for every number