ADC's are nerfed, AP items and Assassins are buffed, and much more!
The League of Legends 14.15 Patch Notes is out. According to the official schedule provided by the game's developers, Patch 14.15 is set to be released on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. After a few weeks of AD carry supremacy in competitive games, Riot has had ample time to carefully identify necessary adjustments. This update brings significant changes to AD carries, AP items, and several champions, aiming to balance gameplay and address over performing aspects in various roles. Here’s a comprehensive look at what to expect.
Buffs:
Varus, Yasuo, Talon, Dark Harvest (Rune), Cosmic Drive (Rune), Hextech Rocketbelt (Item), Stormsurge (Item), Void Staff (Item), Death's Dance (Item)
Nerfs:
Leona, Ezreal, Aurora, Aurelion Sol, Shyvana, Kraken Slayer (Item), Statikk Shiv (Item), Lord Dominik's Regards (Item), Mortal reminder (Item)
Adjustments:
Skarner, Cassiopeia, Irelia, Akali, Yone, Zed, Sylas, Fleet Footwork (Rune)
Riot's Reasoning behind these changes
Read more about League of Legends changes on the X account of Matt "Phroxzon" Leung-Harrison.
AD Carries
- Nerfs are coming in to ADC's laning and first item spike through early fleet nerfs.
- We're also reducing the power level of some ADC items that were released a bit too strong in the season 2 changes, some taps down to Kraken, Shiv as a result that give ADC champions a bit weaker of a 1 item trough.
- We think Kraken being so strong is what's driving a lot of the solo lane marksmen meta right now.
- For Varus, we're trying to put more power into his Q max builds over his W max builds.
- Ezreal we overshot a bit in recent patches and he's mostly unaffected by any of the item nerfs in the patch and will be disproportaiontely buffed as a result, so we're tapping him down pre-emptively.
AP Items
- We're bringing other AP items up to the standard of other portions of the AP ecosystem.
- Items like Stormsurge were overnerfed for Ranged and Void is still needing a little help.
- Cosmic and Rocketbelt have also struggled a bit to be performant for their core users.
Shyvana
- Shyvana is the main champion being nerfed for regular play this patch as she's overperforming.
Leona
- Leona is also once of the strongest supports right now by a pretty wide margin, so we're bringing her down a bit.
Skarner
- We overnerfed Skarner in a previous patch and so we're restoring some of that power
- We're also taking away some of the lane specific power in E kidnapping units behind him on cast that doesn't allow champions (especially melee) to play safely in the wave
- We hope to strike the balance between lane and jungle Skarner
Returning skill skew to some champions
- Over the years we've made a bunch of adjustments to champions to make them more performant in normal play and reduce some of the optimizations that make them stronger in high levels of play
- This has led to a gradual movement towards safe scaling champions in lanes (especially mid) and we're looking to recoup some of that
- For assassins, we're trying to target them at having moments of strength at 3 (get all abilities), 6 (ult), 9 (first max) depending on the champion and whether their kit is conducive towards it and playing up those moments of power
Irelia
- Giving her a bit more power in an all-in situation, especially since she is usually close to full HP due to her healing.
Akali
- We think it's pretty reasonable that in most cases, Akali is trying to survive until 6 and play against the opponent's mana bar until she has kill threat
- We're also buffing the Ultimate here so that the buffs are skewed more towards mid lane and killing squishy champions rather than top, as she tends to have low interaction patterns up there.
Yone
- Giving Yone a pretty meaningful Q max buff.
- He's still meant to have a pretty weak early game but once he gets Berserkers and Q at higher ranks, he's going to represent a lot more threat than previously.
- Yone's ult can get to pretty low CD's later in the game and so we're bringing it down to compensate for these buffs.
Yasuo
- Yasuo's changes are targeted at increasing the efficacy of his Rank 1 E (in particular) to increase his threat in lane.
- This is potentially a lot of damage when used well with his E stacks, so we'll be monitoring closely.
- For the wind brothers, we're also skewing a little stronger because Fleet and Kraken are being nerfed and they often use them, and we don't want to Riot special them.
Zed
- Zed is receiving a compensation nerf to his late game ultimate CD because it can get pretty low and not represent a meaningful window.
- However, he's receiving a pretty strong Q rank up buff that is meant to spike around the level 6-9 area.
Sylas
- In high levels of play, Sylas tends to max Q as it's a bit more of a safe lane pattern, while in regular play, he tends to max W as he doesn't get punished as hard.
- We're making Q max up more and also increasing the uptime on Q casts (and as a result wave pressure and trading potential).
- He is also building pretty squishy which is quite a telegraphed and one dimensional play pattern, so we're adding more mixed durability damage profile back to him.
A Competitive Impact
The upcoming patch 14.15 will significantly impact competitive games by nerfing ADCs’ laning phase and first item power spikes, particularly targeting Kraken Slayer and Statikk Shiv, which have been driving the solo lane marksmen meta. Champions like Varus and Ezreal will also see adjustments to balance their power, while AP items such as Stormsurge, Void Staff, Cosmic Drive, and Hextech Rocketbelt are being buffed to improve their performance.
Shyvana and Leona, currently overperforming, will be nerfed, while Skarner will receive buffs to restore power lost in previous nerfs. Additionally, Riot is buffing highly-skilled assassins to enhance their power spikes at specific levels in the early game, with notable adjustments to Irelia, Akali, Yone, Yasuo, Zed, and Sylas to ensure more balanced and engaging gameplay. There is a chance we may see one of these champions to change the META on the midlane where squishy ad carries were dominating all matchups recently.
Header Credit Photo: Riot Games.
