The League of Legends patch 8.14 was released on July 17. It isn’t as massive as some of the previous patches, but it definitely includes buffs and nerfs that will alter the state of the meta. So, let’s dive deep and break down the most impactful changes!
Champions
Aatrox Nerfs
When the new Aatrox was first released, people weren’t that keen on his kit. However, Riot’s decision to hotfix him made the darkin swordsman one of the most oppressive laners in the game, and it was only a matter of time before he was hit with nerfs. For starters, his base health was reduced from 610 to 580. Additionally, Riot shaved off 10 points of damage off The Darkin Blade [Q] and increased the cooldown of Umbral Dash [E] at early ranks (although the cooldown becomes 33% lower at max rank). To make up for these changes, Riot threw in a 5% attack damage on the max rank World Ender [R]. But make no mistake—these are still sizeable nerfs to Aatrox’s early game.
Fizz W Rework
Well, rework may be too grandiose of a term, but Fizz’s Seastone Trident [W] saw a good number of changes. The empowered attack damage was increased by 20 and the cooldown was reduced by 3 seconds at all ranks. To top it all off, if Seastone Trident doesn’t kill its target, Fizz’s next auto attacks deal up to 30 on-hit damage for 5 seconds. As for the passive bleed, it stayed the same. It’s worth mentioning that the priming mechanic was removed, so the Tidal Trickster no longer has to wait for the Trident meter to make the most out of his W. The only downside is that Fizz’s Q and R won’t apply the Seastone Trident bleed to anyone other than the primary target, but that’s a small price to pay for a more fluid kit.
Jinx and Twitch health buffs
Both Jinx and Twitch received base health buffs. Jinx had her health upped from 531 to 581, and Twitch saw his health increase from 542 to 582. The buff came at the cost of health growth numbers, so you will have roughly the same amount of HP in the later stages of the game. Still, this is a step in the right direction as it lets hypercarry marksmen have more agency in the laning phase.
Karma change
It’s no secret that a strong Karma can be very oppressive in the early game. Riot is trying to address this by cutting the empowered Inner Flame [Q] damage by 15/10/5 at Mantra levels 1/2/3. As for the damage that comes from Mantra level 4, it stayed exactly the same. However, the nerf is accompanied by a slight increase of Inner Flame’s splash radius. Combine that with the fact that Karma received a ton of base armor and early game mana regeneration, and is much more powerful than she used to be.
Corki’s improved Gatling gun
Corki’s Gatling Gun [E] got a whopping 40 points of damage at rank 1! Granted, the damage evens out later on, but this should still make it difficult to trade against him in the early game. If that wasn’t enough, the resistance shred was doubled at first rank, so Corki should be able to hold his ground against mages and bruisers alike.
Wukong nerfs
We’re still not sure how exactly Wukong became the bane of solo queue. However, it’s hard to argue against his monstrous win rates in the top and mid lane positions. Riot is trying to address this by reducing the damage on Nimbus Strike [E] by 40 at max rank. But even though that will sting for all the Wukong mains out there, we can’t help feeling that the champion exerts the most pressure in the early game. And if we’re talking about levels 1-4, Nimbus Strike damage was practically untouched.
Items, Runes. and Game Mechanics
End of Funneling?
It looks like Riot is determined to nerf gold funneling into the ground. Now, whenever you purchase Hunter’s Machete or Hunter’s Talisman, you will gain 10 less gold from killing lane minions. The penalty is removed when you upgrade your jungle item, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s much harder to get the funnel going. In a similar fashion, it’s now not recommended for junglers to tax their laners in the early game because their team will be missing out on gold.
Teleport Gets Gutted
Top laners all over the world are about to riot because the cooldown on Teleport was increased from 300 seconds to 360 seconds. If that wasn’t enough, the canceled cooldown was upped from 200 seconds to 240 seconds too. Granted, we don’t expect the summoner spell to go completely out of fashion. After all, the ability to join fights on the other side of the map is far too valuable for most top laners. But it’s clear that other laners will have more windows of opportunity to trade and force objectives while top laners are stuck on their island.
Conqueror Nerf
The newest addition to the League of Legends rune pool—Conqueror—was good at its job. A little too good even, as the rune single-handedly forced most tanks out of the meta. Riot is trying to fix this by reducing its bonus attack damage from 10-35 to 6-35 to make it not as overwhelming in the early game. But this probably won’t be enough.
Ghost Poro Update
It’s clear that Ghost Poro was one of the least popular runes in the Domination tree. In fact, the only times you saw it was when someone accidentally took it in an ARAM game. Things are about to change, though, because you can now choose when—and where—to deploy your Ghost Poro. But wait, there’s more! All Ghost Poro users will get 5-20 AP or 3-12 AD (adaptive) when they cross the river and enter the enemy territory, which is huge for aggressive junglers who want to invade and slaughter their opponents.
That’s it for top changes of the League of Legends patch 8.14! You can check the complete patch notes here, and we’ll see you on the Summoner’s Rift!