The League of Legends patch 8.18 came out on September 11. This is the last competitive patch before the 2018 World Championship, so even though it might seem minor, it will definitely play a huge role in pro play. With that in mind, let’s see how it reshapes the meta!
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Aatrox healing and damage buffs
It’s no secret that Aatrox has been phased out of competitive play, so Riot is looking for a way to bring him back for Worlds. With that, they’ve increased the healing on Umbral Dash [E] by 5% at max rank. In a similar fashion, World Ender [R] now grants 30% bonus attack damage instead of 25% at level 16, which will certainly be noticeable in the late game. Still, the main strength of the reworked Aatrox is lane dominance. And ultimately, none of these buffs make his early game any better.
Akali bursts less with ult
Despite her rework, Akali is far from being an ultimate mid lane pick. Still, she can do a ton of work if she falls into the hands of a capable assassin player and it’s common to see Akali 100-0 her opponents at level six. Well, she’s about to become a bit less oppressive because the base damage on both casts of her ultimate has been reduced from 120/180/240 to 100/150/200. And even though that doesn’t sound like much, every little bit counts when you’re trying to assassinate your opponent.
Kai’sa passive nerf
Ever since her release, Kai’sa became a staple bot lane pick. Granted, her laning isn’t that great, but she makes up for it by outputting insane amounts of damage in the late game. Hence, Riot is decreasing the proc damage from her passive (Caustic Wounds) from 15-20% of target’s missing health to 15% of target’s missing health at all levels. With that, Kai’sa will still be a force to be reckoned with in teamfights but she will have a harder time getting through enemy frontliners.
Ryze loses reliable CC
When it comes to pro play, few mid laners are as popular as Ryze. Not only does he routinely top the DPS charts by overwhelming his foes with a barrage of spells but his Rune Prison [W] is one of the strongest CC abilities in the game. Things are about to change, though, because the E > W combo will now root for 1.5 seconds instead of 2 seconds. And that makes Ryze’s crowd control much less reliable at all stages of the game.
Trundle pillar nerfs
If you’re an immobile champion, few things are as terrifying as the enemy Trundle waltzing into your lane. After all, a single Pillar of Ice [E] is all it takes to force your flash or even get you killed. Fortunately, the ice troll is going to be less oppressive since the cooldown on his pillar was increased by 2 seconds at all ranks. On top of that, the slow was changed from 30/35/40/45/50% to 15/25/35/45/55%, so there’s way more room to outmaneuver Trundle in the early game.
Vayne Q buff
Its’ been a while since we’ve seen Vayne in pro play. However, someone’s definitely going to try her out now because the cooldown on her Tumble [Q] was reduced by a whopping 50% at all ranks! This makes Vayne way more slippery in fights while granting her more auto attack resets in the laning phase.
That’s it for top changes of the League of Legends patch 8.18! You can check the complete patch notes here, and we’ll see you on the Summoner’s Rift!