The League of Legends patch 8.24b came out on December 17. If you’re wondering about the reasoning behind the weird number/letter combination, this is supposed to be a small patch with simple buffs and nerfs only. Nevertheless, some of them are bound to reshape the Solo Queue meta, so—without further ado—here are the top changes of patch 8.24b!
Champions
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Akali Shroud Nerf (Again)
It seems Akali just can’t stay out of balance team’s sight! Her Twilight Shroud [W] now has a prestealth effect that makes her silhouette visible right before she stealths or re-stealths even if her enemies don’t have true vision of the surrounding area. On top of that, targeted abilities and uncancellable auto attacks (i.e. Nasus Q or Renekton W) will no longer get nullified when Akali disappears in the Twilight Shroud.
Finally, the re-stealth timing now scales with minutes instead of levels, so fed Akali players will have fewer opportunities to abuse their W than before. Keep in mind that the duration nerf from the 8.24 patch was reverted, so Twilight Shroud once again lasts 5/5.5/6/6.5/7 seconds with a maximum 3-second extension.
Pyke Nerfs
Pyke is going strong. His skirmish-heavy playstyle suits the current meta, and his ability to clean up teamfights with his ultimate is unlike anything other supports have to offer. To make matters worse, he’s even found his way to the mid lane, which wasn’t his intended position at all. Riot is addressing this by reducing his magic resist scaling from 2 to 1.5 per level.
Not only that, but Pyke’s Bone Skewer [Q] now deals 30% damage (instead of 50% damage) to secondary targets, and Death From Below [R] has a slightly lower execute threshold at levels 10-18. In general, these nerfs are a perfect way of hitting Pyke’s laning without affecting his ability to support.
Caitlyn Poke Buffs
Caitlyn’s Piltover Peacemaker [Q] now deals 20 more damage to the first target hit at all ranks. The passthrough damage was reduced from 67% to 60%, though, so her wave clear will remain roughly the same. Also, Ace in the Hole [R] had its range increased from 2000/2500/3000 to 3500 at all ranks. It’s unlikely that these patch 8.24b changes will bring Caitlyn back into the meta, but at this point, Cait mains will take everything they can get.
Singed Early Game Buff
Singed had his base health upped from 580 to 610. More importantly, Fling [E] now deals 6/6.5/7/7.5/8% of target’s maximum health as damage instead of 4/5/6/7/8%. Both of these buffs might not seem like much, but they can be quite impactful for Singed’s early game—especially if he’s laning against a tank.
Varus Gets a Stronger Execute
Meanwhile, Varus received a buff to his mid game. Now, Blighted Quiver [W] deals 6/8/10/12/14% (uncharged) and 9/12/15/18/21% (charged) of target’s missing health as damage, which is roughly 20-40% more than before. If that wasn’t enough, the damage on Chain of Corruption [R] was increased from 150/200/250 to 100/175/200. Granted, none of these buffs push Varus into the unbalanced territory, but they do make him much better at executing squishy opponents.
Alistar Loses Burst
How often have you seen Alistar 1v1ing the enemy AD carry? Our guess is way too often. The rampaging cow simply has far too much power in its kit, so Riot is reducing the damage of Trample [E] from 100/125/150/175/200 to 80/110/140/170/200 over 5 seconds. Additionally, the bonus damage on the empowered auto attack was cut from 55-310 to 35-290 (scales with level). This should make Alistar feel less oppressive to marksman players, but in the end, it’s not enough to push him out of the meta.
Cass Q Hurts Less and Costs More
The mana cost on Cassiopeia’s Noxious Blast [Q] was increased from 50/55/60/65/70 to 50/60/70/80/90, and the base damaged was bumped down from 75/125/175/225/275 to 75/120/165/210/255. Now, the mana nerf isn’t too severe since Cass usually has a fully stacked Tear of the Goddess in the late game, but the loss of damage will definitely be noticeable in prolonged fights.
Neeko Q Nerf
As if often happens with new releases, Neeko was a little too good at too many things. Riot is taking the first step to fixing this by reducing Blooming Burst’s [Q] base damage by 10 on the initial cast and by 5 on the subsequent casts. Keep in mind that Blooming Burst usually procs at least twice, so while the nerf might not seem like much, Neeko actually loses a noticeable chunk of damage.
Forbidden Idol Item Buffs
Enchanter support aren’t exactly having the time of their life right now, so Riot is extending them a helping hand. The most notable change is that Forbidden Idol now grants 10% CDR instead of 5% CDR. Moreover, Ardent Censer and Redemption had their heal and shield power increased from 8% to 10%, and Mikael’s Crucible had its heal and shield power increased from 15% to 20%. Of course, these are nice minor changes for most enchanters, but ultimately, their main issue lies in the shaky laning phase, and more scaling doesn’t do much to solve it.
Tiamat Gets Expensive
The gold value of Tiamat was increased from 1200 to 1325! Keep in mind that this doesn’t affect Ravenous Hydra and Titanic Hydra since they are now 125 gold cheaper to make up for the change. Still, this is a significant nerf to top lane bruisers and—most notably—junglers that lack AoE damage to clear their camps.
Zeke’s Convergence Damage Nerf
The burn damage from Zeke’s Convergence got nerfed! Now, your linked ally will only deal 30% (down from 50%) bonus magic damage over 2 seconds. And while the burn isn’t the main reason to build Zeke’s, this still makes it more difficult for aggressive bot lanes to 100-0 their opponents.
Outer Turrets Keep Resistances
Ever since turret plating was introduced, turrets became much more durable in the early game . However, that durability goes right out the window once the plates fall off, leaving turrets with 0 armor and magic resistance. Now outer turrets will retain the initial 40 armor and magic resistance past the 14-minute mark, so it won’t be as easy to destroy them in the mid game.
That’s it for the top changes of the League of Legends patch 8.24b! You can check the complete patch notes here, and we’ll see you on the Summoner’s Rift!