League of Legends patch 8.9 was released on May 2. We take a look at the most impactful changes that will reshape the current meta!
Champions
Mage Mana Changes
Most AP casters received a 25% increase in their base mana and mana regeneration. However, their mana growth stat was cut in half to make up for the change. The list of the affected champions includes Ahri, Anivia, Annie, Azir, Brand, Cassiopeia, Fiddlesticks, Heimerdinger, Karthus, Lissandra, Lux, Malzahar, Orianna, Swain, Syndra, Taliyah, Twisted Fate, Veigar, Vel’Koz, Viktor, Xerath, Ziggs, Zilean, Zoe, and Zyra.
Champions like Diana, Galio, Kayle, Morgana, and Teemo also received minor mana regen buffs. At first glance, this seems like a huge buff. That said, the change is accompanied by a string of mana item nerfs that make things a lot more complicated for AP mid laners. But we’ll get to those later.
Caitlyn Headshot Nerf
If you were looking forward to Caitlyn’s passive being nerfed against champions, prepare to be disappointed. Instead, Riot is targeting her damage to minions. Basically, the Sheriff of Piltover used to obliterate creeps with critical Headshots. Hence, Riot is cutting the minion crit damage by a third and bumping up the non-crit damage in the late game. As for the early/mid stages of the game, both versions of Headshot will deal reduced damage to creeps here.
With that, her wave clear will definitely be affected. Even so, the champion’s kit is built around pushing, so it will still be difficult to challenge a competent Caitlyn in lane.
Mundo Gets More Regen
Dr. Mundo has always been a massive health tank. Riot is reinforcing this identity by buffing Sadism [R] to restore a 100% of his maximum health (instead of 70%) at max rank. So if you see Mundo on the enemy team, prepare to build Thornmail, Mortal Reminder, or Morellonomicon. Because now you will really need it.
Kai’sa Loses Item Synergy
The newest addition to the AD carry pool has been dominating the bot lane. Riot is addressing this by decreasing the number of evolved Icathian Rain [Q] missiles by 2. A much bigger change, though, is that missiles now count as AoE, so Kai’sa will no longer get insane health regeneration from Death’s Dance.
Supercharge [E] duration was bumped down from 5 seconds to 4 seconds, and Runaan’s Hurricane bolts won’t grant any extra CDR for the spell. With that, Kai’sa will be much more manageable in the mid game. Her numbers are off the charts, though, so don’t expect the Daughter of the Void to disappear completely.
AD Kennen Returns
It seems that Riot forgot the monstrosity that was AD Kennen because they’re buffing the 5th Electrical Surge’s [W] auto attack base damage and AD ratio by 40%! Active damage was slightly lowered, though, but the AP ratio on it was raised from 0.55 to 0.8.
These are nice buffs, but it’s the change to Lightning Rush [E] that pushes Kennen back into the meta. Now, the ability gives zero defensive bonuses, however, it also grants a massive 30-70% attack speed boost once the spell runs out. And if that’s not a direct buff to Rekkles, we don’t know what is!
Lux Becomes Playable
Seems like Riot is determined to push Lux into the realm of viability. The champion received 7% bonus attack speed at level 1, although her overall attack speed growth stat was reduced from 1.36% to 1%. Her health growth was also bumped down a bit.
Even so, Lux mains aren’t likely to notice this since Light Binding [Q] gained damage in the early game, and its cooldown and mana cost were reduced at all ranks. Also, Prismatic Barrier [W] now always shields Lux for 200% on return, and Lucent Singularity [E] requires less mana and doesn’t have as high of a cooldown at max rank. The latter change does have a price, though, and Lux’s E will now move a bit slower and deal damage in a smaller radius.
Weird Poppy Changes
The hammer-wielding yordle saw a ton of minor tweaks! First, Poppy has less mobility in her kit, as her base movement speed was bumped down. On top of that, the bonus movement speed and resistances on Steadfast Presence [W] were decreased by 30%.
To make up for the nerf, she received 50 more range on her passive and Heroic Charge [E]. This is huge for Poppy’s trading patterns, although the lost resistances will be noticeable in teamfights. Still, the fact that the snapcast of Keeper’s Verdict [R] no longer makes the affected champions untargetable, and the ultimate has increased missile speed leaves us hopeful for Poppy’s future.
Warwick Nerfs
That’s right, the bane of Solo Queue was finally nerfed! Warwick had his base attack damage bumped down, and his Jaws of the Beast [Q] now deal 2% less maximum health damage at max rank. This won’t be enough to push him out of the meta, but it should still make him less oppressive in the jungle.
Items, Runes & Game Mechanics
Mana Items Gutted
As we’ve mentioned before, mana items received a string of nerfs this patch. For starters, Doran’s Ring no longer grants mana on kills. Instead, the item gives a flat 5 mana per 5 seconds regeneration as well as +5 damage to minions. Lost Chapter became 200 gold more expensive, and while the AP increase from 25 to 40 somewhat makes up for the nerf, it will be harder for mid laners to spam their spells.
In a similar fashion, Tear of the Goddess costs a 100 gold more and refunds 10% of mana spent (instead of 15%). Finally, Luden’s Echo will be a 100 gold cheaper while granting a 100 extra mana. There’s a bunch of other tweaks, but these are the most important changes that will greatly affect the state of mid lane wave clear.
Guinsoo’s Rageblade Fix
At long last, Guinsoo’s Rageblade doesn’t interact with other AD multipliers! With that, you’ll no longer see Jhin hitting for 1600 with a non-crit auto attack. Master Yi will also be affected, and the bonus damage from Infernal Drake will be less valuable on Rageblade users.
Baron Nashor Stat Tweaks
This is one of the biggest changes of the 8.9 patch. Baron Nashor now deals 285-436 (instead of 400-550) damage with his basic attacks, but his base health was increased from 6400 to 9000. This makes it much harder to rush the objective, especially in the do-or-die scenarios where every second counts. Expect teams to approach Baron with more caution.
Rift Herald Changes
Rift Herald became much better at dismantling turrets. Now, the charge deals a whopping 40% of the turret’s current health (or 1500, depending on which number is greater). However, hitting Rift Herald’s eye will deal twice as much damage, so you’ll have to put extra effort into protecting the oversized Scuttle Crab from flanks.
Unsealed Spellbook Overhaul
The Unsealed Spellbook keystone was completely reworked! Now, you can swap one of your summoners to a different single-use summoner spell. Once you cast it, you get your initial summoner back. The first swap becomes available at the 6-minute mark, and the cooldown is 4 minutes (reduced by 15 seconds each time you make the swap).
Your original summoner spells still cool down while being swapped out. Moreover, you can swap summoner spells anywhere you like, provided you’re out of combat. This opens up countless exciting possibilities for solo laners, and we definitely expect pros to experiment with the keystone.
That’s it for top changes of the League of Legends patch 8.9! You can check the complete patch notes here, and we’ll see you on the Summoner’s Rift!