The League of Legends patch 9.11 came out on May 29. This might be the smallest balance update of the mid-season, as Riot Games only threw a handful of nerfs and buffs into the mix. Still, some of these tweaks will definitely alter the state of Solo Queue and competitive play, so here’s our list of the top changes of patch note version 9.11!
League Champions Patch Notes 9.11
Akali passive nerf
Akali’s passive—Assassin’s Mark—received a nerf to its energy refund and damage ratio. Now, enhanced auto attacks will only grant 10/15/20 energy (down from 10/20/30) per hit. Moreover, the damage ratio went down by roughly 30%, so the auto attacks will hurt less as well. This isn’t a huge deal in and of itself, but considering the Rogue Assassin has been receiving one nerf after another, it seems that Riot Games is set on pushing Akali into the counterpick territory.
Galio trades base damage for ratios
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a mid lane Galio, but that’s likely to change on patch 9.11. Shield of Durand [W] had its base damage decreased by 10 (minimum duration) and 30 (maximum duration) at all ranks. However, the spell gained extra AP scaling equal to 0.1 (minimum duration) and 0.3 (maximum duration) to make up for the change.
Unfortunately, Justice Punch [E] now deals 20% less damage at first rank, and while the numbers even out later on, these changes still strike us as a straight-up nerf to everyone’s favorite gargoyle. Gratned, there are more incentives to build AP on Galio, but it’s far more likely that the champion won’t see any play at all.
Gragas stats buffs
Gragas had a rough time finding his place in the current meta. That’s subject to change, though, as the drunken brawler received a string of buffs to his base health (up from 583.5 to 600), health growth (up from 89 to 95), and attack damage (up from 61.4 to 64). These patch 9.11 buffs might not seem that big at first glance, but in the end, even the slightest stats tweaks can fundamentally alter a champion’s identity.
Janna… buffs?
Ever since Riot Games switched up Janna’s kit to make her more proactive in lane, she has been on the outskirts of viability. But the future looks bright for all the enchanter mains out there. Zephyr’s [W] cooldown now scales with levels, so instead of having a flat cooldown of 8 seconds at all ranks, Janna will now have to wait 8/7.5/7/6/5 seconds to recast the spell. Granted, the W base damage was reduced by 17% at max rank, but this is still a pretty big buff to Janna’s early game.
If that wasn’t enough, Eye of the Storm [E] will now have its cooldown reduced by 20% whenever Janna slows or knocks back an enemy champion. Combine that with slight tweaks to E cooldown (2 seconds less at first rank and 2 seconds more at max rank) and 10 more points of base shield at all ranks, and Janna has all the tools she needs to became a staple support pick.
Jayce Q nerf
It’s no secret that Jayce has been incredibly dominant in the current meta. Patch 9.11 addresses this by reducing the Shock Blast [Q] base damage by 7.8% at max rank. Moreover, the AD ratio on the spell was bumped down from 1.2 to 1.0, so Jayce will have less burst in the late game. Now, this is a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t address the real reasons why Jayce is so prominent in the solo lanes: his powerful early game and insane flex pick potential. And as long as these remain unchanged, we will keep seeing Jayce in the solo lanes.
Karthus ult nerfs
Few champions are as irritating to deal with as Karthus. Not only does he have a global ultimate that allows him to influence every single lane on the Rift, but he can completely circumvent his sluggish laning phase by going into the jungle. Riot Games is looking to change that by reducing the Requiem [R] base damage by 50 at all ranks. On top of that, the AP ratio on the ultimate was decreased by 0.1, so Karthus will have a harder time bursting people down from half health.
Rammus loses damage
Whenever you hear about someone dealing too much damage, Rammus is probably the last champion you think of. Yet, according to Riot, that doesn’t exempt him from nerfs. The armadillo’s passive Spiked Shell now deals a flat amount of 10 damage on auto attacks instead of 8-20 damage. If that wasn’t enough, Tremors [R] now deals 25% less damage at all ranks, which is a pretty big hit to Rammus’s teamfighting.
Zac gets his old ult back
If we’re talking about the top changes of patch 9.11, we have to mention Zac. Stretching Strike [Q] got a 20% stronger slow at all ranks as well as a 2 second shorter cooldown at max rank. On top of that, Unstable Matter [W] now deals damage equal to 2% of targets max health per 100 ability power, so there are more incentives to build AP on Zac.
But the biggest change has to do with his ultimate. Let’s Bounce [R] was completely reverted to its pre-rework state, meaning that Zac will once again bounce 4 times on cast with a 1-second delay between the bounces. Each bounce deals 140/210/280 (+0.4 AP) damage and knocks enemies up for 1 second. Subsequent bounces on the same targets only deal 50% magic damage and do not apply any crowd control effects. Finally, Zac can move during his ultimate, and his movement speed slowly builds up to 150% during the bounces.
That’s it for the top changes of the League of Legends patch 9.11! You can check the complete patch notes here, and we’ll see you on the Summoner’s Rift!
