The new balance update is here! The League of Legends patch 9.17 came out on August 27, and it features a number of buffs and nerfs that will affect Solo Queue and competitive meta. Let’s see what are the top LoL patch 9.17 changes you should keep track of!
Top Champions Patch 9.17
Aurelion Sol Changes
It’s no secret that everyone’s favorite celestial dragon has been having a rough time lately. Aurelion Sol simply doesn’t have the tools to stand up to the agile assassins or unwavering bruisers in the mid lane. Which makes it all the more surprising that Riot Games decided to further nerf his laning phase.
His passive lost a whopping 20% damage at early levels, and while the numbers even out to a 7% damage loss down the line, it’s still a big hit to Aurelion Sol’s trading potential. The AP ratio was also bumped down from 0.18-0.35 to 0.25, so the scaling won’t be there either. That being said, Riot did throw a bone to ASol mains by making his passive uninterruptable by crowd control, so the damage output will be more consistent.
That’s only the tip of the Aurelion Sol iceberg. Starsurge [Q] had its cooldown changed from a flat value of 10 seconds to 11-7 seconds (depending on rank). The star will also move a bit faster to match Aurelion Sol’s acceleration while flying. Meanwhile, Celestial Expansion [W] will now automatically deactivate after 3 seconds and give a 40% movement speed boost upon completion. The W cooldown and mana costs were also changed to 8-2 seconds (down from 6-4 seconds) to 70-110 mana (up from 40 mana + 22-30 mana per second) respectively.
Finally, Come of Legends [E] no longer grants bonus movement speed whenever ASol is moving in the same direction for a long period of time. The E range was also increased from 3000-7000 to 5500-7500 and the movement speed was bumped up from 600 to 600-800. Granted, this does come at the cost of a longer cooldown (up from 60-40 seconds to 80-60 seconds), but it’s still a welcome change for anyone that likes to impact the map. Overall, these LoL patch 9.17 changes seem to be geared at smoothing out the ASol experience for casual players, but we doubt that this will be enough to make him an S-tier Solo Queue pick.
Galio Buffs
Who would’ve thought that Galio’s win rate would drop after the marble gargoyle lost several champion-defining parts of its kit? Apparently, not Riot. The balance team is desperately trying to bring Galio back into the meta by reducing the Winds of War [Q] cooldown from 14-10 seconds to 12-10 seconds. Riot also bumped up the Shield of Durand [W] minimum damage from 10-50 to 20-80 and maximum damage from 30-150 to 60-240. Unfortunately, Galio just doesn’t have the means to compete with meta mid laners or supports, so he will still be a non-factor in high-skill matches.
Kalista Base Stats Boost
The League of Legends patch 9.17 was a welcome one for Kalista. The vengeful spirit received a string of buffs to her attack damage (up from 67 to 69), mana (up from 231.8 to 250), and mana growth (up from 35 to 45). Of course, these numbers might not seem impactful on paper, but base stats tend to add up over the course of the game.
Kayle Scaling Changes
Something went horribly wrong with Kayle’s rework. The angelic warrior just got too much power in the late game at the cost of her being borderline useless in the laning phase. Riot is not willing to turn the blind eye to this problem. Kayle’s passive saw a number of LoL patch 9.17 changes that can be summed up with her having more tools to fight back in the early game while losing attack speed stacks and true damage fire waves in the late game.
Additionally, Radiant Blast [Q] will now refund 50% mana per each champion hit. The cast delay and cast time were also set at 0.25 seconds, so the ability will be more consistent overall. It’s worth noting that Radiant Blast will have a slightly lower range (down from 950 to 900), missile speed (down from 2000 to 1600), and resistance reduction (down from 20% to 15%), so it’s hard to say whether this is a clear buff.
The Starfire Spellblade [E] also saw some changes as the bonus damage is now equal to 8-12% (+1% per 50 AP of target’s missing health as opposed to 8-16% (+1% per 100 AP), and on-hit ratio is now equal to 0.1 bonus AD and 0.25 AP as opposed to 0.1 total AD and 0.2 AP. Last but not least, Divine Judgement [R] will now cost 100-0 mana and deal damage in a slightly larger area. We’re still of the opinion that this isn’t enough to bring Kayle back into the top lane meta, especially when you put her against lane bullies like Renekton, Jayce, and Aatrox.
Lucian AD Buff
Lucian just had his base attack damage raised from 61 to 64! Now, this isn’t the most impactful change of the LoL patch 9.17. However, when you consider that Lucian spends most of his time firing out double auto attacks, even the slightest tweak to his stats can make him deadly in the early game.
Pantheon Changes
Pantheon’s rework checked all the boxes in terms of champion fantasy, but it didn’t give him a well-defined role on the Rift. Riot Games is looking to change that. Quick casting Comet Spear [Q] will now deal increased damage to targets below 25% of their maximum health, making it work in a similar fashion to a full Q cast. However, Aegis Assault [E] will no longer apply damage reduction to non-epic monsters, meaning that Pantheon will be a bit squishier in the jungle.
Qiyana Nerfs
It’s taken a while, but pros have finally caught on to the fact that Qiyana is overpowered. Riot is trying to address that by reducing Audacity [E] base damage by 10 at all ranks. On top of that, Supreme Display of Talent [R] will now have a 120-second cooldown at all ranks, so Qiyana players will have to be much more selective on when to use their ultimate.
That’s it for the top changes of the League of Legends patch 9.17! You can check the complete patch notes here, and we’ll see you on the Summoner’s Rift!
