A new patch brings new changes to League of Legends, and Riot Scruffy has provided a preview of what should be coming into play. As ever, these are still tentative so numbers may change, but it still gives an overview of what we should expect and the direction Riot wants to go in.
Some of the larger changes revolve around healing. The Omnivamp from the Ravenous Hunter rune is being nerfed; it no longer has a base amount, and each stack now provides less Omnivamp.
Fleet Footwork's AP scaling is also being reduced, as well as Blade of the Ruin King's Lifesteal stat. On top of that is another change to Sterak's Gage, where Bloodlust's stacks have the healing halved after the first.
To top it all off is a change to Immortal Shieldbow, which has not only had its Lifesteal reduced but also Lifeline's Lifesteal increase removed; now being replaced by a larger shield and an Attack Speed buff.
All new skins for Caitlyn, Garen, Wukong, Yone and Leona join the school-based Battle Academia skin line in League of Legends, first being put through their paces on the PBE.
Also, a special mention to Jungle Volibear which may be making a return, as the healing from his (W) Frenzied Maul against wounded Monsters is being increased to 100%, as well as the (E) Sky Splitter's damage cap being increased to its max level at rank one.
We are seeing Mage items being worked on too. Liandry's Anguish now scales off of the enemy's maximum health, giving a Magic Damage bonus instead of the increasing Magic Penetration overtime.
Luden's Tempest is being buffed so that its Cooldown is reduced every time you deal Ability Damage to Champions. This means that Champions like Azir will be able to proc the Echo passive constantly; with each of his Sand Soldiers able to reduce the Echo cooldown by 0.5s per champion hit every attack, he is going to be terrifying in teamfights if he can set up properly!
The stars of the show, however, are Akali and Xin Zhao.
Akali is having some of her Energy worked on. Her Passive no longer refunds Energy, likely due to the Presence of Mind rune already helping to do that, while her main wave clear and poke tool, (Q) Five Point Strike, is having the Energy cost increased early but decreased later.
To compensate for this change, however, Akali is now having her (W) Twilight Shroud increase her maximum Energy; giving her a bonus and more tools to work with when fighting around the shroud.
In addition, she is also having more focus put onto Ability Power, with her (E) Shuriken Flip gaining more damage weighted towards an AP scaling. Her (R) Perfect Execution is also gaining an AP scaling for the first cast, and it will now deal Magic Damage instead of Physical Damage.
Xin Zhao is now coming to play too. We may start to see AP Xin again, as his Passive healing has been reduced but with a higher AP scaling; along with his (W) Wind Becomes Lightning and (R) Crescent Guard both gaining AP scaling too.
The major change, however, is to his (W). Not only does it gain the AP scaling, but it is now going to have a slightly increased range, a levelled out cast time, and will now Challenge Champions and Monsters; providing vision of enemies hit for three seconds.
This then goes hand in hand with a change to his (E) Audacious Charge, which will now have an increased range against Challenged targets. Not only will this allow Xin Zhao players to fit a Wind Becomes Lightning into a combo, but it will now make the Seneschal of Demacia more sticky; allowing him to chase opponents easier and potentially for assassin builds to come into play.
Things will change for the League of Legends' Demacia Seneschal – Xin Zhao will be having his abilities reworked
