League of Legends patch 7.9

League of Legends’ new patch is 7.9, the midseason 2017 patch. It introduces the tank update, reworking Maokai, Sejuani and Zac, as well as a host of balance and bug fixes. Plus: new Dark Star skins. Have a look below for all the information we’ve got.

Want in? You’ll need the best League of Legends champions.

LoL Patch 7.9 Release Date And Downtime

Patch 7.9 will release early on May 3. Release time is 3am PT for NA, 5am BST for EUW and 3am CET for EUNE. Keep an eye on the server maintenance page for the latest updates.

LoL Patch 7.9 Balance Changes

That out of the way, let’s start with the really important bit, shall we? What you need to remember is that stuff on the PBE like this is neither guaranteed to happen, nor to be in the next patch even if it does. This is what the folks over at Riot are thinking about doing. We’ve got the numbers on what’s changing, and a general guideline on which way each champion, item, mastery, summoner spell or rune is moving.

Riot have summarised much of it in their midseason spotlight:

Patch 7.9 Tank Update

The following champions have been significantly reworked as part of a larger update to the tanks class. We’ve laid them out like new champions, as they essentially are, with full descriptions of all of their abilities. Changes to other champions are further down the page.

Maokai –reworked

Sap Magic (Passive)

Maokai gathers magical energy from the nature around him. Every [45-20] seconds, his next attack uses that energy to heal him for [10-130 + [4.5-10.5% max HP]]. It won’t trigger above 95% health.

Cooldown: 30/25/20 seconds at levels 1/6/17
Heal:

Base: 10/30/50/70/90/110/130 at levels1/6/9/11/13/15/17
Scaling: 4.5/5.5/6.5/7.5/8.5/9.5/10.5% at levels 1/6/9/11/13/15/17

Each time Maokai casts a spell or if struck by an enemy’s spell, Sap Magic’s cooldown is reduced by 4 seconds.

Bramble Smash (Q)

Cost: 45/50/55/60/65 mana
Cooldown: 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 seconds
Maokai smashes his fist into the ground, releasing a shockwave. Nearby enemies are knocked away from him (further the closer they are) and all affected enemies take 70/115/160/205/250 (+40% AP) magic damage and are slowed by 99% for 0.25 seconds.

Twisted Advance (W)

Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 mana
Cooldown: 13/12/11/10/9 seconds
Maokai transforms into a moving mass of roots, becoming untargetable and dashing to the target.
Upon arrival, he deals 50/75/100/125/150 (+40% AP) magic damage and roots the target for 1/1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4 second(s).

Sapling Toss (E)

Cost: 60 mana
Cooldown: 11 seconds
Maokai flings a sapling, which stands watch for 30 seconds. Saplings will chase nearby enemies, detonating on proximity, dealing [45/70/95/120/145 + 6/6.5/7/7.5/8% [+2% per 100 AP] of the target’s max health] in magic damage and slowing enemies struck by 35% for 2 seconds.
Saplings placed in brush last for 30/40/50/60/70 seconds and deal 100% extra damage over 2 seconds to all enemies hit. They also have a larger detonation radius.

Damage maxes out at 300 for non-champions, 600 in brush.

Nature’s Grasp (R)

Cost: 100 mana
Cooldown: 120/110/100 seconds
Maokai summons a colossal wall of brambles and thorns that slowly advances forwards, dealing 150/225/300 (+75% AP) magic damage and rooting any enemies struck for (0.6 to 2.4) seconds, increasing with distance traveled. Each root can only hit one champion.

Here’s how all that looks together:

Stats:

Health decreased to 540 from 572.2
Health growth decreased to 95 from 90
Health regen decreased to 5 from 7
Armour increased to 30 from 28.7

Here’s his new voice over:

And updated splash arts:

Charred Maokai

Totemic Maokai

Festive Maokai

And meanwhile, in a magical land:

RELEASE THE CATS pic.twitter.com/6X36CILnMe
— SkinSpotlights (@SkinSpotlights) April 21, 2017

Sejuani –reworked

Fury of the North (Passive):

Frost Armor: After not taking damage for 9 seconds, Sejuani becomes immune to slows and gains [100% total Armor + 100] Armor and [100% total MR + 100] Magic Resist. Frost Armor persists for 1/2/3 second(s) (at levels 1/7/14) after taking damage. Will not be affected by minions or small monsters.
Icebreaker: Enemies stunned by Sejuani are frozen, causing Sejuani’s first attack or spell against them to deal 10/15/20% of their maximum Health as magic damage.

Always 400 damage vs. monsters.

Arctic Assault (Q)

Cost: 70/75/80/85/90 mana
Cooldown: 13/12.5/12/11.5/11 seconds
Sejuani charges, dealing 60/90/120/150/180 (+40% AP) magic damage to enemies and knocking them up for 0.5 seconds.

Contact with an enemy champion ends the charge.

Winter’s Wrath (W)

Cost: 60 mana
Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6 seconds
Sejuani swings her flail, dealing 30/35/40/45/50 (+1.5% HP) physical damage and applying Frost to enemies hit. Knocks back minions and monsters.
She then lashes out with her flail, dealing 40/75/110/135/180 (+4.5% HP) physical damage and applying Frost.

Permafrost (E)

Cost: 20 mana
Cooldown: 1.5 seconds
Passive:

Sejuani and her nearby melee allied champions’ basic attacks apply Frost to enemy champions and large monsters.

Active:

Target enemy with 4 stacks of Frost takes 40/60/80/100/120 (+30% AP) magic damage and is stunned for 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 second(s).
An enemy that has been stunned by Sejuani cannot gain Frost stacks for 10/9/8 seconds (at levels 1/7/14).

Glacial Prison (R)

Cost: 100 mana
Cooldown: 120/100/80 seconds
Sejuani throws her True Ice bola that deals 100/125/150 (+40% AP) magic damage to the first enemy champion hit and stuns them for 1 second.
The bola becomes more powerful after it travels 400 range, doubling the stun duration and increasing damage to 150/250/350 (+80% AP)

Empowered bolas also create a storm that slows other enemies by 30%. After 2 seconds, the storm deals 150/250/350 (+80% AP) magic damage and slows by 80% for 3 seconds.

Here’s how all that looks:

Title changed to Fury of the North.
Stats:

Armor decreased to 27 from 29.5
Armor growth increased to 4 from 3
Attack rangeincreased to 150 from 125
Attack damage decreased to 56 from 57.5
Attack damage growth decreased to 3 from 3.3
Attack speed decreaesd to 0.625 from 0.67
Attack speed growth increased to 3% from 1.45%

And some updated splash arts:

Sabretusk Sejuani

Darkrider Sejuani

Traditional Sejuani

Zac –reworked

Cell Division (Passive)

Each time Zac hits an enemy with an ability, he sheds a chunk of Goo that can be reabsorbed to restore [4% of his maximum health].
Upon taking fatal damage, Zac splits into 4 bloblets that attempt to recombine. If any bloblets remain after [8/7/6/5/4 at levels 1/6/10/14/17] seconds, he will revive with 10-50% health depending on the health of the surviving bloblets. Each bloblet has 12% of Zac’s maximum health, and 50% of his Armor and Magic Resistance. This ability has a 300 second cooldown.

Stretching Strikes (Q)

Cost: 4% of current Health
Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 seconds
Zac’s arm stretches and grabs the first enemy it hits, dealing 50/70/90/110/130 (+30% AP) magic damage and briefly slowing them. Zac’s next basic attack is replaced with a long range smack that repeats the initial magic damage and slow effect.
If Zac grabs a different enemy with each attack he’ll throw them towards each other, dealing 50/70/90/110/130 (+30% AP) magic damage in an area if they collide.

Unstable Matter (W)

Cost: 4% of current Health
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Zac’s body erupts, dealing 40/55/70/85/100 magic damage + [4/5/6/7/8% (+2% per 100 AP) of the enemy’s maximum health as magic damage] to all nearby enemies.

Absorbing Goo reduces Unstable Matter’s cooldown by 1 second.
Maximum health damage is capped at 200 versus minions and monsters.

Elastic Slingshot (E)

Cost: 4% of current Health
Cooldown: 24/21/18/15/12 seconds
First cast:

Zac faces the cursor and charges up over 0.9/1/1.1/1.2/1.3 seconds.

Second cast:

Launches Zac towards the target location, knocking up nearby enemies for 0.5 seconds and dealing 80/120/160/200/240 (+70% AP) magic damage. Zac spawns extra chunks of Goo for each enemy champion hit.

Can be cancelled by moving, refunding half of the ability’s cooldown and cost.

Let’s Bounce! (R)

No cost
Cooldown: 130/115/100 seconds
First cast:

Zac squishes himself down, making him immune to Crowd Control for up to 2.5 seconds. Any enemies standing on top of him are slowed by 30/40/50%.

Second cast:

Charging for at least 1 second before recasting causes Zac to scoop up enemies on top of him, carrying them towards the target location 700/850/1000 units. While flying through the air Zac is Unstoppable. Upon landing nearby enemies take 150/250/350 (+70% AP) magic damage and are briefly slowed.

Reactivating before Zac charges up knocks back nearby enemies instead.

Kinda needs to be seen to be believed:

Patch 7.9 Champion Changes

General:

Every champion who had no Magic Resist growth before, now has 0.5.

No further champion changes yet, but wait for it.

Patch 7.9 Item Changes

Huge item changes in 7.9, including two totally new ones.

Adaptive Helm–new!

Gargoyle Stoneplate–new!

Besides this, a huge number of items are being changed in patch 6.9. Starting support items are having quests added to make their play more interesting. Details on this available on the forums.

On quests, each line of items are getting a different quest. Here’s the deets:

Ancient Coin, Nomad’s Medallion, Talisman of Ascension, Eye of Oasis:

Quest: Earn 650 gold using this item and upgrade to Nomad’s Medallion.
Reward: Favor is upgraded to Emperor’s Favor and you receive an Elixir of Skill.

Relic Shield, Targon’s Brace, Face of the Mountain, Eye of the Equinox:

Quest: Earn 650 gold using this item and upgrade to Targon’s Brace.
Reward: Shield Battery, a permanent shield that regenerates slowly outside of combat.

Spellthief’s Edge, Frostfang, Frost Queen’s Claim, Eye of the Watchers:

Quest: Earn 650 gold using this item and upgrade to Frostfang.
Reward: Tribute is upgraded into Queen’s Tribute.

Abyssal Scepter–reworked

Total cost: 2800g
Build path: Spectre’s cowl + Negatron cloak + 880g
Effects:

+300 health
+65 magic resist
+100% base health regeneration
+10% cooldown reduction
Unique passive: nearby enemy champions take 10% more magic damage.

Ancient Coin –changed

Removed: +25% base mana regen
Added: +2 gold per 10 seconds
Changed passive: Enemy minions killed by your allies sometimes drop coins that give either 20 gold or 8% missing mana (minimum 15).

Banshee’s Veil–reworked

Total cost: 2700g
Build path: Fiendish Codex + Null Magic Mantle + Blasting Wand + 500g
Effects:

+70 ability power
+45 magic resist
+10% cooldown reduction
Unique passive: grants a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability. This shield refreshes after no damage is taken from enemy champions for 44-8 seconds based on level.

The Black Cleaver– nerfed

Unique passive’s armour reduction per stack decreased to 4% from 5%

The Blood Thirster– buffed

AD increased to 80 from 75

Cinderhulk–buffed

Passive:

Damage changed to 11+1/level from 7+2/level
Bonus damage to monsters increased to 200% from 100%

Dead Man’s Plate–changed

Health decreased to 425 from 500
Armour increased to 60 from 50
Now only deals bonus damage on basic attacks when at full stacks
Passive now reads:

“Momentum decays while under the effects of a stun, taunt, fear, polymorph, or immobilize effect, as well as basic attacking.”

Death’s Dance– buffed

Attack damage increased to 80 from 75
Unique passive increased to 30% of damage taken is dealt as a Bleed over 3 seconds

Doran’s Shield–reworked

Total cost: 400g
Effects:

+80 health
Passive: Restores 6 health every 5 seconds
Passive: Basic attacks deal an additional 5 physical damage to minions on hit
Unique Passive: Regain an additional 20 health over 10 seconds after taking damage from an enemy champion.

Essence Reaver –buffed

Total cost decreased to 3400 from 3600.

Eye of the Oasis –changed

Now gives 2 gold per 10 seconds
Passive – Favor now reads:

Enemy minions killed by your allies sometimes drop coins that give either 30 gold or 8% missing mana (minimum 15).

Eye of the Watchers –changed

Base mana regen decreased to 50% from 100%
Ability power increased to 35 from 25

Frostfang –changed

AP increased to 20 from 15
Base mana regen decreased to 50% from 75%
Unique Passive – Tribute:

Removed: Killing a minion disables this passive for 12 seconds.
Added: Killing a minion stops you from triggering for 8 seconds per minion slain.

Frost Queen’s Claim –changed

AP increased from 50 to 60
Base mana regen decreased from 75% to 50%

Guardian Angel–reworked

Total cost: 2400g
Build path: BF Sword + Cloth Armour + 800g
Effects:

+40 AD
+30 Armour
Unique Passive: Upon taking lethal damage, restores 50% of base health and 30% of maximum mana after 4 seconds of stasis (300 second cooldown).

Infinity Edge– buffed

Total cost decreased to 3400g from 3600

KircheisShard– changed

Total price increased to 800g from 750
Energised strike damage increased to 50 bonus magic damage from 40

Last Whisper–nerfed

Armour penetration decreased to 35% from 45%

Lord Dominik’s Regards– changed

Total cost decreased to 2600g
Armour Penetration decreased to 35% from 45%
Giant Slayer passive:

Max effect increased to 20% from 15%
% damage per 100 HP difference increased to 2% from 1.5%

Mortal Reminder– changed

Total cost decreased to 2600g from 2700
Combine cost decreased to 500g from 600
Armour penetration decreased to 35% from 45%

Nomad’s Medallion –changed

Removed: +75% base mana regen
Added: 2 gold per 10 seconds
Unique Passive – Favor changed:

Enemy minions killed by your allies sometimes drop coins that give either 30 gold or 8% missing mana (minimum 15).

Phantom Dancer– nerfed

Total cost increased to 2600g from 2550

Poacher’s Dirk – changed

Total cost decreased to 600g from 750g
AD decreased to 10 from 15
Unique passive cooldown decreased to 50 seconds from 60 seconds

Randuin’s Omen–changed

Total Cost: 2900g
Recipe: Ruby Crystal + Warden’s Mail + Ruby Crystal + 1100g

+350 Health
+60 Armor
Passive: 20% damage taken from basic attack Critical Strikes
Unique Passive – Cold Steel: When hit by basic attacks, reduces the attacker’s attack speed by 15% for 1 second.
Unique Active: Slows the Movement Speed of nearby enemy units by 55% for 2 seconds (60 second cooldown)

Rapid Firecannon– changed

Total cost unchanged, recipe cost changed to accomodate build path price changes.
Damage on energised attack decreased to 50-120 from 50-160
Added: Attacks become Energized 25% faster.

‘Energized’ is now one effect, meaning this can be combo’d with Statikk Shiv.

Ravenous Hydra– buffed

Attack damage increased to 80 from 75

Runaan’s Hurricane– changed

Build path changed to Dagger + Zeal + Dagger + 800g
Bolt damage increased to 40% attack damage
Removed: Unique Passive – Basic attacks deal an additional 15 physical damage on hit

Spectre’s Cowl–nerfed

Magic resist decreased to 25 from 30

Spirit Visage–changed

Health decreased to 425 from 500
Magic resist increased to 60 from 55
Unique passive healing increased to 30% from 25%

Statikk Shiv– changed

Total cost unchanged, recipe cost changed to accomodate build path price changes.
Energised attacks damage increased to 60-160 from 50-120
Bonus damage to minions decreased to 65% from 120%

Sterak’s Gage–buffed

Attack damage increased to 30% from 25%
Shield value changed to 75% of bonus health from 30% of max health
Passive attack damage increased to 30% from 25%

Sunfire cape–changed

Health decreased to 425 from 500
Armour increased to 60 from 50
AoE burn damage decreased to [11+1/level] from [25+1/level]
Bonus damage to minions and monsters increased to 200% from 50%

Talisman of Ascension –changed

Removed: +75% base mana regen
Unique passive movement speed increased to 200% from 20%
Changed Passive – Favor:

Enemy minions killed by your allies sometimes drop coins that give either 30 gold or 8% missing mana (minimum 15).

Warmog’s Armour–buffed

Warmog’s Heart:

Grants at 2750 health, decreased from 3000
Regeneration increased to 5% per second from 3%
Undamaged time decreased to 6 seconds from 8 seconds
Goes on 3 second cooldown when damage by minions and monsters

Zeal–buffed

Total cost decreased to 1200g from 1300

LoL Patch 7.9 Rift Herald Changes

The biggest girl on the Rift is getting significant reworks with the midseason update, changing Biggles Crabson from a mostly ignored roadblock on the way to Baron to a lane-pushing, Heroes of the Storm-style PvE objective that will almost certainly be in big demand. Here’s the highlights:

Now spawns once per game.
When defeated will drop an eye, that can be collected as an item and used to summong Rift Herald to push a lane.
All new art, as seen above.
The encounter is being made slightly easier, so it is soloable by skillful players. You’ll still need to be paying attention to do it, but it’s now possible. A partner is still recommended. The encounter also has various added elements to make it more ‘epic’ and interesting, but they’re avoidable again through decent play.

While pushing a lane, she’s meant to take down multiple turrets if protected, but be easy to beat with a coordinated team if she’s going solo. Expect your team to never protect or defend against her. Obviously.

LoL Patch 7.9 New Skins

Second most important: cosmetics. Lovely, gorgeous cosmetics. Bit more of a visual medium this, so we’ve grabbed the best videos of each skin, as well as a lovely pic or two. Some are relatively simple changes, while others are total reworks of every part of the champion outside the gameplay numbers – new VO, new animations, new particles and the rest. It’s generally defined by how much they cost, so we’ve detailed that as well.

Dark Star Kha’Zix

1350 RP.Details from Riot.

Here’s their splash:

Dark Star Orianna

1350 RP.Details from Riot.

Here’s their splash:

Corruptant Ward

As with most skin packs these days, the Dark Stars come with their own ward. Here’s a vid:

It’ll be 640 RP or likely be available as part of a pack.

Dark Star Game Mode

There’s also talk of a game mode – we’ve got all the details in our dedicated post. Further explanations straight from Riot here.

Guess Who’s Back? (It’s Graves’ Cigar)

The above asset, along with a couple others containing the shotgun-wielding pseudo-cowboy and his favourite puffer, were added during this PBE cycle. This follows a mysterious tweet from Riot co-founder Marc ‘Tryndamere’ Merrillcontaining the grizzly one’s cigared visage. Presumably, it’s making a comeback.

LoL Patch 7.9 Login Screen

Each patch has its own login screen with unique music. They’re always fairly excellent, and 7.9’s is no exception. It’s based around the new pair of Dark Star skins and is especially spooky.

LoL Patch 7.9 UI Updates

Riot are doing a pass on the UI, especially as it relates to the utility contributions of teams – putting out stuns, giving vision, killing structures, tanking damage, etc. This is all laid out, along with some other changes, in this forum post.

LoL Patch 7.9 developer notes

A new section for our patch posts this – we’ll be dropping in any relevant thoughts from various folks at Riot. Of note this go round is Andrei ‘Meddler’ Van Roon withthoughtson where they’ll be focusing balance efforts and what they’ll be keeping an eye on from this patch. Of note:

The three major redesigns, along with the major new items, quests and Rift Herald. Obviously.
Rakan and Xayah are doing okay so won’t be receiving any balance updates, yet anyway.
The CC tracking will return in patch 7.10.
Thesub-classlist will receive an update in May.

League of Legends Missions

These aren’t rolling out in 7.9, but have been added to the PBE. Via this Red post, Riot are essentially implementing event-based rewards in-game, rather than having to claim via other websites or them checking everything a few weeks later and auto-adding anything earned. It will be revealed properly “in the coming weeks” but S@20 have a preview of the strings involved.

That’s League of Legends patch 7.9. We’ll update as and when we get more info, or we’ll see you for patch 7.10 in the very near future. Let us know below if there’s any vital info we missed!