League of Legends’ next big content patch is 8.1, introducing the 2018 season, as well as a host of balance and bug fixes. So far, they include changes to Graves and Cassiopeia, as well as several changes around the Forbidden Idol item lines. Have a look below for all the information we’ve got, straight from the PBE.
As an added note, some of these changes will have already gone live as part of patch 7.24b, released back in December – we’ll flag those up where necessary.
Keep up to date with the latest live changes with the League of Legends patch 7.24 notes.
LoL Patch 8.1 Release Date And Downtime
Patch 8.1 will go live on January 16 at 03:00 PT for NA, 05:00 GMT for EUW and 03:00 CET for EUNE. Expect there to be maintenance starting at this time, and when the servers come back up it’ll be on the new patch. We’ll update when Riot do, but keep an eye on theserver maintenance pagefor the latest updates.
LoL Patch 8.1 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.
Aatrox –buffed in patch 7.24b
- Base AD increased to 70 from 68.
- Dark Flight (Q):
- Damage increased to20/50/80/110/140from 10/35/60/95/120.
- Blades of Torment (E):
- Damage increasedto 80/120/160/200/240 from75/115/155/195/235.
Brand – buffed
- Blaze (Passive):
- Damage increased to 4% of maximum health from 2% of maximum health.
Cassiopeia –buffed in patch 7.24b
- Noxious Blast (Q):
- Mana cost decreased to 50/55/60/65/70 from 60/65/70/75/80.
- Twin Fang (E):
- AP increased to 60% from 50%.
Corki –nerfed in patch 7.24b
- Base AD decreased to 60 from 63.
- AD per level decreased to 3 from 3.5.
Graves –buffed
- End of the Line (Q):
- Cooldown decreased to 13/12/11/10/9 seconds from 14/13/12/11/10 seconds.
- Mana cost decreased to 60/65/70/75/80 from 60/70/80/90/100.
- Smoke Screen (W):
- Slow increased to 50%at all ranks from 15/20/25/30/35%.
- Slow duration decreased to 0.5 seconds from 1.5 seconds.
Heimerdinger –nerfed
- H-28G Evolution Turret (Q):
- Upgrade!!! empowered turret beam damage decreased to 100/140/180 from 200/270/340.
Jayce –nerfed in patch 7.24b
- Thundering Blow (Hammer E):
- Cooldown increased to20/18/16/14/12 secondsfrom 15/14/13/12/11/10.
Katarina –nerfed in patch 7.24b
- Shunpo (E):
- Damage decreased to 15/30/45/60/75 from 30/45/60/75/90.
Kayle – nerfed
[[{“attributes”:{},”fields”:{}}]]
- Righteous Fury (E):
- Cooldown changed to 18/17/16/15/14 seconds from 16 seconds at all ranks.
- Attack damage growth decreased to 2.2 from 2.8.
- Innate bonus attack speed decreased to 10% from 15%.
Kayn –buffed in patch 7.24b
- AD increased to 3.3 from 2.8.
- The Darkin Scythe (Darkin Passive):
- Heal increased to 34.5-43% from 26-43%.
Kled –buffed in patch 7.24b
- Base AD increased to 65 from 63.
- AD grwoth increased to 3.5 from 3.
- Jousting (E):
- Damage increased to35/60/85/110/135 from25/50/75/100/125.
Morgana –hotfixed
These changes were hotfixed to live on December7.
- Health growth decreased to 90 from 98.
- Damage to heal conversion ratio decreased to 20% at all ranks from 15/20/25/30/35/40%.
- Tormented Soil (W):
- Cooldown increased to 12 seconds from 10 seconds.
Renekton –buffed in patch 7.24b
- Base AD increased to 69 from 66.
- AD growth increased to 3.75 from 3.1.
Skarner – buffed
[[{“attributes”:{},”fields”:{}}]]
- Fracture (E):
- Proc damage increased to 30/50/70/90/110 from 25/35/45/55/65.
- Proc stun duration increased to 1.5 seconds from 1 second.
- Base mana increased to 320 from 272.2.
Teemo –nerfed in patch 7.24b
- HP growth decreased to 90 from 94.
- Base AD decreased to 54 from 58.
Yasuo –buffed in patch 7.24b
- MR growth increased to 1.25 from 0.5.
- Steel Tempest (Q):
- Damage increased to 20/45/70/95/120 from 20/40/60/80/100.
- Last Breath (R):
- Range increased to 1400 from 1200.
Zoe – nerfed
[[{“attributes”:{},”fields”:{}}]]
- Sleepy Trouble Bubble (E):
- Delay before trap is created increased to 0.8 seconds from 0.6 seconds.
- Portal Jump (R):
- Delay before exit portal appears decreased to 0 seconds from 0.1 seconds.
Patch 8.1 Runes Changes
- Predator–changed
- New effect: If Predator’s channel is interrupted, 50% of the cooldown is now refunded.
- New effect: If Predator’s bonus damage is proc’d via an AoE ability, it will now prioritize the lowest-health target hit.
- New effect: Predator’s rate of movement speed increase is increased by 50% for the first 1.5 seconds of the eddect.
LoL Patch 8.1 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.
God Staff Jax
Here’s his splash:
LoL Patch 8.1 Login Screen
Each patch has its own login screen with unique music. They’re always fairly excellent, though 8.1’s hasn’t appeared yet – expect it in the next week or so. It will likely be based around God Staff Jax or the start of the 2018 season.
LoL Patch 8.1 Context and Notes
Patch schedules will be a little different around the holidays, so Maple Nectar has anupdate– 7.24 should be live now, it’s mini balance patch should be up around December 14 (to avoid a month-long gap between 7.24 and 8.1), and 8.1 should launch on January 9 or 10.
The latest update sees context for theAatrox changes, as well aschanges coming to Miss Fortunein the 7.24b micropatch.
Meddler’sgameplay thoughts from December 8document changes to Forbidden Idol, Grasp of the Undying, and the rest of the Resolve tree.
In the last gameplay updates of 2017, Meddler discusses the nerfs to Heimerdinger, upcoming changes to Tryndamere and Master Yi (currently scheduled for patch 8.2), and the current state of Evelynn.
That’s League of Legends patch 8.1. We’ll update as and when we get more info, or we’ll see you for patch 8.2 in the very near future. Let us know below if there’s any vital info we missed!