League of Legends patch 9.7 has arrived on the PBE, and while changes across Summoner’s Rift are relatively light, you can expect to see plenty more as we venture further across Runeterra.
Balance changes are relatively minor so far this patch – the Teemo changes introduced in League of Legends patch 9.6 are back for some more testing, but the only other changes are to Blitzcrank – who’s getting a new passive on his ultimate – and Kayn, as well as a slight early game nerf to Dark Seal. When it comes to ARAM, however, Riot has plenty of changes lined up, with new items, a new summoner spell, tonnes of mode-specific champion and rune tweaks, and a return to Bilgewater.
When it comes to cosmetics, the pacifists among us are well catered to, thanks to the arrival of Dunkmaster Ivern. While his cousin on the court, Darius, is happy to play rough, Ivern seems as though he’ll be a far more gentle opponent. Elsewhere, the Hextech skin line continues to expand with another crafting exclusive skin, this time for Jarvan IV.
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS PATCH 9.7 RELEASE DATE AND DOWNTIME
We don’t have an exact League of Legends patch 9.7 release date just yet, but patches tend to be released on a bi-weekly schedule. With that in mind, expect the new update to land on Wednesday, April 3.
Patch 9.7 Champion changes
Azir – buffed
- Stats:
- HP regen per level increased to 0.15 from 0.11.
- Conquering Sands (Q):
- Damage increased to 70/90/110/130/150 from 60/80/100/120/140.
Cho’Gath – buffed
- Rupture (Q):
- Cooldown decreased to 7 seconds from 9.
Dr. Mundo
- Infected Cleaver (Q):
- Damage increased to 20/22.5/25/27.5/30% of target’s current health from 15/17.5/20/22.5/25%.
- Masochism (R):
- Minimum bonus AD increased to 40/55/70/85/100 from 30/45/60/75/90.
Garen – buffed
- Courage (W):
- Cooldown decreased to 23/21/19/17/15 seconds from 24/23/22/21/20 seconds.
Kayle – changed
- Radiant Blast (Q):
- Mana cost increased to 70/75/80/85/90 from 60/65/70/75/80.
- Celestial Blessing (W):
- Movement speed decreased to 24/28/32/36/40% from 26/32/38/44/50%.
- Mana cost chanced to 60/70/80/90/100 from 70/75/80/85/90.
- Starfire Spellblade (E):
- Target’s missing health as bonus damage changed to 8/10/12/14/16% +1% per 100 AP from 10/12.5/15/17.5/20%.
Leona – buffed
- Zenith Blade (E):
- Cooldown decreased to 12/10.5/9/7.5/6 seconds from 13/12/11/10/9 seconds.
Lissandra – nerfed
- Ice Shard (Q):
- Cooldown increased to 10/8.5/7/5.5/4 seconds.
Morgana – nerfed
- Stats:
- HP regen per level decreased to 0.8 from 0.12.
- Tormented Shadow (W):
- AP ratio per second decreased to 14% from 16%.
Pyke – buffed
- Bone Skewer (Q):
- Cooldown changed to 14/12.5/11/9.5/8 seconds from 16/14/12/10/8 seconds.
- Phantom Undertow (E):
- Stun increased to 1.25 seconds from 1.1 seconds.
Rumble – buffed
- Scrap Shield (W):
- Bonus movement speed increased to 20/25/30/35/40% from 10/15/20/25/30%.
- The Equalizer (R):
- Cooldown decreased to 100/85/70 seconds from 110/100/90.
Sylas – nerfed
- Stats:
- HP/5 decreased to 7.5 from 9.5.
- Chain Lash (Q):
- Damage decreased to 45/65/85/105/125.
- Kingslayer (W):
- Damage decreased to 50/75/100/125/150 from 60/90/120/150/180.
- Abscond/Abduct (E):
- Cooldown increased to 187/16/14/12/10 seconds from 12/11.5/11/10.5/10 seconds.
Urgot – nerfed
- Disdain (E):
- Cooldown increased to 16/15.5/15/14.5/14 seconds from 14 seconds at all ranks. Mana cost increased to 60/70/80/90/100 from 50/60/70/80/90.
- Fear Beyond Death (R):
- Damage decreased to 100/225/350 from 125/250/375.
Patch 9.7 Item changes
The Dark Seal – nerfed
- Stats:
- AP decreased to 10 from 15.
Cinderhulk
- Unique passive:
- Bonus damage to monsters and minions increased to 300% from 200%.
Wit’s End – changed
- Recipe:
- Recurve Bow + Negatron Cloak + Dagger + 880 gold
- Stats:
- +50% attack speed
- +50 magic resist
- +5% movespeed
- Unique passive:
- Deal 15-80 magic damage on hit. While below half health, heal for 33% of the effect’s damage dealt.
- Increased to 100% for melee champions.
Patch 9.7 Rune changes
Ghost Poro:
- New effect:
- When your wards expire, they leave behind a Ghost Poro, which grants visiojn for 60 seconds. Nearby enemy champions scare the Ghost Poro away.
- Gain an adaptive bonus of 1.2 AD or 2 AP for every Ghost Poro spawned, up to 10.
Eyeball Collection – nerfed
- Effect:
- No longer gives an eyeball for ward takedown.
Ultimate Hunter – buffed
- Stats:
- CDR per stack of Bounty Hunter increased to 3% from 2%.
Zombie Ward – changed
- Effect:
- Gain an adaptive bonus of 1.2 AD or 2 AP for every Zombie Ward spawned, up to 10.
Demolish – buffed
- Stats:
- % of max health as bonus damage increased to 35% from 30%.
Overgrowth – buffed
- Stats:
- Max health after absorbing 120 monsters or minions increased to 3.5% from 2.5%.
Cut Down – buffed
- Stats:
- Damage increased to 5-15% from 5-12%.
ARAM
- Bans:
- You’ll now be able to remove champions from the random pool in exactly the same way as on Summoner’s Rift, ensuring you won’t come up against them.
- Game length:
- Minion waves will begin spawning more quickly, up to every 15 seconds, from the 15-minute mark. They’ll also speed up, getting a healthy boost in movement speed. To help out, champions will begin dealing extra damage to structures, up to a maximum of 30%.
- Poke reduction:
- Damage from champions more than 900 units away will now be reduced by 15% (with the exception of ultimates and DoT abilities).
- A small visual indicator will show when this effect has triggered.
- New Summoner Spell:
- Barrier has been replaced by Backtrack. When activated, you’ll gain a small blue shield, and will be dragged backwards after a 3 second delay. Melee champions will move back further than ranged champion.
- Items:
- Mariner’s Vengeance – This new item has the same build path and stats as Guardian Angel, but instead of reviving, upon death champions will become invulnerable, cleanse all CC, and refresh all basic ability cooldowns. After four seconds, you’ll die anyway.
- Ghostwalkers – These are melee-only boots that allow champions to phase out of the side of the map. You can’t use them if you’ve taken damage in the past three seconds, but upon activation, you’ll gain 250 movement speed.
- Warmog’s Armor – Passive changed to restore 5% of missing HP per second, instead of 5% of max HP per second.
- Runes:
- Several rune effects and values have been tweaked for ARAM. You can check out a full list via Surrenderat20.
- Champions:
- Several champions have received ARAM-specific changes. You can check out a full list via Surrenderat20.
Skins
Dunkmaster Ivern
Here’s his splash:
Hextech Jarvan IV – 10 Gemstones
Here’s his splash:
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS PATCH 9.7 LOGIN SCREEN
Every League of Legends patch comes with its own custom login screen. They’re always fairly excellent, and patch 9.7’s is no exception. It’s based on the LEC Spring Split.
That’s everything we’ve got for you in League of Legends patch 9.7. Remember that everything in here is only on the PBE, and is therefore subject to change, and that you can keep up to date with the game’s current build with the League of Legends patch 9.6 notes. We’ll see you again for the League of Legends patch 9.8 notes very soon.