Patch 8.24 breakdown: a bad Dark Harvest and colossal Galio changes

Illaoi

"E – Test of Spirit COOLDOWN: 20/18/16/14/12 seconds ⇒ 16/15/14/13/12 seconds R – Leap of Faith COOLDOWN: 120/105/90 seconds ⇒ 120/95/70 seconds"

First off, the ult cooldown change doesn’t do anything. By the time you get to the second rank in your ult as Illaoi, you probably already have 20% CDR from Black Cleaver or more if you go Trinity Force, so you’re getting diminishing returns on that reduction anyway (assuming 20% CDR, the cooldown goes from 84 to 76 at rank 2). Sure, it’s nice having ult up more often in the mid-game, but Illaoi should be using her ult to dominate the lane and 2v1 in ganks so the later game cooldown doesn’t help too much.

The E buff, however, is very nice as getting four seconds off the rank one ability now opens up Illaoi to max Q first instead, shoving their enemy under the tower for easier grabs. Given that you now only get one second off per rank instead of two, and Q levels give increased slam damage passively, that may very well make her more dominant in lane.

Irelia

"W – Defiant Dance COOLDOWN: 16/15/14/13/12 seconds ⇒ 20/18/16/14/12 seconds DAMAGE REDUCTION: 50% ⇒ 40% [REMOVED] ON-CAST FERVOR: Casting Defiant Dance no longer grants a stack of Ionian Fervor (stacks still granted based on enemies hit)"

Another problem champion since her rework, the meme of “better nerf Irelia” rears its ugly head yet again. Now Riot is attacking her defensive abilities, giving her less damage reduction on her W, making it up less often in lane, and no longer letting her use it to stack her passive. This is a pretty big hurt because Irelia usually maxes this last meaning even with 40% CDR she’ll only have this up every 12 seconds until extremely late game. It may not push her out of the top-tier, but it will definitely make her more punishable in the early and mid game.

Jax

"R – Grandmaster’s Might 3RD ATTACK ON-HIT DAMAGE100/160/220 ⇒ 100/140/180"

A nerf to his late-game splitpushing, this really does nothing to hurt his jungling power (where the nerf is aimed) as he can clear as well or better than his other farming contemporaries like Yi or Shyvana. 40 damage off on-hit late game may give you more opportunities to slow his tower taking, but at that stage of the game, Jax is probably overkilling his opponents regardless.

Leblanc

"W – Distortion COOLDOWN: 14/13/12/11/10 ⇒ 18/16/14/12/10"

W is still Leblanc’s first max, meaning the added time won’t be offset by cooldown reduction. It’ll hurt her early game, but by the time she gets her ult (and rank 3 of W), she’ll still have it up enough to all-in any squishy. LB players relax, this will probably not hurt her too much.

Viktor

"Q – Siphon Power COOLDOWN8/7/6/5/4 seconds ⇒ 9/8/7/6/5 seconds MISSILE BASE DAMAGE60/80/100/120/140 ⇒ 50/65/80/95/110 E – Death Ray COOLDOWN13/12/11/10/9 seconds ⇒ 12/11/10/9/8 seconds RATIO0.5 ability power ⇒ 0.6 ability power (Aftershock ratio unchanged)"

A clear attempt to push Viktor back to mid lane from top lane, the Q nerf is fairly significant for those who were maxing it first. Adding a second to the cooldown hurts, but not nearly as much as a 30 damage reduction at max rank. Even with the Shield Bash rune, Q-max Viktor will be significantly weaker.

On the flipside, E-max Viktor is getting second off his cooldown and a boost to his initial cast AP ratio (not on the second proc after the E is upgraded). This definitely makes E-max early a more appetizing choice, although it doesn’t make the E upgrade that much better. Could top Viktor remain with an initial upgrade to Q but possibly maxing E first to out-shove most other top laners?