League of Legends Patch 9.2 breakdown – champion changes

Neeko

"W – Shapesplitter CLONE AND HASTE DURATION: 2 seconds ⇒ 3 seconds (stealth duration still 0.5 seconds) PATHING: Neeko’s clone now travels in the target direction until it runs into terrain, rather than pathing to the target location BUGFIX: Shapesplitter’s passive once again works on turrets R – Pop Blossom [REMOVED] SLOW: Enemies in Pop Blossom’s radius are no longer slowed by 40% JUMP TIME: 0.75 seconds ⇒ 0.6 seconds TOOLTIP FIX: Tooltip now indicates the ability power ratio on Pop Blossom’s shield (actual scaling unchanged)"

These changes do nothing to help Neeko’s issue in lane or the jungle, which is that she doesn’t have enough damage to out-shove or clear quickly.

Ornn

"Base Stats HEALTH: 565.64 ⇒ 590 ARMOR: 33.04 ⇒ 36"

To compensate for losing his shield on W last patch. These buffs are nice, and probably enough to lift him out of the C tier in the top lane in Patch 9.2.

Rakan

"Base Stats ARMOR: 33 ⇒ 29 W – Grand Entrance DASH SPEED2050 (+30% Rakan’s movement speed) ⇒ 1400 (+45/+80 with un-upgraded/upgraded boots) EFFECT DELAY: 0.5 seconds after reaching the destination ⇒ 0.35 seconds after reaching the destination OVERALL: Max-range casts hit slightly later than before; short-range casts hit faster R – The Quickness BUGFIX: Fixed a bug that caused The Quickness to sometimes not affect Rakan’s basic attack target"

This I don’t get. Rakan was performing average in soloQ, and wasn’t near a pick/ban support in pro play. Lowering his W speed on his dash and base armor by four (a significant amount, though it does put him on par with other mage supports like Lulu and Sona) is likely to drop his effectiveness further.

Shyvana

"Passive – Fury of the Dragonborn BONUS DAMAGE VS DRAGONS: 10% ⇒ 20% (also applies to Vilemaw on Twisted Treeline) E – Flame Breath MARK DAMAGE: 2.5% target’s max health ⇒ 3.25% target’s max health"

This is a fairly big buff to her dragon-taking ability, and the E buff can help her clear quicker. Unfortunately, those jungle changes (we’ll get to them later) won’t serve her well. I wouldn’t expect to see Shyvana start dominating the rift in Patch 9.2.

Tahm Kench

"R – Abyssal Voyage FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED: Allies in combat with enemy champions can no longer jump into Abyssal Voyage"

Cool. That seems like it’s how this should have worked.

Urgot

"Base Stats ARMOR: 39 ⇒ 36 Q – Corrosive Charge COST: 50 mana ⇒ 60 mana W – Purge COOLDOWN: 13/12/11/10/9 seconds ⇒ 17/15/13/11/9 seconds"

The armor nerf and mana cost increase would hurt Urgot on their own, but praise Riot for that W nerf. Now you’ll actually have windows to trade with Urgot in laning phase!

Volibear

"E – Majestic Roar BONUS DAMAGE VS DASHING/AIRBORNE TARGETS: 40/60/80/100/120 (+0.3 ability power) ⇒ 8% target’s max health R – Thunder Claws RATIO: 0.3 ability power ⇒ 0.4 ability power LIGHTNING BOLT ON CAST: Fires after 0.25 seconds ⇒ 0.1 second REMOVEDBOUNCE DELAY: Chain lightning no longer takes 0.075 seconds to bounce from one target to the next (it’s now instant)"

As a former Volibear main, I can tell you that these Patch 9.2 buffs – though nice – don’t improve him. The E buff will only be applicable in niche cases (against dashing champions), and often you won’t max it until last so taking away the scaling doesn’t do much to change his use on it. The quality of life changes to R do help, but you’re not building AP and he still doesn’t really want to be using it in a teamfight scenario.

On behalf of those who want to #makeVoligreatagain, I implore you, Riot, to do the right thing and revert those nerfs to his W you made back in Patch 6.13. These changes help top Voli, and do almost nothing for the Thunder’s Roar in the jungle.

Yorick

"General [REMOVED] DECAYED INTENT: Mist Walkers and the Maiden no longer deal decreased damage when far from Yorick Passive – Shepherd of Souls NEARBY ENEMY DEATHS PER GRAVE: 12/8/4 (at levels 1/7/13), 4 on ARAM⇒ 12/6/2 (at levels 1/7/13), 2 on ARAM MIST WALKER GOLD: 5 ⇒ 2 E – Mourning Mist BUGFIX: Mist Walkers and the Maiden no longer sometimes fail to target an enemy hit by Mourning Mist R – Eulogy of the Isles MAIDEN HEALTH: 700/1500/4000 (+30% Yorick’s health) ⇒300/1000/3000 (+70% Yorick’s health) [REMOVED] BROKEN BOND: The Maiden no longer begins autonomously pushing a lane when far from Yorick. Instead, she’ll leash back to him. [NEW] GO YOUR OWN WAY: Yorick can now reactivate Eulogy of the Isles to set the Maiden free, but can’t get her back once he does. She’ll push the nearest lane until she dies."

The passive changes don’t really move the meter, but the big change is to Yorick’s ult. The Maiden is getting freed, able to push her own down a lane after helping Yorick in a skirmish. This will allow the mist to inhabit multiple lanes, like a mini-Rift Herald in Patch 9.2.

Zyra

"Base Stats MANA REGEN: 15.335 per 5 seconds ⇒ 13 per 5 seconds"

Zyra’s been a fixture at the top of the support tier list, so a small nerf to her mana pool isn’t uncalled for.

Evelynn

"Q – Hate Spike PRIORITY: Hate Spike still prioritizes the last champion then the last non-champion Evelynn hit, but now prioritizes the lowest-health champion next (ahead of the lowest-health non-champion) BUFFERING: Hate Spike’s recasts can now be buffered up to 0.5 seconds before becoming castable W – Allure FIZZLE FIX: Allure’s cast no longer fizzles if Evelynn loses sight of her target mid-cast E – Whiplash EMPOWERED DASH: No longer occasionally drops Evelynn directly on top of her target R – Last Caress [NEW] BUFFERING: Can now be buffered during Empowered E – Whiplash’s cast"

Kled

"E – Jousting VACUUM: Jousting through minions is no longer likely to stack them directly on top of each other"

A couple of champions getting quality of life changes, shouldn’t really be too big a deal, but you never know. Perhaps these tweaks can move them up or down the tier list in Patch 9.2.

What do you think about all these changes? Check back later as we break down the changes to items, runes, and the jungle experience system!