League of Legends: Patch 9.8 notes breakdown

Items

Bilgewater Cutlass

"COMBINE COST :: 250 gold >>> 350 gold TOTAL COST :: 1500 gold >>> 1600 gold"

Blade of the Ruined King

"TOTAL COST :: 3200 gold >>> 3300 gold (combine cost unchanged due to Bilgewater Cutlass cost increase)"

So Bilgewater Cutlass is getting a combined cost and total gold cost increase, with BoRK getting a total cost increase as well. I didn’t think Cutlass or BoRK were particularly problematic items, but this should open up tanks a bit more in the current meta.

Hextech Gunblade

"COMBINE COST :: 850 gold >>> 750 gold (total cost unchanged due to Bilgewater Cutlass cost increase)"

In that same vein, why is Hextech Gunblade not getting a total cost increase along with BoRK? It’s such a powerful item on AP assassins, I would think Riot would be fine with this item getting a bit of a nerf.

Bramble Vest

"GRIEVOUS WOUNDS DURATION :: 1 second >>> 3 seconds"

Thornmail

"GRIEVOUS WOUNDS DURATION :: 1 second >>> 3 seconds"

Now the Grievous Wounds are applied for the same duration as they are from Morellonomicon and Executioner’s Calling. It makes sense considering Bramble Vest is the only one of the items applying Grievous Wounds that the user cannot control.

Enhancement: Cinderhulk

"GRILLED RAZORBEAK :: Deals 200% >>> 300% bonus magic damage to minions and monsters"

So apparently the tooltip got changed but the actual change didn’t go through. Let’s see if tank junglers make a huge resurgence now.

Stormrazor

"GIVES YOU WINGS :: Energized effects are increased by ||| 30% >>> 35% SLOW BURN :: Energized effects slow the target by 40%, decaying over ||| 1 second >>> 1.5 seconds"

Riot wants to make this item more attractive to champions buying Karcheis items (Rapidfire Cannon, Statik Shiv, etc.) but the problem is that those items already do their job fine without the added boost. I think the increased duration of the slow burn should help, but Riot needs to figure out a way to make this passive do something more impactful.

Runes

Coup De Grace

"[REM] ADAPTIVE FORCE :: No longer grants 9 bonus attack damage or 15 ability power for 10 seconds on champion takedown BONUS DAMAGE :: 7% >>> 8% (to champions below 40% max health)"

Simple change to make Coup De Grace a straight up do more damage to low health champions. I think that’s fine, and it’s a nice counterpart to last stand (more damage when you’re low on health). Should make this a better rune on poke mages and ADs who like just getting more damage in longer windows.

Which of these changes do you think will have the biggest impact on the League of Legends meta? Think any of the buffs were too generous or nerfs were to heavy? Let us know in the comments!