League of Legends Patch 9.9 notes breakdown

Blitzcrank

"Passive – Mana Barrier SHIELD: 50% Blitzcrank’s current mana >>> 30% Blitzcrank’s maximum mana VFX: Cleaned up shield effect"

Not much to see here, I doubt this incentivizes any Blitzcrank players to itemize more mana items. Please don’t build Tear on Blitz, especially not in my promos.

"Q – Rocket Grab VFX: Updated to show the actual width and distance of the hook that is more consistent with the hitbox and cleaned up with a small cast effect"

Glory, glory, hallelujah! The phantom grabs are gone!

"W – Overdrive VFX: More sparky E – Power Fist VFX: More static shock with an uppercut hit effect R – Static Field [REM] PASSIVE: Lightning no longer randomly arcs off Blitzcrank for 100/200/300 (+0.2 ability power) [NEW] PASSIVE: While his ultimate is off cooldown, Blitzcrank marks targets hit by his basic attacks. Enemies marked take 50/100/150 (+0.3 ability power) after a 1 second delay. VFX: Updated to show the actual range and clean up the electricity on Blitzcrank’s body"

This is Riot’s attempt to give Blitzcrank some more agency when his hook is off cooldown. Now, if he basic attacks an enemy, it marks them to do bonus damage.

I don’t think this actually solves that problem since, you know, Blitz still has to auto-attack them to get the mark down and the easiest way to do that is to hook an enemy. I think this actually affects him more in the late game and in a solo lane than it would as a support. He’s still largely going to be based around his hook.

Rakan

"Base Stats HEALTH: 480 >>> 540 ARMOR: 29 >>> 32 ATTACK DAMAGE: 70 >>> 62 MAGIC RESISTANCE: 30 >>> 32.1 MAGIC RESIST GROWTH: 0.5 >>> 1.25"

Big buffs to Rakan’s base stats here (other than his AD which really doesn’t matter to him. He’s been struggling for a while now, so these changes are definitely welcome.

"W – Grand Entrance DASH SPEED: 1500 >>> 1700 R – The Quickness LET ME STRETCH FIRST: Rakan can no longer cast Grand Entrance or Flash during the first 0.5 seconds of The Quickness"

Riot is giving Rakan some speed back on his W – Grand Entrance, which is a big deal. The nerf to his R – The Quickness does hurt his engage, but I think it’s overall a net buff because he can still use the W engage if he buffers the ult by popping it first.

Soraka

"Q – Starcall COOLDOWN: 5 seconds at all ranks >>> 8/7/6/5/4 seconds REJUVENATION SELF-HEAL: 56/64/72/80/88 (+0.4 ability power) over 4 seconds >>> 60/80/100/120/140 (+0.5 ability power) over 5 seconds REJUVENATION ALLY HEAL: 42/56/72/90/110 (+0.3/0.35/0.4/0.45/0.5 ability power) >>> 60/80/100/120/140 (+0.5 ability power) over 5 seconds HEAL OVER TIME: Ticks evenly over the duration >>> Initial ticks heal more than later ticks DAMAGE: 70/110/150/190/230 (+0.35 ability power) >>> 60/95/130/165/200 (+0.35 ability power) REJUVENATION MOVEMENT SPEED: 10% when moving away from enemy champions >>> 14/18/22/26/30% decaying movement speed"

Okay, so this is a lot with regards to Soraka’s Q. The basic tl;dr is that her Q now does less damage, heals more overall and is front-loaded, but is overall slower, and she is now getting a movement speed regardless if she runs away from champions or not.

I think Riot is definitely trying to push players to max Q – Starcall first, as opposed to her E – Equinox. Overall, this is a big enough buff that it could do the trick.

"W – Astral Infusion TOOLTIP: Now shows the actual minimum cast health threshold E – Equinox COOLDOWN: 24/22/20/18/16 seconds >>> 20/19/18/17/16 seconds COST: 70 mana >>> 70/75/80/85/90 mana DAMAGE: 70/110/150/190/230 (+0.40 ability power) >>> 70/95/120/145/170 (+0.40 ability power)"

Like I said, really trying to push players towards maxing Q over E. This is likely going back to being a one-point wonder after these nerfs to her damage and mana costs.

"R – Wish TOOLTIP: Now shows how much Wish will heal low health allies"

Cool.