League of Legends Patch 9.11 Notes Breakdown and Analysis

Karthus

"R – Requiem Damage: 250/400/550 (+0.75 AP) –> 200/350/500 (+0.65 AP)"

We’re finally blessed with a significant nerf to one of the most annoying jungle champions in the game right now.

Karthus completely warps the game whenever he’s picked, you have to constantly be wary for a 300-400 hp Requiem that could change the tide of a teamfight. While this won’t be the end of the Deathsinger in the jungle due to his strong clear speed and sustain, it’s definitely a hefty nerf that will see him picked a lot less. Combine this with the fact that players now know how to counter the obnoxious strategy, and we might just see the Karthus reduced to a niche jungle pick.

Master Yi

"Base Stats [Removed] Bonus AS at Level 1: No longer receives 8% bonus AS at Level 1. Q – Alpha Strike Damage on Same Target: 25% AD per additional strike –> 15% AD per additional strike"

Master Yi is a nuisance to deal with in lower elos, so its important to keep him well-tuned to avoid him running riot in the Golds, Silver, and Bronze tiers. The previous changes were nice and gave Yi a more refined play style, but ultimately fell flat in outright nerfing the champion. Patch 9.11’s changes are a lot safer, reducing his early clear and single-target damage on Q – Alpha Strike, making him a lot less oppressive early on giving opponents a clear window to shut Yi down.

Rammus

"Passive – Spiked Shell Basic Attack Damage: 8-20 (based on level) –> 10 at all levels R – Tremors Damage per Second: 40/80/120 –> 30/60/90"

Rammus has been mingling around the S+ tier for a while now and is arguably the strongest jungle champion on Patch 9.10. As a result it makes perfect sense to give him a little touch back in the right direction.

His teamfight damage is insane when his ultimate Tremors is used correctly, so adjusting the numbers is a great way to combat this. In exchange, the Armordillo’s early clear speed is improved with the buff to his Passive – Spiked Shell. No doubt these changes will see his 52%+ win rate fall nicely towards a more balanced state on Patch 9.11.

Warwick

"Q – Jaws of the Beast Healing: 30/40/50/60/70% of damage dealt  –> 30/45/60/75/90% of damage dealt"

Increasing the healing on Warwick’s Q – Jaws of the Beast is a great way to improve his currently lacklustre late game, but it’s not the reason why he’s struggling right now. Instead, maybe more should be done to improve his early clear, as he’s struggling to keep up with the current crop of meta junglers due to the recently increased price of Tiamat, as well as the Scuttle Crab changes.

Yuumi

"Q – Prowling Projectile Yuumi’s range indicator is now much brighter when Prowling Projectile is first cast, fading back down in brightness over its duration for both Yuumi and her attached ally. W – You and Me! Now gives assists on champion takedowns from her teammates when she first attaches to a participating ally. E – Zoomies Flattened Yuumi’s movement speed decay to herself and to the ally she’s attached to based on AP."

Everyone’s still figuring Yuumi out. Initially she was weak, but as a result of the mid-patch hotfix, she became a beast in the bot lane. The bugfixes along with added playtime for Yuumi mains will probably result in a much more stable win rate during Patch 9.11 which will no doubt be looked at for Patch 9.12.

Zac

"Q – Stretching Strikes Slow: 60% –> 40% Cooldown: 13/12/11/10/9 seconds –> 13/11.5/10/8.5/7 seconds W – Unstable Matter [New] Damage Ratio: 2% target’s max health per 100 AP. [Updated] R – Let’s Bounce! [Removed] Zac no longer squishes himself down while charging for up to 2.5 seconds, becoming unstoppable and slowing enemies standing on top of him. [Removed] Zac no longer knocks back enemies and deals magic damage when quickly releasing R, and no longer scoops up enemies, damaging and carrying them to a target location when releasing R after charging. [New] Zac now bounces 4 times on cast, with a 1 second delay between each bounce. [New] Each bounce does 140/210/280 (+0.4 AP) magic damage and knocks up enemies for 1 second. Subsequent bounces on the same targets do 50% magic damage and do not knock them up. [New] Zac can move during Let’s Bounce and gains ramping movement speed over the duration, up to 50%."

This is an out of left field revert to Zac’s old ultimate. He’s now gone from a tank that snatches opposition carries from their team to a champion that wreaks havoc along enemy lines, whether he’s built tank or AP.

With the added AP ratio to his W – Unstable Matter, it seems like they’re pushing the latter build with these changes. The decreased slow on his Q – Stretching Strikes is probably to compensate for all the damage added to the kit. This will be a case of waiting to see what the first two weeks of new Zac provides as mains rejoice at the return of the old ultimate and hop onto the Rift on Patch 9.11 to try it out, potentially slingshotting him back into the meta.

Challenger Recall

"In all unranked queues, Challenger players will now see a special recall animation in-game. In ranked queues, Challenger players will only see the special recall animation in the particular queue they are Challenger in. The Challenger Recall appears any time the normal recall would play but does not override Baron-buffed recalls nor the blue effect on the minimap, to preserve gameplay readability. If a player demotes out of Challenger, the Challenger Recall will go away and only reappear if the player gets back into the rank."

I’m sure our readers will be happy to find out they’ll be getting a fancy new recall on Patch 9.11! Finally we’re rewarded for our impeccable level of skill!

That wraps up our Patch 9.11 notes breakdown! Do you think there’s anything we missed? Or is there anything you’re excited to try out over the next two weeks? Let us know in the comments below!