League of Legends Patch 9.14 breakdown – Teamfight Tactics edition

Items

General

"Items no longer benefit from Ability Power"

Um…okay cool. I guess this would only affect the Needlessly Large Rod/Tear items, but I don’t think this will do much.

"Spatula now doubles the stat power of its sister component. For example: Youmuu’s Ghostblade grants 40 Attack Damage"

I don’t think this is needed. Spatula is already a really strong item because you want it for Force of Nature, but getting the synergies should outweigh the lost stats.

"Every NPC Round now drops a reward. Rewards that can be dropped include item components and gold."

As I said above, getting gold is nice, but items are just inherently better. Every PvE round should just drop at least one item or all drop the same amount for each player.

Cursed Blade

"Can now reduce targets to 0 stars. Fixed a bug where Cursed Blade would reset an enemy champion’s level if it triggered a second time."

Not sure what it will mean for a champion to have 0 stars (completely negate their stats?) so I can’t say whether this makes the item actually worth buying.

Frozen Heart

"Effect now applies more consistently to any unit near the wearer"

Frozen Heart is a really strong item that just got even stronger.

Guardian Angel

"Revive delay: 4 sec ⇒ 2 sec Health restored: 500 ⇒ 1000 Bugfix: Guardian Angel now properly clears Grievous Wounds"

Very nice changes that addressed the biggest issue for the item: the revive period was too long. Now, at least the wearer will have a chance to get some help and do some damage upon reviving.

Guinsoo’s Rageblade

"Attack Speed per stack: 3% ⇒ 4%"

One of the best items in the game. Prioritize buying it whenever you can.

Hextech Gunblade

"Fixed a bug where spell vamp was sometimes not properly granted No longer benefits from item effects (looking at you Shyvanna with Thornmail)"

Still pretty trash.

Ionic Spark

"Now deals true damage instead of magic damage Fixed a bug where Ionic Spark was applying 75 damage instead of 200"

Against heavy tank and tank buffing teams, the change to true damage will actually be huge. However it still has the downside of needing the target to actually use their ability and it requires you to spend a Needlessly Large rod on it instead of a Guinsoo’s, Rabadon’s, Locket, or Morello.

Locket of the Iron Solari

"Now shields the wearer and the champions two spaces to the left and right of the wearer at the start of the round Shield value: 200 ⇒ 300"

Bigger radius for allies to get the shield and the shield itself is better. An incredibly underrated item just got a lot better.

Luden’s Echo

"Fixed a bug where targets weren’t taking the correct amount of damage Fixed a bug where Luden’s would proc on basic attack hits but not on ability hits Primary target damage: 100 ⇒ 200 AoE Damage: 0 + 1.0 AP ⇒ 200"

It’s better for pure damage output, yes, but it’s probably not the best upgrade for a Needlessly Large Rod or Tear that you could get.

Morellonomicon

"Max HP damage per second: 2.5% ⇒ 3%"

Again, yes it’s a better item, but there are other items you’d rather use those components on.

Rapidfire Cannon

"Now updates in response to range changes (RIP RFC Nidalee)"

Yeah this only really applies to Shapeshifters like Nidalee, so it’s still going to be a good item in 90% of cases.

Recurve Bow

"Attack Speed: 15% ⇒ 20%"

One of the highest-priority item components, it might now be the best item component.

Redemption

"Now triggers at 25% health No longer damages enemies"

This is interesting. They’ve changed it so that the channels starts before the wearer dies, but only heals allies. This might actually make it better on your front line tanks and bruisers.

Runaan’s Hurricane

"Bolts: 2 ⇒ 1 Bolt Damage: 50% ⇒ 25% Now applies on-hit effects"

This item and attack speed items generally needed a nerf, so I don’t have a problem with these changes.

Seraph’s Embrace

"Fixed a bug where Seraph’s effect wouldn’t stack"

Bugfix. Item is still trash.

Statikk Shiv

"Now always hits 3 additional targets, rather than all champions in a frontal cone Now only activates a maximum of one time per launch attack"

Nice buff to give it more consistency. Might now be one of the better upgrades for Tear (but probably still middle of the pack for Recurve Bow).

Thornmail

"Reflect damage: 35% of physical damage taken ⇒ 100% of physical damage mitigated Damage type: Magic damage ⇒ True damage"

Hold on, is this item just OP as hell now? The fact that it’s reflecting all damage mitigated as true damage could make this monstrous on a champion like Leona with high armor levels or any champion you’re stacking armor items on.

Warmog’s

"Regen: 3% max HP ⇒ 6% missing HP"

Worse on high-health tanks, not sure if it’s really better on anyone.

Zeke’s Herald

"Now only grants attack speed to champions two spaces to the left and right of the wearer Attack Speed Aura: 10% ⇒ 15%"

Buffed the aura itself, but now this makes positioning with the item a bit trickier. You’ll need to position your carries on the same depth level on the board as the wearer for the effect, so no slapping it on a Braum and letting him front line for you.

Are you ready for the Teamfight Tactics ranked season to begin? Let us know your thoughts on this patch in the comments!