League of Legends: Teamfight Tactics Patch 9.20 breakdown – end of Knights?

What changes will League of Legends Patch 9.20 bring to the Teamfight Tactics meta?

As League of Legends Patch 9.20 drops, we hopefully say goodbye to the meta of six Knights and whatever backline damage dealers you want in Teamfight Tactics. Did Imperials, Knights, and Ashe get nerfed into oblivion as most of us hoped?

Leveling Changes

"XP to Level to 5: 12 -> 10 XP to Level to 9: 70 -> 66 More from League of Legends Bee’koz Vel’koz Skin: Splash Art, Price, Release, How to Get King Beegar Skin: Splash Art, Price, Release, How to Get EMENES retires following leave from Cloud9, cites military service EMENES Donezo Manifesto: Former Cloud9 Midlaner airs out grievances Team Heretics Perkz: European legend reportedly playing for TH"

This is actually a revert of the leveling breakpoint changes that were made in 9.18 and should generally have the effect of letting players level earlier and accelerate the game. While the Level 9 change is not likely to be impactful, the Level 5 change does mean that just about everyone should be spending 4g to level at Krugs, at the latest.

Tier Drop Rates

Level 8: 15/25/35/20/5 -> 15/20/35/22/8
Level 9: 10/15/33/30/12 -> 10/15/30/30/15

Some changes to the late game champion drop odds, giving higher chances to Tier 5 champions dropping and more of a chance for Tier 4 at Level 8. One thing that is extremely interesting is that Riot is not taking that drop chance from the Tier 1 pool but rather Tier 2 (at Level 8) and Tier 3 (at Level 9). This slightly advantages upgrading Tier 1 champions to 3-star instead of investing to get those Tier 2/3 champions fully upgraded.

Items

Deathblade

"Starts with 0 stacks -> Starts with 1 stack (+15 AD)"

This item (and most of the Brawler’s Gloves items) is pure trash. Giving the player at least a little something to start the round makes this item a bit better to buy.

Frozen Heart

"Duration: 4 seconds -> 1 second"

I think this is way too heavy of a nerf. Frozen Heart is one of the stronger armor items, yes, but it’s really only effective against heavy attack-speed champs and its components (Tear and Chain Vest) both have superior upgrades. I think reducing the duration by one second is far fairer than to one second.

Infinity Edge

"150% Crit Damage -> 125% Crit Damage"

This is a fair nerf, since the 150% damage on a full Assassin team is just ridiculous. Having faced a 1-star Akali with this item one-shot my 3-star Knights, I’m on board seeing IE get a little nerf.

Quicksilver

"5s cooldown -> 3s cooldown"

Like Deathblade, the buff is probably warranted. This should be a superior item on key back-line carries but as of right now this is just a crap item.

Thieves Gloves

"Lowered the average quality of item combinations"

I’m a bit unsure how to feel about this buff since the language is very nebulous. In Patch 9.19, Thieves Gloves could grant component items along with upgrades. I would even say that it is a bit harsh, so lowering the quality further could make this item too risky to pick up.