League of Legends TFT: Patch 9.23 notes breakdown

Tier 2 Champions

Vladimir

"Ability Damage and Heal Amount: 200/350/500 ⇒ 200/325/450"

Vlad is one of the strongest early game 1 or 2-star units available, so I’m pretty shocked that they’re focusing more of their attention on 3-star Vlad considering he scales fairly poorly. Also, the nerfs are a bit lighter than I feel he deserves.

Malzahar

"Minion Health: 300 ⇒ 250"

I completely agree with this minion nerf to Malz considering how long they last (especially with the Summoner bonus) and how much damage they pack. I think they even could have gone a little harder on those minions.

Rek’Sai

"Ability Damage: 200/550/900 ⇒ 250/550/850"

With the Predator synergy, Rek’Sai can absolutely delete champions from the board. Since she’s not quite a menace early game, I’m fine with Riot giving her a slight buff at 1-star that they then offset at 3-stars.

Skarner

"Mana: 0/75 ⇒ 0/65 Armor: 30 ⇒ 35"

Skarner is such a weak unit in TFT that honestly any buffs are welcome. Considering his synergies are so weak, though, I don’t know if 10 mana and 5 armor can save him.

Yasuo

"Ability Hits: 3/5/7 ⇒ 4/5/6"

Yasuo is actually in a pretty decent spot at the moment, so I don’t know if buffs to his early game were necessary, nor were nerfs to his late game.

Jax

"Damage: 150/250/350 ⇒ 150/250/450"

Jax is one of those classic “throw-in” units for TFT. You’re never really building a comp around him, but he fits nicely into Light and Berserker comps. This should help out both of those synergies but I don’t think it makes Jax a lynchpin unit.

Leblanc

"Damage: 200/450/700 ⇒ 200/450/800"

Leblanc is a decent unit in TFT so getting a buff on her damage at two and three stars is nice. Like Jax, though, she’s not the centerpiece of a comp.

Neeko

"Damage: 100/200/300 ⇒ 100/200/350"

Oh look, yet another Mage who is getting a power boost at 3-stars…but you’ll never see anyone building a 3-star Neeko. Cool story.

Syndra

"Damage: 175/350/525 ⇒ 175/350/600"

Now Syndra is another non-essential Mage, so the damage buffs at 3-stars probably doesn’t matter. However, she pairs so well with Vladimir and is built so infrequently that it might actually become worthwhile to build a 3-star Syndra.

Thresh

"Shield: 250/400/550 ⇒ 250/400/600"

Another buff to a 3-star unit that you’re probably never going to be stacking unless you’re building a Vlad-centric comp. Nice but likely inconsequential most of the time.

Volibear

"Damage: 200/450/700 ⇒ 200/450/850"

Volibear might actually be worth building to 3-stars in some rare situations (if you’re building a Glacial/Berserker comp around an Olaf, for instance). That said, 150 extra damage on his ability is very big if you can get him that built up. It’s a matter of when you want to go there that’s the bigger question.

Tier 3 champions

Aatrox

"Damage: 250/500/750 ⇒ 250/500/1000"

Unlike the previous 3-star buffs, I actually think this could be very impactful for Aatrox. He’s in a pretty good spot in terms of his synergies (Light and Blademaster) and getting an extra 250 damage on his ability at 3-stars is massive. Keep an eye out for the rise of Aatrox.

Ezreal

"Damage: 200/400/600 ⇒ 200/400/800 Ezreal Mana: 0/40 ⇒ 0/30 Ezreal Ability Cast Time: 0.5 ⇒ 0.25"

Ezreal has just been a massively underwhelming champion in TFT since his release. It’s often quite hard to get a Tier 3 unit to 3-stars because of the lack of units in the bag to get it done. 200 damage on his ability is nice, but even with all these buffs I don’t think this suddenly makes him strong.

Kindred

"Damage: 150/325/500 ⇒ 150/325/650"

I’m actually going to need to find the person who approved these changes and kick them in the shins. Kindred is a ridiculously strong unit in TFT thanks to her having the Shadow synergy. While it’s unlikely that you’ll ever get her to 3-stars because a lot of people will be building her, if you do she’ll somehow be an even bigger monster than she is now.

Nautilus

"Stun Duration: 3/4/5 ⇒3/4/6 Damage: 100/200/300 ⇒ 100/200/400"

Nautilus has some okay synergies going for him, but again I cannot see a world where someone is going to be building a 3-star Naut. The extra second of CC would be meaningful at that point but the damage less so.

Sion

"Damage: 200/400/600 ⇒ 200/400/800"

More likely that people will want to build a 3-star Sion than a 3-star Nautilus, sure. But he’s a valuable piece considering how strong his two synergies (Shadow and Berserker) are, so I doubt this change actually impacts anything.