League of Legends Patch 9.23 breakdown: Items and Runes

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Patch 9.23 marks the start of the League of Legends preseason. With it came a bunch of item and rune changes that could drastically change the game leading up to Season 10.

League of Legends feels like a brand new game in this year’s preseason with a complete restructuring of Elemental Dragons and how they interact with Summoner’s Rift. With such a big change taking place, it’s easy to miss the whole host of item and rune changes that were also brought in with Patch 9.23.

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Earlier in the week, we previewed the upcoming item and rune changes heading to the game on Patch 9.23. Yesterday, we broke down the main changes of the big preseason patch. And now, we’ll be fully breaking down the full list of item and rune updates from the latest patch, analyzing how each change could impact the game and whether you should consider them broken during preseason.

There is no major overhaul, so don’t be scared. The largest change comes from the support gold item line which has seen some drastic changes to streamline gold income for support players and improve the general support experience.

So, let’s not delay any further and head straight into the breakdown of all things items and runes on Patch 9.23:

Lethality Items

Duskblade of Draktharr

"Attack Damage: 55 -> 60 Removed: No longer disables nearby wards or reveals nearby traps upon being spotted."

While the ability to disable wards and traps felt nice, it was an unnecessary addition to an already strong item. Now Duskblade loses the passive but gains a small amount of AD in return. A nice, small buff for the item overall.

Youmuu’s Ghostblade

"New: Youmuu’s active now allows its user to ignore unit collision for the duration."

A small quality of life buff for Youmuu’s that makes it more attractive for champions that want to chase down enemy squishies. This won’t make much difference to your average gameplay, but Youmuu’s is ever so slightly stronger as a result.

Edge of Night

"Total Cost: 3000 gold -> 2900 gold Attack Damage: 55 -> 50 Lethality: 18 -> 10 Health: 250 -> 325 Removed: Channel for 1 second to gain a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability within the next 7 seconds (40 second cooldown). New: Grants a spell shield that blocks the next enemy ability. This shield refreshes after no damage is taken from enemy champions for 40 seconds."

Edge of Night was definitely the less capable, often ignored option of the three lethality items, so it’s about time that changed. Now, instead of having a situational, almost impossible to utilize passive, it’s just the AD Banshee’s Veil.

Despite it having less lethality and less attack damage overall, expect Edge of Night to appear on AD assassins much more frequently on Patch 9.23 and beyond as its passive is heaps more useful than previously.

Sanguine Blade

"Total Cost: 3000 gold Build Path: Serrated Dirk + Vampiric Scepter + 1000 gold Attack Damage: 50 Lethality: 10 Lifesteal: 15% Passive: While near one or fewer visible enemy champions gain 8 lethality and 40-100% attack speed (lvl 1-18), decaying over 3 seconds if other enemy champions get too close."

The first new item of Patch 9.23 is ideal for assassins who benefit from attack speed. In the 1v1, Sanguine Blade is almost as strong as Duskblade in terms of pure AD and lethality, while having the added bonus of attack speed.

However, the item loses a lot of its power when in team fights or 2v2s, meaning it’s extremely situational and only really viable in a few circumstances. But if you enjoy hunting down enemy carries and 1v1ing players throughout the game, Sanguine Blade is for you.

Umbral Glaive

"Total Cost: 2400 gold Build Path: Serrated Dirk + Long Sword + Long Sword + 600 gold Attack Damage: 50 Lethality: 12 Cooldown Reduction: 10% Passive: When spotted by an enemy ward, reveal traps and disable wards around you for 8 seconds (45 second cooldown). During this time, basic attacks instantly kill disabled traps and deal triple damage to wards."

Umbral Glaive is the Teemo counter and not much else. Weak stats in almost every department, but gaining the passive from Duskblade of Draktharr gives it a purpose in some matchups.

Serrated Dirk

"Removed: Your next damaging spell no longer deals 40 bonus physical damage after you kill an enemy."

Losing a passive after upgrading the item never feels good, and that was the case with Dirk. Now it’s gone!

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