League of Legends’ next big content patch is 6.9, the long-teased massive update to Mage characters, sitting right on top the standard mid-season shake-up of the metagame.
Update 04 May, 2016: The patch is now live, so here’s Riot’s official patch notes and introduction video.
There’s huge changes to a massive swathe of the cast, Dragon is splitting into five, plus all the usual skins, splash updates, minor additions and other balance changes to sort things out. With the patch now available, Riot have released the official patch notes detailing everything they’re changing, as well as a six-minute run-down video of all the biggest impacts.
Just getting started? Here’s the best League of Legends champions for beginners.
All the usual production values and jokes make it into the 6.9 Mid-Season Spotlight video from Riot, showing off the major changes to champs and items, as well as some of the design goals and methodologies behind the switch-ups.
Very fair points made here about the nature of half-snake people and the wearing of boots. Something for everyone to take on board.
Meanwhile, the official patch notes have now popped up. Due to the absolutely massive nature of the update, they’re debuting a new layout and more easily navigable page. Having had to write up the 5,000 word madness you see below, I don’t blame them. If you’re already familiar with the patch not a tonne has changed from the final PBE build, but there’s some extras we didn’t cover, as well as small final tweaks. It’s playable now, so instead of worrying about that, go experiment – I’m sure your team won’t mind that you haven’t read up.
The wheel never stops, of course. Patch 6.10 has now started testing on the PBE, including the game’s newest champion, Taliyah. We’ll bring you all the info on that later today.
In case you’re just here to know when things are changing, know that May 4 is go-day for 6.9. Servers will go down for maintenance, and will reemerge newly patched. The North American server’s looking at 3:00 am PST, EUW at 5:00 am UK time, and EUNE at 3:00 am CEST.
Ranked queues will be disabled an hour and a half beforehand, and once the hammer comes down, all ongoing games will end in an unrecorded draw. Riot expect maintenance to take three hours in all.
We’ll keep you appraised of any changes. Remember that theserver status pageis always your best bet for knowing what’s happening when.
We’ll start with the update coming to mages specifically, as it’s the main draw of the patch and involves much larger changes than normal.
Missile speed increased to 1500 from 1400.
AP ratio reduced to .4 from .5.
Base damage decreasedto 60/85/110/135/160 from 60/90/120/150/180.
Stun duration increased to 1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4/1.5 from 1 at all ranks.
Missile speed increased to 1600 from 1200.
Range decreased to 600 from 650.
Now has a cast animation.
Now expands from 150 radius to a maximum 400 over 3 seconds.
At maximum size, damage and slow effects receive an additional 50%, chills for an additional 2 seconds also.
Cast range increased to 685 from 625.
Slow on Q increased by 20/30/40% per rank of R.
Now displays stack count using a secondary resource bar, like Jhin.
Range increased to 600 from 560.
Duration decreased to 3 seconds from 5 seconds.
No longer grants Armor or magic resistance.
Now reduces damage by 16/22/28/34/40%.
No longer speeds up Tibbers.
Initial AoE damagedecreasedto 150/275/400 (.65 AP) from 175/300/425 (.8 AP).
AoE aura damagedecreasedto 10/15/20 (.1 AP) from 20/30/40 (.4 AP).
Tibbers AA damagedecreasedto 50/75/100 (.15 AP) from 80/105/130.
Tibbers AA range increased to 150 from 125.
Whenever Tibbers is summoned, Annie dies or an enemy is stunned by Pyromania, Tibbers now Enrages, gaining 275% attack speed decaying per attack, 100% movement speed decaying over time and ignoring unit collision over 3 seconds.
Tibbers now regenerates 50% of missing health when Annie dies.
Tibbers AI vastly improved in all areas.
Tibbers attacks Annie’s killer if he’s within a reasonable distance of 1200 units. Otherwise he prioritizes low HP champs, then any enemy close to Annie’s body.
Stacks 3 times, doing 2% max health over 4 seconds per stack down from 8% over 4 seconds.
Blaze becomes unstable and detonates after 2 seconds once three stacks are reached on a champion or large monster. This deals a scaling amount (starts at 12%) of all nearby enemy’s maximum health in magic damage to them and stops Blaze stacks being put on the same target for 4 seconds.
Stun durationdecreasedto 1.5 seconds from 2 seconds.
Damage decreased to 80/110/140/170/200 from 80/120/160/200/240.
AP ratio decreased to .55 from .65.
Cooldown reduced to 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 from 10 at all ranks.
Mana cost decreased to 60/70/80/90/100 from 70/80/90/100/110.
Replaced. Now gives 4 movement speed per level and disallows Cassiopeia from purchasing Boots.
Mana cost increased to 60/65/70/75/80 from 40/50/60/70/80.
Damage increased to 75/120/165/210/255 from 75/115/155/195/235.
AP Ratio increased to .7 from .45.
Movement speed bonus increased to 30/35/40/45/50% from 20%.
Movement speed now decays over duration.
Reworked to unleash a mass of clouds at 550-800 range.
Slow increased to 40/50/60/70/80% from 25/30/35/40/45%.
Enemies inside are grounded to prevent movement abilities.
Cooldowndecreasedto .9 seconds from 5 seconds.
Damage is based on level, starting at 52 and gaining 4 per level.
Slow decreased to 40% from 60%.
Standing still or channeling abilities for 1.5 seconds empowers Fiddlesticks with Dread. Immobilizing crowd control resets this timer.
Cooldown changed to [4/3.75/3.5/3.25/3 seconds at end of channel] from [10/9/8/7/6 seconds at start of channel].
Amount of bounces increased to 7 from 5.
Now prioritizes Drain Targets > New Targets > Any Target.
Now pings “on my way” on use.
Causes Malzahar to have 90% damage reduction and crowd control immunity after not having taken damage for a certain amount of time, which scales with level, from 24 down to 6 at max. This lasts for 1 second upon taking damage or block crowd control. Lane minions do not trigger it.
Silence durationdecreasedto 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds from 1.4/1.8/2.2/2.6/3 seconds.
Summon a Voidling lasting 12 seconds to fight nearby enemies. The first time a Voidling attacks a champion or monster, or assists in killing a unit, Malzahar spawns a new Voidling with the same remaining duration. When 3 or more Voidlings are active, they all gain 50% Attack Speed.
Attacks deal [.3/.325/.35/.375/4 AD] physical damage plus 10/15/20/25/30 [+0.1 AP] magic damage, but only 75% against monsters.
Deals triple damage to lane minions below 25% Health.
Will not spawn from a Voidling with less than 4 seconds left.
Prefers to attack targets affected by Nether Grasp or Malefic Visions and has 100% increased Movement Speed when seeking these targets, otherwise goes for nearest enemy.
Gain health per Malzahar level.
No longer deals flat damage, still surpresses a target.
Now creates a zone around enemy that deals 6% of enemy’s max health as magic damage per second for 5 seconds.
Mana restore on kill increased to [12 + 1 per level] from [9 + 1 per level].
Swain now places Beatrice down in a zone for 4 seconds rather than targeting a specific champion for 3 seconds.
Mana cost decreased to 60/65/70/75/80 from 60/70/80/90/100.
Cooldown increased to 14/13/12/11/10 from 8 at all ranks.
Deals double damage against minions.
AP ratio increased to 1.0 from .8.
Damage amplification now 20% at all ranks increased from 8/11/14/17/20%.
Spawns 5 Ravens increased from 3.
Heal against minionsdecreasedto 15% from 25%.
Mana cost increase per second reduced to 5 at all ranks from 5/6/7.
Dark Sphere: Sphere’s lifetime is increased to 8 seconds.
Force of Will: Grabs 2 additional spheres near the target.
AP ratio increased to .75 from .6.
Cooldown decreased to 16/15/14/13/12 from 18/16.5/15/13.5/12.
Striking an enemy Champion with a spell grants Veigar a stack of Phenomenal Evil, granting him +1 ability power. Takedowns (kills or assists) grant an additional 3 stacks.
Mana costdecreasedto 40/45/50/55/60 from 60/65/70/75/80.
Passive AP gain on champion and minions removed.
Now Grants a Phenomenal Evil stack on unit kill, two for Large Minions and Monsters.
Mana costdecreasedto 60/65/70/75/80 from 70/75/80/85/90.
Mana costdecreasedto 70/75/80/85/90 from 80/85/90/95/100.
Mana costdecreasedto 100 from 125.
Enemy AP ratio removed, instead increases damage done based on missing HP on target.
Damage changed to [175/275/375 (.75 AP) to 350/500/650 (1.5 AP) based on target’s missing health] from [250/375/500 (1.0 AP)].
Target indicator now visible only to Vel’Koz.
AP ratiodecreasedto [.15 and .25] from [.25 and .37.5].
AP ratiodecreasedto .3 from .5.
Damage increase per level lowered to 8 from 10.
Cooldown decreased to 120/100/80 from 130/110/90.
New passive effect: Deconstructing enemy champions (3 basic attacks, as per passive) researches them for 7 seconds.
Basic attacks and all abilities refresh research.
R deals True damage vs researched targets instead of magic damage.
[Augment] No longer reduces explosion damage by 60% against targets damaged by Death Ray.
Base health increased to 550 from 543.
Health Growthdecreasedto 84 from 85.
Attack damage increased to 52 from 48.
Base armor increased to 23 from 21.88.
Armor growth decreased to 3.3 from 3.5.
Bonus HP to AP factor increased to .04 from .025.
Bonus AP to HP factor decreased to 1.0 from 1.4.
Vladimir is briefly hasted and for the next 2.5 seconds Transfusion deals 100% increased damage and heals for an additional 40 + 15 per level plus 5% (+.025 AP)% of his missing health (healing halved when used on minions).
Vladimir charges up a reservoir of blood, paying up to 10% of his max Health over 1 second to increase Tides of Blood’s damage by the same amount.
At full charge, Tides of Blood slows Vladimir while he holds it, but will briefly slow targets by 40/45/50/55/60% when he releases it.
Hemoplague now heals Vladimir for 50% of it’s damage [75/125/175 + (.35 AP)] for each enemy champion hit at the end of its duration.
Stun duration changed to .5 to 2 seconds from .75 to 1.75 seconds.
Will now destroy turrets if they are below 25/27.5/30/32.5/35% health.
Movement speed increased to 340 from 325.
Base health increased to 499 from 479.
Seeds now spawn around Zyra periodically, becoming faster with level and lasting 45 seconds, to a max of 8 seeds planted. If an enemy Champion steps on a seed, it dies. Will not spawn while Zyra is hiding in a brush.
Plant life scales from 5-7.5 seconds based on Zyra’s level.
Periodically spawns two seeds at the same time, away from one another.
Plants take two attacks to kill.
Mana costdecreasedto 60 at all ranks from 75/80/85/90/95.
Damagedecreasedto 60/90/120/150/180 (.55 AP) from 70/105/140/175/210 (.65 AP).
No longer gives 2-10% cooldown reduction.
Now increases plant maximum health by 10/20/30/40/50%.
These seeds last 60 seconds, versus 45 seconds from passive. They also give vision of enemy champion if squished and small area around where they were. To note changes, passive seeds are pink, W seeds are purple.
Now increases damage of plants within thicket by 150% rather than increasing their attack speed by 50%.
Killing tentacles no longer clears Vessel debuff.
Tentacles can spawn closer to each other if spawning from Vessel.
Tentacles no longer appear in Fog of War.
Tentacles no longer prevented from spawning if the Vessel is recalling.
Diminishing return timer decreased to 6 seconds from 7 seconds.
Energy costdecreasedto 40 at all ranks from 45.
Now does damage to all nearby champions every .5 seconds.
Additional hits deal 25% less damage (to a minimum of 50%).
W zone now reduces cooldown to 4/3.5/3/2.5/2 seconds from 2 seconds.
Now builds stacks on attacking and moving rather than just moving. Moving stacking slightly lowered to compensate.
UNIQUE Passive – Insight renamed to UNIQUE Passive – Awe, now refunds 25% of Mana Spent.
Price decreased to 2100 from 2700.
Removed UNIQUE Passive – Restores 30% of maximum Mana on kill or assist.
Total Cost reduced to 3100 from 3500.
Attack damage reduced to 50 from 55.
Removed UNIQUE Passive – Valor’s Reward.
New UNIQUE Passive – Eternity: 15% of damage taken from champions is gained as mana.
Unique Passive: Basic attacks grant +8% attack speed, +3 attack damage, and +4 ability power for 5 seconds (stacks up to 6 times). While you have 6 stacks, gain Guinsoo’s Rage.
Guinsoo’s Rage: Every other basic attack will trigger on hit effects an additional time.
UNIQUE Passive – Eternity: 15% of damage taken from champions is gained as Mana. Spending Mana restores 25% of the cost as Health, up to 25 per spell cast.
UNIQUE Active – Frost Bolt: Fires a spray of icy bolts that explode, dealing 100-200 (+35% of your Ability Power) magic damage to all enemies hit. (40 second cooldown, shared with other Hextech items).
UNIQUE Active – Fire Bolt: Dash forward and unleash a nova of fire bolts that deal 75 – 150 (+35% of your Ability Power) as magic damage (40 second cooldown, shared with other Hextech items).
Champions and Monsters hurt by multiple fire bolts take 20% damage per additional bolt.
New UNIQUE Passive – Magic Bolt: Damaging an enemy champion with a basic attack shocks them for 75 – 150 bonus magic damage. Damage now scales based on level. 40 second cooldown, shared withother hextech items.
Unique Active – Quicksilver now only removes crowd control debuffs instead of all debuffs.
UNIQUE Passive – Mana Charge no longer Grants 1 maximum Mana every 8 seconds.
UNIQUE Passive – Awe now refunds 15% of Mana spent.
New UNIQUE Passive – Eternity: 15% of Damage taken from champions is gained as Mana. Spending Mana restores 25% of the cost as Health, up to 25 per spell cast.
UNIQUE Passive – Insight renamed to UNIQUE Passive – Awe and now refunds 25% of Mana spent.
New UNIQUE Passive – Awe: Refunds 15% of Mana spent.
Some more general changes here.
Death timers will be getting reduced somewhat, probably between the 20-30 minute marks primarily.
Baron buff getting a duration increase.
The Grievous Wounds debuff now reduces all healing by 40%, rather than just self-healing.
Now grants 15% total ability power.
Mana regen based on Max Mana doubled.
Buff duration decreased to 90 seconds from 120 seconds.
Burn now applies damage tick immediately on apply or reapply, damage-per-tick reduced to compensate – better with faster attacks.
Health regen now works a lot faster out of combat, but isn’t active in combat.
Buff duration decreasedto 90 seconds from 120 seconds.
When a camp that has a timer (Red, Blue, Dragon, Baron, Rift Herald) has less than 60 seconds to spawn, its timer is revealed to both teams (regardless of their vision of the camp), and an “about to spawn” icon appears in the minimap.
These icons start get brighter with 20 seconds remaining.
Inner and Outer turrets only take 4 shots to ramp up to full damage.
Global gold decreased to 100 from 125.
Inner turret gold rewards reduced.
Local golddecreasedto 175 from 250.
Global golddecreasedto 125 from 150.
Inter Turret XP reward removed.
Base Armor/Magic Resistance increased to 40 from 0.
Base Health decreased to 3300 from 4000.
Turrets are now subject to armor and MR penetration, making them more vulnerable to mages.
Fortification damage block increased to 35% from 30%.
Fire – AOE damage (like current dragon). Impacts positioning when taking dragon primarily, some impact on pet users.
Water – Auto attacks inflict slow. Mainly relevant if it’s a potentially contested dragon, since the slow will limit your ability to disengage quickly. Some optimizations around getting it to attack an enemy for the slow situationally.
Earth – Slow-firing, hard-hitting auto attacks that also AOE. More health, armor and MR than other dragons. Slower to take, giving longer windows in which to contest it.
Air – Fast moving and fast auto attacking. Highest single target damage, chases better than other dragons.
Fire – This unit has 8/16/24% (based on stacks) increased Ability Power and Attack Damage, +50% if they have Mark of the Elder Dragon.
Air – This unit has 15/30/45 (based on stacks) additional Out of Combat Movement Speed, +50% if they have Mark of the Elder Dragon.
On dealing damage to non-turrets, this unit deals True Damage over 3 seconds equal to 45 + 45 per stack of Elemental Dragon Buff.
750 RP Royal. Details on this full set from Riot.
If players don’t connect, the /remake command can be used so long as no Champions have died yet.
This triggers a vote, which will let players decide to start a new game with the same players, other than whoever DC’d.
The person who did DC, and their party, will all be given a loss.
Expect more info on this feature in future updates.
That’s League of Legends patch 6.9. We’ll update as and when we get more info, or we’ll see you for patch 6.10 in the very near future. Let us know below if there’s any vital info we missed!