League of Legends‘ Patch 8.19 is the second round of changes focusing on the upcoming World Championship. Luckily, there weren’t that many major changes when comparing to last year’s Worlds patch. Riot Games’ MapleNectar and Aether say:
This patch, rather than trimming power from the top picks in pro play we’ve been seeing, we’re going to be giving a few nudges to other champions that should help keep them in check. We don’t want to invalidate practice the pros have been putting in for the largest tournament of the year, so we’re just going to see if we can give them a few more options to consider. For buffs, we’re focusing on champions who could use a little extra power for competitive viability who also have some breathing room for the rest of us who haven’t reached pro status (yet).
Also, Riot Games will be rolling out positional matchmaking for League‘s Normal Draft. This means that you will be matched based on the position you were assigned. Additionally, they will also be testing position detection. This will monitor if you were actually playing the role you were queuing up for. Now, without further ado, let us jump into the biggest changes for 8.19.
Buffs Galore!
There were some big changes to some meta champions that could alter some compositions for the League of Legends‘ World Championships. Multiple champions are getting damage buffs in preparation for Worlds. Riot has given Pyke’s ultimate a significant damage increase at early levels. Also, Darius is getting a W base damage increase, as well as an E armor penetration increase. Kha’zix’s passive is also increasing from 0.2 to 0.4. His void spike slow is also getting an increase on both isolated and non-isolated enemies. Even Janna and Nunu are getting buffs to their damage. Janna’s Tailwind ability now 25 and 35% damage at levels one to ten. Nunu’s Q and E abilities are both getting pretty good AP damage buffs.
It is clear that this patch is focusing on League‘s anti-tank characters, even buffing Liandry’s Torment by decreasing the AP, but increasing passive max HP burn. Another big thing to point out is that these changes could bring some champions back into the top of the meta for the big stage in South Korea. By buffing champs like Thresh and Pyke, you increase their presence in picks and bans. For example, Riot MapleNectar would address the question of “Is Pyke being buffed purely trying to push him for Worlds?” by saying:
That’s indeed one of the hopes, but his performance also just scales linearly downwards the higher MMR you go – I suspect that’s because his spells are pretty telegraphed and dodgeable. Rather than increase his consistency, we want to increase the likelihood he’s able to leave lane phase with a lead and pressure around the map. The current buff breaks even at lvl 11 in terms of damage, so we’re trying to localize the increased damage to early game.
Other Smaller Changes in 8.19
In addition to the big buffs, Riot is also adding a few smaller changes as well. For example, if you steal an objective from a team, you can now celebrate. Chat call-outs and announcement banners will pop up on screen to congratulate or degrade a team, depending on which side you were on. In preparation for the return of Clash, profile pages are now updating as well. Visual effects for Jarvan, Veigar, Lee Sin and Vi are shipping out in 8.19 too. Check them out here. If you want the full numbers and details, check out the League of Legends update here.
What are your thoughts on Patch 8.19? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! If you want more League of Legends content, check us out here!
