With an update scheduled for Thursday, Riot Games is concluding the League of Legends Public Beta Environment (PBE) 9.8 patch cycle. There are many changes, both in terms of balance and new content. Let’s take a look at what these changes and new additions are before they hit live servers on April 17.
Skins & cosmetics
As per usual, this patch cycle includes a bunch of new cosmetic items. These include skins, chromas, summoner icons, emotes, and ward skins.
Some of the more notable skins are Conqueror Alistar, which won’t be released until later in patch 9.9. The Conqueror skin line currently includes four skins, and each of them will get a golden chroma. These skins are usually released during the Mid-Season Invitational.
Another skin included in the cycle is the legendary Galaxy Slayer Zed. Set to cost 1820 RP, the skin includes a new model and textures; new VFX, SFX, and VO lines; and new animations.
The Invictus Gaming skin line, which we previously talked about, is also set to release in this patch. In addition to model and texture changes, the skins also include unique recall animations and spells.
Last but not least, Evelyn will be getting a K/DA Prestige Edition skin. It will be available for 100 Prestige Points and similarly to the iG skins includes new models, recall animations, and spell VFX.
Riot is adding a bunch of new icons too, tied to both the skins and the world championship event. A few Conqueror emotes are also being added to the game.
Along with the new Conqueror skin & chromas, Riot is also releasing the 2019 Conqueror ward skin. The reigning world champions are likewise getting a ward skin comically named Championship Hot Dog.
Balance changes
As per usual, the PBE patch also includes various balance changes for items, runes, and champions.
On the champion side, we find both buffs and nerfs for different champions. Most of these changes don’t include the champions that are currently played in competitive. Some notable mentions are buffs to Amumu (passive bonus damage increased), Fiora (CC duration on Riposte increased), Sejuani (max health as damage increased), and Renekton. The nerfs worth mentioning are Kayle’s damage, armor, and attack speed decreases. Another champion hit by nerfs will be Zed with a nerf to his Razor Shuriken damage as well as his Living Shadow cooldown.
A few changes worth noting for items are the cost increase on Bilgewater Cutlass (from 1500 to 1600) as well as added notes for Tear items (noting they are only limited to 1 item). Due to Cutlass’ change, Hextech Gunblade and Blade of the Ruined King are having their prices changed as well.
There is also a single rune change, with Coup De Grace’s damage being increased from 7% to 8%. The rune furthermore no longer gives adaptive damage on champion takedowns.
For a full list of changes, head over to Surrender at 20.
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