Teamfight Tactics patch 9.16 rundown and highlights

With Teamfight Tactics patch 9.16 headed to the live servers in less than 24 hours, it’s about time we get to have a look at the patch notes. Patch 9.16 will bring the introduction of the Hextech trait. Besides this new trait and the four new champions that belong to it, there will be many other changes to all aspects of the game.

The Hextech trait

The Hextech trait on the PBE looked powerful. The effect works at 2-4 Hextechs and disables the items of a champion and its surroundings for 8 seconds. The four champions receiving the Hextech trait are Vi (Brawler), Jinx (Gunslinger), Jayce (Shapeshifter), and Camille (Blademaster).

Matchmaking and overall game changes

One change requested by a large part of the competitive community was the way matchmaking worked when the ghost army was in play. To combat this, it will now be less likely you face the same opponent, or ghost army, twice in a row.

Another major problem is the ability to draw in Teamfight Tactics where neither player is excited about the result. To combat this, the developers have introduced URF Overtime Mode. After 30 seconds of every battle, the URF Overtime mode will be enabled, granting all remaining units 300% attack speed, 200% ability damage, 66% reduced crowd-control duration, and 66% healing reduction.

Further some changes were made to the ranked system and how demotion works across all levels of play. If you start a game at 0LP and lose any LP you will automatically be demoted. This will help players play against opponents of closer MMR when available, resulting in more LP when you win a game and fewer LP losses when you don’t make it to the top four. For Grandmasters and Challengers, it was previously impossible to demote due to the lack of players in these leagues. However, now if they lose at 0LP they will be demoted back to diamond 1 instantly as well.

The base damage will now scale in accordance with the current stage of the game. Previously, the base damage was two damage at every stage, causing some games to last longer than intended. The base damage now starts at 1 damage for stages 1-2, remains at 2 damage for stage 3-4, and increases by one damage at stage 5, 6, and 7, capping at 5 base damage at stage 7 and beyond.

Trait changes in Teamfight Tactics

• Brawler’s bonus health has been reduced from 300/700/1200 (at 2-4-6) to 300/600/1000.
• Demons have been redesigned and now have a chance to burn 20 mana (rather than all) and return 15/30/45 mana to the attacker (at 2-4-6 demons).
• Ninja bonus attack damage and ability power goes from 40/60 to 50/70 (at 1 or 4 Ninjas).
• Noble Buff is not quite there yet, so the bonus magic resist and armor has been increased by 10.
• Sorcerer (3) bonus ability power reduced from 45% to 40%, (6) bonus unchanged
• Wild attack speed per stack increased from 10% to 12%

Individual champion changes

Tier 1

• Elise health 450>500, spiderling attack speed 0.6>0.7/s.
• Kha’Zix non-isolation ability damage 150/300/450 reduced to 150/250/350.
• Mordekaiser will no longer cast his ability if there are no enemies in range at the start of casting.
• Nidalee now always heals two units when she transforms. Previously only healed herself if she was the lowest HP unit on the team.
• Vayne Attack speed: 0.75>0.7/s, Ability damage (% of Max Health) 8/10/12> 8/12/16.

Tier 2

• Braum health: 750>650.
• Lissandra total mana: 150>125.
• Lulu Ability (temporary) bonus health: 300/475/650 > 300/400/500.
• Zed health 500>550, attack speed 0.65>0.7, ability damage 200/300/400>200/350/500.

Tier 3

• Aatrox no longer casts his ability if there are no champions in range at start of cast. Same change happened for Mordekaiser, Kennen, Katarina, and Evelynn.
• Evelynn now prioritizes her current target with her ability.
• Shyvana should now leap away more defensively to improve her ability to kite away from her target.

Tier 4

• Akali attack damage 70>80.
• Brand ability damage 200/375/550>250/450/650, starting and total mana changed: 0/125> 50/150.
• Cho’Gath ability damage 250/500/750 > 175/350/525.

*Note on the Cho’Gath numbers, current in-game is 200/400/600?

Tier 5

• Karthus starting and total mana changed. 0/85 > 40/125 (Big nerf, makes Archangel’s Staff far less effective.).
• Kayle attack speed 1.1 > 1.0/s.
• Miss Fortune health 650>700, total mana 100>75.

All item changes for Teamfight Tactics patch 9.16

• Hush reworked. Now 33% chance to “Mana Lock”, rather than silence. This will allow champions with a full mana-bar to still cast their ability, however, they will not be able to cast their ability right away after the silence ran out as was the case with the previous version. It remains to be seen whether this is better or worse overall.
• Infinity Edge critical strike damage further increased 150% > 200%.
• Ionic Spark true damage 150>125, however, the item can now be stacked or used on multiple characters on a team with full effectiveness. Previously only one Ionic Spark could be in effect at any point in time. This is a very important change as it will be more likely to obtain full items from the carousel and jungle camps.
• Locket of the Iron Solari shield duration increased from 4 to 6 seconds.
• Morellonomicon burn damage duration increased from 5 to 10 seconds. Probably the biggest nerf of this entire patch. As a lot of champions applied multiple stacks of Morellonomicon during the duration of a fight, having it deal the damage over a period of time twice as long will drastically reduce its effectiveness. The biggest impact of this will be on a champion like Garen who could apply the effect several times a second.
• Red Buff is getting the same treatment as Morellonomicon. The burn damage duration is increased from 5 to 10 seconds, drastically decreasing its effectiveness when used on Gunslingers.
• Redemption’s heal increased from 1000 to 1500 health.
• Statikk Shiv is changed up massively. From 4 bounces at 90 damage per bounce to 3 bounces at 100 damage each.
• Warmog’s Armor will now heal for a maximum of 400 health per tick. This nerf will mainly impact its effectiveness on PVE dragons. (Elder, Infernal)
• Guardian Angel now properly removes Grievous Wounds and resurrects properly. A nerf to the revival health of Guardian Angel is currently being tested on the PBE.

Bug fixes coming with tomorrow’s patch

This is how Riot describes its upcoming bug fixes:

Teamfight Tactics and League of Legends patch 9.16 should be released Aug 14. to the live servers. For more League of Legends, check out the introduction of Eternals to the game.