League of Legends Patch 11.9 – The MSI Patch

League of Legends Patch 11.9 is here, specifically designed as professional teams head to Iceland for the MSI event. The core of the patch is tailored for MSI, changing up the pro meta as teams look to adapt to become Champions. Furthermore, the patch also targets several unintended buffs for several Champions in Patch 11.8.

 

📒 Patch 11.9 Highlights!

Full patch notes👇https://t.co/Hd0pvYbPhq pic.twitter.com/HKmHkkBs7p

— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) April 27, 2021

The focal point of League of Legends Patch 11.9 is the changes to the meta. Riot Games aim to turn the meta slightly, taking out the biggest offenders in the game at the moment. Consequently, Hecarim and the fast-moving nature of the Season 11 meta is toning down.

Hecarim’s nerfs are finally here, taking out some of his damage from his tanky build, forcing Hecarims to itemize a damage time to get the same results. The new damage scalings help his output on his Q stacks, along with the healing from his W. Also, his charge ability is flat out nerfed. Furthermore, the regular tankyness of the horseman is dipping down, with his base values lowered

Another major offender in the meta is the Turbo Chemtank item. The Mythic item has had its share and more purchases by Tanks and Junglers. As a result, we have seen fast-moving gankers like Hecarim, Udyr and Volibear dominate the meta recently. The nerfs are not that big, as the nerf is 60% bonus movement speed down to 40%. But it’s certainly something that is going to slow the game pace down slightly.

On another note, Jinx’s Fishbones bug is going to hurt her. By accident, she was doing 200% splash damage rather than the intended 175%. It’s a fairly big nerf to her wave clear and cleave, but it shouldn’t affect her strength in the ADC drafting priority.

 

Regular Nerfs

League of Legends Patch 11.8 introduced a few changes to balance out Solo Queue. However, there have been some unintended side effects. We recognized that Morgana and Diana Jungle were two interesting picks, and they indeed have become new picks more than viable. Their jungle clear speeds are toned down now, meaning they shouldn’t be as contested as Riot wanted them to be.

Furthermore, the Vladimir buffs to his ability cooldowns have caused a bit too much power to return to his kit. Riot doesn’t want Vladimir to go back to his pre 11.8 self, so he now sits in a middle ground that shouldn’t make him as strong.

Most patches come with several buffs, and here are some that are most certainly welcome.

 

Item Buffs   

With Turbo Chemtank dominating the meta, Sunfire Aegis is becoming much more attractive to tank junglers. The item now does 150% damage to monsters, making it a better pick for tanks who lack clear speeds to reappear in the meta. It also might be a better fit for Tank Hecarm, since his clear speed and tankyness in the jungle is down.

Death’s Dance may have dominated Season 10, but it has been lacklustre in Season 11. An extra five attack damage and armor makes it a lot nicer for fighters to consider.

Moonstone Renewer is back on the menu with its base healing shattered in favour of deliberately scaling the item. The sad consequence of the matter is that the item had fallen off big time because of the changes, so the 70 healing base value might bring it back as an option once again.

 

Champion Buffs

Kog’Maw is sadly one of the worst ADCs in the game right now. But with 11.9 he might not be too bad. The strength of his resistance shred on his Q is better, up 5% at every spell rank. How E is also much better on the mana bar.

Lulu is getting some love too. Her whimsy now grants allies more attack speed when used on them. Clearly, the pick aims at her botlane strengths so she doesn’t find herself top or mid as she has done in the near past. It is also nicely timed as Lulu is one of the better supports for Kog’Maw too.

Shen has got some new scaling on his ultimate. The ability now also scales off his maximum HP. To compensate, it means the base value of the shield is lowered. While at the level six mark, Shen’s shield is going to feel weaker, by later games, the shield is going to be massive.

The League of Legends Patch 11.9 is now live on all servers.