The patch notes for Vel'kos have gone live and we're seeing some mobility changes as well as big nerfs to problematic, snowbally junglers like Kha'Zix, as well as a slight hit to Gragas' early all-ins.
Boots of mobility and Doran's Shield is seeing nerfs, two items that have been deemed problematic from Riot for quite some time. Riot has been trying to enforce variety in the bottom lane and the Ancient Coin line of items will now be brought in line with the other two gold generation sources. Corki also sees his first major change, with Phospherous bomb finally granting an AD ratio.
LoL Client
“With our LoL client work ongoing, game invites were next on our hit list. The below changes should help out with client performance. ”
- Players can now be invited to and accept game invitations while already in a lobby
- Lobby owners can now select a teammate to be the game owner and “draft captain” in charge of bans and first pick
- Improved invitee and lobby status updates:
-
- Accepted
- Pending
- Declined
- Accepted - Lobby Full
- Accepted - Quit
- Joined - Quit
- Joined
- Kicked
- Banned
- Invitations to games that are no longer available will now read “The invitation from «Summoner» has expired.”
- You can now grant invite privileges in custom games
- Chat lobbies will remain intact if someone leaves champ select
- You can still send and receive game invites if chat goes down
- You can now send game invitations to offline players - they’ll see them when they log in
- Chat’s no longer restricted when sending out large amounts of invites at once
Champions
Vel’Koz
Vel’Koz, the Eye of the Void is somewhere in this patch but will be turned on at a later date.
Corki
Corki players can now see Phosphorus Bomb’s area of effect indicator and Phosphorus Bomb now scales with bonus AD.
“Way back, we added more gameplay to Phosphorous Bomb in the form of a travel time, thereby increasing the difficulty of the skill but not the reward. We’ve added some extra gunpowder to the bomb this patch to rebalance the ability.”
![PhosphorusBomb.png]()
Q - Phosphorus Bomb
Q - Phosphorus Bomb
Gragas
We lowered Body Slam’s AD ratio at early levels and reduced Explosive Cask’s AP ratio.
“Short-term, we’re making these changes to slightly tone down Gragas’ overall power curve without making him “Old and Busted.” In future patches we’ll look at Gragas and make changes that leave him feeling like more of a drunken brawler than a fat mage.”
![GragasBodySlam.png]()
E - Body Slam
E - Body Slam![GragasExplosiveCask.png]()
R - Explosive Cask
R - Explosive Cask
Kassadin
We reduced Null Sphere’s damage and silence duration and lowered the damage of Force Pulse.
“We’re currently working on more aggressive changes for Kassadin in the future. In the meantime, these are short term tweaks to knock his power levels down a peg while we continue testing. Maybe, someone, somewhere, will get to play him in a ranked game.”
![NullLance.png]()
Q - Null Sphere
Q - Null Sphere![ForcePulse.png]()
E - Force Pulse
E - Force Pulse
Kha’Zix
“Kha’Zix can be oppressive to play against if he starts snowballing in the early game. Even if his opponents stick together to prevent isolation, the bug deals stupendous amounts of all-in damage before leaping to safety with his E resets. Even though we trimmed down his explosive initiations and crazy fast Dragon/Baron killing speed, we still like Kha’Zix as a speedy hunter, so we buffed his ability to maneuver in fights.”
![KhazixQ0.png]()
Q - Evolved Enlarged Claws
Q - Evolved Enlarged Claws![KhazixE.png]()
E - Leap
E - Leap![KhazixR.png]()
R - Void Assault
R - Void Assault![KhazixR0.png]()
R - Evolved Active Camouflage
R - Evolved Active Camouflage
Ryze
We’ve buffed Ryze’s base health and increased Overload’s range.
“In previous patches, we cemented Ryze’s role as a mid-range mage. Now, we’re helping him adjust.”
General
![Overload.png]()
Q - Overload
Q - Overload
Skarner
We lowered Crystal Slash’s mana cost and increased Fracture’s slow.
“We’re giving Skarner some help in the early game with a focus on his crowd control capabilities.”
![SkarnerVirulentSlash.png]()
Q - Crystal Slash
Q - Crystal Slash![SkarnerFracture.png]()
E - Fracture
E - Fracture
Teemo
Teemo’s shrooms are now slightly less annoying.
“Late game, Teemos stacking pure AP could pretty much opt out of fighting by laying deathshrooms everywhere and spamming the laugh button. If you’re ever close to losing it after dying to a shroom, just remember; millions of Teemos die each day .”
![BantamTrap.png]()
R - Noxious Trap
R - Noxious Trap
Yasuo
We’ve reduced Way of the Wanderer’s shield duration as well as its value at higher levels.
“We want to further emphasize Yasuo’s defensive weaknesses, like triggering his shield with a basic attack and then waiting out the duration, or making him more vulnerable to lots of things hitting him at the same time.”
![Yasuo_Passive.png]()
Passive - Way of the Wanderer
Passive - Way of the WandererTerrify(ing) Changes
“The randomness of Terrify made it unreliable in most cases, both in coordinating with teammates and for opponents, so we’re making it more predictable.”
Fiddlesticks
In addition to the Terrify changes, we’ve increased Drain’s cast range.
![Terrify.png]()
Q - Terrify
Q - Terrify![Drain.png]()
W - Drain
W - Drain
Nocturne
![NocturneUnspeakableHorror.png]()
E - Unspeakable Horror
E - Unspeakable Horror
Shaco
![JackInTheBox.png]()
W - Jack In The Box
W - Jack In The BoxMinor Changes & Bug Fixes
Sejuani
![SejuaniNorthernWinds.png]()
W - Flail of the Northern Winds
W - Flail of the Northern Winds
W - Pick A Card
Volibear
![VolibearW.png]()
W - Frenzy
W - Frenzy
Zac
We increased the interaction radius of Zac’s blobs.
![ZacPassive.png]()
Passive - Cell Division
Passive - Cell DivisionItems
Tear of the Goddess
“Not enough tears on the Rift.”
Doran’s Shield
“We want Doran’s Shield to be a strong pick for countering ranged attack harassment, but its high defensive stats were making it a must-buy early item for some champions. We’re clarifying its strengths while toning down some of the power.”
Spirit Stone Items
(Spirit Stone, Spirit of the Elder Lizard, Spirit of the Ancient Golem, Spirit of the Spectral Wraith)“We like the changes we made to the Spirit Stone line in patch 4.1, so these are just some general tweaks to promote a wider variety of junglers.”
Boots of Mobility
“As the premiere set up boots for getting into - and initiating - fights, we’re introducing a strategic tradeoff. There has been some discussion that this change will hurt some junglers, so we’ll keep an eye on this change.”
Ruby Crystal
“We don’t expect Ruby Crystal to suddenly be a great starting item, but we want to lower its barrier of purchase. Same’s true of the Sightstone items.”
Gold Generating Items
All stats will be displayed per item while changes will be noted.
We’re doing a polish of the mini-games associated with gold generating items.
Spellthief’s Edge Line
Buying a Spellthief’s Edge is a commitment to harassing your opponents from afar. It’ll be the highest risk and reward item in terms of gold generation.
Spellthief’s Edge
Frostfang
Frost Queen’s Claim
Relic Shield Line
We’re reinforcing the Relic Shield line as “all-in” tanky support items for those who want to scrap in lane all day. This is the moderate risk, moderate reward item.
Relic Shield
Targon’s Brace
Face of the Mountain
Ancient Coin Line
We’re giving the Ancient Coin line a reduction in combat-related stats so that we can focus on its hold-out pattern of staying alive in lane. This is definitely the lowest risk line of them all, but it also provides the lowest overall rewards.
Ancient Coin
Nomad’s Medallion
Talisman of Ascension
Source - Riot Games
