Riot has released the 4.11 patch notes, which features a wealth of changes to old jungle favorites and more.
Featuring changes to Maokai as well as a slew of other champions, 4.11 is yet another impactful patch, and very shortly after 4.10. There's also some questionable changes included into the package, including Nidalee's supposed buff. All-in-all, Riot has begun the changes to help tanky junglers succeed once again in the current meta.
General
Kill dudes, buy boots. Turrets hit harder and ramp up faster. Lane minion experience range has been increased.
When we talk about 'snowballing' in League of Legends, we're mainly talking about teams rolling into victories through a single skirmish or unlucky fight without having to earn their win through multiple displays of skill. Like we've mentioned in our design values dev blog about mastery, we want to ensure there are systems in place that reward the consistently skilled team who can continually make intelligent choices - even when they're behind - to win the game.
Along that line of thought, back at the start of the 2014 season we made some 'anti-snowball' changes to First Blood mechanics so that it would still give rewards but not so much as to derail a game through one unsuccessful jungle invade. We still want to make sure League has exciting potential - even after first blood - but we felt we could spice up the incentives for successful early aggression.
As for the Turret and experience range changes, we wanted to make sure that Turrets remain a safe(ish) place to be in early levels and that players in 'lost' lanes (like 2v1 lanes or completely blown out matchups), can still function later in the game. While these upgrades are aimed specifically at competitive, they also affect other levels of play as players who fall behind in lane have virtually no safe place to hide. Finally, if the enemy team has a dive-heavy jungler (ie: Pantheon, Elise, Lee Sin, etc), weak turrets can skew champion diversity such that players can only choose champions who don't rely on turrets for protection (this is particularly true for solo lanes like top and mid).
Bounty Rewards
EARLY KILL LIMITSEarly kills now reward 60% ⇒ 75% of normal value (scaling up to 100% at 4 minutes)
FIRST BLOOD BONUSFirst Blood bonuses are unaffected by early kill reward limitations, so First Blood in the first 2 minutes of the game will now give +280 gold ⇒ +325 gold
KILL STREAK BOUNTYPersonal bounty increases by 20% ⇒ 16.5% per kill.
KILL STREAK BOUNTY CAPPlayers will cap in value at 500 gold after 4 kills ⇒ 5 kills
Turrets
PENETRATING BULLETSTurrets now gain +25% ⇒ 37.5% damage per hit
WARMING UPTurrets now finish 'warming up' after 3 hits ⇒ 2 hits (maximum +75% bonus damage remains unchanged)
TURRET APMTurrets select targets slightly faster
Experience
EXPERIENCE RANGELane minions now grant experience at 1250 ⇒ 1400 range
Champions
Braum
Braum's passive does less damage and the timing window that players have to activate his stun is now shorter.
While we're happy with how Braum does in equal matchups, he can still completely shut down a lane when he picks up a small advantage. These changes are to give a little more breathing room against this muscular shield man. As a clarification, the reduction in the debuff time to activate Concussive Blows means Braum (or his teammates) now have less time to proc the stun. It does not mean the stun lasts longer or that Braum can stun people more often (wouldn't that be terrifying).
Passive - Concussive Blows
DAMAGE70 + 10 per level ⇒ 50 + 12 per level
DEBUFF TIME TO PROC STUN5 seconds ⇒ 4 seconds
W - Stand Behind Me
C'MON BRAUMFixed a bug where when Braum tried to jump over a wall to a teammate with an enemy nearby, he would try to protect his teammate by facing the enemy, but would then smack his butt into the wall and not actually jump over to safety. Braum now jumps more intelligently.
Heimerdinger
General
NEWCLARITYAdded a new 'Turret Focus Target' particle for Heimerdinger when he marks an opponent for Turret death
NEWCLARITYAdded new 'Turret Aggro' and 'Turret Focus Aggro' particles for the player being shot by Heimerdinger's turrets
Jax
Even though Jax is intended to be a champ that scales well into the late game, he's currently so well-rounded that 'scaling well' ultimately turns him into an offensive brick wall with very few defensive weaknesses.
General
BASE HEALTH561 ⇒ 535
HEALTH PER LEVEL+98 ⇒ +85
ARMOR PER LEVEL+3.5 ⇒ +3.0
Karthus
R - Requiem
BUGFIXFixed a bug where Requiem's team ult HUD indicator (green dot on the left!) would display as available even when it wasn't
Kayle
Kayle gets less attack speed per level and her E scales less with ability power. Intervention's cooldown has been increased.
Kayle has a ton of strengths - good damage, safe laning, high utility, great wave clear, fancy wings - and not too many weaknesses. Initially we wanted to only hit Kayle's high offensive power so we could continue to emphasize her utility, but saw it just wasn't enough to reduce her fervor in a meaningful way. All of these changes, combined, should help in clipping some of Kayle's high power across the board.
General
ATTACK SPEED PER LEVEL+2.5 ⇒ +2.2
E - Righteous Fury
BONUS ABILITY POWER RATIO+0.4 ability power ⇒ +0.2 ability power
R - Intervention
COOLDOWN90/75/60 seconds ⇒ 110/95/80 seconds
Lucian
We have no change for Lucian this patch but wanted to highlight that he's currently high on our list. Specifically in competitive play, Lucian is crowding out almost all other marksman choices (aside from maybe Kog'Maw) due to his high general strengths and lack of meaningful weaknesses (does this sound familiar?). We're currently very aware of Lucian's dominating performance but want to make sure we get the right changes in to give him said weaknesses!
General
VERY STRONGYes ⇒ Still yes
Maokai
Maokai is now a sentient purple people protector. Mana costs and damage on Maokai's abilities have gone down, but he's gained increased disruption with W on a lower cooldown and his Saplings slowing whoever they explode on. W's range has gone down so Maokai doesn't just become a nonstop ganking tree. Vengeful Maelstrom now centers on Maokai and travels with him.
These changes are to give Maokai more of a 'core' identity as a defensive peeling support tank who can disrupt the baddies that jump on his squishy friends. Some of you might be asking: why so much change for the tree? Old Maokai might not be the strongest jungler on the scene but he's still very capable of shutting down entire lanes in the early to mid game while not contributing much to later teamfights. These updates let us balance around new Maokai kit without bringing back the Maokai pain train of Season 2 (such nonstop reliable tower dives, wow).
Q - Arcane Smash
SLOW DURATION2 seconds ⇒ 1.5 seconds
COST55 mana ⇒ 45 mana
W - Twisted Advance
REMOVEDCAST TIMEMaokai no longer has to 'wind up' before advancing to an enemy (travel time remains the same)
DAMAGE80/115/150/185/220 (+0.8 ability power) ⇒9/10.5/12/13.5/15% + (0.04 ability power)% of target's maximum health
COST75/80/85/90/95 mana ⇒ 75 mana at all ranks
COOLDOWN13 seconds at all ranks ⇒ 13/12/11/10/9 seconds
RANGE650 ⇒ 525
E - Sapling Toss
NEWSPEEDY SAPLINGSSapling movement speed now scales with Maokai's bonus movement speed
NEWANNOYING SAPLINGSEnemies damaged by a sapling explosion are now slowed by 50% for 1 second
SAPLING BASE MOVEMENT SPEED475 ⇒ 450
LANDING MAGIC DAMAGE40/75/110/145/180 (+0.4 ability power) ⇒40/60/80/100/120 (+0.4 ability power)
EXPLOSION MAGIC DAMAGE80/130/180/230/280 (+0.6 ability power) ⇒80/120/160/200/240 (+0.6 ability power)
COST70/80/90/100/110 mana ⇒ 60/70/80/90/100 mana
R - Vengeful Maelstrom
NEWUTILITYVengeful Maelstrom is now self-cast and circles Maokai instead of sitting in a targeted area
NEWGOOD JOB MAOKAIVengeful Maelstrom now shows (through combat text) how much damage Maokai is mitigating for his teammates (this is only visible to Maokai)
INITIAL COST75 mana ⇒ 40 mana
RADIUS550 ⇒ 475
Nautilus
More anchors to the face.
When we were making the Ancient Golem and Quill Coat changes for tanky support junglers, we knew there were a few who needed some extra help to succeed in the modern game (like Nautilus). Here we saw some easy wins for Nautilus to scale into the late game while also adding... CLARITY!
Passive - Staggering Blow
NEWCLARITY!There is now an indicator showing how long until you can use Staggering Blow on same target
UTILITYNautilus can now trigger this effect on the same target every 9 seconds at all ranks ⇒ 9/8/7/6 seconds (at levels 1/6/11/16)
Nidalee
It's a little tough to explain these changes so you'll have to read them. Sorry!
Following Nidalee's Gameplay Update, we undershot on her overall power levels so we're giving her some small buffs and game flow improvements as we continue to watch players pick up on her new playstyle. These might look like a lot of changes, but they're really focused on helping Nidalee succeed at her cat games. One big goal here is to help Nidalee trigger her Hunting mechanic more reliably while not always getting her killed when she jumps into the fight.
General
BASE HEALTH370 ⇒ 390
BASE ARMOR15 ⇒ 17
Passive - Prowl
NEWSPEEDY CATNidalee now receives +10% Movement Speed in alldirections while Hunting, which increases to +30% movement speed toward Hunted targets
KITTY SPEED LIMITSAt any one time, Nidalee can never receive more than a total of +30% Movement Speed from The Hunt and Brush movement speed bonuses
Q - Javelin Toss
JAVELIN WIDTH30 ⇒ 40
W - Bushwhack
CLARITYTargets that trigger a trap are now only marked as Hunted if Nidalee is within 3000 units of them
COOLDOWN17/15/13/11/9 seconds ⇒ 13/12/11/10/9 seconds
DAMAGE12/14/16/18/20% of target's current health ⇒10/12/14/16/18% of target's current health
BUGFIXFixed a bug where Bushwhack could reveal enemy wards when an enemy unit affected by Bushwhack walked over them
W - Pounce
HUNTED POUNCE RANGE700 ⇒ 750
HUNTED POUNCE JUMP LOCATIONPouncing on a Hunted target now puts Nidalee 150 units to the opposite side of the target ⇒ 75 units in the direction the target is facing
E - Primal Surge
COST60/80/100/120/140 mana ⇒ 60/75/90/105/120 mana
R - Aspect Of The Cougar
NEWQUICKDRAW KITTYTriggering The Hunt resets Aspect of the Cougar's cooldown if Nidalee is in Human form
E - Empowered Bola Strike
Skarner
When we made changes to Skarner back in patch 4.10, we had to tune down some of his offensive power in favor of his sticky Skarner-ness. Now that the loneliest scorpion has made his way to the live game, we're seeing he's still doing a lot of damage on top of his disruptive play so we're dialing him back just a bit.
Q - Crystal Slash
PHYSICAL DAMAGE20/32/44/56/68 ⇒ 18/28/38/48/58
BONUS MAGIC DAMAGE20/32/44/56/68 ⇒ 18/28/38/48/58
BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED+3/4/5/6/7% per stack of Crystal Energy ⇒+2/3/4/5/6% per stack of Crystal Energy
R - Impale
SKARNERFIXFixed a bug where Skarner could occasionally throw out basic attacks while impaling a target
Vladimir
We think the world is ready for a Vlad who can use Flash after he's entered his Sanguine Pool. Or Ghost. Or Heal. OR ZHONYA'S HOURGLASS?!
W - Sanguine Pool
NEWUTILITYVladimir can now cast summoner spells and use items while in his troll pool
Yasuo
As a nimble fighter, Yasuo should be balancing his offense and defense throughout the laning phase. Right now, however, Yasuo's ability to stack up excessive amounts of extra damage on Sweeping Blade (particularly at early levels) means he can quickly bully out opponents before they have the chance to retaliate.
E - Sweeping Blade
BONUS DAMAGE CAP100% at 4 stacks ⇒ 50% at 2 stacks
Zac
Like Nautilus, when we were making the Ancient Golem and Quill Coat changes for tanky support junglers, we knew there were a few who needed some extra help to succeed in the modern game. For Zac, it was a simple matter of bouncing up his early clear speeds while also giving his sustained damage an elastic stretch in the right direction.
W - Unstable Matter
NEWUNSTABLER MATTERPicking up a chunklet reduces the cooldown of Unstable Matter by 1 second
NEWUNSTABLEST MATTERWhenever Zac hits a jungle monster with Unstable Matter, he can walk through the monster (to pick up chunklets)
COOLDOWN4 seconds ⇒ 5 seconds
Ziggs
Ziggs moves slower and his bombs got skinnier.
Right now we see Ziggs as having a unique strategic fit in the game (stalling out to let his teammates ramp up in strength), but he's a little too safe in lane and still has a lot of explosive power to carry his team to a win when he gets ahead. Adding on these strengths, Ziggs is also a well-rounded, consistent champion who can do a lot of things at once, so we're looking for ways to add more risk or unreliability to his kit.
General
MOVEMENT SPEED330 ⇒ 325
Q - Bouncing Bomb
EXPLOSION TRIGGER DETECTION RADIUS180 ⇒ 150
Embiggened Champions
This might be a nerf (or buff if you enjoy eating skill shots) to the following champions, but we want to ensure for the sake of clarity that their hitboxes always match their visual representation.
HITBOXThe following champions had smaller than average hitboxes so we've increased them to the average hitbox size. In other words, we've added 27.3% Teemos to each champion's overall hitbox (from 50 units all around to 65 units all around) but there should be no visual change:
Shyvana
Thresh
Vi
Updated Splashes
Given their high visibility, we're taking a broad look at base champion splashes throughout our roster and showing some love to older ones that are showing their age. Caitlyn and Urgot are first out of the gate; keep an eye out for more over the next few patches!
SPLASHSeveral champions have received updated splashes:
Caitlyn
Urgot
Items
Sustain-focused tanky junglers now have an item build path that supports their playstyle from Hunter's Machete to Quill Coat to Spirit of the Ancient Golem. These new (and newly changed) items give high regeneration stats while ensuring jungle monsters can be taken down in a decent timeframe from the mid to late game.
The problem with the old Hunter's Machete and Spirit Stone items (at least for tanky sustained junglers) was that they were too damage-focused to really help the slow and steady Maokaii and Nautilii (Maokais? Nautiluses?) of the world. As a result, these tanky dudes fell out of favor against damage-heavy junglers like Kha'Zix and Pantheon or early pressure/utility junglers like Lee Sin and Elise. While these changes may not directly shift the landscape back to equal footing, we want to at least offer ameaningful choice for those who want to play the utility tank jungler.
To focus on the changes themselves, our goal here is to 'normalize' jungle clear speeds so that even a utility jungler can clear reasonably well throughout the game - even without buying a damage item. The solution to add Sapping Barbs (and make it based off a percent of maximum health) means that once a jungler gets a Quill Coat / Spirit of the Ancient Golem, they'll be guaranteed to clear a jungle camp within a set period of time. Adding a ward to Quill Coat and Ancient Golem also gives tanky junglers a way to fight back against high-pressure junglers through superior vision control, rather than giving more stats to out-duel the duelists. Final point: Spirit of the Ancient Golem scales with bonus health, so you'll need to be building health to see bigger gains.
Jungle Items
Hunter's Machete
PRICE300 gold ⇒ 325 gold
NEWDAMAGE REDUCTION+5 Damage Reduction vs. Monsters
NEWBONUS DAMAGE+10 Attack Damage vs. Monsters
REMOVEDMAIMLESSNo longer has the UNIQUE Passive: Maim
REMOVEDBUTCHERLESSNo longer has the UNIQUE Passive: Butcher
NEW Quill Coat
RECIPEHunter's Machete + Cloth Armor + 75 gold
TOTAL COST700 gold
ARMOR+20
PASSIVESapping Barbs: Attacking monsters lose 5% of their maximum health over 3 seconds (up to 150). Wearer gains +40 health regeneration per 5 seconds and +30 mana regeneration per 5 seconds when in combat with monsters.
ACTIVEHunter's Ward: Places a Stealth Ward that reveals the surrounding area for 180 seconds (180 second cooldown)
Spirit of the Ancient Golem
NEWRECIPEQuill Coat + Kindle Gem + 450 gold
TOTAL COST2000 gold (unchanged)
HEALTH+350 ⇒ +200
COOLDOWN REDUCTION+10% (unchanged)
NEWARMOR+0 ⇒ +20
NEWBONUS HEALTH+25% Bonus Health
NEWPASSIVESapping Barbs: Attacking monsters lose 5% of their maximum Health over 3 seconds (up to 195). Wearer gains +60 health regeneration per 5 seconds and +45 mana regeneration per 5 seconds when in combat with monsters.
NEWACTIVEHunter's Ward: Places a Stealth Ward that reveals the surrounding area for 180 seconds (180 second cooldown)
REMOVEDTENACITYLESSNo longer has the UNIQUE Passive: Tenacity
REMOVEDBUTCHERLESSNo longer has the UNIQUE Passive: Butcher
Spirit Stone
COMBINE COST40 gold ⇒ 15 gold (total cost remains the same)
Madred's Razors
TOTAL COST750 gold ⇒ 775 gold
Wriggle's Lantern
COMBINE COST240 gold ⇒ 215 gold (total cost remains the same)
Attack Damage Items
While we realize that Essence Reaver probably needs more tweaks before it'll be in an optimal state, we want to keep it in the spotlight to show that we're committed to supporting this build path for marksman (ie: Ezreal, Corki and Sivir) that should like it.
Essence Reaver
ATTACK DAMAGE50 ⇒ 60
Ranked Duo Queue
We're introducing a new restriction for ranked duo queues so players can only duo queue with teammates ranked within one full tier above or below them. We found that the vast majority of duos are already between players within these thresholds and this change will allow us to curb some of the potential abuse cases we see under the current matchmaking system.
In the case of unseeded players, the new system allows for duo queuing with Gold, Silver and Bronze players while their skill level is still being assessed. After they've been placed, the usual restrictions will apply.
- Players may only queue for ranked duo games with players ranked within one full tier above or below them. For example, a Silver III player may duo with players ranked anywhere from Bronze V to Gold I.
- Unseeded players who were ranked in solo queue during the previous season will use that rank to determine duo eligibility.
- Unseeded players who have never been ranked in solo queue are able to duo queue with Gold, Silver or Bronze players.
Bots
With our bot updates in Patch 4.6, we were able to take bots off their purple leash and introduce a little variety to which side players end up on. This has been a great addition for our Co-op vs AI enthusiasts, but it's a little jarring for new players trying to get a handle on how the game is played. In order to meet each group's needs, bots in Beginner Co-op matches will go back to always being the Purple team while Intermediate matches will continue to sometimes give Blue side to the bots.
- Bots in Beginner-level Co-op vs AI matches will always play from Purple side
Public Chat Rooms
Public chat rooms aren't really serving their purpose at the moment as they're often filled with scams, spam and phishing attempts. This can create a pretty negative experience, especially for new players, so we're disabling them while we investigate long-term solutions.
- Public Chat Rooms have been disabled
Bugfixes
- Muting players in-game no longer unfriends them or puts them on your Blocked list
- As a result, accidental mutes no longer reset Mystery Gifting's 2-week restriction on sending Mystery Gifts to new friends
- 'Ignore' tools have been relabeled as 'Block' to clarify their functionality
Source - Riot Games