Updated on July 24, 4:39 p.m. (GMT+8): Added new information released by Riot Phroxzon on X, including detailed numbers.
League of Legends Lead Gameplay Designer Matt “Riot Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison posted a preview of LoL patch 14.15 today.
The most significant change is to Boots — an item that almost all champions require (sorry Cass). Riot Phroxzon took the time to explain their rationale behind these changes.
With regards to specific champion changes, three are getting buffed, while five are slated for nerfs.
Preview: LoL patch 14.15 notes rundown
Rebalancing Boots in League of Legends
Riot Phroxzon gave context for the intended changes to Boots. For quite some time, defensive boots have proven highly effective in high-level gameplay, yet they remain less appealing at lower levels.
“This often results in mirror matchup defensive boot laning phases in midlane where neither player is able to die and they opt to farm it out instead,” he explained.
“At the same time, boots have been very strong for their cost, leading to unintuitive optimizations to prioritize boots over Epic components that are mainly only engaged in high levels of play, further leading to this effect,” he added.
As such, the goal of this update to all Boots is to reduce their effectiveness. For example, for the longest time, Mercury’s Treads is “disproportionately strong relative to other options,” which is why the game devs are looking to weaken early Magic Resist component items.
The consequence of this is that some Magic Resist items that require its components will in turn get buffed to compensate.
Riot Phroxzon anticipates that the Magic Penetration nerf to Sorcerer’s Shoes will not severely affect Magic Resist itemization for tanks and fighters. After all, the balance team still wants to retain Sorcerer’s Shoes and Ionian Boots of Lucidity as viable choices.
How Riot Games is thinking about the ADC ecosystem in LoL patch 14.15 — incoming nerfs to AD carries
This update to ADCs is a follow through from the last patch 14.14 to “bring ADC’s early game down.”
The balance team plans to nerf Statikk Shiv, Kraken Slayer, and keystone Fleet Footwork to reduce early game healing and decrease the potency of one-item power spikes.
They are also reverting a portion of the percentage attack reduction on Plated Steelcaps to enhance the resilience of fighters and tanks against ADCs in the late game.
“We believe these will be meaningful hits to some of the double ADC comps we’re seeing in (especially) very high MMR play,” wrote Riot Phroxzon.
How Riot Games is thinking about the state of AP in LoL patch 14.15
These are the three key items that the team will balance around: Blackfire Torch, Fated Ashes, and Liandry’s Anguish.
The balance team are elevating other AP items to match the overall balance of the AP ecosystem. Items such as Stormsurge were excessively nerfed for ranged champions, and Void Staff still requires some adjustments.
Cosmic Drive and Hextech Rocketbelt have also faced challenges in meeting the performance expectations of their primary users.
Lastly, the team doesn’t want to overnerf AP junglers just because they’re “different,” rather, they’re hoping that over time, the jungle role becomes more diverse, which in turn increases the number of effective team compositions.
LoL patch 14.15 champion buffs
- Talon
- Yasuo
- Varus
“For Varus, we’re trying to put more power into his Q max builds over his W max builds,” Riot Phroxzon wrote. “For Ezreal we overshot a bit in recent patches and he’s mostly unaffected by any of the item nerfs in the patch and will be disproportionately buffed as a result, so we’re tapping him down pre-emptively.”
LoL patch 14.15 champion nerfs
- Aurora
- Aurelian Sol
- Ezreal
- Leona
- Shyvana
Out of this list, Shyvana is the one that’s getting hit the hardest this LoL patch 14.15. Leona is one of the strongest supports, which is why they’re toning her down slightly.
LoL patch 14.15 champion adjustments
- Akali
- Cassiopeia
- Irelia
- Skarner
- Sylas
- Yone
- Zed
In response to the previous patch where the balance team overnerfed Skarner, they’re now restoring some of his strength.
They are reducing the lane-specific power of his E ability, which pulls units behind him upon cast, thus enabling champions, particularly melee ones, to safely interact within minion waves. The team’s goal is to find a balance that caters to both lane and jungle Skarner playstyles.
LoL patch 14.15 system buffs
- Dark Harvest
- Death’s Dance
- Stormsurge plus more AP items that Riot Games is still deciding on
LoL patch 14.15 system nerfs
- Kraken Slayer (ranged)
- Statikk Shiv
LoL patch 14.15 system adjustments
- Fleet Footwork
LoL patch 14.15 releases on Wednesday, July 31, 2024 (PT).
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