Introduction

In Riot's latest effort to make the game new and exciting, we've got a makeover on Nunu followed-up with a set of buffs on some of the rift's most bursty champions. Expect to get one-shot by a variety of champions this patch if you plan on being squishy. Check out the full set of notes below!

Summary

Buffs: Annie, Bard, Fiora, Irelia, Kassadin, Kayn, Master Yi, Rengar, Wukong, Taric
Nerfs: Garen
Tweaks: Varus, Yorick

Patch 8.17 Notes

BY AETHER, GENTLEMAN GUSTAF

Welcome to patch 8.17, the one where New Nunu's New Groove hits Summoner's Rift, and his four-armed buddy will umpack his bags and join him! If you're already feeling the call of the Freljord, you can consume more information in the links below.

Do you want to build the biggest snowball ever!? Before you do, check out the barrage of balance changes below so you have absolutely zero excuse for not knowing what's going on.

Now get out there and try to stay warm; it's going to be a wintry one!

Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman

Paul "Aether" Perscheid

Patch Highlights

Nexus Blitz

The Nexus Blitz live alpha continues this patch. For a rundown of changes coming this patch, head to the update article!

Champions

Nunu & Willump

Nunu & Willump, the Boy and His Yeti will start their adventure in patch 8.17! Get rolling with these links:

Full-res splash art is available on League Displays!

Annie

Attack range increased.

Right now, Annie doesn't really have gameplay outside of dumping all of her spells at once. Returning to her longer attack range lets her trade and harass with autos as an alternate pattern of aggression.

ATTACK RANGE575 ⇒ 625

Bard

R cooldown decreased.

Bard's laning phase is already strong enough, but his overall gameplay could use a bit more power. We want to give everybody's favorite chime-gathering support more playmaking opportunities so that he doesn't feel barred from using his ult for fear of its long cooldown.

R - Tempered Fate

COOLDOWN130/110/90 seconds ⇒ 110/95/80 seconds

Fiora

E crit damage on second attack increased at early ranks.

Fiora's late game is pretty strong, but she could use some more dueling power in the early game to get there more often. Because, you know, duelist.

E - Bladework

CRIT DAMAGE ON SECOND ATTACK140/155/170/185/200% ⇒160/170/180/190/200%

Garen

Q damage decreased at later ranks.

Garen's spun his way into top lane dominance as of late, and Q's early game damage leaves opponents with few opportunities to trade well.

Q - Decisive Strike

BASE DAMAGE30/65/100/135/170 ⇒ 30/60/90/120/150

Irelia

Q damage bonus to minions increased.

We're putting some laning functionality back into Irelia's Q.

Q - Bladesurge

INCREASED DAMAGE TO MINIONS70% ⇒ 100%

Kassadin

R cooldown decreased at early ranks.

Touching Kassadin's late game is always risky, but he has room for some more early-mid game strength.

R - Riftwalk

COOLDOWN6/4/2 seconds ⇒ 5/3.5/2 seconds

Kayn

E duration increased early. Shadow E movement speed increased.

Kayn, especially as Shadow Assassin, is struggling to stay competitive with other junglers. This buff should help him move around the map (and through terrain) and extend his opportunities to pick up kills.

E - Shadow Step

DURATION5/6/7/8/9 seconds ⇒ 7/7.5/8/8.5/9 seconds

SHADOW ASSASSIN BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED70% ⇒ 80%

Master Yi

W cooldown decreased; damage reduction increased early.

Meditate can be a strong defensive tool, but it’s often underappreciated by players who use it primarily for the heal. We're giving it a small buff to encourage its use during (rather than after) combat.

W - Meditate

COOLDOWN35 seconds ⇒ 28 seconds

DAMAGE REDUCTION50/55/60/65/70% ⇒ 60/62.5/65/67.5/70%

Rengar

R cooldown decreased early.

We want to help Rengar feel powerful, but we're also trying to tone down upfront damage in League overall. Because of this, we’re giving Rengar more chances to surprise his opponents rather than boosting his damage when he does.

R - Thrill of the Hunt

COOLDOWN130/100/70 seconds ⇒ 110/90/70 seconds

Varus

Base health decreased; health growth increased.

As a marksman with long-ranged poke, Varus should be easier to kill when opponents close the gap.

Base Stats

HEALTH549 ⇒ 499

HEALTH GROWTH86 ⇒ 89

Wukong

Now has level 1 bonus attack speed.

Wukong is far from the king of the jungle after the most recent round of changes. A boost to his early attack speed should help his early clears and make him more consistent on the map.

Base Stats

BONUS ATTACK SPEED AT LEVEL 10% ⇒ 8%

Yorick

Mist Walker damage decreased.

Top laners have unearthed Yorick as a dominant pick, in part due to the threat of his Mist Walkers. Players who understand the Mist Walkers' behavior and actively play around it avoid a lot of damage, while players who don't find themselves digging their own graves. We're toning down the damage of Mist Walkers to decrease his low level pubstomp potential.

Mist Walkers

ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH (LEVELS 2-7)3 ⇒ 1

ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH (LEVELS 8-13)5 ⇒ 6

ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH (LEVELS 14+)10 ⇒ 11

Taric

Adaptive damage now defaults to physical.

Taric's passive means he benefits a decent amount from his basic attacks.

ADAPTIVE DAMAGENow defaults to physical if Taric has no bonus attack damage or ability power

Items

Stormrazor

Guaranteed crit damage decreased below 30% crit. Attack speed increased and attack damage decreased.

The high amount of upfront damage in the game is something we've been looking to dial back. Last patch we trimmed a lot of the burst damage from various runes; this patch we're looking at items.

CRITICAL STRIKE MODIFIER160-200% (at 0-30% crit chance) ⇒ 140-200% (at 0-30% crit chance)

ATTACK SPEED25% ⇒ 35%

ATTACK DAMAGE65 ⇒ 60

Duskblade

Proc damage decreased. Lethality increased.

The high amount of upfront damage in the game is something we've been looking to dial back. Last patch we trimmed a lot of the burst damage from various runes; this patch we're looking at items.

PROC DAMAGE30-200 (at levels 1-18) ⇒ 30-150 damage (at levels 1-18)

LETHALITY18 ⇒ 21

Summoner Spells

Changed a service related to summoner spell configuration. If you haven’t played a particular queue in a couple of months, your summoner spells in that queue may reset to Heal/Ghost. Just a heads up!

Bugfixes

Fixed a bug where Phantom Dancer's Spectral Waltz passive would sometimes not trigger
Fixed a bug where Akali's R - Perfect Execution dealt damage to all opponents based on the health of the last enemy struck, rather than calculating damage individually for each
Maokai R - Nature's Grasp's sfx now correctly line up with the ability's duration.
Fixed a bug where ranged attacks and targeted projectiles would have their VFX appear from the champion's last seen location, if they were not currently in vision
Deep Sea Nami no longer leaves her spine behind while moving during her recall animation.