League of Legends patch 26.18 is scheduled to go live on September 10, Dot Esports reported, carrying a focused round of champion balance changes, one broader adjustment to Cassiopeia's damage profile and a small item buff. Riot Games is also releasing Hall of Legends skins for Caps alongside an event tied to them.
Buffs and adjustments
Five champions are getting stronger. Ekko's Timewinder drops in mana cost from 50-90 to 40-80 and gains ability power scaling on its return damage, up from 60 percent to 70 percent, changes Dot Esports tied to his mid lane waveclear and roaming tempo. Kassadin's Null Sphere goes from a 70 percent AP ratio to 80 percent, and Riftwalk's base damage moves from 70/90/110 to 80/95/110.
Master Yi gains armor growth, from 4.5 to 5 per level, and Highlander's movement speed rises from 35-55 percent to 40-60 percent. Viego's passive heal picks up new scaling of 2 percent per 500 bonus health and his attack damage growth increases from 3.5 to 4, which Dot Esports reported is aimed at bruiser builds that fell off after the removal of Divine Sunderer and the nerf to Sundered Sky. Zaahen's Q2 damage goes from 25/50/75/100/125 to 30/60/90/120/150, and his Q now enters cooldown as soon as he starts resurrecting, removing cases where the ability desynced and left too little time for the second cast.
Cassiopeia is the patch's largest change. Riot is moving power out of base damage and into ability power scaling, a shift Dot Esports reported is meant to address a champion that underperforms with average players while staying strong in professional play. Serpentine Grace's movement speed bonus falls from 6-40 percent to 5-35 percent, and Twin Fang costs 45 mana instead of 40, with base damage down from 52-120 to 50-118. Its base AP ratio doubles from 10 percent to 20 percent while the enhanced ratio drops from 55 percent to 45 percent, leaving the total at 65 percent. Noxious Blast changes from 75-215 with a 65 percent AP ratio to 65-205 at 75 percent, and Petrifying Gaze from 150/250/350 at 50 percent AP to 125/225/325 at 75 percent.
Nerfs and system changes
- Zeri: Ultrashock Laser's total attack damage ratio falls from 120 percent to 100 percent, and its wall damage ratio from 180 percent to 150 percent.
- Syndra: Splinters of Wrath returns 20-199 mana instead of 20-255, and Force of Will's cooldown rises from 12-8 seconds to 13-9 seconds.
- Nautilus: base attack damage drops from 61 to 58, and Dredge Line's damage from 85-265 to 85-245.
- Bard: armor falls from 34 with 5 per level to 32 with 4.7 per level.
- Seraphine: Beat Drop's cooldown becomes a flat 11 seconds rather than scaling from 11 down to 9.
The patch's one system change is a buff to Rageblade, whose Seething Strike stacks last four seconds instead of three.