Most major League of Legends regions have wrapped up their Spring Split by now (we’re still waiting on a couple of Finals) so it’s almost time to look forward to the Mid-Season Invitational.
For that major international tournament, pro teams from all over the globe will battle it out on the rift for World glory. They will also be playing on a new patch. Introduced to the public this week as “The MSI Patch”, the League of Legends client updated to version 9.8 this week.
With a few days of pay behind us, it’s about time we look at the three keys to League of Legends Patch 9.8, and what it all might mean as we head to China for the Mid-Season Invitational.
Gnar-ly Return
When the world of League of Legends was introduced to Gnar back in the fall of 2014 he was showing up during mainstage games all across the professional scene. Gnar was one of the most quintessential picks for the top-lane in pro play. Most notably, on the World stage during the 2016 World Championship Quarterfinals SK Telecom T1’s Duke completely out-played RNG’s Jungler.
Thanks to some tweaks in Patch 9.8, Gnar may just make a return to glory on the mainstage during MSI.
Gnar’s Ultimate - GNAR! = 120/100/80 seconds ⇒ 90/60/30 seconds
With the slight buff to the cooldown of Gnar’s ultimate ability, the viability of the champion once again rises. His off and on ultimate is truly the only thing that makes him playable against pros, and in team fights. His tools in the laning phase also make him a player favorite as he is one of few ranged top-lane champions.
Jungle Rumble
One of the most confounding things in pro play right now is the consistent use of Jarvan IV in the jungle. As almost every color caster has pointed out at one point or another, his win-rate is terrible. In the LCS Spring Split Playoffs, Jarvan IV had a 9% win-rate. In the LEC he faired a little better with a 50% win-rate. Other than Rek’Sai, he was the most-picked jungler in both of those tournaments. With such a low win-rate, it’s astonishing that he would show up so much.
Thankfully, we may see a change in the ranks on the pick chart. With buffs to both Trundle and Sejuani, there just might be some new faces in the pro draft.
Sej gets a bump in her Winter’s Wrath damage ratio, going from 1.5% to 2% and in the second cast from 4.5% to 6% of Sejuani’s max-health as damage. Couple this buff with the champion’s very easy to play crowd-control, and all of a sudden it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to pick J4 over Sejuani.
Trundle, on the other hand, will see a rather impactful buff of his ‘Q’ ability Chomp, as well as a 10-second reduction on the cooldown for his ultimate. While we don’t expect to see a whole lot of Trundle in the jungle at MSI, it will change how much we see the ice troll in solo queue.
Representing World Champions
Not a change to the game necessarily, but the third key to League of Legends Patch 9.8 has to be the addition of the Invictus Gaming skins.
The Riot Games skin design and art teams have really outdone themselves this time. After beating KT Rolster, and recent EU champions G2 Esports, Invictus Gaming then defeated the highest ranking European team in League of Legends history in Fnatic.
The Finals were swift and serious, with not as little as an inch given up by the representatives from China. The LPL has quickly become the league that is producing the best teams around the globe, and we cannot wait to see more from that region. With MSI around the corner, it’s a great time to spend some RP and grab one or a few of these really rad skins.
The LPL Spring Finals is set to take place this Sunday, April the 21st.
Pro Leagues will switch over to League of Legends Patch 9.8 shortly before the Mid-Season Invitational in China. If you need to get hyped-up for MSI, Riot Games released the theme song for the Mid-Season Invitational today on the League of Legends YouTube channel. Keep it locked on Twin Galaxies for all of the updates from the international tournament.
