League of Legends Patch 9.7 Curbs Kayle & Hobbles Lissandra

League of Legends is neck deep in some great playoff action and coming down to the final rounds of the Spring Split. However, another patch looms and just as we prepare for the new weekend of matches, it’s time to also look at which of our champions took the nerf bat in Patch 9.7. Kayle and Urgot took further balances, but Lissandra seems to taken a particularly hard change.

The new patch notes were announced on the League of Legends website and social media on April 3, 2019. In the notes, Kayle, Urgot, and Sylas were three of the biggest factors in buffing and nerfing for their incredible presence as of late, but Morgana (who was just newly reworked with Kayle) and Lissandra also drew some balancing. Meanwhile, Garen, Cho’Gath, Rumble, Pyke, Leona, Dr. Mundo, and Azir received some love and runes like Predator and the Domination vision line saw some attention as well.

Patch 9.7 Highlights
Full notes ? https://t.co/qiFANj4l1a pic.twitter.com/HNBGXa3g5R

— League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) April 3, 2019

Kayle and Morgana’s changes make sense in 9.7. New champions and reworks often need a bunch of fine-tuning as Riot figures out what a world of players from Bronze to pro are doing with new kits. Kayle in particular has a lot of new opportunities with her leveling system. Sylas and Urgot also make sense as these have been powerhouse champions that certain players are just taking to absolute extremes. Sylas is also pretty unique in the fact that he can heal himself, be mobile, and steal enemy ults, which makes for unique challenges of balance. Attempt to scale these champs back without destroying them is ultimately important.

Debuffs like Lissandra’s are more of a head scratcher. At the pro level, Liss is getting nerfed because her ability to clear waves quickly is allowing her to be mobile for invades in other lanes a little too easily. That said, a four-second increase on her Q feels a bit much. Lissandra has already taken debuffs in previous patches to curb this exact situation, but it would appear it wasn’t enough. Now it seems they’ve ditched the nerf bat with Liss in favor of the nerf wrecking ball for her Ice Shard pressure. It will be interesting to see what these debuffs do to players using the characters in the Spring Split playoffs.

You can see the full list of particular changes below, as well as a video breaking the changes across the game down visually.

Kayle

Q - Radiant Blast

COST 60/65/70/75/80 mana ⇒ 70/75/80/85/90 mana

W - Celestial Blessing

BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED 26/32/38/44/50% ⇒ 24/28/32/36/40%

COST 70/75/80/85/90 mana ⇒ 60/70/80/90/100 mana

E - Starfire Spellblade

BONUS MAGIC DAMAGE 10/12.5/15/17.5/20% target's missing health ⇒ 8/10/12/14/16% (+1% per 100 ability power) target's missing health

Urgot

Passive - Echoing Flames

DAMAGE 2/3/4/6/8% target's max health ⇒ 2/3/4/5/6% target's max health (still at levels 1/6/9/11/13)

E - Disdain

COOLDOWN 14 seconds ⇒ 16/15.5/15/14.5/14 seconds

COST 50/60/70/80/90 mana ⇒ 60/70/80/90/100 mana

R - Fear Beyond Death

DAMAGE 125/250/375 ⇒ 100/225/350

Azir

Q - Conquering Sands

DAMAGE 60/80/100/120/140 ⇒ 70/90/110/130/150

Cho’Gath

Q - Rupture

COOLDOWN 9 seconds ⇒ 7 seconds

Dr. Mundo

Q - Infected Cleaver

DAMAGE 15/17.5/20/22.5/25% target's current health ⇒ 20/22.5/25/27.5/30% target's current health

Garen

W - Courage

PASSIVE RESISTANCES 0.25 per stack, up to 40 ⇒ 0.33 per stack, up to 50

COOLDOWN 24/23/22/21/20 seconds ⇒ 23/21/19/17/15 seconds

DURATION 2/3/4/5/6 seconds ⇒ 2/2.75/3.5/4.25/5 seconds

Leona

E - Zenith Blade

COOLDOWN 13/12/11/10/9 seconds ⇒ 12/10.5/9/7.5/6 seconds

Lissandra

Q - Ice Shard

COOLDOWN 6/5.25/4.5/3.75/3 seconds ⇒ 10/8.5/7/5.5/4 seconds

Evelynn

W - Tormented Shadow

MINIMUM TOTAL DAMAGE RATIO 0.8 ability power ⇒ 0.7 ability power (still at 0% target missing health)

MAXIMUM TOTAL DAMAGE RATIO 2.16 ability power ⇒ 1.89 ability power (still at 100% target missing health)

Pyke

Q - Bone Skewer

COOLDOWN 16/14/12/10/8 seconds ⇒ 14/12.5/11/9.5/8 seconds

E - Phantom Undertow

STUN DURATION 1.1 seconds ⇒ 1.25 seconds

Rumble

W - Scrap Shield

MOVEMENT SPEED 10/15/20/25/30% ⇒ 20/25/30/35/40%

R - The Equalizer

COOLDOWN 110/100/90 seconds ⇒ 100/85/70 seconds

Sylas

W - Kingslayer

DAMAGE 60/90/120/150/180 ⇒ 50/75/100/125/150

EMPOWERED DAMAGE 90/135/180/225/270 ⇒ 75/112.5/150/187.5/225

E - Abscond / Abduct

COOLDOWN 12/11.5/11/10.5/10 seconds ⇒ 18/16/14/12/10 seconds

---

For more on League of Legends, check out our coverage of the Spring Split. You can also see the detailed Patch 9.7 notes with these changes and more on the League of Legends website.