League of Legends Patch 8.1 change list

Syndra’s ult is getting a lot of bug fixes.

By Julia Lee@hardykiwis Jan 9, 2018, 2:11pm EST

It’s Jan. 9. You have been playing League of Legends on Patch 7.24 for weeks now. You’re thirsty for new content. Trolls fill your games, because they don’t care about their rank in the off-season, Zoe is everywhere and you still don’t understand the new rune system. You look up to see a big sign that reads “Patch 8.1” and you begin to cry as Marc Merrill grabs you hand and lifts you back on your feet.

That’s what this patch is. It is the saving grace to start season 8 and to finally patch some much needed champions. In terms of content, this patch is small, though we’re seeing nerfs to Zoe as well as a whole ton of bug fixes.

The 2018 ranked season also begins during this patch and honor is being reset with rank. Make sure you read up on all of these important changes!

As usual, you can check out Riot’s full patch notes here and our shorter version here.

Start of Season

Note: these changes will come into effect when the season starts on January 16.

RANKED :: The 2018 Ranked season begins in the early morning of January 16

HEXTECH CHESTS :: You can once more earn Hextech chests for each champion by getting an S- or higher rank in game

CHALLENGER TIER :: In Ranked Solo/Duo, Challenger players can now duo queue

Champions

Brand

Passive damage-over-time increased.

Passive - Blaze

DAMAGE PER STACK :: 2% target’s maximum health >>> 4% target’s maximum health

Evelynn

E buff-fix.

E - Whiplash

BUFF-FIX :: Whiplash no longer goes on cooldown if it fizzles due to Evelynn losing vision of her target during its cast time.

Graves

Q cost and cooldown decreased. W slows more heavily but for less time.

Q - End of the Line

COST :: 60/70/80/90/100 mana >>> 60/65/70/75/80 mana

COOLDOWN :: 14/13/12/11/10 seconds >>> 13/12/11/10/9 seconds

W - Smoke Screen

SLOW STRENGTH :: 15/20/25/30/35% >>> 50% at all ranks

SLOW DURATION :: 1.5 seconds >>> 0.5 seconds

Heimerdinger

Big turret beam damage decreased.

R - UPGRADE!!!’d Q - H-28G Evolution Turret

BEAM BASE DAMAGE :: 200/270/340 >>> 100/140/180 (0.7 ability power ratio unchanged)

Kayle

Attack damage growth and bonus attack speed reduced. E cooldown increased early and decreased later.

Base stats

ATTACK DAMAGE GROWTH :: 2.8 >>> 2.2

INNATE BONUS ATTACK SPEED :: 15% >>> 10%

E - Righteous Fury

COOLDOWN :: 16 seconds at all ranks >>> 18/17/16/15/14 seconds

Skarner

E proc deals more damage and stuns for longer. Base mana increased.

Base stats

BASE MANA :: 272.2 >>> 320

E - Fracture

PROC DAMAGE :: 25/35/45/55/65 >>> 30/50/70/90/110

PROC STUN DURATION :: 1 second >>> 1.5 seconds

Syndra

A lot of R bugfixes.

R - Unleashed Power

OVERKILL :: All Dark Spheres now consistently fly at Unleashed Power’s target, even if the target dies or goes invulnerable

THREE IN THE CHAMBER :: The three spheres orbiting Syndra now properly materialize even if Unleashed Power’s target dies as the ability is cast

DON’T YOU TAKE ME TO :: Syndra’s movement no longer becomes funky for a few seconds if Unleashed Power’s target dies before all spheres have fired

BALLS ON THE FIELD :: Dark Spheres that didn’t damage Unleashed Power’s target now properly interact with Syndra’s other abilities

BALLDERDASH :: Dark Spheres that didn’t damage Unleashed Power’s target no longer move erratically when affected by Syndra’s other abilities

STEADY HANDS :: Dark Spheres created shortly after Unleashed Power ends no longer move erratically when affected by Syndra’s other abilities

Zoe

E trap arm time increased. R exit portal delay decreased.

Q - Paddle Star

[UPD] :: Now takes longer to register Zoe’s new position (for purposes of calculating damage) when casting R - Portal Jump

E - Sleepy Trouble Bubble

DELAY BEFORE TRAP IS CREATED :: 0.6s >>> 0.8s

R - Portal Jump

DELAY BEFORE EXIT PORTAL APPEARS :: 0.1s >>> 0s

Varus Splash Update

Exactly what it says~

Runes

Predator

Addressing a few feels-bad parts of Predator.

[NEW] PARTIAL REFUND :: If Predator’s channel is interrupted, 50% of the cooldown is now refunded

[NEW] HUNT THE WEAK :: If Predator’s bonus damage is proc’d via an area-of-effect ability, it will now prioritize the lowest-health target hit

[NEW] ADRENALINE :: Predator’s rate of movement speed increase is increased by 50% for the first second and a half of the effect. This is unlisted in the tooltip because if you’re making decisions around it, you’re probably overthinking things.

Resolve Path Stat Bonuses

Stat bonuses are now split between health and the stat provided by your secondary rune path, and provide the same amount regardless of whether Resolve is primary or secondary.

Resolve primary

RESOLVE + SORCERY :: 130 health >>> 65 health plus 10 ability power or 6 attack damage, adaptive

RESOLVE + DOMINATION :: 130 health >>> 65 health plus 9 ability power or 5.4 attack damage, adaptive

RESOLVE + PRECISION :: 130 health >>> 65 health plus 9% attack speed

Resolve secondary

SORCERY + RESOLVE :: 20 ability power or 12 attack damage, adaptive >>> 65 health plus 10 ability power or 6 attack damage, adaptive

DOMINATION + RESOLVE :: 18 ability power or 10.8 attack damage, adaptive >>> 65 health plus 9 ability power or 5.4 attack damage, adaptive

PRECISION + RESOLVE :: 18% attack speed >>> 65 health plus 9% attack speed

Runes Bugfixes

Unsealed Spellbook now properly updates its user’s Summoner Spell icons in Spectator Mode
End-of-game runes stats that report duration (ex. Lethal Tempo’s “Total Active Time”) now use 00:00 formatting instead of number of seconds active
Glacial Augment & Arcane Comet now have ally/enemy color differentiation
Ally hits will no longer count towards Electrocute if both allies have the Keystone equipped
Fixed interactions between the Flash lockout on Skarner and Fiddlesticks’ ults and the Hextech Flashtraption and Unsealed Spellbook runes, which could cause Skarner and Fiddlesticks to lose access to Flash and Hexflash
Rengar can no longer extend his leap range from brush via Hextech Flashtraption
Triumph’s gold and healing are now properly granted to units in stasis when a takedown is earned
Arcane Comet’s tooltip now properly lists its base damage
Kleptomancy’s level-up UI no longer persists when using Elixir of Skill at Level 18
Cleaned up Runes VFX in Spectator VFX to remove overlapping particles
Manaflow Band now works properly with alternate HUD schemes (Flipped Minimap, Team Frames on Left, etc.)
Fixed a bug where abilities that cost health to cast will cause Revitalize’s bonus healing amount in the rune panel to decrease.

Item Selling

Normally, selling an item means buying another right after. Selling and then leaving base immediately is mostly the product of misclicking.

SELLER’S REMORSE :: If you close the item shop within 0.25 seconds of selling an item, the sale is cancelled

Healthbar Update

Readability Improvements

Higher contrast red health
Darker background (to pop health even more)
Bigger, brighter level text
Slightly slimmer border
Smaller name text (creates contrast with CC states and room for club tags)

Bug Fixes

Shield decay displaying as red damage (fixed in 7.24 cycle)
Club tags are back

Honor

Honor in 2018 is seeing some changes based on your feedback. Fighting to win earns you more rewards that get better as you level up. New checkpoints between Honor levels let you track your progress. Just like Ranked, your Honor level resets at season start so you can claim rewards all over again. These changes will ship at season start!

Checkpoints

There are now three checkpoints in between each Honor level. For every checkpoint after level 2, you’re guaranteed a reward to celebrate your progress. Checkpoints stop after Honor level 5 (because there’s no level 6), but you’ll still get rewards at the same intervals

Honor Reset

Your Honor level resets at season start to a checkpoint between levels 2 and 3. Players who finished at levels 3, 4, and 5 earn a small boost depending on their level.

RESET 5 :: Level 5 >>> Level 2, checkpoint 3
RESET 4 :: Level 4 >>> Level 2, checkpoint 2
RESET 3 :: Level 3 >>> Level 2, checkpoint 1
RESET 2 :: Level 2 >>> Level 2, no checkpoints
RESET 1/0 :: Level 1 and below do not reset

New Rewards

We’ve made some big adjustments to how rewards work. New keyless Honor Orbs drop at every checkpoint past level 3 and keep coming after Honor level 5. Honor Capsules now drop when you reach levels 3, 4, and 5. That means you’ll get fewer Capsules than before, but they’ll contain the most exclusive rewards. Orbs and Capsules give you better rewards with every level up. Here’s what you’ll earn every time you level up or reach a checkpoint.

Level 1

LEVEL UP :: 1 Key

Level 2

LEVEL UP :: 1 Key

CHECKPOINT :: 2 Key fragments

Level 3

LEVEL UP :: Level 3 Capsule containing 3 Key fragments, a ward skin, and 300 Blue Essence or a higher value Champion Shard

CHECKPOINT :: Level 3 Orb containing 2 Key fragments and 150 Blue Essence or a higher value Champion Shard

Level 4

LEVEL UP :: Level 4 Capsule containing 4 Key fragments, an emote, and 630 Blue Essence or a higher value Champion Shard

CHECKPOINT :: Level 4 Orb containing 2 Key fragments and 200 Blue Essence or a higher value Champion Shard

Level 5

LEVEL UP :: Level 5 Capsule containing 5 Key fragments, Grey Warwick or Medieval Twitch, and 960 Blue Essence or a higher value Champion Shard. If both skins are owned, you’re guaranteed an emote or ward skin instead.

CHECKPOINT :: Level 5 Orb containing 3 Key fragments and 250 Blue Essence or a higher value Champion Shard

Bugfixes

Fixed a bug where Galio’s shield from W - Shield of Durand would expire, rather than refresh 12 seconds after taking damage
Champions with manaless abilities (such as Elise or Nidalee in Cougar form) can no longer stack Tear of the Goddess with their manaless abilities
Energy or resourceless champion—such as Riven or Yasuo—can no longer stack Tear of the Goddess. Their allies can still stack tears, however.
Gangplank’s Q - Parrrley now correctly goes on cooldown on cast start instead of cast end
QTPie—oops, we mean Zac—will no longer get stuck in his R - Let’s Bounce! animation continuously if he revives with Guardian Angel after during the cast animation
Vayne’s first Q - Tumble attack out of R - Final Hour’s stealth can now correctly be heard/seen
Fixed a bug where many hard crowd controls would interrupt several charged/channeled abilities even when they had been blocked by a spell shield
Fixed a bug where the healthbar fade and shake animations were displayed even if “Show Health Bar Shake” option was disabled
Super Galaxy Gnar’s transformation to and from Mega Gnar has been visually changed to remove a seizure risk
Fixed a severe client load time issue for players using macOS version 10.8 or earlier. To get the fix, you’ll have to completely reinstall League
Gangplank’s R - Cannon Barrage cooldown will no longer reset when buying the Raise Morale upgrade
Cho’Gath’s E - Vorpal Spikes-empowered attacks no longer interrupt the basic attacks of enemy champions they hit
Ornn’s W - Bellows Breath “Brittle” proc and the Grasp of the Undying Keystone rune no longer apply their effects if the attack that would apply them is blocked
Nidalee’s Cougar Q - Takedown no longer damages enemies if its empowered attack is dodged
Fixed very rare instances where canceling an auto attack could also cause an in-flight projectile (ex. E - Grasping Roots) to disappear
Fixed a bug where chaining certain dashes together would cause the second dash to last for the same duration as the first. If any Maokais were wondering why W - Twisted Advance took so long to reach a target after exiting Tahm Kench’s R - Abyssal Voyage... that’s why.
Clicking on an enemy tower will now consistently show its item inventory
Elementalist Lux’s R - Final Spark water form VFX have been restored
Elementalist Lux’s Q - Light Binding fire form VFX have been restored
Nunu Bot’s arms are no longer missing electric VFX
Sherwood Forest and Woad Ashe’s Q - Ranger’s Focus now have appropriately themed bolts when using Runaan’s Hurricane
Pool Party Lulu’s R - Wild Growth ground VFX no longer slowly pulse on low and very low settings
Jade Fang Cassiopeia’s R - Petrifying Gaze overlay is no longer overwritten by Rylai’s Crystal Scepter
River Spirit Nami’s orbs on E - Tidecaller’s Blessing are no longer offset during rotation
Bat VFX have been restored on Bewitching Nidalee’s Cougar Q - Pounce when jumping towards hunted targets
Ambitious Elf Jinx’s W - Zap! trail no longer appears in front of the candy projectile
Ambitious Elf Jinx’s hair no longer stretches unnaturally during several animations
Animal VFX for Spirit Guard Udyr’s dance have been restored when he’s in rank five W - Turtle Stance
Hextech Kog’Maw’s E - Void Ooze VFX around the spit blob projectile no longer disappear beneath elevated terrain

Upcoming Skins & Emotes

The following skins will be released in patch 8.1:

God Staff Jax

The following emotes will be released in patch 8.1:

D’Pengu
Was that Me?
Come at Me