/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57294769/Sejuani_0.0.jpg)
We finally made it. The last official patch of season 7 has arrived and while most of Riot’s balance team starts to turn their eyes to the preseason content ahead, they still left us with a few much needed changes to close out the season.
Nerfs to Ardent Censer, as well as champions like Sejuani and Galio are the patch’s standout changes, and certainly the things that will make the biggest difference in your solo queue games between the two patches, but that’s not all that got changed.
While most of the big changes this patch came to the strongest items and champions that are dominating the meta, there were also a few standout buffs to champions you may not see around very often, like Udyr, Rammus and Gangplank. Meanwhile, some of the fringe popular champions and the ones that have recently had updates are also seeing a few changes with nerfs to Azir, and buffs to Evelynn and Ekko.
For a full list of changes from this patch, check out the patch notes here.
1. Ardent Censer finally got some real nerfs
We all knew the day was coming and as season 7 winds to a close it’s finally time to say goodbye to the massively overpowered version of Ardent Censer. While Riot has taken a few cracks at nerfing this item over the past several months, this time it should actually stick as they hit the early game about as hard as possible on both the item’s Attack Speed and on-hit damage. The good news for supports, you can finally build something else first again.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9523593/Galio.jpg)
2. Sejuani and Galio nerfed
Sejuani and Galio have had a hell of a year. Both of them got reworked and have seen significant play in pros as well as solo queue. They have been played so much in fact that they need to be nerfed pretty badly. Thankfully, 7.21 does just that.
Sejuani is losing some tankiness in her passive as well as some of damage on Permafrost, her E. Galio’s changes are a little more complicated. While he is gaining a little bit of damage in some areas he is losing quite a bit of tankiness. Either way, these two should be far less annoying in your solo queue matches
3. Tales from the Rift event
The time has come for spooky skins to hit the Rift. This year’s Halloween event, seemingly renamed Tales from the Rift rather than the Harrowing, starts in Patch 7.21 and lasts until November 1. The skins for Viktor, Katarina and Zed all look phenomenal, be sure to grab them before they retreat back into the crypt vault on November 26.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9489487/423e476ca3c5bb1f.jpg)
4.) Lobby Improvements
Update: Nevermind. Turns out, this will be launching at a later date. It was pulled from Patch 7.21 due to a bug.
Update: Nevermind to that nevermind. This feature has been implemented as of October 31.
If you aren’t sitting down you probably should be. Patch 7.21 brings some incredible quality of life changes for the client. When the captain presses Play Again, the group will return to the lobby. Not only that, but the game will now remember your role preferences, muscle memory be damned! Finally, if you decide you would rather play an ARAM match, the captain can now change the game mode without having to re-invite the entire team. I feel like I shouldn’t be as excited for this as I actually am.
5. Tear of the Goddess just got a whole lot easier to stack
Tear has always been sort of a weird item. If you stacking it right, you were probably casting a lot of useless abilities at nothing in-particular as you ran to lane. Turns out, Riot isn’t quite happy with that sort of behavior, so they are increasing the number of stacks you can get over a short period of time, making Tear a little easier to stack while using abilities naturally in lane. This should help give a few more options to all the AD casters who may have felt a little too forced into Lethality items over the last several months.