League of Legends Patch 7.6: 5 things to know, including new Galio

It’s the patch you’ve been waiting for: League of Legends Patch 7.6, the one with the new and improved version of Galio, everyone’s favorite gargoyle, goes live Wednesday. We got a look at the patch notes Tuesday, previewing all the changes coming this week.

In addition to the new Galio, there are plenty of changes coming to the side lanes, some further tweaks to champions and masteries changed in recent weeks, the return of Nexus Siege and the arrival of the Extremely Good April Fools’ Skins. There are also some new chromas, a bunch of other balance changes and some tweaks to the League Client Update, especially with the usability of Low-Spec Mode.

We’ll try not to bog you down with too many details, but here are the five things you really need to know before stepping onto the rift on Patch 7.6. For a list of all the changes, click here.

1. New Galio has arrived

When we first heard about Galio’s upcoming rework back in August, it was teased as likely the game’s “largest transformation to date.” Sure enough, the newest iteration of the gargoyle is nearly unrecognizable from the last one, with only some elements of his kit (synergy with magic resistance and an AOE taunt) carrying over.

Here’s his new champion spotlight:

If you’re looking for more on new Galio, here’s a summary of his new lore and a look at the new splash arts for all of his skins.

2. More ADC tweaks

It’s been a year of upheaval for AD Carry mains. After a few weeks at the start of the season where hyper carries like Twitch and Jinx were super popular, once pro play kicked off many bottom laners felt the need to play utility marksmen like Ashe, Varus and Jhin.

With recent nerfs to utility ADCs, buffs to underperforming champions like Lucian and Kalista and changes to nearly every common Keystone Mastery for ADCs, it’s a changing landscape for the position. And now with another patch, more changes are coming.

One AD Carry that was extremely strong before a recent nerf is Miss Fortune. Now she’s getting a buff after her win rate dropped by more than three percentage points. Her Q does more damage now, both in terms of base damage and the scaling ratio, and the animations on her Q and E have eliminated brief pauses, making them smoother to cast (similar to recent changes made to Lucian).

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Varus’s win rate plummeted after his most recent nerf, going from 51.16 percent on Patch 7.4 to 44.96 on Patch 7.5. Edge of Night, Deathfire Touch and Varus himself were all nerfed in one patch, and now some of his previous power is being restored. Riot added a mechanic where Varus’s Q cooldown could be partially reduced by with procs of Blight, his W passive triggered by auto attacks. Previously, that cooldown reduction was reduced by any CDR Varus built. Now that is no longer the case, granting him greater ability to shorten his Q cooldown the more he auto attacks on Blight stacks.

The final change to keep track of for AD Carries this patch is another tweak to Warlord’s Bloodlust, the Keystone Mastery that got a major overhaul last patch. If you need a quick refresher: it now runs on an Energized system, like Statikk Shiv, where it’ll charge up and occassionally grant a bonus on attacks (in this case, lifesteal). Instead of lifesteal proper, now it’s going to grant healing based on auto attack damage. What’s the difference? As noted in the patch notes:

Since lifesteal only cares about damage dealt, the health you get varies from one attack to the next, based on stuff like basic-attack modifiers and enemy armor. At high lifesteal values, these considerations lead to some problematic optimization cases, many of which fly in the face of how Warlord’s is supposed to be used. (“Caitlyn Headshots the zero-armor minion” definitely shouldn’t be more rewarding than “Caitlyn kites the enemy frontline.”)

Yeah, sounds fair.

3. Top lane changes

The top lane meta has remained remarkably stagnant and open this season: you’ll see mostly the same tanks (Nautilus, Maokai), fighters (Riven, Fiora) and mages (Rumble*, Swain) up there, but it’s not going to be the same type of champion every game (we’re not in an “all tank” or “all split pusher” top meta). While 7.6 is a pretty small patch overall, it is one of the ones we’ve seen focus the most on top lane, with four champions receiving tweaks.

First up, Aatrox. The big guy received some major changes last patch, and his win rate dropped all the way down to 44.22 percent as a result. He’s getting a smaller round of quality of life buffs this time around: now whenever Aatrox revives, his Blood Well will be full and if he has primed his third hit from Blood Price/Thirst, it will still be activated.

Riot Games

Another champion with major changes recently, Cho’Gath is receiving a small buff this patch as well. The maximum amount of stacks he can gain from minions and monsters has been increased from five to six, and the amount of bonus health he receives per stack has been increased in the mid-to-late game.

Gnar hasn’t been quite as popular this year as he was throughout last season, and is getting a small quality-of-life buff. Now Mini and Mega Gnar will have the same health regeneration — that means less than previous for Mega and more than previous for Mini. Since Gnar spends more time in Mini form, it should be considered a buff.

Finally, Quinn has flown under the radar this season as one of the strongest solo laners in League, in large part because of a low play rate. But Riot has noticed, and is adjusting her power levels accordingly. The good news for Quinn players: post level 6, Quinn will respawn as Valor after deaths for the rest of the game. Also, your W now gives you even more bonus attack speed! Yay! The bad news: your R now does significantly reduced damage, limiting Quinn’s burst potential.

*not technically a mage, I know.

4. Nexus Siege back!

Hey, it’s probably someone’s favorite Rotating Game Mode! First released last July, this isn’t the first time Nexus Siege has been back. Here’s our guide on how to play it.

5. April Fools’ Skins and Chromas

For my money, this is probably the best skins event of the year, even when abominations like Pug’Maw and Draven Draven end up as the result of it. This year, we’ve got Renektoy, Moo Cow Alistar, Super Kennen, and of course, Pug’Maw.

Riot Games

A bunch of previous April Fools’ skins are getting chromas, as well, led by Surprise Party Amumu.

Surrender @ 20