League of Legends Patch 7.8: 5 things to know, including Xayah and Rakan

The notes for League of Legends Patch 7.8 have been released, with significant changes coming to the Rift this week. As always, with the patch notes out on Tuesday, expect the patch to go live early Wednesday.

This patch is considered more of a “set up” patch by Riot — the very next patch will be the big midseason update. So there are small tweaks to strong pro champions ahead of MSI, as well as buffs for Aatrox and some big changes to ARAM.

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 7.8. For a list of all the changes, click here.

1. Xayah and Rakan hit the rift

Riot’s first dual champion release in years will see lovers and rebels Xayah and Rakan introduced to the game this patch. It’s one of the most anticipated new champion releases in some time, so here’s your check list of what to do while you wait to play the new duo:

1) Watch this awesome cinematic:

2) Study Xayah’s kit.

3) Study Rakan’s kit.

4) Gawk at their release skins.

5) Become a Xayah/Rakan main.

6) ???

7) Get that sweet Challenger jacket.

We’ll also have guides for each champion coming soon — stay tuned!

2. Mage changes

There are changes coming to a few mages, some of which are to mitigate issues caused by latency for certain champs. From the patch notes:

Obviously, nobody likes playing on high latency, but some champions suffer far more from the impact. We’re putting in some Quality of Life changes to make those champions less punishing when your inputs aren’t quite as responsive.

Karthus’s Q casting is now more fluid, as is Ryze’s Q-W-E combo (oh, joy). In not-latency-related changes, Malzahar’s voidlings are getting a nerf and Lissandra’s getting a significant buff — her passive cooldown will be much shorter at later levels and her Q will do more damage.

3. Old client is going away

Yep, it’s true! This will be the final patch cycle with the old client, which will be retired April 24.

4. ARAM’s getting even faster

Riot made some tweaks to ARAM last season to make the game mode even faster, and they’re pushing even further in that direction, with better minions, removed gold generation items, and more poros! Yay!

5. New skins!

Along with Cosmic Dawn Rakan and Cosmic Dusk Xayah (such good names), Cosmic Blade Master Yi and Conqueror Karma will also be released this patch.

Here’s the new Yi skin:

Riot Games

And here’s the new Karma skin, which will help fund the MSI prize pool:

Riot Games