5 things to know about League of Legends patch 8.23

The preseason is here and that means there are a ton of changes to get through. While some of this is about what we had expected, other things were a bit more of a surprise.

As far as things we expected to happen, turret plating and bounty changes both made it through the preseason process mostly unscathed and released just like Riot planned them when they released extra information on the changes in the client. Also coming in just like we thought were the minion changes that should make games a little easier to finish for teams that already had strong leads.

As for the less expected changes, we’ll break them down here to give you a good idea of what exactly is going on this preseason, so you’ll know how to handle things when the patch goes live.

For a full look at all the changes from the preseason you can check out our patch notes post.

There are a whole bunch of rune changes

We knew these were coming, sort of. There is a new segment of runes that relate directly to stats. These used to come from the combination of rune trees that you selected, but in order to make things better for a few edge-case champions who might want slightly different stats than you would expect, Riot is letting players choose their rune stats from now on.

Along with these new stats, there are also a whole host of changes coming to existing runes like Kleptomancy, which will now proc off of your next two basic attacks after using a spell, Overgrowth, which now gives slightly more flat health, a full Dark Harvest rework and a slightly buff to Celerity’s movement speed.

Riot Games

The vision game is changing

Vision, and the way teams use it, has always been one of the most important things in League of Legends because it allows teams to control the entire map when they get an advantage. In hopes of combating that just a little bit, while still rewarding strong vision control, Riot is implementation a few changes to the ward game. First and foremost, you can now only hold two control wards at a time. Second, yellow trinkets, which steadily increase their ward timing, now scale off of team average level, rather than individual, meaning that one strong member no longer gives a team a massive advantage in vision.

A few items are getting tweaked

The biggest change here is coming to Doran’s Shield, which has been at the top of the tank starting item pile for years now. While that isn’t exactly changing, the item is getting slightly less mandatory, thanks to a nerf that causes its health regen to be based on missing health instead of total health.

Also getting a change is Guinsoo’s Rageblade, an item that can never quite find a comfortable spot in the game. Instead of a steadily scaling on-hit buff, the item now gives flat 15 bonus magic damage. But, more importantly, the item also no longer gives extra AP and AD to the user and instead grants both armor and magic penetration, making it a hybrid dream.

Riot Games

Teleport can no longer be cancelled

Despite the fact that this is quite possibly the easiest change in the world to explain — it’s exactly what it says on the box: now, when you press Teleport, you’re teleporting no matter what — it’s still a massive change to the game. This takes away some of Teleport’s power as a threat against enemy players and makes it a full on map movement commitment spell instead. Whether or not this is enough to convince top laners to stop taking it is anyone’s guess.

Riot Games

The new Coven skins are some of Riot’s best ever

League of Legends has a startling lack of dark and spooky witch-related skins, which is why it’s heartening to see Riot release a new line of Coven themed cosmetics for Lissandra and Camille. From their nature-based Wicca aesthetic to their phenomenal splash art and recall animations, these are easily some of Riot’s best skins ever.

Also coming this patch are the new Variant skins, new models with the same animations and effects, that include the new Pajama Guardian skins and the Eclipse line for Leona.