5 things to know from Patch 8.8

8.8 is here and it’s time for another big patch ... kinda. We’re getting close to the fabled midseason patch, which means Riot has decided to slow down the big changes a bit. But that doesn’t mean 8.8 is empty.

In 8.8, you can expect balance changes to a load of different champions, including the brand new Irelia rework. Ahri and LeBlanc are also getting some new abilities. Well, Ahri is. LeBlanc, on the other hand, is being reverted to her pre-Assassin update state, a welcome change for LebBanc mains everywhere. Homestart is getting altered, trinkets are getting changed up, and MSI is almost here. Get excited folks, League of Legends is still happening.

For a complete list of the 8.8 changes, check our our full breakdown.

1. Ahri & LeBlanc are getting light reworks

Let’s start with LeBlanc here, since most of her changes should be familiar. Her passive, her Q, and her ultimate have all been reverted back to their pre-2016 state. That means she now turns invisible and creates a clone when she is close to death, not as part of her ultimate. Her Q is now also the marking ability, not her passive. And finally, her ultimate will now mimic the last skill she cast, not the skill of her choice.

Ahri is seeing an overall balance pass on her abilities. However, she’s also seeing a complete rework to her passive. The new one is called Vastayan Grace and grants her extra movement speed if she can hit a champion twice with spells in a 1.5 second window. Her old passive, the one with the spellvamp, is now a part of her Q.

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2. Irelia is getting nerfed

It’s always exciting when reworks come out, isn’t it? I know I love it, but it also comes with some frustrations. Namely either “this champion is wretched garbage” or “this is the most broken thing I have ever seen, time to uninstall.” Well, Irelia came out on the “holy smokes this is powerful” side of things. It seems the rework is living up to “better nerf Irelia.” Well, Riot has decided to do just that.

Irelia’s base armor has been increased as has her Q damage to minions. However, the big nerfs are coming to her ultimate. It now has a longer cooldown by 20, 15, and 10 seconds per level. The damage has also gone down significantly for both the cast and the breaking of the wall. Hopefully this should make Irelia a bit more regular.

3. Sweeping Lense is gone, long live Oracle Alteration

Sweeping Lense was always kind of ... bad, wasn’t it? Rather, it just felt very weak in comparison to Oracle Alteration. Well, get excited junglers and supports, your trinket worries are over. Sweeping Lense has been completely removed from the game and Oracle Alteration’s level nine requirement has been dumped.

You now also keep the same percentage of trinket cooldown that you had before you swapped trinkets. Not only should this make swapping trinkets easier, but you’ll always feel like your switching to something great.

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4. Homestart duration is being decreased

Invades are getting a little stronger in Patch 8.8, thanks to the nerf to the Homestart speed buff that every player gets at the beginning of the game. While the buff used to last 55 seconds and start to decay as soon as you hit the river, giving attackers a clear disadvantage when defenders still had the buff, it now only last 35 seconds and decays when you reach the outer turrets. While this isn’t the biggest nerf in the world, it should help to make early game aggression a whole lot more interesting.

5. The new MSI skin is here

It’s that time of year again, the Mid-Season Invitational is right around the corner and that means we get a new skin to celebrate. This year, that skin is Conqueror Varus. The skin is likely to hit the 975 RP price point and will be the first Varus skin released in almost two years. It’s still unclear if the skin’s sales will go towards the MSI prize pool like Karma’s last year, but Riot will probably let us know before the event starts next month.

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