5 things to know in League of Legends patch 8.15

There is no better time to stay inside and play League of Legends than in the summer, when it’s hot as heck outside. Patch 8.15 lets you celebrate all that hot from the comfort of your own home with the new Pool Party skins.

In case the summer really has you down, Patch 8.15 will also let you relax in the shade of Akali’s brand new smoke bomb ability ... which is a lot like her old ability, but a lot cooler. Yes, patch 8.15 brings Akali’s highly anticipated re-release. With the ability to Lee Sin kick you with a back flip and hide from tower aggro, she promises to be just as frustrating to play against, but way more fun to actually play.

As usual, there are also some exciting changes being made to items and existing champions, including Irelia and ADC items. The stats page is also getting a cosmetic makeover, which should make it a bit more helpful for players of all skill levels.

For a complete list of Patch 8.15 changes, check out our post.

New Akali is now League’s best ninja

New Akali is finally here and she looks incredible. Not only does her visual redesign look incredible, but her kit is full of interesting mechanics as well. On top of being highly mobile, and a dual scaling assassin, Akali gives players a whole new type of stealth with her shroud, which gives enemies a good idea of where she is, but can stop things like targeted abilities and even tower shots from being used on her. This new stealth gives Akali a whole variety of outplays and tower dives that weren’t possible in the game before her. Plus, she does a bunch of flips, which is cool.

Image: Riot Games

Marksman Items should help ADCs be relevant earlier in games

The biggest changes coming to marksman items is in their price. Infinity Edge, Essence Reaver, Stormrazor and Mercurial Scimitar are all getting price decreases and a few very minor nerfs to make sure they’re still balanced. Meanwhile, Zeal items like Rapid Firecannon, Statikk Shiv, Phantom Dancer and Runaan’s Hurricane are getting cheaper with no changes at all. While these tweaks may not sound like much, they should allow crit ADCs to pick up items a little faster, helping them be more of a threat in the mid game and have a more defined power spike overall.

Irelia is getting all kinds of changes

A few months after her rework, Irelia is getting hit with the nerf bat pretty hard — although not all of her changes are nerfs. Irelia’s Bladesurge range, damage, and ratio are all going down, as is Defiant Dance’s damage reduction — which now sits at 50 percent all game. Flawless Duet and Vanguard’s Edge will also see range nerfs, although her E is also losing damage and bonus monster damage. On the plus side, her passive now stacks a bit higher and she comes with higher base health and damage. The “better nerf Irelia” curse is dead; long live nerf-able Irelia!

Detailed stats are heading to the profile page in the client

League’s in-game profile has always been a little short on information, which is why in patch 8.15, Riot is giving it an analytical overhaul. Entering the client as an entirely new tab on the profile page, the new stats section will give players an in-depth breakdown of performance-based analysis including things like map control and income, as well as individual champions stats. According to Riot, this should help players come to better recognize their strengths and, more importantly, their weaknesses in order to discover potential areas of improvement in their game.

Riot Games

Pool Party skins are hitting the deck

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The only good things about summer — a time filled with heat and gross bugs — are the wonderful Pool Party Skins we tend to get. This year, Pool Party Caitlyn, Gangplank and Zoe will join the League of Legends fun. They look fun and gorgeous, as usual.

Pool Party Caitlyn, Gangplank, Taric, Zoe and Rek’Sai will all get chromas this patch as well. Headhunter Akali will also be getting a new chroma to go along with her fancy rework.