League of Legends Patch 8.24 Breakdown

by Petar Vukobrat in League of Legends | Dec, 6th 2018

Two weeks have passed, and we have yet another fresh set of League of Legends balance changes shipping with patch 8.24. This is the second preseason patch, and Riot is mainly looking to fine-tune a couple of things to make the transition into Season 9 as seamless as possible.

They have a nice meta in place, and there’s a fair bit of diversity when it comes to what’s viable and what isn’t, so don’t expect any huge changes in the foreseeable future. That said, there are some welcomed nerfs to Akali, Irelia, and Dark Harvest, so your solo queue adventures should be at least a little more enjoyable going forward.

So without any further ado, let’s start our patch 8.24 breakdown!

New Champion

Neeko, the Curious Chameleon, is the latest addition to the League of Legends champion roster! While it’s still too early to know for sure, she seems like an absurdly strong champion that will surely make waves in both casual as well as competitive play.

Finally, you can check out Riot’s official Neeko champion spotlight, as well as our own champion breakdown.

Buffs

Only two buffs are shipping with patch 8.24, and they’re pretty unexpected.

Overall, if you were waiting for your champion to receive some quality-of-life changes (perhaps AD carries or tanks), you’re going to walk away empty handed.

Heimerdinger

Riot fixed a lot of bugs with Heimer’s Q “H-28G Evolution Turret” and changed the tooltip on his W “Hextech Micro-Rockets” so that it now states the correct amount of damage output.

Finally, they’re buffing his ultimate-enhanced W “Hextech Rocket Swarm.” Starting with patch 8.24, it’ll do more base damage, and every rocket after the first one (and before the sixth one) will deal more base damage as well (from 28/39/49 (+0.12 ability power) to 32/45/58 (+0.12 ability power).

They’re actually buffing a champion that has a 55% win rate in the bottom lane. I don’t understand this move at all.

Regardless, if you’re a Heimerdinger main or if you’re playing him in either mid or bot, you’re probably not complaining.

Illaoi

Next up, we have yet another pretty unexpected buff coming to Illaoi, the Kraken Priestess. Overall, Illaoi isn’t in a bad spot. She’s somewhat of a niche pick, and even though she isn’t an S-tier pick these days, she doesn’t require a huge lead to take over the game.

Riot is decreasing the cooldowns of her E “Test of Spirit” (20/18/16/14/12 seconds to 16/15/14/13/12 seconds) and ultimate “Leap of Faith” (from 120/105/90 seconds to 120/95/70 seconds).

These are some pretty concrete buffs. You’ll be able to harass more in lane with your E (and even if you miss the skillshot you’ll still have it up sooner). The shortened ultimate cooldown will allow here to be more impactful in teamfights.

Nerfs

Buckle up. We’ve got a lot of nerfs to go over.

Aatrox

Aatrox’s Q “The Dark Blade” will no longer deal an addition 0.1 AD against neutral monsters. You won’t notice this nerf if you’re playing Aatrox the way it was intended, but if you’re taking Smite and playing the funnel strategy, this should be a noticeable change.

Akali

Riot is further adjusting Akali’s strengths, and this time around they’re decreasing the duration of her “Twilight Shroud” from 5/5.5/6/6.5/7 seconds to 4/4.5/5/5.5/6 seconds.

Furthermore, when Akali re-enters the shroud, its extended effect will only last for two seconds instead of three.

These aren’t earth-shattering nerfs, but Riot is taking the right approach for sure. By fine-tuning certain aspects of her kit, they’ll eventually get her to a balanced point, hopefully.

Camille

Camille is definitely an S-tier jungler at the moment. To counteract this, Riot is decreasing her base attack speed (from 0.644 to 0.625) in hopes of slowing down her jungle clear in the early game.

Galio

Riot is looking to nerf the aspects of Galio that made him a top-priority pick in competitive play and instead push him toward a brawler-type mage that’s more suitable for solo queue. So let’s go over the changes.

Galio’s Q “Winds of War” will have a lower mana cost when maxed out (from 70/85/100/115/130 mana to 70/75/80/85/90 mana) and it’ll do more damage on all levels (from 50/80/110/140/170 (+0.8 ability power) to 70/110/150/190/230 (+0.9 ability power).

His E “Justice Punch” will now have a shorter windup duration (0.4s instead of 0.45s), its dash speed will be much faster (from 1900 to 2300), but it’ll do 50% reduced damage to minions.

Finally, his ultimate will no longer knock enemies in the center area, nor will it give the targeted ally damage reduction. So his ultimate is no longer great for saving teammates or giving them more durability within a team fight. It’s more for quickly flying over from one part of the map to another when a teamfight breaks out.

All in all, these are substantial changes to Galio. If you’re into playing him as a utility mage in the mid lane, that’s no longer viable. At all.

If you’re building him like a mage with full damage items, you’re probably celebrating, as he’ll be a far stronger pick in lane.

Irelia

Riot is shipping a very concrete nerf to Irelia’s W “Defiant Dance.” With patch 8.24, it’ll have a longer cooldown (from 16/15/14/13/12 seconds to 20/18/16/14/12 seconds), less damage reduction (40% instead of 50%) and Irelia will no longer gain a stack of Ionian Fervor just by casting W.

Jax

Jax’s ultimate is getting an on-hit damage nerf at levels two and three. This should keep him in check, at least for a bit, when the late game kicks in. He’s already an incredibly strong jungler (especially at low Elo), so these nerfs shouldn’t make that big of a difference.

LeBlanc

With the introduction of a buffed up Dark Harvest, LeBlanc is as viable (and OP) as ever. Riot is increasing the cooldown of her W “Distortion” to make her more vulnerable in lane. They’re also nerfing Dark Harvest, but more on that later.

Viktor

Viktor is a tad too strong right now, especially as a top lane pick. To negate this (and push him back to the lane where he rightfully belongs), Riot is nerfing his harass capabilities.

His Q “Siphon Power” now has a longer cooldown (from 8/7/6/5/4 seconds to 9/8/7/6/5 seconds) and its missiles deal less base damage (from 60/80/100/120/140 to 50/65/80/95/110).

Furthermore, mid lane Viktor is getting a buff because his E “Death Ray” is getting a shorter cooldown (from 13/12/11/10/9 seconds to 12/11/10/9/8 seconds) as well as a better AP ratio (from 0.5AP to 0.6AP).

VFX Updates

Riot is updating all visual and audio effects for Anivia, Dr. Mundo, Gragas, Renekton, and Teemo. These are long overdue but better late than never.

Item Changes

Death’s Dance

Riot is shipping a huge buff to Death’s Dance. You will now be able to heal for 15% of all damage dealt, rather than just physical. This change makes Death’s Dance a must-buy for champions like Jax that have both physical and magic damage output in their kit.

Eye of the Herald

You will no longer be able to activate Herald during combat with non-minions. If you were prone to activating it while fighting (in hopes of setting a ward), you’ll no longer be able to make that mistake.

Poacher’s Dirk

Poacher’s unique effect didn’t click well with players, and basically no one ever even bought it. For that reason, the item is being removed from the game.

Rune Changes

There is just a single rune change coming with patch 8.24.

Dark Harvest

Riot is further nerfing Dark Harvest’s base damage (from 40-80 to 20-60), and it can no longer proc off other procs, like Scorch or Liandry’s Torment. A highly welcomed nerfs that should make this rune choice a bit more balanced.