Get ready, it’s time for the Mid-Season Invitational patch!
Thirteen teams from all around the world will battle it out for the title of MSI Champion on patch 13.8 starting on May 2, so make sure to mark those calendars! We're also shaking things up with a new format for the tournament, so get ready for some intense competition. In case you missed it, you can check out the new MSI format here.
For MSI we’re focusing on introducing more champion diversity into pro play. This is coming in the form of buffs for some under-utilized champions like Ezreal, Leona, and Lillia, while we address some of the overperforming picks like Jarvan IV, Malphite, and Rakan. But that’s not all! We also have some QoL improvements to Challenges, a new set of Night and Dawnbringer skins, and last but certainly not least, we’re introducing the ability to report players from your match history.
These aren’t the patch notes you’re looking for? Well you can check out the TFT patch notes here!
Health growth decreased, armor growth decreased.
Legend has it that Aurelion Sol is still scaling, especially in non-elite tiers of play, so we need to bring this space dragon down to Earth (Runeterra?). We want to maintain Aurelion Sol’s current damage levels, but these changes should balance out his damage with squishiness, leaning into him being more of a glass dragon.
Base AD increased.
The current bot lane in pro play likely has a hyper carry on both sides of the Rift and hasn’t allowed for many non-hyper carries to compete. We want to give Ezreal a little more “OOMPH” in order to shake up the current bot lane situation, but also to make him better at playing into scaling marksmen at all levels of play.
Base AD increased, base armor increased.
Garen hasn't been living his best spin-to-win life recently, meaning he hasn’t been able to win early trades against other melee champions which is supposed to be one of his strong points. We’re buffing up his base damage and early durability to help him find his groove again.
W damage increased. E shield decay timer increased.
In this patch we’re giving Janna some ability to get a little more aggressive in lane and provide additional damage with her items. Also making shielding early a lot less punishing for players who want to preempt their teammates to go in for trades with E.
AD growth decreased. Q damage decreased.
Ever since the W buffs, Jarvan has been excelling in Solo Queue. He has always been a strong early ganker, but now he can build damage and reliably transition his lead due to the AD ratio on his W. We’re looking to tone down his power in a way that still incentivizes him to build AD, while also reducing his early gank strength since he now scales a lot better with items.
E Shadow Assassin bonus move speed decreased, cooldown increased.
Shadow Assassin Kayn stands above many junglers in terms of win rate and ban rate, especially in Eastern regions. We’re trimming the uptime of his Shadow Step to make him a little easier to punish.
Q base damage increased.
We adjusted Kha'Zix last patch to ensure that his Isolation passive wasn't working against him too much and we're happy that he's much more able to isolate and kill enemies. We weren't certain how much power that change would be so we went light, and now that we're certain we can give him a bit more power in early game clearing and scrapping.
Passive true damage increased, Kog’Maw now ghosted while in passive. Q cooldown decreased. E mana cost decreased, slow increased.
The Void Puppy is in a rough spot, being an immobile carry whose gameplay pattern revolves around one ability. Recently, we've focused a lot of attention on pulling/pushing the power in Bio-Arcane Barrage when changing Kog'Maw. We think Kog'Maw has more to offer than being a one-button pony, so we're buffing up his other abilities so that he's a bit more free to use his spells meaningfully before he focuses on solely auto-attacking late-game.
W armor and magic resistance increased, magic damage increased.
Leona is another champion who’s been struggling to find her place on the Rift, often being eclipsed by other engage supports. In order to promote some more diversity in the bot lane, we’re upping her durability and damage so she can shine just a little bit brighter.
Passive damage to monsters increased, healing against monsters increased, healing against champions adjusted.
In an effort to create more diversity in champion picks at the Mid-Season Invitational, we're buffing a few damage-reliant AP junglers in order to bring a different type of champion into pro play viability. There are a few interesting things going on with Lillia currently: She's got a pretty welcoming theme for newer players, but her jungle clear requires strong kiting in order to come out with enough health, so we’re amping her early jungle safety. On the pro play side of things, her clear speed is the most important lever. On top of those changes, we're taking the opportunity to ensure that AP items contribute more meaningfully to her in-combat healing, instead of it being generically available regardless of build.
W empowered attack damage decreased, cleave damage armor scaling decreased.
We'll cut the rock puns for now, Malphite's been more than just a solid top laner since his buffs in 13.4. The cooldown and damage buffs to Thunderclap greatly increased his ability to trade and push waves at near-infinite uptime come late game. Malphite could use some added weight to his abilities late game, but the amount of damage he delivers is on the high end for a tank, especially when maxed first. So we’re reeling in his damage a bit and hopefully evening out Malphite's skill ordering.
Base armor increased, armor growth increased.
Nidalee gains around 6% win rate as MMR rises and is balanced around elite players. As a result, she performs poorly in the hands of most players. While part of this win rate loss can be explained by champion mastery, her extreme early dominance and required snowballing is also partly to blame. However, giving her a strength other than “snowbally early game jungler” is a pretty large task. Our goal here is to ease up her early clear slightly, making her more durable in the hands of players who haven't mastered her clear yet. Additionally, more durability should help her better pounce in for takedowns.
Q damage increased. W bonus resistances increased.
Poppy has seen better days, and she hasn't excelled in any of her roles for a while. We’re looking to give her some bulkiness later in the game that'll help her better dive into fights and skirmishes.
Base armor decreased, armor growth decreased.
Rakan's win rate and presence have been ramping up since 13.3's buff, especially in the higher-skilled bracket of play. Like Xayah, we love his versatility and general shape, however, it's time to put him more in line with other support champions by making him a little more vulnerable when he’s missing his spells, while keeping those button presses fun.
The Cosmic Drive stat shuffle made the item a bit more popular. This change aims to lower the barrier to entry of the passive portion of the item and make it more broadly accessible to mages by removing the old passive and replacing it with a new one. By moving the passive AP into the base stats of the item, the skill test of this item is being reduced so players aren’t burdened as much about sequencing their abilities for the offensive payoff of the item.
As a reminder, the Mt. Targon Cup Clash continues this weekend!
In observance of Ramadan and the Iftar meal, Clash lock-in times will be made earlier for these servers:
The following skins will be released in this patch:
The following chromas will be released this patch: