Patch 10.18 notes

A plethora of League Client updates, One For All's return, and Ahri's flightiness is amped up to 10.
Game Updates
mom cat, shio shoujo

Hey, do you remember? Dancin' in September? Come on, let’s chase the clouds away with 10.18!

Classic tunes aside, we’ve got a whole slew of changes for you in this patch. Big ticket items include flexing fancy feet to a foxy favorite and bringing some action to the Bringer of Justice. The rest are mostly changes in light of how champions are faring, especially in Skilled and Pro MMR: shimmying down some faces who have overstayed their welcome (Galio, Ashe, Sett), and bopping up some friends who need some spring in their step (Miss Fortune, Rumble, Twitch).

Past champions, we’ve been seeing Guardian dominate on pretty much every support, so we’ve taken some steps to reel it back a bit and open up options for other Keystones.

And another one for you, or really, one for everyone—One For All returns this patch! Along with a whole array of Client, FX, and general fixes. You know the drill.

So tango your way down and jig your way over to the Rift. We’ll be dancing with ya.

Take this portal if you're looking for TFT's patch notes!
Tricia "mom cat" Tan Hanna “shio shoujo” Woo

Mid-Patch Updates

9/3/2020 Ahri W Targeting

Ahri

W - FOX-FIRE TARGETING Fixed an issue where Ahri's W - Foxfire would not correctly assign the three shots based on the new targeting priority from 10.18

9/2/2020 Kayle Balance Change, Zac Bugfix, Health Bar Name QoL, Announcement Bugfix

Announcement

BUGFIX Fixed a bug where announcements were not appearing correctly for champions with Mastery 4 or higher

Health Bar Naming

QOL CHANGE Added the ability to show Champion names instead of Summoner names over the health bar

Kayle

The change to Kayle's E is not something we're making mid-patch. It's already live and in the game, but it was unintentionally left out of the original patch notes! Documenting at the top in this section so players are aware.

E - STARFIRE SPELLBLADE COOLDOWN 8 seconds ⇒ 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 seconds

Zac

W - UNSTABLE BUGFIX Fixed a bug where Zac would not get cooldown reduction from picking up his Cell Division chunks

Patch Highlights

PsyOps Sona, PsyOps Vi, PsyOps Shen, PsyOps Master Yi, PsyOps Ezreal, Hextech Ziggs, and PsyOps Ezreal Prestige Edition will be available on September 3rd, 2020.

One For All Is Back!

One For All returns with PsyOps on September 3rd, 2020 at 1:00PM PT. Join a team of doppelgangers as you and your teammates show off your different playstyles as the same champ (or the same playstyle, whatever!).

Champions

Ahri

Passive replaced with Q passive, where now any spell can heal. W now grants movement speed, deals 200% damage to low-health minions, and better targets low-health minions.

Ahri's identity and gameplay have become a little muddled over time, and she isn’t as charming as we’d like her to be. We’re making some kit changes, especially to her W, to reinforce an identity of a flighty mage who can weave in and out of fights as she looks for the perfect moment to strike. In addition, we’re also shifting her Essence thievery from her Q to her passive to open up more opportunities for her to reap its healing rewards when trading with enemy champions.

Altogether, she should feel equipped to (spirit) rush into more combos and outplays.

Base Stats

HEALTH REGEN 6.5 ⇒ 5.5

Passive - Vasatayan Grace

newESSENCE THEFT Ahri gains an Essence Theft stack for each enemy hit by her abilities, up to a maximum of 3 per cast, and storing up to 9 at once. Upon reaching 9 stacks of Essence Theft, Ahri's next spell consumes the stacks to heal Ahri for 3/5/9/18 (levels 1/6/11/16) (+0.09 ability power) for each enemy hit.
removedVASTAYAN GRACE Ahri no longer gains 20% bonus movement speed for 3 seconds when she lands 2 ability hits against a champion within 1.5 seconds

Q - Orb of Deception

removedESSENCE THEFT Essence Theft is now her Passive

W - Fox-Fire

newFOXIER FEET Now grants a burst of 40% movement speed decaying over 1.5 seconds at cast
newMINION-FIRE Now deals 200% damage to minions below 20% health
updatedIMPROVED MINION TARGETING Targeting now better prioritizes low health minions that can be killed by Fox-Fire after champions (Charmed champions are still the flames' first priority)
COOLDOWN 9/8/7/6/5 seconds ⇒ 10/9/8/7/6 seconds
COST 40 mana ⇒ 55 mana

Ashe

Base attack damage decreased.

Ashe has remained one of the primary marksmen in Pro play, so we’re icing some of her power.

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE 61 ⇒ 59

Q - Ranger's Focus

BUGFIX Runaan's Hurricane's Wind's Fury's damage now properly takes under consideration the future levels of Ranger's Focus
VFX BUGFIX Additional Runaan's Hurricane bolts from Amethyst Ashe's Q - Ranger's Focus Runaan's now properly use the skin's VFX

Galio

Q base damage decreased.

Galio’s Q lets him clear waves early without much risk, so we’re bringing down his damage so that he has to invest a bit more before flying across the map.

Q - Winds of War

BASE DAMAGE 80/115/150/185/220 ⇒ 70/105/140/175/210

Jarvan IV

Q base damage increased.

A little nudge to J4's early strength to help compete with the current jungle meta.

Q - Dragon Strike

BASE DAMAGE 80/120/160/200/240 ⇒ 90/130/170/210/250

Kayle

Q mana restore removed. W cost increased. E cost removed; missile speed increased.

Improving some clarity around Kayle’s mana management: by removing the mana cost on her E, we’re giving her an overall net drop on mana dependence. In combination with a boosted missile speed on her blade, we’re hoping to see her ascend to more exciting laning, where she can more readily spar with her enemy laner.

Q - Radiant Blast

removedMANA RESTORE No longer restores 50% of the mana cost for each enemy champion hit

W - Celestial Blessing

COST 70/80/90/100/110 mana ⇒ 90/100/110/120/130 mana

E - Starfire Spellblade

COST 50/55/60/65/70 mana ⇒ No cost
MISSILE SPEED 2000 ⇒ 5000

Kog’Maw

Base health and armor growth decreased.

This caustic caterpillar-creature is almost always toeing (and oozing around) the line, and he’s finally crossed it. In response, we’re lowering his defenses to highlight his identity as a glass cannon marksman: severely spitty, but slightly squishy.

Base Stats

HEALTH GROWTH 90 ⇒ 85
ARMOR GROWTH 3.5 ⇒ 3.25

Miss Fortune

Base attack speed growth increased.

Making another opportunistic buff on an early game focused markspirate, so we’re reverting some nerfs from earlier this season (10.10 and 10.3, if you’re curious)!

Base Stats

ATTACK SPEED GROWTH 2.25% ⇒ 3%

W - Strut

MAXIMUM BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED 50/60/70/80/90 ⇒ 55/65/75/85/95

Rumble

Q total damage increased.

We’re heating things up by giving Rumble a jump start that’ll hopefully park him as another good early game Pro pick option.

Q - Flamespitter

TOTAL DAMAGE 175/210/245/280/315 ⇒ 180/220/260/300/340

Sett

Passive right punch changed to scale with bonus attack damage. Q bonus damage ratio of target’s maximum health now fixed; bonus damage ratio per 100 total attack damage now scales.

Sett’s continued to muscle his way through Pro levels of play, especially with low-economy tank and utility builds. Since our previous nerf to his base values wasn't sufficient, we're taking a larger swing at him. To do this, we’re adjusting how he scales with damage and gold to incentivize players to swap to damage-oriented builds instead. Expect another check in after Worlds to make sure he’s… well, all set.

Passive - Pit Grit

RIGHT PUNCH BONUS DAMAGE RATIO 0.15 total attack damage ⇒ 0.5 bonus attack damage

Q - Knuckle Down

BONUS DAMAGE 10/20/30/40/50 (+1/2/3/4/5% of target’s maximum health) (+0.01 per 100 total attack damage) ⇒ 10/20/30/40/50 (+0.01 of target’s maximum health) (+1/1.5/2/2.5/3% per 100 total attack damage)

Shen

Passive shield decreased.

The buff to Shen in 10.15 made him a bit stronger than expected, so we’re pulling back slightly.

Passive - Ki Barrier

SHIELD 70-121 (levels 1-18) ⇒ 60-111 (levels 1-18)

Shyvana

E dragon form explosion radius increased; dragon form visuals and cast indicator now accurately represents the ability’s hit radius; dragon form ground zone damage tick rate decreased.

In fixing a minor Shyvana clarity bug, we uncovered other levers to polish up. The result is a major clarity fix and thus a minor balance change.

Previously, dragon Shyvana's radius on her E scaled with her Flame Breath rank-ups, but this effect was not accurately represented in her visuals or the tooltip. We’ve decided to remove it, as the reliability of an important spell should not change dramatically throughout the game. Overall, we expect these changes to be a small nerf to AP Shyvana, a small buff to AD Shyvana, and a large increase to Flame Breath's clarity.

E - Flame Breath

updatedDRAGON FORM EXPLOSION RADIUS 220/240/260/280/300 (boundary check) ⇒ 345 (center check) (a center check with a 345 radius is about equal to a 280 radius boundary check for most targets)
updatedDOUBLE CHECK Dragon form visuals and cast indicator now accurately represent the ability’s radius
updatedMAXED OUT Dragon Form Flame Breath no longer casts at maximum range when player attempts to cast near maximum range
DRAGON FORM GROUND ZONE DAMAGE TICK RATE 1 second ⇒ 0.5 seconds (same damage per second)
updatedDON’T DRAG IT OUT Dragon form ground zone is now more responsive

Twitch

E damage per stack ratio increased. R bolt damage reduction per enemy hit decreased.

It seems we’ve left this rat in the sewers, and we know his paws are itching to get back into the meta. We’re bringing up the power in his ult and tossing in some spice into his E. Now, here’s a spell you can feel!

E - Contaminate

BONUS DAMAGE PER STACK RATIO 0.2 ability power (maximum 1.2 ability power) ⇒ 0.333 ability power (maximum 2.0 ability power)

R - Spray And Pray

BOLT DAMAGE REDUCTION PER ENEMY HIT -20% from the previous hit (minimum damage cap of 40%) ⇒ -5% per unit hit (minimum damage cap of 70%)

Xin Zhao

W thrust damage increased.

Xin Zhao is no longer the early game threat he used to be, so we’re giving him a bump up in his damage and clear.

W - Wind Becomes Lightning

THRUST DAMAGE 30/65/100/135/170 (+0.75 attack damage) ⇒ 40/75/110/145/180 (+0.80 attack damage)

Runes

Guardian

Guardian is overperforming on mage, enchanters, and tank supports relative to other Keystones. We’re toning down its power to open up other options.
SHIELD RATIO 0.25 ability power (+0.12 bonus health) ⇒ 0.15 ability power (+0.09 bonus health)

League Client Updates

We got a longer list of League Client bugfixes and QoL changes this patch, so we're putting them in a specific section! Be sure to check out the latest in our Client Cleanup series and stay tuned for a new post later this week.
  • Players online using League+ now show as available in folders on the Friends list
  • Ticker messages now display when a player encounters an error patching
  • Spectating a game no longer shows your status as green in the Friends list
  • Ward skin rarity is now correctly displayed
  • The home screen is no longer black when being kicked from a party
  • Player names should no longer display as “...” in chat
  • Missions and other information pop-ups should not appear until the client has finished loading
  • Blocking a player through the Add Friends modal no longer shows debug text instead of the user’s Summoner Name
  • Long skin names no longer overlap each other in the profile background picker
  • The loading circle for all tabs in the client are now in the same place
  • Changing the background in Profile now dynamically updates your hover card in the Friends list
  • Voice Panel no longer overlaps the Friends list
  • A missing translation has been found and fixed for specific patcher notifications
  • A player's hover card in the Friends list should now accurately reflect a player’s current state (In Queue, Champ Select, Online)

VFX Updates

We got some more VFX updates for you in this patch! Bring in the lucky contestants: Malzahar, Nocturne, Viktor, and Ignite (yeah, we know this is not technically a champion).

Once again, our goals for these sorts of smaller scope updates is to improve the overall gameplay clarity of VFX whilst bringing them up to modern League of Legends standards. This means that our efforts are primarily aimed at abilities which do not clearly communicate their hitbox.

Malzahar

PASSIVE - VOID SHIFT Reduced some of the noise from the shield. Made it a bit brighter to match other spell shields
BASIC ATTACK New missiles and hit effects
Q - CALL OF THE VOID New quickcast indicator to better represent its actual hitbox. New missile and hit effects
W - VOID SWARM New spawn effects and basic attacks
E - MALEFIC VISIONS New debuff effect and a beam effect when the debuff spreads to other enemies
R - NETHER GRASP New beam, hit, and AoE effects, including a more thematic pool
SNOW DAY MALZAHAR New snowball VFX on Q
BATTLE BOSS MALZAHAR Q updated to rotate spaceships to better match hitbox
HEXTECH MALZAHAR Q updated to show hitbox more clearly
WORLDBREAKER MALZAHAR Q updated to show hitbox more clearly

Nocturne

PASSIVE - UMBRA BLADES New effect to clearly show the area of effect. Nocturne's blades now glow when his passive is ready
BASIC ATTACK New swipes and target effects
Q - DUSKBRINGER Updated missile effects and rebalanced darkness trail
W - SHROUD OF DARKNESS More thematic spell shield and new attack speed buff effect
E - UNSPEAKABLE HORROR Updated beam and shadow effects to show the timing more clearly
R - PARANOIA New dash effect when Nocturne casts the ability. Updated trail and impact effects. Enemies affected by the spell get a shadowy screen space effect.
FROZEN TERROR NOCTURNE All VFX updated with a winter thematic
HAUNTING NOCTURNE All VFX updated with a spooky thematic
ETERNUM NOCTURNE All VFX updated with a sci-fi thematic

Viktor

BASIC ATTACK New missile and hit effects
Q - SIPHON POWER Updated beam effect and rebalanced shield effect
W - GRAVITY FIELD Updated gravity zone effect
E - DEATH RAY Updated effects to clearly show the area hit
R - CHAOS STORM New initial cast effect
CREATOR VIKTOR All VFX updated in Battlecast thematic
DEATHSWORN VIKTOR Size of E adjusted to match base

Tryndamere

R - UNDYING RAGE Tryndamere’s body will flash white for an instant at the end of his ultimate to show when the buff expires

Ignite

IGNITE Reduced overall noise while increasing clarity and timing

Bugfixes/QoL Changes

  • There are new tooltips in the Clash hub that explains how players can form or find a team, as well as give suggestions when a player first visits the page
  • BETA: Rather than creating your own team, visiting the Clash hub and setting yourself as a Free Agent allows other teams that are looking for players to add you to their rosters. Set your position preferences and get in on the action.
  • Tryndamere's E - Spinning Slash can no longer hit the same target multiple times
  • Bouncing Noxious Traps as Teemo no longer stops his basic attacks
  • When Riven casts Q - Broken Wings or E - Valor from Fog of War while hovering her cursor over an enemy champion or minion, she and the small area around her will no longer by revealed by the enemy team
  • Fiora's W - Riposte can no longer trigger her enemy's Vitals through a Spell Shield
  • Hitting an enemy champion with Kha'Zix's W - Evolved Void Spike no longer reveals a large area around him
  • Garen's W - Courage no longer increases his base armor and magic resist
  • Anivia's W - Crystallize no longer applies the Aspect of the Dragon debuff on enemy champions
  • Champions with the Aspect of the Dragon will no longer be burned while invulnerable
  • When Nami kills the Rift Scuttler using an E - Tidecaller's Blessing-empowered basic attack, the Speed Shrine is no longer treated as Nami's ability, stopping allied champions from receiving buffs like Summon Aery by walking through it
  • Pyke can now properly cast Q - Bone Skewer when he has the minimum required mana
  • Using Graves' E - Quickdraw after a basic attack now properly triggers Sheen or Kleptomancy
  • Liandry's Torment now properly applies its UNIQUE passive, Torment, on Baron Nashor regardless of distance
  • If Zed dies during his Dance animation, his clone will no longer stay on the map and grant vision until Zed respawns
  • Youmuu's Ghostblade's out-of-combat movement speed effect goes on cooldown when affected by CC effects
  • Fixed a bug where the Rift Herald would sometimes do no damage to a turret
  • Bami's Cinder passive damage properly increases with Kled's bonus health
  • Lux's W - Prismatic Barrier now properly applies the shield at max two times
  • Caitlyn is no longer able to trigger the Aspect of the Dragon's execute on multiple targets
  • Caitlyn is no longer able to trigger Summon Aery multiple times at once
  • Casting R - The Show Stopper as Sett on Yone during the very end of R - Fate Sealed no longer suppresses Yone as he blinks to another enemy champion
  • Beekeeper Singed's Q - Poison Trail VFX is now distinguishable in colorblind mode
  • The "Show More Info" level-up grid view is now available on all champions. The grid now also highlights your current level's values.
  • Colors have changed across the board on all tooltips. The aim is for them to be easier to read and get to important information faster.
  • Many champions now have magic damage/physical damage/true damage highlighted to their own specific color (this is not on all champions yet, but will slowly release over time)
  • Aether Wing Kayle and Pentakill Kayle's Q - Radiant Blast's VFX no longer renders over impassable terrain
  • Base Anivia's (also applies to Team Spirit, Bird of Prey, Noxus Hunter, Hextech, and Prehistoric Anivia) R storm SFX loop now plays correctly in Fog of War
  • Hextech Anivia's armor material has been changed to the correct type, and will make metal sounds when she is hit by enemy champions
  • Multiple sounds for Black Frost Anivia have been restored, including the death SFX that plays when Anivia is killed while in egg form, the SFX for the E empowered hit, the SFX that play when the R has reached its max size, and the SFX for when the R is deactivated
  • Festival Queen Anivia's max R size SFX and the R deactivation SFX have been restored
  • Papercraft Anivia's armor material has been changed to the correct type, and will now make wood sounds when she is hit by enemy champions
  • Mecha Kha'Zix's Passive hit, Isolated Q & Non-Isolated Q, W missile hits, W heal, E ground hit, and R cast SFX/skin-specific VO have been restored
  • Kha'Zix's Guardian of the Sands, Death Blossom, and Dark Star skins' W heal SFX have been restored
  • Super Galaxy Nidalee's Pounce reset SFX restored
  • Fixed a bug on Lissandra's Q where the second/unique hit SFX was not working
  • Additional Runaan's Hurricane bolts from Amethyst Ashe's Q - Ranger's Focus Runaan's now properly use the skin's VFX

Upcoming Skins & Chromas

The following skins will be released in this patch. Grab the League Displays app for full-res splash art!

PsyOps Sona

PsyOps Vi

PsyOps Shen

PsyOps Master Yi

PsyOps Ezreal

Hextech Ziggs

PsyOps Ezreal Prestige Edition

The following chromas will be released this patch:

PsyOps Sona

PsyOps Vi

PsyOps Shen

PsyOps Master Yi