Complete Early LoL Patch Notes 14.18

It's that time of the month again when Riot Games treats us to another new League of Legends patch, as we're already on the 18th update of the year! Since LoL Worlds 2024 is just around the corner, the Riot Games balance team is working overtime to ensure everything is in perfect working order before the largest esports event on the calendar begins on September 25.

With over 160 champions in the game, the League of Legends dev team is honing in on popular picks in professional play, like Azir, Corki, Gnar, Jax, and Rumble, to make them as balanced as possible before the LoL World Championship kicks off. LoL patch 14.17 was just a taster, as patch 14.18 brings 13 champion buffs, 17 champion nerfs, five item changes, and turret plate fortifications.

Grab your reading glasses and get comfortable; here's everything you need to know about League of Legends patch 14.18.

When is LoL Patch 14.18 Coming Out?

According to the Riot Games' official patch schedule, League of Legends patch 14.18 will go live on Wednesday, September 11, 2024. The new update, including all champion buffs, nerfs, and item changes, will be rolled out gradually throughout the day to account for all global servers.

The new patch deployment begins with the Oceanic servers at 10 AM AEST. Other servers worldwide will slowly receive League of Legends patch 14.18 throughout the day. The official patch notes will be available in the client for players who want to read more about the latest changes to the MOBA.

Matchmaking queues will be taken offline before patching begins as the Riot Games balance team applies the new update and works out any last-minute kinks.

Here are the key timings to note for when League of Legends patch 14.18 goes live, even with Memorial Day:

  • 5 AM GMT (EU West)
  • 3 AM CT (EU North East)
  • 3 AM PT (NA)
  • 8 AM KR (Korea)

What's New in LoL Patch 14.18?

League of Legends patch 14.18 is introducing tons of champion buffs and nerfs to keep the MOBA fresh and exciting for LoL Worlds and beyond, bringing the most changes we've seen on Summoner's Rift in 2024.

Despite a hoard of recent changes to balance them, ADCs are the primary target in League patch 14.18, with nerfs to Miss Fortune, Smolder, Varus, and Zeri. There are also nerfs to ADC-specific item Bloodthirster and a Fleet Footwork rework, making certain ADCs a bit weaker than they were before.

Lane swaps are common in pro-play, as seen in MSI 2024. This is where pros swap lanes with their teammates to avoid a less favorable matchup. While this was sometimes done to push a minion wave or two, some teams were willing to lose 3-4 turret plates to avoid certain matchups, resulting in low interaction states. This makes for stale gameplay, as sometimes viewers would watch teams 3v0 a turret ten minutes into a game. Riot Phroxzon has attempted to counter this by buffing turret plates to make them harder to take in one go and fortifying them in the early game.

Joining the likes of Corporate Mundo come two new "work" themed skins for Thresh and Azir. With the Janir skin, Thresh will clean up Bot Lane to leave no trace of the enemy. Meanwhile, Lawyer Azir will fight your corner to ensure you win the case! A new Nautilus skin will also be available in the Mythic Shop for the patch 14.18 cycle.

  • Lawyer Azir (Epic): 1,350 RP
  • Janitor Thresh (Epic): 1,350 RP
  • Crystalis Indomitus Nautilus (Mythic): 125 Mythic Essence

LoL Patch 14.18: Champion Buffs

Please remember that these buffs are just the early patch notes for 14.18 and are only tentative. They are taken directly from the PBE and are subject to change between now and September 11.

Ahri

(E) Charm

  • Base damage increased from 80 - 200 to 80 - 240
  • AP scaling increased from 60% to 75%

Gnar

  • Mini Gnar base AD increased from 57 to 60

Hwei

(WW) Pool of Reflection

  • Shield strength for allies increased from 50% to 75%

Jarvan IV

(Passive) Martial Cadence

  • Health ratio increased from 7% current HP to 8% current HP

Jax

(R) Grandmaster at Arms

  • On-hit base damage increased from 60 - 160 to 60 - 180
  • Bonus armor per target hit increased from 15 - 25 to 20 - 30
  • Base armor increased from 15/40/65 to 15/45/80

Jayce

(Q) To the Skies!

  • Slow increased from 30 - 55% to 35 - 60%

(E) Acceleration Gate

  • Movement speed increased from 30 - 55% to 35 - 60%

Jinx

  • Attack speed growth increased from 1 to 1.4

Lulu

(Passive) Pix, Faerie Companion

  • Damage per bolt increased from 3 - 37 to 5 - 39

Malphite

(Passive) Granite Shield

  • Shield increased from 9% max HP to 10% max HP

Samira

(Q) Flair

  • AD scaling increased from 85 - 125% AD to 95 - 125% AP

Shen

(Passive) Ki Barrier

  • Melee shield increased from 47 - 101 (+12% bonus HP) to 47 - 120 (+13% bonus HP)

Viego

  • Base AD increased from 57 to 60

(Q) Blade of the Ruined King

  • Q bonus damage to monsters reduced from 20 to 15

Xin Zhao

  • Armor growth increased from 4.7 to 5

(Q) Three Talon Strike

  • Damage per attack increased from 16 - 52 to 16 - 68
  • Maximum bonus damage increased from 48 - 156 to 48 - 204

LoL Patch 14.18: Champion Nerfs

Please remember that these nerfs are just the early patch notes for 14.18 and are only tentative. They are taken directly from the PBE and are subject to change between now and September 11.

Aurora

(R) Between Worlds

  • Jump maximum distance reduced from 450 to 250
  • Wall jump forgiveness reduced from 700 to 450
  • Duration decreased from 3/3.5/4 seconds (depending on rank) to 2/2.5/3 seconds (depending on rank)

Azir

(R) Emperor's Divide

  • Damage decreased from 200/400/600 (+75% AP) to 175/325/475 (+60% AP)

Corki

(Q) Phosphorus Bomb

  • Damage decreased from 70 - 270 to 70 - 250

Ivern

(E) Triggerseed

  • Base damage reduced from 85 - 245 to 75 - 235
  • Slow reduced from 45 - 65% to 40 - 60%

Leona

  • Armor reduced from 47 to 43

Lillia

(Passive)

  • Monster damage scaling reduced from 70 - 100 to 65 flat

(R) Lilting Lullaby

  • R sleep duration reduced to 2 seconds flat

Lissandra

(Q) Ice Shard

  • AP ratio reduced from 85% to 75%

Maokai

(E) Sapling Toss

  • Cooldown increased from 16 - 12 seconds to 18 - 14 seconds
  • Brush duration reduced from 30 (+2.5% bonus HP) to 30 (+1.5% bonus HP)

Miss Fortune

  • Base AD reduced from 55 to 53

Nasus

(E) Spirit Fire

  • Initial damage reduced from 55 - 215 to 55 - 175
  • Base damage per second reduced from 11 - 43 to 11 - 35

Rell

(E) Full Tilt

  • Initial movement speed reduced from 9 - 15% to 9 -12%
  • Maximum movement speed reduced from 24 - 40% to 24 - 32%

Rumble

(Q) Flamespitter

  • Base damage reduced from 80 - 180 to 60 - 180
  • AP scaling reduced from 110% to 100%

(E) Electro Harpoon

  • Base damage reduced from 60 - 160 to 50 - 150

Smolder

(Q) Super Scorcher Breath

  • Base damage reduced from 20 - 60 to 15 - 55
  • AP ratio removed

(W) Achoo!

  • Glob damage decreased from 50 - 170 to 45 - 165

Varus

(Q) Piercing Arrow

  • AD ratio reduced from 150 - 190% to 130 - 170%

(E) Hail of Arrows

  • AD ratio reduced from 110% to 100%

Vi

(Q) Vault Breaker

  • Minimum damage decreased from 50 - 150 to 45 - 145
  • Maximum damage decreased from 100 - 300 to 90 - 290

Ziggs

(Passive) Short Fuse

  • Tower damage reduced from 250% to 175%
  • Damage reduced from 50 - 400 (+125% AP) to 35 - 280 (+87.5% AP)

Zeri

(Passive) Living Battery

  • Base damage reduced from 90 - 200 to 75 - 160
  • Max HP damage reduced from 1 - 15% to 1 - 11%

LoL Patch 14.18: System Changes

Turrets are seeing significant changes in the League patch 14.18 preview to combat lane swaps and early game sieging. Popular Precision rune Fleet Footwork, commonly chosen by ADCs, is also being nerfed, leaving ADCs much weaker.

Fleet Footwork (Rune)

  • Base heal increased from 5 - 100 to 10 - 130
  • Healing reduced to 60% for ranged
  • Minion healing changed from 20/10% (melee/ranged) to 15% flat for both
  • Melee movement speed increased from 15% to 20%

Destroyed Turret Plate

  • Permanent resist per destroyed plate increased from 40 to 50
  • Temporary resists per destroyed plate for 20 seconds decreased from 45 for champions to 20 for champions

Turret Fortifications

  • Pre-5 minute damage reduction increased from 75% to 85%

LoL Patch 14.18: Item Changes

While there are no changes to Summoner Spells in League of Legends patch 14.18, several mage burst items are getting tweaked. Liandry's Torment is currently dominating but other AP items such as Luden's Companion, Stormsurge, and Shadowflame, are somewhat lacking, so Riot Games will address that in the upcoming patch.

Bloodthirster

  • Lifesteal reduced from 19% to 15%
  • Shield reduced from 50 - 400 (levels 1 - 18) to 165 - 315 (levels 8 - 18)

Immortal Shieldbow

  • Shield changed from 320 - 720 to 400 - 700
  • Shield strength reduced to 80% for ranged

Luden's Companion

  • Cost reduced from 2,900 gold to 2,850 gold
  • Ability haste reduced from 25 to 20
  • AP increased from 85 to 100

Shadowflame

  • Health threshold increased from 35% to 40%
  • Magic penetration increased from 12 to 15
  • AP reduced from 120 to 115
  • Damage-over-time bonus damage reduced from 30% to 25%

Stormsurge

  • Damage threshold reduced from 35% to 25% max HP
  • Ranged damage increased from 90% to 100%
  • Movement speed reduced from 8% to 5%
  • Magic penetration increased from 10 to 15

Final Thoughts

That covers all the new changes coming to League of Legends in patch 14.18, going live on September 11. Remember that this is just an early patch preview, so take all these changes with a pinch of salt. Further updates and details could come to light from the PBE, so bookmark this article to stay informed.

Looking for more LoL content? Our blog page has articles on all things League of Legends including: all champions' release dates, Arcane characters, Your ShopLoL Arena ranks, the rarest skins, finding out how much you've spent on LoL, and the Blue Essence Emporium. We also have specific guides for champions like Lux, Miss Fortune, and Lillia.

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