LoL Patch 14.8 Notes: What You Need to Know

Welcome to the latest update in League of Legends! Today, on April 17, 2024, the LoL Patch 14.8 Notes have been released. This update is a big deal because it sets the stage for the upcoming Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2024.

It’s designed to balance the game for top-level players while also making sure there’s plenty for casual gamers to enjoy.

Expect to see new features like the Vanguard system, fresh skins, and tweaks to many champions. Whether you’re playing for fun or competition, these changes will improve your gaming experience.

Vanguard Update

The LoL Patch 14.8 Notes introduce the Vanguard anti-cheat system to make sure everyone plays fair. This system is starting in the Philippines first.

Over the next few weeks, it will be available all over the world, except in China. Vanguard checks if your computer can run it without any problems. 

It also looks at things like your operating system and security settings to ensure you can keep playing safely and smoothly. Stay tuned for more updates as Vanguard prepares to go global, keeping the game fun and fair for everyone.

Champion Buffs in LoL Patch 14.8 Notes

In this latest patch, several champions have received buffs to improve their performance and impact on the game. These changes are aimed at making these characters more competitive and enjoyable to play across various levels.

Akali

• Base health: Increased from 570 to 600. This boost helps Akali survive early-game challenges better, making her a more tough opponent as the game progresses.

Draven

• Spinning Axe (Q): Bonus physical damage increased from 40/45/50/55/60 to 45/50/55/60/65. This adjustment strengthens Draven’s early game, reinforcing his role as a dominant lane presence.

Galio

• Base Movement Speed: Increased from 335 to 340.
• Winds of War (Q): Cooldown reduced early in the game from 12/10.75/9.5/8.25/7 seconds to 11/10/9/8/7 seconds. These tweaks help Galio reach and engage targets more effectively, enhancing his utility in fights.

Graves

• New Destiny (Passive): Attack speed scaling increased to improve reload time by 35%. Also, the critical damage ratio per pellet increased from 40% to 45%. These changes are intended to boost Graves’ effectiveness when using critical strike builds.

Hwei

• Signature of the Visionary (Passive): Bonus magic damage increased from 35-180 (+30% AP) to 35-180 (+35% AP) (based on level). This enhancement boosts Hwei’s damage output, particularly in the lower skill brackets.

Jarvan IV

• Martial Cadence (Passive): Bonus physical damage increased from 6% of the target’s current health to 7%. This update improves Jarvan IV’s jungle-clearing speed and his skirmishing power.

Jhin

• Whisper (Passive): Bonus movement speed on critical strikes increased from 10% to 14%.
• Dancing Grenade (Q): Damage scaling adjusted to increase base and ratio damage, making Jhin’s poking and wave-clearing abilities stronger. 

Kai’Sa

• Icathian Rain (Q): Damage per missile increased from 40/55/70/85/100 to 40/55/70/85/100 (+55% bonus AD) instead of (+50% bonus AD). This change empowers Kai’Sa’s burst potential, particularly in AD-centric builds.

LeBlanc

• Sigil of Malice (Q): Base damage increased across all levels, making her more threatening in the lane and during early skirmishes. 65/90/115/140/165 to 70/95/120/145/170 with (+45% AP).
• Distortion (W): Cooldown reduced significantly from 18/16/14/12/10 to 15/13.75/12.5/11.25/10 seconds to enhance her mobility and ability to engage or escape.

Olaf

• Undertow (Q): Bonus damage to monsters significantly increased from 5/10/15/20/25 to 5/15/25/35/45, which improves Olaf’s jungle clear speed, allowing him to be more aggressive in securing objectives and ganking.

Ryze

• Rune Prison (W): Slow effect increased from 35% to 50%, and the cooldown was reduced at earlier levels. These adjustments make Ryze more effective at controlling enemy movements in team fights.

Sylas

• Chain Lash (Q): Damage to monsters boosted from 70% to 100%, enhancing his viability in the jungle by allowing faster and more efficient camp clears.

Thresh

• Base Stats: Armor increased from 31 to 33. Moreover, magic resist growth per level increased from 1.3 to 1.55. These improvements to Thresh’s defensive stats make him tougher in lane and during team engagements.

Champion Nerfs in League of Legends Patch 14.8

In this update, several champions have been nerfed to address their excessive gameplay strength, ensuring a balanced competitive environment. Here’s a breakdown of the changes made to these champions.

Azir

• Health Regeneration: Decreased from 5 to 3.5 per 5 seconds.
• Arise! (W): Damage was reduced across all levels, adjusting from a range of 0-77 (based on level) (+50/67/84/101/118) (+55% AP) to 0-77 (based on level) (+50/65/80/95/110) (+55% AP). This change aims to tone down Azir’s strong laning phase without drastically affecting his late-game capabilities, providing fairer play dynamics against him.

Briar

• Health Growth: Reduced from 100 to 95.
• Head Rush (Q): Range increased from 450 to 475, offering slightly more flexibility in target engagement.
• Blood Frenzy (W): The bonus attack speed has been reduced from 54/68/82/96/110% to 55/65/75/85/95%. These adjustments address Briar’s overly potent presence in less competitive play by reducing her sustained fighting ability while still rewarding the skilled use of her mobility.

Zac

• Base Health Regeneration: Reduced from 8 to 5 per 5 seconds. This reduction targets Zac’s overly safe lane sustain in the top lane, requiring him to engage more carefully and rely less on passive recovery. It aims to balance his interaction with opponents, making the lane phase more engaging.

Zeri

• Base Health: Decreased from 630 to 600. Following her increased prominence due to previous item buffs, this slight reduction in base health is intended to temper her early-game durability. It opens a window for opposing lane champions to more effectively challenge her in the early phases of the game.

Champion Adjustments in LoL Patch 14.8 Notes

Here are the champions that got some adjustments:

Mordekaiser

• Obliterate (Q): Cooldown reduced from 9/7.75/6.5/5.25/4 seconds to 8/7/6/5/4 seconds, improving his combat rhythm.
• Death’s Grasp (E): Magic damage reduced from 80/95/110/125/140 to 70/85/100/115/130, slightly decreasing his burst potential to compensate for his enhanced ultimate.
• Realm of Death (R): Now ensures that opponents cannot escape using items such as Quicksilver Sash or abilities such as Gangplank’s Remove Scurvy, unless they are immune to crowd control. This change aims to make his ultimate a more reliable tool in his kit.

Skarner

• Recommended Runes and Items: Updates include Aftershock and Conqueror runes and new item recommendations such as Heartsteel, enhancing his tankiness and skirmish prowess.
• Base Stats: Mana growth decreased from 45 to 40 to balance his new strengths, and mana regeneration growth increased from 0.45 to 0.6 to support more frequent ability use.
• Shattered Earth/Upheaval (Q):
  • Damage per hit increased from 10/20/30/40/50 to 10/25/40/55/70, boosting his area damage potential.
  • Mana cost reduced from 40/45/50/55/60 to 30/35/40/45/50, allowing more frequent use.
  • Buff duration extended from 3.5 to 5 seconds, enhancing his sustained combat effectiveness.
  • Recast lockout time was reduced from 0.75 to 0.5 seconds, increasing responsiveness.
  • Cast time was reduced from 0.5 to 0.35 seconds, improving his mobility and engagement speed.
• Seismic Bastion (W): Mana cost increased from 50/55/60/65/70 to 60/65/70/75/80 and damage reduced from 60/90/120/150/180 to 50/75/100/125/150, reallocating power to his Q for a more balanced skill set.

System Changes

In the LoL Patch 14.8 Notes, significant changes have been made to system elements like Baron Nashor and Voidgrubs to improve the tactical depth of the game.

Baron Nashor Enhancements

Baron Nashor’s recent visual update is now matched with enhanced combat effects to reflect his formidable presence. These changes make engagements around Baron more challenging and strategic:

• Acid Pool Magic Damage: Increased to 200 (+10% AD) from 10% AD, making the acid pools more threatening.
• Acid Pool Slow: Increased from 50% to 60%, enhancing the positional challenges for players.
• Territorial Baron Pull Magic Damage: Boosted significantly from 75 to 300, increasing the risk for players caught in the pull.
• Hunting Baron Lightning Magic Damage: Now deals 20% of the target’s current health, up from 15%, making it deadlier.
• Acid Shot Magic Damage: Upgraded to 200 (+50% AD) from 20% AD.
• Tentacle Knock Up Magic Damage: Raised to 200 (+25% AD) from 25% AD, adding to the risk of confronting Baron.

Voidgrubs Adjustments

Voidgrubs have also received tweaks to better integrate them into the strategic play of matches:

• Spawn Time: Increased by one minute, changing from 5 to 6 minutes. This adjustment aligns their appearance with when solo laners typically reach level 6, offering new tactical opportunities for contesting this objective.
• Touch of the Void Damage per Stack: Enhanced to 8 (halved to 4 for ranged champions) from 6 (halved to 3), increasing the reward and impact of securing Voidgrubs.
• Hunger of the Void Threshold: Now players need 4 Touch of the Void stacks to trigger the first summon, previously 5; a second summon triggers at 6 stacks, enhancing the strategic importance of these creatures.

Mythic Shop Rotation

The Mythic Shop has updated its offerings with exciting new skins for a limited time.

Now Available

• Prestige Bewitching Miss Fortune
• Prestige Porcelain Lissandra
• Prestige Coven Zyra
• Prestige PROJECT: Sylas

Leaving the Mythic Shop

• Prestige Winterblessed Warwick
• Prestige PsyOps Ezreal
• Prestige Space Groove Nami
• Prestige Duality Dragon Volibear

ARAM Balance Changes: Buffs and Nerfs

In the LoL Patch 14.8 Notes, the ARAM mode has seen several key adjustments to champion abilities, enhancing game balance.

Buffs

• Illaoi: Damage taken reduced from 110% to 105%.
• Leona: Damage taken reduced from 105% to 100%.
• Nautilus: Damage taken reduced from 110% to 105%.
• Xerath: Damage dealt increased from 93% to 95%.
• Ziggs: Damage dealt increased from 85% to 90%.

Nerfs

• Vi: Ability haste reduced from 10 to 0.
• Zyra: Ability haste reduced from 0 to -10.

Bugfixes & QoL (Quality of Life) Changes

The latest LoL Patch 14.8 notes bring several bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements to enhance how smoothly the game plays and how players interact with it.

These updates include fixing glitches that affected how certain abilities worked, ensuring they now perform as intended.

For example, corrections have been made to ensure abilities trigger correctly and interact properly with other game elements, which helps reduce frustration and makes gameplay feel more intuitive and responsive.

These adjustments make the game not only fairer but also more enjoyable, allowing players to focus more on strategy and skill rather than technical issues.

Upcoming Blood Moon Skins & Chromas

• Blood Moon Zed
• Blood Moon Fiddlesticks
• Blood Moon Zyra

Highlight on MSI 2024

Patch 14.8 is specially designed to enhance the competitive landscape of MSI 2024, focusing on tweaks that sharpen the strategic dynamics and gameplay balance.

The adjustments in the LoL Patch 14.8 notes, such as the enhancements to Baron Nashor and changes to champions such as Azir and Zeri, are geared towards creating a more balanced and strategic environment.

Additionally, these updates are intended to impact the tournament by encouraging diverse strategies and ensuring that gameplay during the MSI is as engaging and fair as possible.

These changes could significantly shape how teams prepare and compete, making each match an exciting display of skill and strategy.