Patch 14.7 is just one week away! Read on to get up to date on all the changes that are coming live next Wednesday, including a bundle of April Fools skins and the highly anticipated Skarner rework.
These changes appeared on PBE on the 20th of May, but have been slowly shifting over the past week, and will continue to do so. As such, keep in mind that not all of these changes may make it to the live patch. If you’d like to check any of the following changes out before next Wednesday, hop on PBE and queue up!
New Cosmetics - April Fools!
Patch 14.7 falls just a couple of days after April Fools, and Riot Games are celebrating once again with a slew of silly skins. This year, five champions will get their own, unique, and on-theme April Fools skins!
Top laners can look forward to Choo-choo Ornn and Toy Terror Cho'Gath, while junglers can pick up Durian Defender Rammus and Zesty Dip Zac. Finally, bot side, we have Cheddar Chief Twitch, who shares a splash art with Zac. Each skin is Epic, and will run you the standard 1350 RP.
Skarner Rework
Skarner's full rework will be live starting next Wednesday! You can read our previous article here to check out all of his new artwork and to read more about his new skill set - but, in a nutshell, here’s what you need to know about the newly-reworked and re-titled, Primordial Sovereign:
Most of Skarner's abilities and attacks apply Quaking to enemies. Enemies afflicted with 3 stacks of Quaking take magic damage equal to their maximum health. With his Q, Shattered Earth, Skarner can rip a boulder out of the ground, then re-cast it to throw it at an enemy, damaging and slowing targets, and inflicting structure damage.
Skarner's W, Seismic Bastion, helps him jungle. The ability deals damage in an area, slows targets, and shields Skarner. Ixtal's Impact, Skarner's new E, allows him to gank effectively. It's a gap closer that can collide into enemies, suppress them, and potentially stun them by knocking them into terrain.
Finally, his ultimate, Impale, retains all of its previous flavour and function. Skarner winds up his tail and then lashes forward, impaling up to three enemy champions. The impaled targets are suppressed and attached to Skarner.
Champion Changes
Buffs
Galio, Lux, Kayn, Smolder, support!Karma, jungle!Olaf, jungle!Sylas
Galio and Lux have both gotten some increased AP ratios, which should encourage players to play these champions mid lane, rather than support. On the other hand, Riot is continuing to try to get Karma out of the mid lane. This patch, Defiance has received another buff. The shielding allies receive when Karma casts Defiance will now be 80% as effective as Inspire's shield, rather than 30%. Additionally, Focused Resolve (W)’s root has a longer duration now.
Smolder has gotten quite a few nerfs over the past couple of patches, and will now receive a little bit of love. Super Scorcher Breath now has a higher crit ratio, and the champion himself will have slightly increased armour.
In the jungle, Olaf has gotten a few different changes to improve his jungle clear speed. Undertow will now deal bonus damage against monsters, Tough It Out's attack speed duration has been increased, and Reckless Swing's cooldown is reduced when it is used against monsters. Jungle Sylas has also gotten a buff, as Chain Lash (Q) will now deal more damage to monsters. Finally, Kayn’s Reaping Slash will now have a slightly increased AD ratio in his base and assassin forms.
Nerfs
Rek’Sai, Volibear, Fiora, jungle!Rell
Rek'Sai is getting her first nerf since her mini-rework, with the maximum heal on her passive, Fury of the Xer'Sai, being slightly reduced in the early game. Volibear's ultimate cooldown is going up, while Fiora's base attack damage is going down from 68 to 65.
Like Karma, Rell is being pushed back into the support role. Shattering Strike, Ferromancy: Crash Down, Ferromancy: Mount Up, and Full Tilt will no longer deal bonus damage against monsters.
Adjustments
Nami, Sona, Nunu, Camille
Nami's been hit with a couple of nerfs aimed at curbing her damage, though her healing has improved. Ebb and Flow (W)'s base damage and AP ratio has been reduced, but the base heal and AP ratio for the healing have both been increased. The bounce effectiveness of Ebb and Flow now scales better with AP, but its base bounce effectiveness has been reduced. Additionally, Tidecaller's Blessing (E)'s base damage per hit has been reduced at higher ranks.
Sona has received a couple of tune-ups that should overall make her stronger. Her Aria of Perseverance (W)'s AP ratio has been doubled to 30%, and Song of Celerity (E) will now grant more movement speed to allies. Hymn of Valor's on-hit AP ratio has been halved to 10%, but the Hymn of Valor Power Chord will do more damage.
Camille support has been unexpectedly gaining traction, so a couple of adjustments have been made to incentivise top lane. Additionally, the support item Camille favoured is getting nerfed as well.
Item Changes
Nerfs
Bloodsong, Imperial Mandate, Zaz’Zak’s Realmspike, Statikk Shiv
More nerfs have been applied to various support items. Bloodsong's AD ratio has been reduced to 100% from 150%, while Imperial Mandate's mark - Coordinated Fire - will now deal 10% of the target's current damage, instead of 12%. Zaz'Zak's Realmspike's Void Explosion has a longer cooldown, deals less damage, and has weaker scaling now as well.
