[Patch 14.20] LoL 14.20 Patch Notes

As we draw closer to the end of the year, each patch, like this upcoming Patch 14.20, brings us one step closer to the League of Legends season 15 preseason. League Patch 14.20 will go live on Wednesday, Oct. 9, as confirmed by Riot’s official 2024 League patch schedule. When this update arrives, it’ll roll out in stages throughout the major playing regions.

Here are the key patching times for Patch 14.20:

3pm CT (NA) 5am GMT (EU West) 3am CET (EU North East) 8am KR (Korea) As always, on update day, expect several hours of downtime. Riot will turn off ranked and casual matchmaking across all League queues three hours before the update.

Champion Buffs

1. Aphelios
2. Caitlyn
3. Corki
4. Lee Sin
5. Pantheon
6. Riven
7. Sivir
8. Tryndamere
9. Xayah
10. Yasuo
11. Yone

Champion Nerfs

1. Anivia
2. Aurelion Sol
3. Camille
4. Dr. Mundo
5. Jhin
6. Morderkaiser
7. Poppy
8. Shyvana
9. Singed
10. Skarner
11. Swain
12. Taric
13. Udyr
14. Veigar
15. Yorick

Champions Adjusted

System Buffs

1. Nimbus Cloak

System Nerfs

1. Armor Itemization
2. Grasp
3. Liandry's
4. Stormsurge

System Adjustments

1. ADC Itemization

Game Monitoring:

• This patch we've seen a pretty good reduction in the amount of snowballing while keeping game times ~constant.
• Additionally, we're noticing that champions are dying on average 3-5% slower than on the previous patch, which is helping skill expression shine a bit more
• We're still waiting a little longer to see which roles have come out on top power wise, but AP has been floating up closer to the top

Systems:

• Our general strategy here as with previously is to get systems into the right spot first and then follow up with champions changes
• Lethal Tempo seems to have found a pretty decent spot overall, not overpowering other options in a large way, some champs are flexing around on Grasp, PTA, Fleet, etc. Still some optimization to do here
• AP has initially proven out to be quite strong with Stormsurge and Pen builds rising to the top again. We're not looking to give it a large nerf like last time, but a small tap down seems warranted. We're also going to continue to investigate some of the proc damage values with some being a little on the high end
• Additionally, Liandrys has been pretty strong for Junglers, but seems to be in a reasonable spot for other roles. Part of this is because combat is a bit slower and so the burn is relatively more powerful both against camps and champions
• Finally, ADC first item space needs work. Despite being a more powerful option in many cases, IE first has proven to be pretty unexciting and not really an item that players are excited to buy.
• We're making some changes to the first item space to make Yun Tal, Shiv and Collector more appropriate relative to each other. We know that the space needs a lot more work to make Crit vs Non-Crit builds more satisfying and clear reasons to be picked
• Grasp has landed in an interesting spot; with it showing up on a lot more champs than Tanks (especially some of the squishier fighters).
• While this is sometimes OK, it's meant to be more of a niche option and pretty expectation breaking to see some of the light fighters or ADC's with really high HP values
• We're doing some specific champ follow up on some of the fighter oriented Eclipse users, or Crit users (Yone, Yasuo) that don't have good alternatives. As mentioned earlier, we're looking to mostly tune around these item values for now

Item Systems

• After taking some deeper looks at the item systems, we think that some of the systemic effects powering Stormsurge are over the line (mainly Ludens single target damage). We're looking to keep these burst items mostly power neutral, but distribute power away from the upfront damage procs
• For Liandrys, some of the off-tank AP junglers (in particular like Udyr, Zac, Amumu) are not feeling the AP nerfs, due to the monster damage on the burn being unchanged. It's a noticeable spike in clear speed upon finishing Liandrys and while Liandrys looks good for non-junglers, it's over the line for these types of champions specifically and is being brought down
• For AD items, we're moving IE clearly out of the first and second item space by increasing the Gold cost gap to other lower cost AD Crit options like Yun Tal, Essence Reaver and Collector.
• On 14.18, the comparisons were too mathy, leading to unclear signalling on which items players are meant to buy and difficulties in balancing across many different audiences (some more savvy about item purchases than others and others blindly following item builds)

Eclipse Users

• Eclipse users like Lee, Pantheon, Riven are being compensated and tuned around this current version of Eclipse
• Mostly straightforward buffs, with Pantheon buffs skewed towards top lane with %HP levers

Collector Users

• Collector is receiving a net buff, but still, the champions received a bigger hit than what Collector is being compensated for. Buffs to Cait, Aphelios as a result
• We also know that this will be a relative buff to Jhin for normal play as Shiv is being nerfed and Collector is being buffed, so we're putting in a small compensation to Jhin who, even prior to this patch was creeping up to be one of the top champions in the role

Melee Crit

• For Yone, Yasuo and Trynd, some of their items were nerfed pretty hard, especially for regular play (Bork, IE in particular)
• In addition, even on the previous patch, Wind bros were frequently opting out of Crit
• The item system for melee crit users doesn't feel great currently and needs follow up, but in the meantime, giving them a bit of a power injection to tide them over until we do this work

Poppy/Skarner

• Poppy and Skarner have been receiving a lot of attention recently, particularly in Pro play
• Poppy in particular has really caught on in support and jungle due to a few enthusiasts and her damage values, especially with Bloodsong are feeling over the line
• Hitting her down a bit as a result
• Skarner has quickly risen to the top after his previous buffs, so we're giving him a tap down

Mundo, Morde, Shyv, Singed, Udyr, Veigar

• This catchall category of champions have either benefitted from not being as easy to burst after everyone deals less damage (looking at you Singed/Udyr/Mundo) and are finding it much easier to execute their gameplan
• Or just benefit from not being able to die as easily and get to scale for free (eg. Veigar/Mundo)
• Looking at generic tapdowns for these