League of Legends patch 11.16 notes: Sona rework, Shaco & Jhin buffs, Coven skins

League of Legends patch 11.16 is here! Dexerto has all the LoL notes & changes from the August 11 update, including the long-planned Sona rework, Jhin and Shaco buffs, shock changes for the Fleet Footwork rune, new Coven skins, and plenty more.

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• Long-awaited Sona rework finally arrives
• Fleet Footwork rune get shock 11.16 changes
• New Coven, Old Gods skins revealed

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After a “major shake-up” last update, Riot Games are winding things back in a little as League of Legends settles in the middle of the year.

That doesn’t mean there’s not plenty of balance changes though; Jhin, Shaco, Maokai, and plenty more are on the menu buffs-wise, while Lee Sin, Diana, and Xin Zhao were all nerfed a little after their period of dominance. The long-awaited Sona rework also finally dropped this update, after a half-year of waiting.

In the runes department, Fleet Footwork was handed new buffs.

There’s also a spooky element to the August 11 update ⁠— five Coven skins and two “Old Gods” cosmetics have now been released in the LoL cycle.

Here’s all the details on League of Legends patch 11.16, which went live on Tuesday.

What’s in League of Legends patch 11.16?

Sona gets Season 11 update

Sona had center-stage taken away from her in League of Legends by both Seraphine and this year’s massive item overhaul. Now though, the Maven of the Strings is set to make an encore, with Riot buffing her in a hefty rework slated for the very next Season 11 update.

The major problem Riot has faced is Sona is a weaker version of Seraphine. Her ultimate isn’t as powerful, her abilities do less while costing more, and in basically every situation, the Piltovan K/DA star is better than Demacia’s finest.

“Preseason’s item changes have not been great to Sona,” dev Jeevun Sidhu revealed. “At the same time, she is supposed to feel rewarded to play with allies, but her mana restore mechanics are more framed as punishments.”

• Read More: Sona rework abilities, release date revealed

Sidhu added: “What we’re hoping for here is to buff Sona and cement her hyperscaling fantasy in a way that doesn’t solely rely on needing lane farm.”

Riot forcing Karma role swap

Karma is one of League of Legends’ most flexible enchanters, seeing play in top, mid, and support.

However, a new set of changes in Season 11 should see the Enlightened One fulfil her supportive fantasy more with big early game nerfs.

Support Karma dominates solo queue with 91.2% of her playrate and a 47.73% win rate in LoL patch 11.15 according to stats site LoLalytics. Top and mid lane are equally split at 4.1%, with a similar 47% win rate.

Her Q, Inner Flame, now does less damage early and has a longer cooldown. However, a buff to its bonus damage with Mantra, and a lower mana cost, means in late-game fights, spamming it will hit like a truck with a AP-heavy build.

• Read More: Riot is forcing Karma back into support role

Her shield ⁠— a key tool for her lane power ⁠— is being gutted with less move speed to get away from ganks. It will shield for more, but it’s an overall nerf.

Coven, Old Gods skins

Riot Games have shipped several spooky League of Legends skin lines in the August update, including five “Coven” cosmetics, and two “Old Gods” skins.

These new alternate skins were originally all Coven-themed, before players asked Riot to swap Malphite and Warwick to more fitting styles. This is because a “Coven” is usually just for witches, and didn’t fit the bruisers’ updated designs.

Here’s all the new LoL skins:

• Ahri (Coven) ⁠— 1350 RP
• Ashe (Coven) ⁠— 1350 RP
• Cassiopeia (Coven) ⁠— 1350 RP
• Evelynn (Coven) ⁠— 1820 RP
• LeBlanc (Coven) ⁠— Prestige
• Malphite (Old Gods) ⁠— 1350 RP
• Warwick (Old Gods) ⁠— 1350 RP

Each of the new League of Legends skins comes with nine chromas, except Evelynn’s legendary cosmetic; the Agony’s Embrace is getting just six for hers.

The new League of Legends update dropped on August 11. You can find the full patch 11.16 notes below, courtesy of Riot Games.

League of Legends patch 11.16 notes

Champions

Diana

• Passive monster damage 300 ⇒ 250%.

Fiora

• E cooldown 11-5 ⇒ 11-7.

Jarvan IV

• Passive current health damage 8% ⇒ 10%.
• R bonus attack damage ratio 150% ⇒ 180%.

Jhin

• W damage 50-190 ⇒ 60-200.
• R minimum damage attack damage ratio 20% ⇒ 25%.

Karma

• See full Karma changes here.

Lee Sin

• W omnivamp 10-30% ⇒ 5-25%.

Lulu

• W cooldown 15-11 ⇒ 16-12.
• R cooldown 110-80 ⇒ 120-80.

Maokai

• Passive heal 5-13% ⇒ 7-15%.
• E damage 25-125 ⇒ 20-120, ability power ratio 0.8% per 100 ability power ⇒ 0.7%.

Nunu

• Move speed 340 ⇒ 345.
• E total damage 54% ability power ⇒ 90% ability power.

Shaco

• Bugfixes, and reverting Q showing in Fog of War.

Sivir

• W attack damage ratio 30-70% ⇒ 30-90%.

Sona

• See full Sona changes here.

Tahm Kench

• Passive damage 12-60 ⇒ 8-60.
• Q healing 15-35 ⇒ 10-30.

Vladimir

• Passive each point of ability power grants 1.4 ⇒ 1.6 health.
• Grant 1 additional ability power per 40 ⇒ 30 bonus health.

Xin Zhao

• Base attack damage 66 ⇒ 63.

Ziggs

• Mana 420 ⇒ 480 (11.14 revert).
• E damage per mind 40-180 ⇒ 30-190, slow 30-50% ⇒ 10-50%.

Items

Dark Seal

• Ability power per stack 5 ⇒ 4.
• Stacks lost on death 4 ⇒ 5.

Redemption

• Heal 180-360 ⇒ 200-400.
• Cooldown 120s⇒ 90s.

Runes

Fleet Footwork

• Delayed a patch.

Ranked Changes

• Updated third queue dodge penalty — A third penalty tier for queue-dodging has been added. Players that dodge three times in a 24-hour period will experience a 12-hour MOBA queue lockout and a 10 LP loss (the first two dodge penalties are unchanged). You can read more about it here.
• New Friends Leaderboard — You always suspected you were better than your friends, but now you can find out for sure! We’ve added a new social leaderboard inside Ranked Summoner’s Rift lobbies. You can access this leaderboard by clicking on the new leaderboard button in the upper right corner of the Solo/Duo or Flex lobby.
• Flex queue — Master and above Flex players can no longer queue with other Flex players rated below Platinum.

Skins

Coven Ahri

They came to Ahri at the first stirrings of dusk — the laughter of the Half-Light Jackal, ever stalking the world as it turned towards its own inevitable entropy. A vicious predator and powerful witch, Ahri sucks the life from all she lures close, siphoning it towards her lord within the gloom.

Coven Ashe

They came to Ashe in a bone-deep chill — the frost of the jet-black Ibex, entombing the world in ice. She descended the mountain and brought a harrowing winter with her… but that is not the only thing that followed Ashe into the night. The mountain itself rumbles.

Coven Cassiopeia

They came to Cassiopeia as a shadow within the fog — the shape of the Silver Cobra, slithering up from the numberless graves of the ancient dead. She now stalks the ruling families of humankind, her sculpture garden full of wayward souls who strayed too far from the safety of castle walls, now eternally frozen in the throes of terror.

Coven Evelynn

The covens of the south join their sisters for the great resurrection, as old things stir once more, and old grudges are at last repaid in full. Evelynn, daughter of the Great Harrier, gladly joins her sisters for the darkness to come — a trail of brutality and death always in her wake.

Coven LeBlanc Prestige Edition

Resurrected by the Black Crane, LeBlanc has rejoined her sisters with renewed purpose — yet the gifts of the Old Gods do not come without a price. As her body twists into new and strange forms, LeBlanc has discovered that she is the vessel through which her own dead god will return, and that it has granted her impossible power.

Old God Malphite

Appearing to mortals as a jet-black Ibex, Malphite was an Old God of the mountain slain by the Eclipse order and cast down onto the rocks below. Death did not claim him, but the mountain did– and now he rises in its hulking earthen form, the land itself twisted with hatred and consumed by new and terrible hungers.

Old God Warwick

Once known as Father Wolf, Warwick roamed the wood and reveled in moonlight’s bloody hunt. The Eclipse Order thought to slay him in his den and end his barbarity — but death means nothing to Old Gods, and he did not stay down. Father Wolf howls into the night once more, now slavering for the taste of human flesh.

LoL patch 11.16 bugfixes & Quality of Life changes

• Fixed a bug where Warwick’s R – Infinite Duress cancels mid-jump if the target flashes
• Champions can now acquire blue buff if they kill the Blue Sentinel while in a zombie state, such as Sion’s Passive- Glory in Death (this is already true for red buff)
• Fixed a bug where players would lose their red or blue buffs when executing to non-epic jungle monsters
• Fixed a bug where a champion’s bounty value did not reset back to 0 in the scoreboard even after their bounty is claimed
• Sandshrike’s Claw’s tooltip counter for damage dealt now properly displays the amount of damage done to the enemy
• Fixed a bug where, if Steel Shoulderguards are refunded or sold before purchasing and activating Relic Shield, buffs for both items appear in the buff bar
• Solved a bug where a champion was able to teleport to a destroyed tower if the teleport channel bar has 0.3 seconds remaining
• Fixed a bug where Tryndamere’s W – Mocking Shout would not contribute towards Eclipse’s Ever Rising Moon if the enemy champion was facing him
• Umbral Glaive is no longer able to deal bonus damage to a ward that is invulnerable (due to being teleported to).