League of Legends patch 14.2 notes: Matchmaking, stat shard changes, champion updates and more

The next patch for League of Legends brings about a huge update to matchmaking, stat shard changes, and further updates to the game’s balance.

Riot Games said in the notes for patch 14.2 that it is pretty happy with how season 14 and patch 14.1 landed in terms of balance. However, the developer did concede that burst damage in the game is way up and that the biggest offenders of the trend’s rise, Stormsurg and Bloodsong, are receiving nerfs.

The developer is also making changes to stat shard and target adjustments to items and champions to further reduce the amount of burst damage in League of Legends at the moment.

When does League Patch 14.2 go live?

League of Legends Patch 14.2 is expected to go live on January 24, 2024, according to Riot’s patch schedule. Patch 14.2 will head to Oceanic servers first, with other servers slowly receiving it throughout the day.

Here are the key timings of Patch 14.2 for your server:

• 3 AM PT (NA)
• 5 AM GMT (EUW)
• 3 AM CET (EUNE)
• 8 AM KST (Korea)

There’ll be a few hours of downtime when patching begins, and matchmaking queues will be taken offline about three hours beforehand.

What’s changing in LoL Patch 14.2?

Stat Shard Changes

Riot is changing stat shards so that players can make more “strategically compelling choices” and are not punished when making a wrong selection. The developer is adding more in-depth shards that are less likely to punish players like non-damage and non-durability options in the Flex row.

This will see changes made to Adaptive Force and defensive shards.

MMR and Matchmaking

League Patch 14.2 will also see changes to the number of game players who will receive demotion protection from tier boundaries. Riot has also fixed a bug where some of the players in Diamond 1 would receive negative LP gains.

League of Legends patch 14.3 notes

Champions

Smolder

The Champions will be added to the game on January 31, 2024.

Ahri

E: Charm

• Cooldown: 14 seconds ⇒ 12 seconds

Blitzcrank

Base starts

• Base Armor: 40 ⇒ 37

E: Power Fist

• Damage 200% Total AD (+25% AP) > 180% Total AD (+25% AP)

Briar

Passive: Crimson Curse

• Healing Amplification: 0.5% per 1% missing health ⇒ 0.4% (+0.025% per 100 bonus health) per 1% missing health
• Bleed Tick Rate: 1 second ⇒ 0.5 seconds (Note: Total bleed damage and duration are unchanged.)

Q: Head Rush

• Damage: 60/90/120/150/180 (+80% bonus AD) physical damage ⇒
  60/90/120/150/180 (+80% bonus AD) (+60% AP) magic damage
• Defensive Reductions: 10/12.5/15/17.5/20% armor reduction ⇒ 10/12.5/15/17.5/20% armor and magic resistance reduction
• Healthy Hits: Q now applies on-hit effects and lifesteal

W: Blood Frenzy

• Bite Heal: 36/42/48/54/60% of damage dealt ⇒ 25/30/35/40/45% of damage dealt (+5% of Briar’s maximum health)
• Less Critical Strikes: W no longer critically strikes for 5-65(+5% AD) bonus damage. (Note: W can still critically strike like a basic attack for 100% total AD.)

Camille

Base Stats:

• Cooldown: 20/15/10 seconds (levels 1/7/13) ⇒ 18/14/10 seconds (levels 1/7/13)

Q: Precision Protocol

• Bonus Movement Speed: 20/25/30/35/40% ⇒ 30/32.5/35/37.5/40%

Darius

Q: Decimate

• Mana Cost: 30/35/40/45/50 mana ⇒ 25/30/35/40/45 mana
• Healing based on Missing Health per Target: 13% per target (up to a maximum of 39%) ⇒ 15% per target (up to a maximum of 45%)

E: Apprehend

• Passive Armor Penetration: 15/20/25/30/35% ⇒ 20/25/30/35/40%

Ezreal

Q: Mystic Shot

• Damage: 20/45/70/95/120 (+130% AD) (+15% AP) ⇒ 20/45/70/95/120 (+135% AD) (+15% AP)

W: Essence Flux

• Damage: 80/135/190/245/300 (+60% bonus AD) (+70/75/80/85/90% AP) ⇒ 80/135/190/245/300 (+100% bonus AD) (+70/75/80/85/90% AP)

R: Trueshot Barrage

• Damage: 350/500/650 (+100% bonus AD) (+90% AP) ⇒ 350/525/700 (+120% bonus AD) (+90% AP)

Fizz

Q: Urchin Strike

• Magic Damage: 10/25/40/55/70 (+50% AP) ⇒ 10/25/40/55/70 (+45% AP) (Note: 100% AD physical damage and on-hit effectiveness unchanged.)

W: Seastone Trident

• Total Magic Damage Over Time: 20/30/40/50/60 (+40% AP) ⇒ 20/30/40/50/60 (+30% AP)

Garen

W: Courage

• 30% Damage Reduction Duration: 2/2.75/3.5/4.25/5 ⇒ 4 seconds at all ranks

E: Judgement

• Damage per Spin: 4/8/12/16/20 (+0−8.2 (based on level)) (+32/34/36/38/40% AD) ⇒ 4/8/12/16/20 (+0−8.2 (based on level)) (+36/37/38/39/40% AD)

Gragas

Base Stats:

• Armor Growth: 4.8 ⇒ 5
• Health Growth: 109 ⇒ 115

R: Explosive Cask

• Cooldown: 120/100/80 seconds ⇒ 100/85/70 seconds

Gwen

Passive: A Thousand Cuts

• Damage: 1% (+0.65% per 100 AP) of the target’s maximum health ⇒ 1% (+0.72% per 100 AP) of the target’s maximum health

Hwei

E: Subject: Torment

• Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11 seconds ⇒ 12/11.5/11/10.5/10 seconds

EQ: Grim Visage

• Flee Duration: 1 second at all ranks ⇒ 1/1.125/1.25/1.375/1.5 seconds

Illaoi

Base Stats:

• Base Mana: 300 ⇒ 350
• Mana Growth: 50 ⇒ 60
• Health Growth: 109 ⇒ 115

Passive: Prophet of an Elder God

• Missing Health Heal upon Tentacle Hit: 4.5% of missing health ⇒ 5% of missing health

Jax

E: Counter Strike

• Minimum Damage: 55/85/115/145/175 (+70% AP) (+4% of target’s maximum health) ⇒ 40/70/100/130/160 (+70% AP) (+3.5% of target’s maximum health) (Note: Maximum damage values are still 2x the minimum damage values.)

Karma

Base Stats:

• Base Health: 604 ⇒ 630

Q: Inner Flame

• Damage: 70/120/170/220/270 (+50% AP) ⇒ 70/120/170/220/270 (+70% AP)

E: Inspire

• Shield Strength: 80/120/160/200/240 (+45% AP) ⇒ 80/125/170/215/260 (+60% AP)

Karthus

Q: Lay Waste

• Damage: 43/61/79/97/115 (+35% AP) ⇒ 45/65/85/105/125 (+35% AP)

W: Wall of Pain

• Magic Resist Reduction: 15% ⇒ 25%

Rumble

Q: Flamespitter

• Damage: 135/150/165/180/195 (+110% AP) (+6/7/8/9/10% of target’s maximum health) ⇒ 125/140/155/170/185 (+110% AP) (+6/7/8/9/10% of target’s maximum health)

E: Electro Harpoon

• Magic Resist Reduction: 12/14/16/18/20% ⇒ 10/12/14/16/18%

Shen

Base Stats:

• Base Attack Damage: 60 ⇒ 64

Teemo

E: Toxic Shot

• Magic Damage On-Hit: 14/25/36/47/58 (+30% AP) ⇒ 14/25/36/47/58 (+25% AP)

R: Noxious Trap

• Charge Charge Time: 30025/20 seconds ⇒ 35/30/25 seconds

Twisted Fate

Base Stats:

• Base Attack Speed: 0.651 >>> 0.625 (Note: Attack Speed ratio unchanged.)
• Attack Speed Growth: 3.22% >>> 3%

Passive: Loaded Dice

• Nat 20: Critical strikes now roll an additional 6 sided die that is weighted towards 1 rather than 6.

Q: Wild Cards

• Damage: 60/100/140/180/220 (+90% AP) >>> 60/100/140/180/220 (+90% AP) (+50% bonus AD)

W: Pick a Card

• Blue Crits: 0.575 critical strike multiplier added (increases damage by up to 57.5% based on critical strike chance)
• Red Crits: 0.350 critical strike multiplier added (increases damage by up to 35% based on critical strike chance)
• Gold Crits: 0.250 critical strike multiplier added (increases damage by up to 25% based on critical strike chance)
• QoL Adjustment: Locking in a card now resets Twisted Fate’s auto attack timer
• QoL Adjustment: Pick a Card now affects Inhibitors and the Nex

E: Stacked Deck

• Bonus Attack Speed: 10/17.5/25/32.5/40% >>> 10/22.5/35/47.5/60%
• Damage: 65/90/115/140/165 (+50% AP) >>> 65/90/115/140/165 (+50% AP) (+75% bonus AD)
• QoL Adjustment: Stacked Deck now affects towers at 50% effectiveness
• QoL Adjustment: TF’s deck now becomes fully stacked on spawn

Veigar

Base Stats:

• Base Health: 550 ⇒ 580

Items

Bloodsong

• Expose Weakness Increased Damage: 12% (melee) / 8% (ranged) ⇒ 10% (melee) / 6% (ranged)

Frozen Heart

• Total Cost: 2300 ⇒ 2400

Horizon Focus

• Passive – Hypershot and Focus Range Requirement: 700 ⇒ 600
• Passive – Focus AoE Reveal Radius: 1200 units ⇒ 1400 units

Phantom Dancer

• Item Recipe: Hearthbound Axe + Cloak of Agility + 1000 gold ⇒ Zeal + Rectrix + 800 gold

Riftmaker

• Total Cost: 3000 ⇒ 3100

Steel Sigil

• Total Cost: 1200 ⇒ 1100 (Note: Due to the gold decrease to Steel Sigil, the combine costs for items building out of of it such as Death’s Dance and Guardian Angel have had their combine costs increased by 100, but total cost is unchanged.)

Stormsurge

• Ability Power: 100 ⇒ 90
• Passive – Squall Damage: 100-200 (+30% AP) (melee) / 75-150 (+22.5% AP) (ranged) ⇒ 100-200 (+20% AP) (melee) / 75-150 (+15% AP) (ranged)

Stridebreaker

• Attack Speed: 25% ⇒ 30%
• Total Cost: 3100 ⇒ 3000

Support Items

• One At A Time: The gold penalty now applies globally to anyone who has a support item in their inventory. Additionally, every champion with a support item now contributes towards hitting the minion penalty

Runes

Unflinching

• Unflinching now provides 2-10 (based on level) Armor and Magic Resist while crowd-controlled by an enemy champion, lingering for 2 seconds once no longer affected by crowd control.
• Unflinching no longer grants Tenacity and Slow resistance.

Bounty Adjustments

• Bounty Gold: 20-80% of a player’s bounty is reduced depending on team’s gold deficit

Infernal Drake Adjustments

• Ability Haste per Infernal Cinder: 0.3 ⇒ 0.6

Gameplay Quality Improvements

• We don’t believe that Kayn should be able to accelerate passive orb gain through runes. We’ve previously adjusted this with First Strike previously and are now doing the same for Aery now. As such, Kayn’s Passive no longer works with Aery.
• Rhaast’s R now heals even if the unit dies during the channel.
• Taric E now ghosts units during the cast.
• Rammus will properly play his AA animation when his W ends.
• Kled Q is no longer variable duration, changing from 1.75-2 seconds to 1.75 flat.
• Evelynn now tracks enemies falling under ult threshold much more often.
• Jayce Hammer E now uses regular knockback instead of fixed distance upon the spell being cast.
• Evelynn W can no longer target small monsters (Medium Krug and larger only). It already cannot target minions.
• Heimerdinger Q and R+Q turrets now update their stats every 1 second, reflecting level-ups, rank-ups, and AP purchases. They no longer snapshot their stats when summoned.
• Teemo’s default adaptive force stat changed: Attack Damage >>> Ability Power
• Yorick’s in-games runes will now replace Glacial Augment with First Strike and Aftershock with Grasp of the Undying. This will affect 0.06% of Yorick players.
• Gragas W now applies against turrets and other structures, dealing 50% normal damage.
• Gragas W now applies damage in an AoE when targeting structures and includes them in its AoE when targeting units nearby.
• Kennen will now respawn with W fully stacked.
• Ornn R and R2 will no longer be able to target allies or the minimap.
• Cho’Gath R now grants +2.5 cast range per stack, maximum +25 range at 10 stacks.
• Cho’Gath R attack range per stack increased: 4.62 / 6.15 / 7.69 ⇒ 4.7 / 6.2 / 7.7
• Cho’Gath R tooltip now displays the range increases if you hold Shift for more info.
• Fizz W now applies to structures at 50% damage. The DoT does not apply to inhibitors.
• Jax W and R now apply to structures at 50% damage.
• Lulu’s Pix moves faster, especially when further away from its target.
• Vayne Q-empowered autos cannot be accidentally canceled.
• Kog’Maw gains an AA range indicator during his W (like Lethal Tempo/RFC).
• Nami R will strike behind her on cast to mirror visuals and similar spells.
• Trundle Q has 25 bonus range.
• Volibear Q has 25 bonus range.
• Nocturne Q trail has 25 units more forgiveness before you count as outside of it.
• Nocturne Q trail now attaches to large and epic monsters in addition to champions.
• Brand’s Passive now damages every 0.25 seconds instead of every 1.05 seconds.
• Nilah W now buffers out of other spells.
• Nilah W can now be cast during other spell windups.
• Nilah EQ is very inconsistent and often doesn’t fire Q—adjusted to be more consistent.
• Wards that would be placed beside a brush are now slightly nudged into them.
• Ziggs’ W should be able to be activated while rooted etc.
• Swain’s Passive will now be tracked in his tooltip and icon.
• Poppy’s buckler will now bounce back to her if her target is dead when it hits.
• Akali’s Passive now extends itself very slightly if attacks are taken in the last few frames before the buff expires.
• Shaco’s clone will now attack the nearest visible enemy champion within 1500 range of it when dead.
• Shaco’s clone will now stop to cast the fake W and will only do so within 300 units of Shaco prime.
• Shaco clone will stop to cast a fake E and will only do so within 575 units of Shaco prime’s E target, this also fakes a missile.

Other Changes

• Scryer’s Bloom will no longer reveal champion pets for longer than champions, as that was unintentionally revealing those characters for longer.
• Shifted Tiamat and Ravenous Hydra actives to use attack timers if those are lower than their cast time.
• Momentum items (Dead Man’s Plate, Trailblazer) will no longer lose Momentum when attacking traps or plants.
• A number of champions properly have cooldowns listed on their passives.

ARAM Balance Changes

Nerfs:

• Aphelios: Damage Dealt: 105% ⇒ 100%
• Gwen: Damage Dealt: 105% ⇒ 100%
• Mordekaiser: Damage Taken: 100% ⇒ 105%
• Kayle: Damage Taken: 100% ⇒ 110%
• Teemo: R Maximum Charges: 3/4/5 (levels 6/11/16) ⇒ 2/3/4 (levels 6/11/16)

ARAM Surrender Adjustments:

• Early Surrender at 8 minutes: Removed (Note: Normal surrender time unchanged.)