League of Legends: Shaco and Garen getting major overhauls in Patch 9.20

Riot Games have revealed the champion changes coming in the next League of Legends update, Patch 9.20.

The patch is set to include the usual rounds of minor balance adjustments, but will also introduce major overhauls for the likes of Shaco and Garen.

While full official patch notes haven’t been released yet, Lead Gameplay Designer Mark ‘Riot Scruffy’ Yetter did reveal a fairly comprehensive preview of the update, revealing which champions were being targeted and detailing the upcoming reworks.

While neither Shaco nor Garen are getting a full Visual and Gameplay Update (VGU), they are receiving adjustments across their entire kit, which should significantly shake up their place in the game. Viktor is also getting more extensive changes than most champions, although not to quite the same degree as Shaco and Garen.

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Assuming Riot maintain their typical schedule, Patch 9.20 should be expected to go live on October 9. The patch will not see play at the World Championship, however, which kicks off on October 2 and will use the same version of the game throughout the event, which concludes on November 10.

The following champions are getting changes in the update:

Champion nerfs

• Qiyana
  
  • Q base damage 80-160 >>> 60-160
• Pantheon
  • Q base damage 75-235 >>> 75-215

• Blitzcrank
  • Base armor 44 >>> 40
  • Armor per lvl 4 >>> 3.5

Champion Buffs

• Ivern
  • Auto attack range 125 (melee) >>> 475 (ranged)
• Lissandra
  • Armor 20.216 >>> 22
  • Passive AP ratio 30% >>> 50%
  • W AP ratio 50% >>> 70%

• Varus
  • AD 59 >>> 61
  • Mana regen 7.34 >>> 8

• Viktor
• Shaco
  
• Garen
  

Item Buffs

• Locket of the Iron Solari
  • Shield 45-300 (by champ level) >>> 130-300

Meanwhile, more extensive changes were detailed for Viktor, Shaco, and Garen individually.

Viktor changes

General

• [BUGFIX] Hex Core stats now update upon purchase instead of waiting for Viktor’s next level up
• [BUGFIX] Aftershock Death Ray missiles now the same width as the initial missile (80>90)
• [NEW] Chaos Storm will continue chasing champions after Viktor dies

Q

• Scaling on shield :: 8% Max Mana +0.15AP >>> 30-115 per level + 0.15AP

W

• Augment :: Direct spell hits slow enemies by 20% for 1 second (does not proc on R ticks) 

R

• [NEW] Chaos storm can now move over terrain
• Tick Cadence :: 2s >>> 1s
• Number of ticks :: 3 >>> 6
• Damage per tick :: 130/210/290 + 85% AP >>> 65/105/145 + 45% AP
• Augment Bonus Movement Speed :: 20% >>> 25%
  • (Min 200 >>> 250, Max 300 >>> 375)

Shaco Changes

Shaco is receiving the most significant changes, with multiple adjustments across every aspect of his kit. Riot Scruff also revealed the design philosophy behind the changes to each ability, giving a sense of what Riot are intending for the new version of the champion.

Base Stats

• AD :: 66 >>> 63
• AD/Lv :: 3.5 >>> 3

Backstab

• Goal: Backstab should be a thematically cohesive amplifying effect that informs how Shaco positions and uses his spells without dictating his entire pattern and build.
• Shaco’s basic attacks deal an additional 10-25 (scaling with level) (+0.15 bAD) damage from behind. This damage can crit.
• Two-Shiv Poison deals an additional 15-50 (scaling with level) (+0.1 AP) damage from behind.

Deceive (Q)

• Goal: Deceive should be a functional cobmat tool at 1 point, but remain valuable to rank up.
  
• Stealth duration :: 1.5/2.25/3/3.75/4.5s >>> 2.5/2.75/3/3.25/3.5s
• Cooldown :: 16/15.5/15/14.5/14s >>> 12/11.5/11/10.5/10s
• [REMOVED] Cooldown is no longer reduced by 2.5 seconds upon triggering Deceive’s bonus damage.
• Damage :: 10/20/30/40/50 (+0.4 bAD) >>> 25/35/45/55/65 (+0.25 bAD)
  • This damage can crit
  • When striking from behind, Deceive is guaranteed to crit for 130% damage

• AP ratio removed

Jack in the Box (W)

• Goal: Improve Shaco’s jungle clear QoL so he feels at home in the jungle ecosystem.
• Now fires at all nearby targets.
• Single-target damage :: 35/50/65/80/95 (+0.2 AP) (unchanged)
• AoE Damage :: 15/20/25/30/35 (+0.1 AP)
• Now fears non-champions for 2s
  • Minions and monsters can move at a maximum of 60 Movespeed
  • Champions can move at a maximum of 100 Movespeed

• Still deals 50% damage to turrets

Two-Shiv Poison (E)

• Goal: Two-Shiv Poison should feel like a functional spell at all points in the game (early damage up). Open up non-lethality builds and allow AP Shaco to scale.
• Damage Type :: Physical >>> Magic
• Damage :: 55/80/105/130/155 (+0.6/0.75/0.9/1.05/1.2 bAD) (+0.75 AP) >>> 70/95/120/145/170 (+0.8 bAD) (+0.6 AP)
• Execute :: 0-50% increased damage based on missing health >>> 50% increased damage on targets below 30% health.

Hallucinate (R)

• Goal: Hallucinate feels like a powerful tool for both builds, especially with clever use of the clone explosion.
  
• Boxes trigger immediately, fearing enemies at the clone’s death location and firing on the nearest enemies.
  • Note: Damage/ratio are down due to the dramatically increased reliability on the boxes. Overall effect of an R explosion is generally up when this is taken into account.

• Damage :: 200/300/400 (+1.0 AP) >>> 150/225/300 (+0.7 AP)
• Box Single-Target Damage :: 25/50/75 (+0.15 AP) (unchanged)
• Box AoE Damage :: 10/20/30 (+0.1 AP)
• Fear Duration :: 0.75/1/1.25s >>> 1s

Garen Changes

P – Perseverance

• [REMOVED] No longer ever stopped by non-epic monster damage and no longer doubles below (25/50)% max health
• [ADJUSTED] Regeneration amount :: 2/8% max health per 5 seconds at levels 1/11 >>> 1.5% – 10.1% max health per 5 seconds from levels 1-18.
• [SIMPLIFIED] Combat Cooldown :: Turns on after 9/4 seconds >>> iterrupted after 7 seconds

Q – Decisive Strike

• [BUFFED] Scales with attack speed and behaves more similarly to a basic attack
  

W – Courage

• [NERFED] Resists per hit :: 0.33 (max 50) >>> 0.25 (max 30)
• [ADJUSTED] Grants 60% DR and Tenacity for the firsts 0.75s >>> Grants a shield for 10% Max Health and 60% Tenacity for the first 0.75s.

E – Judgement

• [ADJUSTED] Total Ticks of Damage :: 5-10 (by level) >>> 7 (+1 per 17% attack speed from items and levels ) – Ceiling on animation scaling? It starts to skip when it gets past ~15
• [ADJUSTED] Damage per Tick :: 14/18/22/26/30 (+36 – 40% tAD) >>> 8/12/16/20/24 (+0-8 based on charLevel) (+32 – 40% tAD)
• [ADJUSTED] Deals bonus damage :: +33% to isolated enemy >>> +25% to nearest enemy
• [ADJUSTED] Spins before Shred :: 4 >>> 6
• [NEW] Grants stacks of Conqueror

R – Demacian Justice

• [REMOVED] No longer has the villainy passive
• [BUFFED] Grants vision of the target for 1 second (can no longer be cancelled from losing vision)
• [ADJUSTED] Damage :: 175/350/525 + 28.6%/33.3%/40% Missing Health Magic Damage >>> 150/300/450 + 20/25/30% Missing Health True Damage

Base Stats

• [BUFFED] Attack Speed Per Level :: 2.9% >>> 3%
• [CLEANUP] Health :: 616.28 + 84.25 / Level >>> 620 + 84 / Level