League of Legends update 9.15 patch notes: Galio buffs, Qiyana nerfs, more

The latest major League of Legends update, Patch 9.15, feature a variety of champion balance changes, including updates for new champion Qiyana and further adjustments for Swain and Poppy.

Riot stated in Patch 9.14, which introduced some new counter mechanics that they don’t intend to make any major fundamental changes to the game until the end of the season, but they are continuing to keep on top of champion balance.

The latest patch retreads some familiar territory for recent updates, once again targeting the likes of Swain and Poppy for balance adjustments. Meanwhile, new champion Qiyana is also getting a minor nerf to her Audacity range, while the cooldown on her ultimate now scales with level.

The patch also introduces some buffs to Galio, who got hit so hard in the previous patch that his pick rate dropped as low as 0.6%, but whether the changes to his passive cooldown and Justice Punch damage will be enough for the champion to really recover remains to be seen.

• Read more: All abilities leaked for Pantheon rework

The patch also heralds the arrival of the new PROJECT skins for Pyke, Irelia, Warwick, Jinx, and Akali, which will be released on August 1.

The full notes for the 9.15 update can be found below.

League of Legends Patch 9.15 notes

Champions

Evelynn

Q cooldown refund on monsters decreased.

We’re slowing down Evelynn’s clear speed especially in the early game.

Q – Hate Spike

COOLDOWN REFUND :: 60% when hitting monsters >>> 50% when hitting monsters

Galio

Passive cooldown scales with CDR; damage increased. E damage increased.

We’ve pulled a lot of power out of Galio’s more reliable combos. But now he’ll be rewarded with a higher payoff if he’s able to land more inconsistent abilities like his E.

Passive – Colossal Smash

[NEW] COOLDOWN :: 5 seconds at all ranks >>> 5 seconds, affected by CDR

DAMAGE :: 15-180 (levels 1-18) >>> 15-200 (levels 1-18)

E – Justice Punch

BASE DAMAGE :: 80/120/160/200/240 >>> 90/130/170/210/250

Graves

E armor per stack increased.

Graves is underperforming across the board right now, so we’re buffing his defenses to help him survive better in the early game and generally be more comfortable brawling.

E – Quickdraw

ARMOR PER STACK :: 5/7.5/10/12.5/15 >>> 8/11/14/17/20

Karma

Empowered E shield decreased.

The 9.13 revert on Karma’s movement speed wasn’t enough to knock her pro presence down to healthy levels so we’re giving her another nerf.

Empowered E – Defiance

BONUS SHIELD :: 30/90/150/210 (+0.6 ability power) >>> 25/80/135/190 (+0.5 ability power)

Kha’Zix

Q base damage increased.

You don’t crush bug. Bug crushes you.

Q – Taste Their Fear

BASE DAMAGE :: 50/75/100/125/150 >>> 60/85/110/135/160

LeBlanc

E base root damage increased. 

Landing the root on LeBlanc’s E doesn’t carry as much weight as it should in the late game. We’re matching the reward to its risk. 

E – Ethereal Chains

BASE ROOT DAMAGE :: 60/90/120/150/180 >>> 70/110/150/190/230

Lee Sin

Q base damage increased.

Lee Sin is underperforming at most levels of solo queue play, and while he’s more present at higher skill brackets, his clear weaknesses and counters make him risky to pick even where he is showing up. We’re giving Lee a slight bump which should help solo queue players across the board.

Q – Resonating Strike/Sonic Wave

SONIC WAVE BASE DAMAGE :: 50/75/100/125/150 >>> 55/80/105/130/155

RESONATING STRIKE MINIMUM DAMAGE :: 50/75/100/125/150 >>> 55/80/105/130/155

RESONATING STRIKE MAXIMUM DAMAGE :: 100/150/200/250/300 >>> 110/160/210/260/310

Lissandra

Base health and health growth increased. R AP ratio increased. 

Helping Liss across the board with more early game defense and late game damage. 

Base Stats

HEALTH :: 518 >>> 550

HEALTH GROWTH :: 87 >>> 90

R – Frozen Tomb

DAMAGE RATIO :: 60% ability power >>> 75% ability power

Lucian

R base damage increased later. 

Lucian is fine in the early and mid game, but he could be more useful in the late game. Buffing his ultimate so he doesn’t completely fall off. 

R – The Culling

BASE DAMAGE :: 20/35/50 per shot >>> 20/40/60 per shot

Malphite

Q slow increased. W base cleave damage increased. 

Our 9.14 changes were intended to be a moderate buff, but we were a bit too cautious and undershot as a result. We’re giving him some more power, alongside some bugfixes.

Q – Seismic Shard

SLOW :: 15/20/25/30/35% >>> 20/25/30/35/40%

W – Thunderclap

BASE CLEAVE DAMAGE :: 20/35/50/65/80 >>> 30/45/60/75/90

BUGFIX :: Cleave damage will now trigger Hunter’s Talisman 

R – Unstoppable Force 

BUGFIX :: Now casts at max range if used outside of max range 

Poppy

W movement speed increased. 

Last patch’s set of changes actually reduced Poppy’s solo queue performance slightly, so we’re buffing her a tiny bit so things end up more net neutral. 

W – Steadfast Presence

MOVEMENT SPEED :: 35% >>> 40%

Qiyana

E no longer damages targets outside of its range. R cooldown now scales. Health packs in ARAM now grants her River. 

We adjusted Qiyana’s E so that its range reads more accurately when targets Flash or dash away. Now even if she cast it within range at the time, Audacity shouldn’t damage enemies if they’re visually out of range by the time it lands. We’re also bumping up her R cooldown to more standard levels now that players have had some time to learn to use it.

W – Terrashape

RIVER ELEMENT IN ARAM :: Qiyana can now empower her blade with River from health packs in Howling Abyss 

E – Audacity

DAMAGE RANGE :: Now only damages targets if within 250 range at the end of the dash (Enemies that dash or Flash away can now dodge Audacity’s damage)

R – Supreme Display of Talent

COOLDOWN :: 100 seconds >>> 120/100/80 seconds

Rumble

W shield decreased. 

Rumble shouldn’t be able to shrug off early damage so easily. 

W – Scrap Shield

BASE SHIELD :: 100/130/160/190/220 >>> 80/110/140/170/200

BASE EMPOWERED SHIELD :: 150/195/240/285/330 >>> 120/165/210/255/300

Soraka

Q base damage increased. 

Soraka’s on the weaker side now compared to other enchanters. We’re giving back some damage on her Q, especially since we increased its cooldown. 

Q – Starcall

BASE DAMAGE :: 60/95/130/165/200 >>> 75/110/145/180/215

R – Wish

BUGFIX :: Soraka’s R – Wish now properly goes on cooldown when she dies while casting

Swain

Q range reverted to pre-9.14 range. 

Reverting back to the old range on Swain’s Q since it resulted in awkward situations where he would miss more frequently after pulling somebody rooted from a max range E. 

Q – Death’s Hand

BOLT RANGE :: 625 >>> 725

Syndra

R damage per sphere increased late. 

As a match progresses, it gets harder and harder for Syndra to get into ult range of the target she’s after. We’re improving the late-game payout she gets when she does manage to reach that priority target. 

R – Unleashed Power

BASE DAMAGE PER SPHERE :: 90/135/180 >>> 90/140/190

Vayne

E wall hit damage increased; damage now applied instantly.

Landing Vayne’s E is one of the most skill-expressive portions of her kit, so we’re increasing the payout and satisfaction for when she pulls it off. Also, we’re fixing a problem that’s mostly  annoying when Vayne tries to last hit. Condemn’s damage now applies instantly to targets so that minions that should have died from her Condemn will do so immediately instead of staying alive as they’re moving back (and risk getting hit by a turret shot). 

E – Condemn 

WALL HIT DAMAGE :: 100% of Condemn’s damage >>> 150% of Condemn’s damage

DAMAGE TIMING :: Now deals Condemn’s damage instantly, instead of after the knockback

Xerath

R range flattened. 

We’re amping up Xerath’s identity as a long-ranged artillery mage by letting him access his most unique facet (his crazy range) earlier in the game. 

R – Rite of the Arcane

RANGE :: 3200/4400/5600 >>> 5000

Victory/Defeat Banners

Mac users, rejoice! At the end of every game, you’ll no longer see static Victory and Defeat banners and instead, get new animated versions that are shipping to both Mac and PC. In addition, the banner animations will now scale properly with the visual quality selected in the game options.

Legacy Cursor Removal

Much like the beloved VHS player that you could no longer keep in your storage closet, we’re removing the option to use the old bronze gauntlet from the game.

Bugfixes

• Draven’s unempowered basic attacks now properly deal damage in Mordekaiser’s R – Realm of Death
• Kayn’s R – Umbral Trespass now properly goes on cooldown if the target dies while Kayn has infested them
• Lux’s R – Final Spark cooldown timer now properly appears when she dies during cast
• Fixed a bug where Irelia’s Flawless Duet and Zoe’s E – Sleepy Trouble Bubble would target incorrect positions in Howling Abyss and Summoner Rift’s river
• Xerath’s Q – Arcanopulse, Taliyah’s E – Unraveled Earth, Jayce’s E – Acceleration Gate, and Zigg’s E – Hexplosive Minefield no longer cause small hitches to characters on or sometimes off-screen when cast
• Katarina’s E – Shunpo now properly counts towards triggering Electrocute and Phase Rush and is usable in Mordekaiser’s R – Realm of Death
• Miss Fortune’s Passive – Love Tap no longer grants an additional stack of Electrocute
• Gragas’ E – Body Slam + basic attack combo now grants the proper number of Electrocute and Conqueror stacks 
• Xayah’s Passive – Clean Cuts now apply the proper number of Electrocute stacks based on the number of basic attacks