GamingLeague of Legends

Teamfight Tactics ranked returns in first Set 2 update – 9.23 patch notes

Joe O'Brien
Riot Games

The latest update to Teamfight Tactics, patch 9.23, brings back ranked play along with the first balance changes for Set 2.

In the previous patch, 9.22, Teamfight Tactics got a major overhaul with the introduction of ‘Set 2’, which brought an entirely new collection of champions and traits, along with new mechanics such as the introduction of elemental buffs that appear on the board.

Now that the new set has spent two weeks on the live servers, however, Riot are introducing the first balance patch, which aims to tone down some of the stronger units and strategies while buffing those that are struggling.

Changes to traits are likely to have the widest impact on how games play out, with Glacial stun chance and Shadow bonus damage both receiving nerfs. Meanwhile, Ocean’s mana per second and Warden’s bonus armor are getting buffs.

A variety of individual champions are getting buffs at the three-star level, designed to encourage players to pursue the final upgrades and justify the cost of doing so. Many units are also getting specific adjustments at some or all star levels.

Riot Games

 

Among the most notable changes are a significant buff to Ezreal, whose mana cost and cast time are both being reduced, and a nerf to Singed’s health and ability damage at one and two-star level.

In addition to the changes, patch 9.23 also brings back ranked play. Now that players have had the chance to get accustomed to Set 2, they’ll be able to test their prowess in Teamfight Tactics once again. Due to the game having changed significantly, all players will be reset to Iron rank.

The full patch notes can be read below.

Traits

  • Glacial stun chance: 20%/40%/60% ⇒ 20%/35%/50%
  • Light: The total heal amount is now based on the dying Champion’s health rather than those receiving the heal.
  • Ocean mana per second: 15/30/50 ⇒ 15/35/60
  • Shadow bonus damage: 50%/100% ⇒ 45%/85%
  • Warden bonus armor: 125%/275%/450% ⇒ 150%/300%/450%

Three-Star Ability Scaling

We want to make sure that higher cost three-star Champions are an exciting power up worth the chase of getting them. This is already true for AD/HP scaling champs and Tier 1 Champions, but much less so for others. So, we’re buffing the three-star abilities for some Tier 2 and 3 Champions.

Tier 2

  • Jax Damage: 150/250/350 ⇒ 150/250/450
  • Leblanc Damage: 200/450/700 ⇒ 200/450/800
  • Neeko Damage: 100/200/300 ⇒ 100/200/350
  • Syndra Damage: 175/350/525 ⇒ 175/350/600
  • Thresh Shield (note balance change below): 250/400/550 ⇒ 250/400/600
  • Volibear Damage: 200/450/700 ⇒ 200/450/850

Tier 3

  • Aatrox Damage: 250/500/750 ⇒ 250/500/1000
  • Ezreal Damage: 200/400/600 ⇒ 200/400/800
  • Kindred Damage: 150/325/500 ⇒ 150/325/650
  • Nautilus Stun Duration: 3/4/5 ⇒3/4/6
  • Nautilus Damage: 100/200/300 ⇒ 100/200/400
  • Sion Damage: 200/400/600 ⇒ 200/400/800

General Champion Balance

Tier 1

  • Ivern Shield: 200/400/600 ⇒ 200/350/500
  • Maokai Passive Heal: 100/200/300 ⇒ 100/175/250
  • Nasus Ability Damage: 35/70/105 ⇒ 50/70/90
  • Nasus Ability Bonus Health: 200/400/600 ⇒ 250/400/550
  • Taliyah Mana: 50/85 ⇒ 50/80
  • Taliyah Ability Stun Duration: 1.5 ⇒ 2
  • Vayne Ability Damage: 8%/12%/16% ⇒ 9%/12%/15%
  • Vladimir Ability Damage and Heal Amount: 200/350/500 ⇒ 200/325/450

Tier 2

  • Malzahar Minion Health: 300 ⇒ 250
  • Rek’Sai Ability Damage: 200/550/900 ⇒ 250/550/850
  • Skarner Mana: 0/75 ⇒ 0/65
  • Skarner Armor: 30 ⇒ 35
  • Thresh Ability Shield: 200/300/400 ⇒ 250/400/600
  • Yasuo Ability Hits: 3/5/7 ⇒ 4/5/6

Tier 3

  • Ezreal Mana: 0/40 ⇒ 0/30
  • Ezreal Ability Cast Time: 0.5 ⇒ 0.25

Tier 4

  • Ashe Attack Speed: 0.7 ⇒ 0.8
  • Brand Ability Damage: 250/450/650 ⇒ 300/450/600
  • Brand Bounces: 4/6/20 ⇒ 5/6/20
  • Malphite HP: 800 ⇒ 850
  • Olaf Mana: 0/75 ⇒ 0/90
  • Yorick Ghoul Health: 750/1250/1750 ⇒ 600/1000/1400
  • Yorick Ghoul Attack Speed: 0.8 ⇒ 0.7

Tier 5

  • Singed Health: 1050 ⇒ 950
  • Singed Ability Damage: 250/500/2000 ⇒ 200/400/2000
  • Taric Health: 850 ⇒ 900

Items

  • Frozen Heart Attack Speed Slow: 35% ⇒ 25%
  • Guardian Angel: Can no longer be healed during the resurrecting state.
  • Iceborne Gauntlet Attack Speed Slow: 35% ⇒ 25%
  • Ionic Spark Damage: 100 ⇒ 90

Ranked

  • It’s on! Time to prove how well you can adapt to the Rise of the Elements.
  • Everyone will be reset back to Iron.
  • No losing LP for the first 5 games.
  • No losing LP for placing 4th or better.

Bugfixes and the like

General

  • General improvements to melee unit pathing.
  • Spooky, invisible Woodland units no longer erroneously add to Trait bonuses
  • All PVE small monsters are now properly considered 1-star.
  • All summons are now properly considered 0-star.
  • Dragon/Elder Dragon/Rift Herald are now properly considered 3-star.
  • Ranged Berserkers (via Rapid Firecannon or Berserker’s Axe) now properly deal damage emanating in a cone from their target instead of themselves.
  • Fixed a few height bugs on Freljord Arenas. Items and champions should no longer get buried in the terrain.
  • The Electric trait no longer benefits from Ability Power, and no longer feeds into Hextech Gunblade.

Tier 1 Champions

  • Diana’s orbs can no longer hit multiple targets each.
  • Kog’Maw’s ability adjusted to miss far less often.
  • Renekton’s ability now properly deals Magic Damage (tooltip to be updated next patch).
  • Fixed healing text on Vlad to show the proper amount.
  • Zyra’s plants attack speed and duration now match their intended amount.
  • Zyra plants no longer occasionally hop into your bench.

Tier 2 Champions

  • Malzahar’s minions attack speed now matches attack speed ratio. (This results in a slight reduction of Malz Minion AS)
  • Volibear’s ability now also restores him to full mana if a non-execute cast kills the target.

Tier 3 Champions

  • Azir no longer summons soldiers adjacent to untargetable units like Zyra plants.
  • Dr. Mundo won’t cast his ability when there’s nothing in range that it could hit.
  • Qiyana won’t cast her ability when there’s nothing in range that it could hit.
  • Clarified Veigar’s tooltip that it instantly kills lower star targets.
  • Veigar’s ability now executes non-champions if their star level is below his.

Tier 4 Champions

  • Annie can no longer gain mana if she summons two Tibbers (Mage’s Cap), then one of them dies.
  • Fixed Ashe’s three-star Scaling to be the intended 250% value
  • Fixed an issue where Ashe could not proc Blademaster while her ability was active
  • Fixed Olaf and Singed looking like they were glacial’d, even though they were still attacking

Tier 5 Units

  • Champions can now properly take damage from multiple poison trails created by different copies of Singed.
  • Zed’s clones now properly attribute damage to Zed in the damage tracker.

Items

  • Dragon’s Claw now also reduces magic damage received from non-ability effects (Items, Traits, etc.)
  • Fixed Iceborn Gauntlet’s attack speed slow occasionally persisting across rounds
  • Inferno Cinder now properly works on: Renekton, Jax, Rek’Sai, Vayne, and Nami’s Tidal Wave empowered attacks
  • Spatula items now correctly no longer double the non-spatula component’s stats
  • Talisman of Light now correctly grants Magic Resist

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