Patch 14.19 brings about a brand new ranked split. Read about all the upcoming changes as you get ready for the final ranked split of Season 14!
The second ranked split of Season 14 is coming to an end with Patch 14.19. You have about two more weeks to complete your ranked goals and get ready for some pretty drastic changes. These changes go live on September 25th, as the third and final ranked split of the season commences!
As a reward for reaching a ranking of Gold or higher, you'll receive Victorious Sona as well as up to nine chromas, in accordance to what tier you reached. If you reached Gold IV and stopped there, you’ll gain Victorious Sona and her Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold Chroma, for example.
Legendary Item Nerfs
The most sweeping change coming with the third ranked split is a global nerf to nearly all Legendary-tier items in the game. According to the /dev article published by Riot, legendary items have been a bit too overtuned for quite some time. This has meant that the power wielded by champions in the game came chiefly from their items, and not their own kits or their player's mechanical prowess. To combat this, Riot is putting more emphasis on champions rather than items in Patch 14.19, and that starts with a nerf to the stat efficiency for Legendary items.
The changes, broadly, are as such:
For Fighters: Riot has pushed for a more clear divide in itemization for champions that are considered skirmishers, divers, and juggernauts. Now, items that are generally built by divers and juggernauts will have even more Health so that they stand out as clearly beefier than other classes in the game.
For Tanks: Tank items are the least changed and have been pushed more towards increasing resistances. This might make the items more appealing to fighters who have to front-line in team compositions where there is no clear tank.
For AP champions: Burst mage itemization will now focus on Ability Power and Magic Penetration. Their builds will now have less “free” Ability Haste. Non-burst mages will still have Ability Haste options whether they use mana or not. Magic resistance on non-tank items has also been generally lowered.
For AD Assassins: AD Assassins are getting similar changes as those of AP burst mages; less access to Ability Haste while similar access to AD and Lethality.
For ADCs: The level scaling of their items has generally been lowered. Access to movement speed through itemization has been lowered as well.
For Enchanters: Their items have been simplified, and have generally lost the ability to give movement speed to allies aside from Shurelya's. They've generally lost access to AP.
Rune Changes - Lethal Tempo & Biscuit Delivery
Lethal Tempo is making a comeback after being removed in Patch 14.10 during the Mid Season Update. It's being modified but should retain the general spirit of the rune, according to Riot. It will now grant stacking Attack Speed when you attack enemy champions, but now that Attack Speed will no longer scale with your level. Instead, when you reach max stacks, your attacks will deal bonus damage on-hit, and the damage will scale with your level and your bonus Attack Speed.
Biscuit Delivery is also getting a rework. Essentially, Biscuits will no longer grant max mana or mana restoration, and instead will increase your max HP and grant even more healing.
Quality of Life Improvements
The following quality of life improvements are namely changes to the ping system and a set of alarms and announcements that aim to help new players get the hang of several game mechanics. For veteran players, they may or may not be helpful.
Item Queuing
This is a new addition to the HUD. When you're in the item shop you now have an ability to queue an item build, which saves the item for you and displays it on the HUD. A border forms around the item tracking your progress towards purchasing it.
When you're in the fountain you'll see that the button for queueing an item has now become a "Purchase Components" button. With one click you'll be able to purchase all the components for your queued item that you can afford. More pricey components are prioritised.
Shopping Alert
Simply, you will now be alerted if you leave the fountain at the start of the game without having purchased any items. Your gold counter will blink yellow to remind you you forgot to purchase.
Objective Announcements
There are now announcements in the game for when epic objectives, such as the Dragon or Baron Nashor, spawn. This should increase visibility on when epic objectives are live and reduce burdens on pings and chat
Potion Alert
Another new alert will pop up when you're low on health and out of combat, and you have potions or biscuits in your inventory. This should help players remember they have consumables they can use up instead of having to sell them later unused.
Active Invade Alert
This change will alert players when a fight occurs in the jungle, ideally causing your fellow teammates to come to your aid if you're getting invaded by an enemy jungler early on. The alert has an audio and mini map VFX to let you know where the invasion is happening.
"My Bad!" Interactive Emote
Finally, we're getting another interactive emote, presumably similar to the Fist Bump emote in the game already. Now, after making a small (or even large) mistake, you can press the [i] key on your keyboard and an interactive "my bad!" emote will pop up to express your apologies. Allies can respond by using the same emote to forgive you.
