LoL update 14.5 patch notes, PROJECT skins, balance changes & more

The LoL update 14.5 patch notes have arrived, and we've got the rundown for you below.

This patch features new PROJECT skins, a host of balance changes and even more to get stuck into. League of Legends patches are usually pretty hefty, and this one is no different.

So without further ado, let's take a look at everything changing in the 14.5 patch for the game. Or if you want to check out when future patches are planned to be released, take a look at the patch notes schedule.

LoL update 14.5 patch notes: The short version

The PROJECT skinline returns this patch with skins for Gangplank, Jax and Naafiri, which should excite fans of the ever-popular cyberpunk aesthetic.

In addition, Riot's anti-cheat Vanguard is being tested on the Philippines server to evaluate its performance on live games. It's not active in other regions yet, but it'll be coming to all regions in the next few weeks.

As for balance changes, Champions like Seraphine, Rek'Sai and Smolder are receiving big changes, while plenty of overperforming characters are being nerfed. 

Champions

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Bel’Veth

• Passive - Death in Lavender
  • Bugfix: Fixed a bug that caused Bel’Veth to get three stacks for each Epic Void monster. She now properly gets two Death in Lavender stacks per Void Grub (for a total of six if she gets all three of them) and two for Rift Herald.
• E - Royal Maelstrom
  • Damage Reduction: 42/49/56/63/70% to 35/40/45/50/55%

Brand

• Passive - Blaze
  • Damage to Monsters: 200% to 215%
• R - Pyroclasm
  • Damage per Hit: 100/200/300 (+25% AP) to 100/175/250 (+25% AP)
  • Cooldown: 105/90/75 to 110/100/90 seconds

Evelynn

• Q - Hate Spike
  • Damage: 25/30/35/40/45 (+30% AP) to 25/30/35/40/45 (+25% AP)

Jarvan IV

• Base Stats
  • Armor Growth: 4.8 to 5.2
• Q - Dragon Strike
  • Cooldown: 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 seconds to 10/9/8/7/6 seconds

Kayn

• Passive - The Darkin Scythe
  • Darkin Bonus - Healing: 25% to 25% (+0.5% per 100 Bonus Health)
• R - Umbral Trespass
  • Darkin Form Healing: 65% of damage dealt to 75% of damage dealt

Kog’Maw

• Passive - Icathian Surprise
  • Bonus Movement Speed: 0-40% over 4 seconds to 10-50% over 4 seconds
• Q - Caustic Spittle
  • Cast Time: 0.25 seconds to now matches Kog’Maw’s auto attack frame time
• E - Void Ooze
  • Slow: 30/35/40/45/50% to 40/45/50/55/60%
• R - Living Artillery
  • Minimum Damage: 100/140/180 (+65% bonus AD) (+35% AP) to 100/140/180(+75% bonus AD) (+35% AP)

Maokai

• Base Stats
  • Base Movement Speed: 335 to 330
• Q - Bramble Smash
  • Bonus Damage to Monsters: 80/100/120/140/160 to 120/130/140/150/160
• W - Twisted Advance
  • Cooldown: 13/12/11/10/9 to 14/13/12/11/10 seconds

Nidalee

• Base Stats
  • Base Movement Speed: 340 to 335
• Q - Takedown
  • Bonus Damage to Hunted Targets: 40% to 30%

Rek’Sai

• Base Stats
  • Attack Windup: 26.67% (+100% Attack Speed) to 20% (+60% Attack Speed) (Note: This means attacks take 25% less time to fully animate at level 1, down to 3% less time with Stridebreaker, runes, and Q active at level 18.)
  • Basic Attack Cast Frame: 12 to 10 (Note: This means attacks deal their damage about 20% earlier in the animation.)
  • Critical Strike Cast Frame: 9 to 10
• Q - Queen’s Wrath
  • QoL Change: Attacks can no longer be canceled mid-attack, now matches most other empowered attacks
  • Cast Frame: 12 to 9 (Note: This means the attack strikes the target about 33% earlier in the animation.)
  • Bugfix: Attacks now stack Spear of Shojin when hitting only one champion
• W - Burrow / Unburrow
  • [NEW] An Uplifting Change: Unburrow will now knock up all Large Monsters in range if they’re eligible
  • [NEW] A Non-Lifting Uplifting Change: Unburrow can now damage (but not knock up) targets who were recently knocked up and immune to Unburrow
  • Bugfix: Fixed a bug where Rek’Sai could stop auto-attacking after burrowing and quickly unburrowing
• E - Tunnel
  • Bugfix In Progress: Reduced the frequency of a bug that caused Rek’Sai to occasionally fail to dash when crossing walls. We’ll be keeping an eye out for more instances of this bug occurring and work to resolve them as we’re able to.
• E - Furious Bite
  • 100 Fury Bonus Damage: 6/8/10/12/14% of target’s maximum health to 8/9.5/11/12.5/14% of target’s maximum health
  • Monster Bonus Damage Cap: 60-400 (based on level) to 75-400 (based on level)
• R - Void Rush
  • Damage: 100/250/400 (+100% bonus AD) (+20/25/30% of target's missing health) to 150/300/450 (+100% bonus AD)(+25/30/35% of target's missing health)
• Miscellaneous
  • Made minor updates to tooltips to improve clarity.

Senna

• Q - Piercing Darkness
  • Damage: 30/60/90/120/150 (+50% bonus AD) to 30/60/90/120/150(+40% bonus AD)

Seraphine

• Base Stats
  • Movement speed: 325 to 330
  • Mana Growth: 50 to 25
  • Mana Regeneration: 0.4 to 0.95
  • Base AD: 55 to 50
• Passive - Stage Presence
  • Damage: 5/10/18/30 (+5% AP) (levels 1/6/11/16) to 4-25 (based on level, linear) (+4% AP)
  • [REM] 300% minion damage modifier has been removed
• Q - High Note
  • Missile Speed: 1200 to 1300
  • Cooldown: 10/8.75/7.5/6.25/5 to 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 seconds
  • Mana Cost: 65/70/75/80/85 to 60/70/80/90/100
  • Damage: 55/80/105/130/155 (+50% AP) to 60/85/110/135/160<strong> (+50% AP)
  • Maximum Damage Amp based on Missing Health: 50% to 60%
  • [REM] Damage amp no longer affects non-champions
  • [REM] No longer prevents minions from dying to other minions while in flight
• W - Surround Sound
  • Cooldown: 28/25/22/19/16 to 22/21/20/19/18 seconds
  • Mana Cost: 80/85/90/95/100 to 70/75/80/85/90
  • Shield: 50/75/100/125/150 (+20% AP) to 60/85/110/135/160 (+20% AP)
  • Seraphine Bonus Movement Speed: 20% (+4% AP) ; 20%(+2% AP)
• E - Beat Drop
  • Cooldown: 10 to 11/10.5/10/9.5/9 seconds
  • Mana Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 to 60 at all ranks
  • Damage: 60/95/130/165/200 (+35% AP) to 70/100/130/160/190 (+50% AP)
  • Slow Duration: 1.25 to 1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4/1.5 seconds
  • Minion Damage: 100% to 70%
• R - Encore
  • Damage: 150/200/250 (+60% AP) to 150/200/250(+40% AP)
  • Cooldown: 160/130/100 to 160/140/120 seconds

Sivir

• Base Stats
  • Base Armor: 26 to 30

Smolder

• Q - Super Scorcher Breath
  • 3rd Upgrade Bonus True Damage: 6.5% of target’s maximum health to +2% bonus AD (+1% AP) (+0.8% of Dragon Patience Stacks) of target’s maximum health
• E - Flap, Flap, Flap
  • Number of Bolts: 5-10 (based on critical strike chance) to 5 (+1 per 50 Dragon Patience Stacks)
  • Tooltip has been updated to clarify that these bolts are not attacks
• R - MMOOOMMMM!
  • Damage: 225/350/475 (+110% bonus AD) (+100% AP) to 200/300/400 (+110% bonus AD) (+100% AP)
  • Sweet Spot Increased Damage Multiplier: 30% to 50%
  • Self Heal: 110/160/210 (+75% AP) to 100/135/170 (+50% bonus AD) (+75% AP)
• Miscellaneous
  • Frame data on basic attacks has been adjusted to better match Smolder’s animations.

Twisted Fate

• E - Stacked Deck
  • Bonus Attack Speed: 10/22.5/35/47.5/60% to 10/20/30/40/50%
  • Bonus Damage: 65/90/115/140/165 (+75% bonus AD) (+40% AP) to 65/90/115/140/165(+20% bonus AD) (+40% AP)

Vayne

• Passive - Night Hunter
  • Bonus Movement Speed: 45 to 30 (Note: Bonus movement speed during Final Hour will be unchanged at 90.)
• Q - Tumble
  • Cooldown: 4/3.5/3/2.5/2 to 6/5/4/3/2 seconds

Veigar

• Q - Baleful Strike
  • Damage: 80/120/160/200/240 (+45/50/55/60/65% AP) to 80/120/160/200/240(+50/55/60/65/70% AP)
• R - Primordial Burst
  • Cooldown: 120/90/60 to 100/80/60 seconds

Vex

• Passive - Doom ‘N Gloom
  • Gloom Detonation Damage: 30-140 (based on level) (+20% AP) to 40-150 (based on level) (+25% AP)
• E - Looming Darkness
  • [NEW] Killing units with Looming Darkness now grants Doom ‘n Gloom’s passive refund.

Wukong

• Passive - Stone Skin
  • Maximum Number of Stacks: 10 to 5
  • Percent Amplification per Stack: 50% to 100%
  • Stack Falloff Rate: All at once to One at a time

Yorick

• Passive - Shepherd of Souls
  • Tooltip clarified to state that only Mist Walkers take reduced damage from monsters.
• E - Mourning Mist
  • Cursed Bonus Damage for 8 Attacks: 30% to 20%
• R - Eulogy of the Isles
  • Maiden Armor and Magic Resist: 10-50 (based on level) to 30-90 (based on level)
  • [REM] Maiden no longer reduces Area of Effect damage by 50%.
  • Tooltip now clarifies that Maiden takes 70% less damage from lane minions.
  • Bugfix: Maiden’s 1/2/3% maximum health damage no longer bypasses Evasion like Shen’s W. (Note: Blind, Dodge, and Evasion all work appropriately against the rest of Maiden’s attacks.)

Zac

• W - Unstable Matter
  • Damage: 35/50/65/80/95 (+4/5/6/7/8% (+3% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health) to 40/50/60/70/80 (+4/5/6/7/8% (+3% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health)

Skins, Items, ARAM & Bug Fixes

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Upcoming Skins & Chromas

The following skins will be released in this patch:

• PROJECT: Gangplank
• PROJECT: Jax
• PROJECT: Naafiri

As mentioned in the last patch notes,  the Opulent event chromas for Porcelain Aurelion Sol, Darius, Graves, Morgana, Miss Fortune, and Irelia will be turned on in the event shop this patch.

The following chromas will also be released this patch:

• PROJECT: Gangplank
• PROJECT: Jax
• PROJECT: Naafiri

Items

Celestial Opposition

• Cooldown: 20 to 18 seconds
• Slow Duration: 1.5 to 2 seconds
• Slow Strength: 50% to 60%

Dream Maker

• Blue Bubble Damage Reduction: 140 to 75-255 (levels 6-18)
• Purple Bubble Bonus Damage: 90 to 50-170 (levels 6-18)

Frozen Heart

• Total Price: 2400 gold to 2500 gold
• Armor: 70 to 65

Heartsteel

• Proc Bonus Damage: 100 (+10% bonus health from items) to 80 (+12% bonus health from items)
• Leviathan (Ornn Upgrade)
• Proc Bonus Damage: 100 (+10% bonus health from items) to 80 (+12% bonus health from items)
• Bugfix: Fixed a bug that gave Leviathan 25 Ability Haste

Solstice Sleigh

• Cooldown: 20 to 30 seconds
• Bonus Health: 7% of maximum health to 50-230 (levels 6-18)
• Bonus Movement Speed: 30% to 25%
• Item tracker flavor text updated

Spear of Shojin

• Spells now only grant 1 stack per cast, up to 1 per second for spells that deal damage over time
• Attack-based spells now add a stack and get their damage improved by the spell amp
• Damage from champion passives should no longer grant stacks for Focused Will

Sunfire Aegis

• Health: 450 to 500
• Immolate Base Damage: 12 to 15

AP Assassin Items

Lich Bane

• Spellblade Damage: 75% base AD (+50% AP) to 75% base AD(+45% AP)

Stormsurge

• Movement Speed: +5% to +8%

Hextech Rocketbelt

• Total Price: 2500 to 2600
• Ability Power: 60 to 70

ARAM Balance Changes

Buffs

• Camille
  • Shielding Done: 120% to 110%
  • Ability Haste: 0 to 10
• Dr. Mundo
  • Damage Taken: 110% to 105%
• Naafiri
  • Ability Haste: 0 to 10
• Nasus
  • Damage Taken: 110% to 105%

Nerfs

• Anivia
  • Damage Taken: 95% to 100%
• Illaoi
  • Healing Done: 90% to 80%
• Karma
  • Damage Dealt: 100% to 95%
• Lulu
  • Shielding Done: 110% to 105%
• Renekton
  • Healing Done: 120% to 105%
• Zac
  • Healing Done: 120% to 110%

Bugfixes & QoL Changes

• Improved inhibitor VFX to more clearly indicate when it will respawn.
• Added an option for custom games to disable spectator delay.
• Adjusted Diana’s E recast cooldown from 0.5 to 0.25 seconds as a small quality of life improvement.
• Bugfixes
• Fixed a bug that caused Azir’s passive tower creation SFX and VFX to play repeatedly upon spawning the tower.
• Fixed a bug that caused Diana’s passive to sometimes desync and proc every 2 or 4 auto attacks.
• Fixed a bug that caused Diana to sometimes be able to triple dash with her E.
• Fixed a bug that caused Ivern’s passive to be unable to take down Voidborne Rift Scuttler.
• Fixed a bug that caused the item recommender to stop recommending items once the player had reached full build.
• We recently identified a bug where players with power summoner levels over 1000 had stopped receiving rewards. We’ve implemented a fix to both grant the rewards that were already earned by leveling up as well as continue to grant rewards as you keep leveling up. The retroactive rewards won’t have a notification, so please check your loot tab after you’ve played some games in this patch. We’re also working on a fun capstone reward for our most dedicated players later this year, so stay tuned!
• Fixed a bug that caused critical strikes applied by Sylas’ passive to apply critical damage modifiers and lifesteal.
• Fixed a bug that caused Sylas’s W to not correctly cause minions to aggro the opponents when used on an enemy champion.
• Fixed a bug that caused in URF that caused Seraph Embrace’s bonus Mana to not convert into Health.
• Fixed a bug that caused Profane Hydra’s passive AoE to proc lifesteal.
• Fixed a bug that caused various champion’s abilities to not apply spell effects.
• Fixed a bug that caused Smolder’s E to be unable to Flap Flap Flap over Taliyah’s R wall.
• Fixed a bug that caused LeBlanc’s E tether to root opponents while she was dead if the initial tether connected.
• Fixed a bug that caused Miss Fortune’s Q to interrupt auto attacks if these was not a secondary target to bounce towards.
• Fixed a bug that caused Sylas’ R to convert AD ratios to AP, even when his adaptive damage type was AD.
• Fixed a bug that caused Trundle’s E pillar to grant vision around itself.
• Fixed a bug that caused Oracle Lens to disable wards for longer than intended when walking outside of the sweeping range.
• Fixed a bug that caused Oracle Lens to disable wards for shorter than intended if the ward was revealed as Oracle Lens expired.
• Fixed a bug that caused Viktor’s passive to grant ability stacks by taking down Voidmites.
• Fixed a bug that caused Hubris and Ataraxia’s VFX to disappear if a player with the item disconnected and reconnected to the game.
• Fixed a bug that caused Dreamshatter’s movement speed buff to decay faster than intended.
• Fixed a bug that caused Ornn to be able to purchase multiple Rod of Ages after upgrading the first into its Masterwork counterpart. Yer not a wizard Ornn.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Monster Hunter gold penalty on minions to sometimes grant negative gold on takedowns.
• Fixed a bug that caused Volibear’s Q and W to not correctly have allied minions aggro a targeted champion.
• Fixed a bug that caused Kai’Sa’s R range indicator to not match the changes introduced in the last patch, despite the gameplay changes still going through.
• Fixed a bug that caused Aatrox’s passive proc to reduce its own cooldown.
• Fixed a bug that caused Briar to repeatedly cancel auto attacks if her attack speed value was low enough.
• Fixed a bug that caused Infernal Cinder’s VFX to be visible in the Fog of War.
• Fixed a bug that caused Twitch’s emote SFX to continue to play even after the emote was stopped.
• Fixed a bug that caused users of World Atlas to be able to trigger the minion execute passive if their teammate was on the very edge of the item’s range, but not grant gold nor consume quest stacks.
• Fixed a bug that caused takedowns on Voidgrubs to immediately appear on a player’s CS score without the enemy having been revealed first.
• Fixed a bug that caused Bounty of World’s upgrade VFX to appear on clones if the original user had already upgraded the item.
• Fixed a bug that caused Ashe’s Q to stop the interaction between Kraken Slayer and Guinsoo’s Rageblade.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Baron Pit music to continue playing outside of the range of Baron Pit.
• Fixed a bug that caused Echoes of Helia’s heal and healing shards to only be usable when enemies were nearby.
• Fixed a bug that caused Echoes of Helia’s Soul Siphon to not trigger when a player gave a shield to a full health ally.
• Fixed a bug that caused Sion to be able to stack his passive on Voidmites.
• Fixed a bug that caused Hwei’s spellbooks to share the cooldown of his last used basic spell.
• Fixed a bug that caused Lillia’s E cone VFX hit indicator to not appear for enemies when colliding with terrain.
• Fixed a bug where Gun Goddess Miss Fortune’s right arm would twist unnaturally during her Joke (Ctrl+1).
• Fixed a bug where Neo Pax Jax’s idle fish VFX weren’t appearing as intended when he idled in the River.
• Fixed a bug where the VFX connecting the barrels for FPX Gangplank and Gangplank the Betrayer did not transition in as intended.

That covers everything new in update 14.5 for League of Legends!

For more LoL content be sure to check out our homepage. You can also take a look at our patch notes schedule for League of Legends here. Additionally, take a look at our preview for the new TFT set Inkborn Fables if you're a fan of LoL's auto battler spin-off.