League of Legends Patch 14.6 has arrived, and the last March update is set to run a ruler over the bottom lane between AD carry changes and support gold income nerfs, while elsewhere, Galio is essentially undergoing a mini-rework.
All things considered, Riot Games is cooking up 15 League champion changes for this update, including the Galio overhaul, and will be hitting at least five more items—though that number doesn’t even include any of the support powerups that will be hit this patch, nor the Epic items that Matt Leung-Harrison has promised will be “re-examined” to halt snowballing.
Outside the meat of the patch sandwich, Riot is also slightly rejigging Voidgrubs bonuses and will be taking yet another major swing at Smolder’s place in the season 14 metagame.
Here’s everything to know about League’s Patch 14.6 update.
When will League Patch 14.6 go live?
League Patch 14.6 is slated to go live on Wednesday, March 20, according to the developers’ official patch schedule. When it arrives, it will begin staging in Australia. Here are all of Riot’s key patching times:
- 3pm CT (NA)
- 5am GMT (EU West)
- 3am CET (EU North East)
- 8am KR (Korea)
Here’s a countdown to the NA League release.
Expect several hours of server downtime once patching begins. Matchmaking will be disabled across all League queues three hours before the update is set live.
What’s in League Patch 14.6?
Galio is on tap to receive a shift in identity
There have been big-time changes swirling around on the League PBE testing realm surrounding Galio, who is in line to receive a gameplay update this patch.
Proposed changes to the Colossus include nerfs across the board to his overall damage but significant buffs to his cooldowns and survivability. It’s very possible Riot is attempting to pivot Galio players away from the glass cannon AP-focused mage builds that have been popping up and push players toward bruiser-focused playstyles.
Riot still isn’t done with Smolder
Smolder’s balance has been a hot topic ever since his release. This tiny dragon, who calls his mom every time he’s in trouble, is getting more nerfs in Patch 14.6. The nerfs are focused on trimming down his power level more because the previous patch and hotfix weren’t enough.
Riot agrees Smolder is dancing on a razor’s edge and is frustrating to play against, but that’s mainly because of his power level and not his kit. Smolder has clear strengths and weaknesses, and cutting down his base stats should help. Having said that, some players think the upcoming nerfs are too much and will “murder him.”
The reign of Senna and Karma is coming to a close
Patch 14.6 is set to introduce changes to Senna and Karma. Together with Smolder and Vayne, Senna has been everyone’s go-to AD carry in solo queue since she has strong early-game damage, utility, and sustain. Riot is looking to shake that up a bit and cut back on her power.
Riot will also pull back some power from mid lane Karma, who has been terrorizing solo queue with her Mantra and Gathering Fire combo that becomes even more oppressive when paired with Malignance. The nerfs shouldn’t have any impact on her gameplay as a support, and she will probably stay a great pick for poke lanes.
“No fun” snowballing under the microscope again
Despite the many attempts in Season 13, the League devs still can’t get early game snowballing under control, so they’re taking another swing at it this patch. This latest attempt involves tuning several Epic items, including Serrated Dirk and Hextech Alternator—mainly by hitting their gold efficiency—and trying to stamp out “no-fun” gameplay states.
High Noon skin line gets reinvigorated with four additions
One of League’s most iconic skin lines, High Noon, is returning to the Rift with four new champions joining the lineup. In Patch 14.6, Gragas, Rell, Evelynn, and Yone are all getting High Noon skins.
Evelynn and Yone will get extra variants of their High Noon skins too, with Yone set to get a Peacemaker High Noon variant that takes on a gold-and-red hue in contrast to the standard blue-and-gray color scheme of his standard High Noon skin. The Prestige edition of Evelynn’s High Noon skin is light violet and gold, with its visuals looking similar to her K/DA skins.
Here are all the High Noon skins coming in this patch:
- High Noon Gragas (1,350 RP)
- High Noon Rell (1,350 RP)
- High Noon Evelynn (1,350 RP)
- High Noon Yone (1,350 RP)
- Peacemaker High Noon Yone (Mythic Shop)
- Prestige High Noon Evelynn (Event tokens)
These skins will go live during the League Patch 14.6 cycle.
League Patch 14.6 patch notes
Champions
Briar
- Q can now jump to wards.
- W heal reduced from 25-45 percent of damage to 24-40 percent of damage.
- W attack speed reduced from 55-115 to 54-110 percent.
- R damage reduced from 150-450 + 50 percent bonus attack damage to 150-350 + 50 percent bonus attack damage.
Cho’Gath
- W cooldown reduced from 13-9 to 11-9 seconds.
- E spike damage increased from 22-70 to 22-82.
Diana
- Attack speed ratio increased from 0.625 to 0.694.
- Attack speed growth decreased from 2.25 to two percent (it’s a buff).
- Level one attack speed remains unchanged.
- Passive attack speed changed from 15-40 percent every third level to 15-35 percent scaling linearly (it’s a buff).
- Passive’s bonus attack speed now lasts for five seconds instead of three.
Galio
- Passive’s cooldown reduced by three seconds when hitting champions with abilities.
- Passive’s cooldown won’t be affected by ability haste.
- Passive’s base damage reduced from 15-200 to 15-115.
- Passive’s ability power ratio reduced from 50 to 40 percent.
- Passive now grants 40 percent attack speed.
- Q ability power ratio reduced from 75 to 70 percent.
- Q cooldown reduced from 12-8 to 12-7 seconds.
- W damage reduction reduced from 25-45 to 20-40 percent.
- W damage reduction’s ability power ratio reduced from five percent per 100 ability power to four percent.
- W damage reduction’s magic resistance ratio reduced from 12 percent per 100 magic resistance to eight percent.
- W damage reduction now scales with one percent per 100 bonus health.
- W minimum base damage reduced from 20-80 to 20-60.
- E base damage reduced from 90-250 to 75-235.
- E non-champion damage increased from 50 to 80 percent.
Gragas
- Base health decreased from 670 to 640.
- Q mana cost increased from 80-60 to 80 flat.
Karma
- Mana growth reduced from 50 to 40.
- Mana regeneration growth increased from 0.5 to 0.8.
- Passive’s ultimate cooldown refund changed from five to four seconds.
- Q mana cost changed from 45 flat to 40-80.
- R cooldown increased from 40-31 to 40-34 seconds.
- RE bonus base shield changed from 25-175 to 50-170.
Kayn
- Q locks out items during animation (Profane Hydra).
- R base/assassin damage scaling decreased from 175 percent bonus attack damage to 150 percent.
- Rhaast Q damage increased from 65 percent total attack damage + five (3.5 percent bonus attack damage) percent of target’s maximum health to 65 percent total attack damage + six (3.5 percent bonus attack damage) percent of target’s maximum health.
Ornn
- E cooldown shortened from 16-12 to 14-12.
Rek’Sai
- Bug fixes on W and R.
Senna
- Mist Wraith spawn rate on minion kill decreased from 8.333 to 2.8 percent.
Shen
- Passive cooldown refund changed to linear level scaling.
Sion
- Q minimum damage scaling increased from 45-75 percent total attack damage to 40-80 percent total attack damage.
- Q maximum damage scaling increased from 135-225 percent total attack damage to 120-240 percent total attack damage.
- W shield reduced from 60-160 to 60-120.
- W shield scaling increased from 8-12 percent maximum health to 8-16 percent maximum health.
Smolder
- Tier three (execute/true damage) Q stack threshold increased from 225 stacks to 275.
- Q base execute threshold reduced from 1.25% maximum health to one percent.
- Execute now only checks after Smolder deals damage instead of executing off allied damage.
- W missile width reduced from 125 to 115.
- E bonus movement speed decreased from 100 to 75 percent.
Tryndamere
- Attack speed growth increased from 2.9 to 3.4 percent.
Volibear
- Q movement speed reduced from 12-32 to 12-28 percent.
- R cooldown decreased from 130-100 to 140-100.
Items
Bami’s Cinder
- Immolation damage changed from 12 + one percent bonus health to 13 + 0.5 percent bonus health.
Caulfield’s Warhammer
- Attack damage reduced from 25 to 20.
Fiendish Codex
- Ability power reduced from 35 to 25.
Glacial Buckler
- Glowing Mote added to recipe.
- Total cost increased by 50 gold.
Haunting Guise
- Ability power reduced from 35 to 30.
Hearthbound Axe
- Attack damage reduced from 20 to 15.
- Total cost reduced from 1200 to 1150.
Hextech Alternator
- Ability power reduced from 50 to 45.
Kircheis Shard
- Energize bonus damage reduced from 60 to 50.
Serrated Dirk
- Attack damage reduced from 25 to 20.
Spectre’s Cowl
- Rejuvenation Bead added to recipe.
- Health reduced from 250 to 200.
- Now has 100 percent base health regeneration.
Steel Sigil
- Extra Cloth Armor added to recipe.
The Brutalizer
- Lethality reduced from eight to five.
Tunneler
- Total cost increased from 1100 to 1150.
Verdant Barrier
- Total cost reduced from 1800 to 1700 gold.
Infinity Edge
- Bonus critical damage increased from 40 to 50 percent.
Lord Dominik’s Regards
- Armor penetration increased from 30 to 35 percent.
Mortal Reminder
- Armor penetration increased from 30 to 35 percent.
Navori Quickblades
- Pickaxe replaced in the recipe by BF Sword.
- Attack damage increased from 60 to 65.
Solstice Sleigh
- Buff duration shortened from three to 2.5 seconds.
- Movement speed reduced from 25 to 20 percent.
Support items
- Upgrade threshold reduced from 500/1000 to 400/800 gold.
- World Atlas’ gold from damage reduced from 30-22 for melee and 28-20 for ranged.
- World Atlas’ gold from minions reduced from 20 to 15.
- Runic Compass gold from minions reduced from 28 to 20.
- Runic Compass gold from damage reduced from 34 to 24 for melee and 32 to 22 for ranged.
- Both Runic Compass and World Atlas cannot be built if Doran’s Blade, Ring, or Shield are in player inventory.
Systems
- Voidgrubs shield on death changing to heal on death.
- Dorans, Atlas, and Jungle Egg are now unique items and cannot be bought together.
Skins
High Noon Gragas
High Noon Rell
High Noon Evelynn
High Noon Yone
Prestige High Noon Evelynn
Peacemaker High Noon Yone
This article is being updated through the League patch cycle.
