League Patch 10.14 notes: Ezreal & Varus nerfs, Karthus buffs, more

Isaac McIntyre

League of Legends Patch 10.14 is here. There are some big changes on the way for Summoner’s Rift, including a bot lane meta shake-up, as well as Karthus changes to bring him back mid.

This time around, Riot is mainly focusing on balancing some of the more powerful champs, and beefing up others. These include major nerfs for Ezreal and Varus, buffs for Karthus, and plenty more. Here are all the details on League Patch 10.14.

Ezreal, Varus headline League Patch 10.14 nerfs

Perhaps the biggest changes coming in League Patch 10.14 are power reductions for two of the strongest picks recently: Varus and Ezreal. The former has become ‘must-pick’ in the pro scene and solo queue, while the latter has become a top-tier roleplayer.

Varus in particular has become synonymous with pick-ban status in Season 10 pro play. The Arrow of Retribution boasts a 100% presence in LCS and LCK, and appears 97.1% of the time in the LEC. Similarly, Ezreal has the same reign of terror in solo queue. The treasure hunter has a 17.09% pick rate, with a 50.47% win rate.

The marksman duo will be joined in the nerf column by Wukong ⁠— who has found new life as support alongside Senna recently ⁠— Trundle, and the newly-reworked Volibear. Pyke is also in line for some nerfs, to balance out his mid lane strength.

Sherwood Ezreal splash art in League of Legends.
Ezreal is one of the big headliners for nerfs League Patch 10.14.

Karthus finds new power in mid lane

Karthus is one of the main headliners for balance changes heading in the other direction in League Patch 10.14. His buffs, which were accidentally leaked last fortnight, are aiming to move him back into the mid lane, Riot Phlox explained.

The buffs will reduce his damage to monsters to stop jungle Karthus, while making him less squishy in lane.

Zed is also in line to get some buffs in LoL Patch 10.14, as is jungle assassin Kha’zix. Riven, Alistair, and Sejuani (sorry Jankos) will also see some love, while deep-sea support Pyke is being shifted back south on Summoner’s Rift.

Karthus League of Legends base splash art.
Karthus is getting some big changes to move him back to mid lane in League Patch 10.14.

Lillia arriving on Patch 10.15, ‘masked assassin’ coming soon

The next two League of Legends champions were rumored arrive in League Patch 10.14, according to leaked teasers. That didn’t pan out, but the first of the new champs is Lillia, the “dreamy” jungler, is coming on Patch 10.15.

Riot just warned players that Lillia especially will have a “steep learning curve” after she first arrives on servers. The jungler’s splash art, in-game animations, and some key abilities have already leaked too. Here’s everything we know so far.

The second unnamed ‘masked champ’, who could be Yone, remains to be unknown. However, given Riot promised two champions in quick succession, they could be just around the corner.

New LoL champion Lillia is on the verge of making her Season 10 debut.
New LoL champion Lillia is on the verge of making her Season 10 debut.

Here’s the full League Patch 10.14 notes, courtesy of Riot Games

League of Legends Patch 10.14 early notes

Champions

Alistar

Q – Pulverise

  • Cooldown: 17/16/15/14/13 seconds  15/14/13/12/11 seconds

Ezreal

E – Arcane Shift

  • Cooldown: 25/22/19/16/13 seconds  28/25/22/19/16 seconds

Karthus

Base stats

  • Health: 528  550
  • Movement speed: 325  335

Q – Lay Waste

  • Damage: 45/65/85/105/125 (+0.3 ability power)  50/70/90/110/130 (+0.35 ability power)
  • Damage reduction to monsters: 0%  15%

E – Defile

  • Mana restore: Only when toggled off  Always
  • AoE damage tick rate: Deals damage 1 time per second  Deals damage 4 times per second (damage and cost per second are unchanged). Deactivating Defile deals 1 tick’s worth of damage.

Kha’Zix

Q – Taste Their Fear

  • Isolated target bonus damage: 100%  120%

Pyke

Base stats

  • Magic resist growth: 1.5  1.25
  • Armor growth: 5  3.5

Q – Bone Skewer

  • Cost: 70 mana  50/55/60/65/70 mana
  • Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 seconds  10/9.5/9/8.5/8 seconds
  • Base damage: 75/125/175/225/275  85/135/185/235/285

W – Ghostwater Dive

  • Bonus movement speed: 40/45/50/55/60%  40% at all ranks

E – Phantom Undertow

  • Base damage: 95/125/155/185/215  105/135/165/195/225

Riven

Passive – Runic Blade

  • Bonus damage: 25-50% total attack damage (levels 1-18)  30-60% total attack damage (levels 1-18)

Sejuani

E – Permafrost

  • Base damage: 40/90/140/190/240  55/105/155/205/255
  • Frost cooldown: Stunned enemy champions cannot gain Frost for 10/9/8 seconds (levels 1/7/14)  Stunned enemy champions cannot gain Frost for 8 seconds (levels 1-18)

Trundle

W – Frozen Domain

  • Bonus attack speed: 30/47.5/65/82.5/100%  20/40/60/80/100%

Varus

Q – Piercing Arrow

  • Maximum bonus damage ratio: 150% total attack damage  125/130/135/140/145% total attack damage (minimum damage is always 66% of the maximum damage)

E – Hail of Arrows

  • Base damage: 70/105/140/175/210  50/90/130/170/210

Volibear

Base stats

  • Attack speed: 0.66  0.625

W – Frenzied Maul

  • Wounded enemy heal: Reduced by 50% on minions  Reduced by 50% on minions and monsters

Wukong

R – Cyclone

  • Knockup duration: 0.75 seconds  0.6 seconds

Zed

W – Living Shadow

  • Missile speed: 1750  2500
  • Cooldown: 22/20/18/16/14 seconds  20/18.5/17/15.5/14 seconds

Predator

  • Damage growth: 30-90 (levels 1-18)  40-120 (levels 1-18)
  • Cooldown: 100-70 seconds (levels 1-18)  90-60 seconds (levels 1-18)

Ghost

  • Bonus movement speed: 20-40% (levels 1-18)  24-48% (levels 1-18)
  • Syndra’s Q – Dark Sphere cast at max range now consistently fires in combination with E – Scatter The Weak
  • Karthus’ E – Defile tooltip now accurately mentions the increased mana cost per second at each level
  • Shaco now properly receives assist credit in takedowns where only his clone assisted
  • Champions with Approach Velocity will no longer keep their bonus movement speed until their movement-impaired enemy respawns
  • Singed’s Q – Poison Trail properly turns blue when in colorblind mode
  • Diana’s E – Lunar Rush cooldown no longer resets when the Moonlight from her Q – Crescent Strike is blocked by spell shields. Her Q – Crescent Strike’s Moonlight also no longer applies to champions who’ve blocked it via a spell shield.
  • Yuumi’s W – You and Me!’s attach icon no longer disappears on the minimap after the champion she is attached to recalls
  • When Volibear casts R – Stormbringer after activating Predator, he no longer becomes immune to all forms of displacement until death
  • Jhin will no longer deploy a E – Captive Audience trap instead of a Passive – Whisper fourth shot in certain scenarios
  • Neeko’s Q – Blooming Burst’s cooldown time no longer immediately resets when she disguises herself as Aphelios after
  • Approach Velocity now properly triggers with Zoe’s E – Sleepy Trouble Bubble
  • Approaching and triggering Heimerdinger’s turrets from his Q – H-28G Evolution Turret will no longer proc Immolate
  • Poros in Howling Abyss will no longer trigger Immolate
  • Zyra’s, Gnar’s, and Yorick’s Recommended Items will now include jungle items if the player has Smite equipped
  • Displacing minions or jungle monsters as Sett with E – Facebreaker no longer extends their hitboxes
  • Triggering Leona’s Passive – Sunlight with Nunu & Willump’s cleave from Passive – Call of the Freljord no longer causes their passive to be unavailable for the rest of the game
  • Shyvana’s Q – Twin Bite when she is in dragon form now appropriately does two points of damage to wards and Illaoi’s tentacles
  • When Yuumi attacks Elder Dragon and then uses W – You and Me! on a camouflaged ally champion, Elder Dragon no longer loses its leash range
  • Chilling Smite will now properly grant a Conqueror stack
  • Cho’Gath’s W – Feral Scream will now properly silence Rift Scuttler
  • Sylas will no longer keep Elise’s R2 – Rappel until he steals her ultimate again if he dies while casting it
  • Gems above Taric’s right shoulder no longer disappears after he dies for the first time in a game
  • Abilities with damaging auras like Renekton’s R – Dominus no longer continue to damage nearby enemies while the champion is in a revive state (like from Guardian Angel)
  • Ivern’s W – Brushmaker brushes spawned behind thin walls are no longer partially invisible from the enemy’s point of view
  • When hovering over unleveled abilities, the ability’s tooltip now properly informs the player that the ability has not yet been learned (“You have not yet learned this ability!”)
  • Aphelios’ R – Moonlight Vigil’s damage now properly matches the ability’s tooltip when used with critical strike items

About The Author

Isaac was formerly the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. Isaac began his writing career as a sports journalist at Fairfax Media, before falling in love with all things esports and gaming. Since then he's covered Oceanic and global League of Legends for Upcomer, Hotspawn, and Snowball Esports.