LoL Patch 25.9 Preview: Nerfs for Gwen & Naafiri, buffs for Leona & Morgana, cheaper Feat Boots
Patch 25.9 drops on April 30, bringing buffs to champions like Annie, K'Sante, and Morgana, and nerfs to Gwen and Naafiri ahead of Season 2, which spotlights Ionia.
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Gwen Splashart
This patch sets the stage for Season 2, which is expected to launch on May 9
In-game, the patch also aims to shake up the meta a bit, especially in the toplane and support roles. Champions that have been a bit too dominant in pro play, like Gwen and Naafiri, will be nerfed, while K’Sante will receive a slight damage buff to his W. At the same time, Leona and Morgana are also being buffed to encourage their return to the meta. Annie, who underwent a major rework in the previous patch, is also being strengthened again.
The Full Patch 25.9 Preview. Credit: @RiotPhroxzon on X.
Read more about League of Legends changes on the X account of Matt "Phroxzon" Leung-Harrison.
Rod of Ages
ROA has grown a lot more popular and given mages (in particular) an option to go against double assassin mid/jg in particular
At the same time, it's just a tad too strong generically and doesn't pay enough of an immediate tradeoff for its scaling nature
If champs want to opt into the nice double ruby crystal path, they should probably pay an immediate damage tradeoff for it on ROA completion
Shen
Our changes for Shen missed last patch, resulting in very minimal impact; we're giving him a bit more of a boost to hit that mark
Simply, Shen is a champ (like Braum) who makes the game better when he is reasonably powerful; he adds a bit more nuance to the "see champ, kill champ" gameplay that soloQ is rife with, has windows to be personally powerful while also lowering lethality in the game
Orianna
Orianna is strictly worse than several of her contemporaries (Syndra, Viktor, etc.) while being rather team reliant and is still not picked in Pro, where she would otherwise be strong given these characteristics
With ROA nerf, she's also getting weaker - Given that she's not really been particularly present in either environment, we're giving her a buff up
Given 2-3 pts W is her strongest max order currently, it's a small nerf early, but a buff from level 8 onwards
K'Sante
K'Sante has mostly fallen out of the pro meta (partially due to Gwen prio), we're putting more power in his most fair ability (W)
Ashe
While it's true she's viable in Pro, Ashe is pretty weak in solo Q with a pretty shallow mastery curve (ie. doesn't gain much winrate with games played)
We're not as worried with having her go up in priority given Fearless and want to put her in a better spot for her regular players
Leona and Morgana
Leona and Morgana have dropped out of viability a lot and so we're giving them both a bump up
Morgana has turned into a very reactive support and doesn't have a lot of reasons to go forward; so we're balancing that out a bit better
Leona is just strictly worse than a lot of other CC oriented supports right now, like Alistar, Rell, etc.
Gwen, Naafiri, Yorick
Some follow ups to Gwen, Naafiri, Yorick to get their follow ups in the right spot - They landed well shape and power budget wise, but need some fine tunings to get in the right spots
Naafiri is targeted at W uptime to reduce frustration
Gwen is targeted at making jungle weaker as she has less counterplay there
Yorick jungle is just still too strong, especially in lower skill play
