Unlike our smart and beautiful Tacticians (you), Zeri didn’t read the Patch Notes and wasn’t aware of the Artifact changes…

We made some changes to the loot system in 14.4 to help combat inflation a bit, but we weren’t quite happy with where they landed. So, we went back in and made some more adjustments, removing some of the more extreme low-roll scenarios involving items and gold. We’re mostly focused on raising the minimum item and orb drop power, which may make Opening Encounters like Scuttle Puddle and Crab Rave feel extra strong, especially when combined with Cyber City Hacks, but we’re confident this will keep each game feeling better on average, while also setting us up for success when we swap set mechanics in our next set.

We’re lowering the odds of seeing two-stars early game, but doing so by removing the ability to high-roll multiple two-star shops, which created high-impact scenarios that went too far for the Hack. You’ll no longer be able to trigger more than one two-star shop in a single turn.

14.5’s item overhaul landed in a great spot—most of the items are strong with one minor exception. While it had its niche as a third item on a huge HP frontliner, Spirit Visage landed a bit weak for a core item. We’re adding 100 HP to make it a more appealing early-game slam and priority super-tank third item.

Sterak’s Gage was the big winner of the Item changes, providing a massive HP shield that lasts long enough to typically get the full value. With a slightly smaller shield and less uptime, this item should be more of an anti-burst than an anti-death.

Void Staff is already performing fine (great on Annie), so here we’re focusing on a small quality-of-life change so casters that take a while to get their second cast off (e.g. Brand) now have a longer window to benefit from the Shred they’ve applied.

Buffing the least shiny and nerfing the most.

Our new Artifacts landed a bit on the weaker side, minus every Attack Speed carry’s favorite fidget toy. We’re padding out the other three with a bit more stat appeal.

It’s no secret, Dynamo is strong. We’re tuning down the Mana regen the trait provides for your team, but we’re giving compensation Mana buffs to the two Dynamo (Jhin and Miss Fortune) carries that are performing fine as is.

Golden Ox is a trait that feels like you’re losing up until you’re really winning. We’re lowering the power of the really winning aspect of Golden Ox (6) to make sure other late-game comps can shine—even if they aren’t golden.

An early Kog’Maw two-star is our best-performing early-game carry.

It's all buffs. 2-cost reroll has been a bit hard to find last patch, with 1-cost and 4-cost strategies performing more consistently. Some buffs to secondary champions in reroll comps like Darius for Syndicate reroll or Jhin for one of the many Nitro reroll variations should help these mid-tier comps feel less mid.

Can’t wait to type “Rhaasta la vista, baby,” to roleplay my alter ego while playing Alter Ego (Rhaast Champion Augment).

With our updated Rageblade at her side, Senna’s already able to find success in a few scenarios. Our buff here is to make those few a bit more consistent, especially if you’re able to three-star her and benefit from the naturally high AD of a three-star, plus her traits.

You’re playing Fiddlesticks carry with Gragas and Chug Bug; I’m playing Gragas carry without Fiddlesticks or Chug Bug—we’re not the same.

You’re in his DMs; He’s actually just a sentient bow catfishing as a set of washboard abs less than one auto attack away from getting his second cast off.

Cho’Gath three-star continues to dominate amongst the giants that are three-star 4-costs. We’re lowering his boom here but giving him some consistency buffs to raise this bot’s base.

With Dynamo champions gaining double the Dynamo Mana regen bonus, the nerf hits extra hard. Like Jhin, we don’t see Miss Fortune as overperforming currently, so we’re giving her a 15 max Mana off discount. This does mean that Syndicate Miss Fortune comps that didn’t run Dynamo will be getting a pretty sizable boost, a boost they can use when compared to the Dynamo MF/Elise comps of 14.5.

Garen’s often overshadowed by his God of the Net trait, as the interesting and powerful hook to his kit, but just like his chiseled jaw and big sword, there’s so much more there—like a whole ability. We’re lowering his Mana cost so he can show off his Banwave more. As a note, this means the ability will only cost 50 Mana if his ability only hits two or fewer enemies.

Final Reserves value is far too high, while also setting your gold to 90 and giving you an extra life. We’re swinging pretty hard here, especially as we approach the most competitive time of the set, as our pros can consistently maximize the value of this Augment.

Rhaast buff and Alter Ego buff!? Rhaast has been a Divincorp trait-bot for a while, and his Augment hasn’t been able to lift him into a comp on his own. We’ve got buffs for both, so be sure to give Rhaast’s Alter Ego a try.

Do not sleep on Thorn-Plated Armor (Thornmail Gold Augment) Skarner carry.

We’re fixing a game-impacting bug with Ziggs, which, while infrequent, may result in those super-close fights ending in your favor, making Ziggs as a primary carry all the more reliable.

K/DA and Punk (6) have been early dominators of the Revival ladder. We’re tuning them down a bit and giving some buffs that’ll make True Damage and Big Shot vertical contenders.

We’ve got a patch full of buffs, but one champion is always left out of the fun…