Earlier this week, Riot Games published the patch notes for League of Legends Patch 11.9, which in addition to being the most recent version of the game to go live, will also be the patch used for the competitive games in the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational.

Highlights on Patch 11.9 include the DAMWON Gaming 2020 World Championship skins finally going live, but more significantly, a complete and total assassination of Hecarim via multiple nerfs.

Aside from a few individual exceptions, the changes introduced in Patch 11.9 are relatively cohesive. Champions that can build Moonstone Renewer like Lulu and Taric have received buffs alongside a buff to the item itself, and champions that could become complete overkill due to having a Moonstone Renewer building champion on their team like Diana, Dr. Mundo, Garen, Vladimir, and the aforementioned Hecarim have been toned down. 

Vladimir's single nerf to the scaling Cooldown Reduction on his Tranfusion should keep him in line, and Diana's nerfs are less focused on bringing her down and more focused on further indexing her into the jungle role and away from mid lane following the global playerbase preference of the former role rather than the latter, but Hecarim, to quote League of Legends Championship Series play-by-play caster Clayton "CaptainFlowers" Raines, has been taken to the glue factory. 

Hecarim has been viable even before 2021, but due to never being the definitive champion in any meta in the way that Udyr and Olaf have dominated the majority of this season has allowed the Shadow of War to fly under the radar while remaining a strong and reliable pick in nearly any team composition. On 11.9, Hecarim's natural armor and armor growth have been nerfed along with every ability besides his ultimate Onslaught of Shadows. 

On the cosmetic side, DAMWON Gaming's Worlds 2020 skins aren't the only anticipated skin coming to Summoner's Rift.  Conqueror Jax will also be live on the new patch, and Conqueror Jax Prestige Edition features a fun League of Legends esports tie-in: instead of his trademark lamppost melee weapon, Jax's weapon is the MSI 2021 trophy. 

All images by: Riot Games