League of Legends’ patch 8.7 hit the live servers tomorrow, and despite not being as extensive as the patch 8.6 released two weeks ago, a fair amount of balance changes are arriving to shake up the meta, and of course, the introduction of the reworked Irelia is reason enough to look forward to LoL’s newest update.

But much more than that is arriving, ranging from new skins and new emotes to minion gold changes and rune updates! Take a look and check out the most exciting new features and changes coming out on patch 8.7:


Irelia Reborn

The Blade Dancer received a major rework, featuring alongside brand new abilities, a revamped voiceover, model, lore and of course, skins – I am kind of love with Aviator Irelia already!

Designed to be a heavy-hitter bruiser, such as Camille or Fiora, two popular choices in the top laner if the players wants to bring the fight to their opponents, the new Irelia is significantly harder to play, with some of her abilities requiring a good amount of knowledge, mechanics and pure practice in order to be mastered.

But boy, is she fun to play! With an exciting and rewarding kit, able to offer the team a number of features that might come handy during clutch situation, expect her to become a popular pick in all tiers across the ladder. Her debut in the competitive scene will however take longer, but the Blade Dancer should be available during next month’s Mid-Season Invitational.

Take a look at the complete list of abilities:

Passive: Ionian Fervor

When Irelia strikes enemies with spells she gains a stacking bonus damage buff on her basic attacks. At maximum stacks she also gains Attack Speed and deals bonus damage to shields.

Q: Bladesurge
Cost: 20 Mana
Range: 625

Irelia dashes forward to strike her target, healing herself. If the target is Marked or dies to Bladesurge, it's cooldown refreshes. Irelia dashes to an enemy, dealing 10/30/50/70/90 (+80% Attack Damage) physical damage, applying on-hit effects and healing for 0 health. Bladesurge's cooldown is reset if the target was Marked or dies to Bladesurge. Bladesurge deals 60% bonus damage to minions.

W: Defiant Dance
Cost: 70/75/80/85/90 Mana
Range: 825

Irelia charges a strike that deals more damage as she charges. She takes reduced damage during the charge.

First Cast: Irelia aligns her blades into a defensive formation, gaining 45/50/55/60/65% (+[0]%) damage reduction and a stack of Ionian Fervor but becoming unable to act.

Second Cast: Irelia swipes her blades, dealing 20/60/100/140/180 (+60% Attack Damage) (+40% Ability Power) physical damage. Damage increases with charge time, up to 20/60/100/140/180 (+0) (+0) after 0.75 seconds.

Defiant Dance cannot be interrupted. Quick Cast: Hold and release instead of casting twice.

E: Flawless Duet
Cost: 50 Mana
Range: 900

Irelia sends out two blades which converge on each other. Enemies caught in between are damaged, stunned and Marked. Irelia readies 2 blades that will fly towards each other once placed, dealing 80/120/160/200/240 (+80% Ability Power) magic damage and stunning for 0.8/0.9/1/1.1/1.2 seconds. Champions and large monsters are Marked for 6 seconds. Flawless Duet deals 50% damage to monsters.

R: Vanguard’s Edge
Cost: 100 Mana
Range: 1000

Irelia fires a massive number of blades that explode outward upon hitting an enemy champion. Enemies hit by the blades are damaged and Marked. Afterwards the blades form a wall that will damage, slow and disarm enemies that walk through it. Irelia launches a storm of blades that explode outward upon hitting a champion.

The blades deal 150/275/400 (+70% Ability Power) magic damage and Mark champions and large monsters for 6 seconds. Irelia then forms the blades into a wall for 2.5/3/3.5 seconds. Passing through the wall deals 125/200/275 (+70% Ability Power) magic damage, slows by 60% and disarms for 2 seconds. Disarmed enemies cannot basic attack.

And if you want to see how she is looking in-game, make sure to check out her Champion Schedule as well, fresh from the oven:

Rumble and Wukong Skins!

Alongside the five updated Irelia skins, Rumble and Wukong will also be receiving new skins. For the former, “Badlands Baron Rumble“ will be his first new skin in exactly four years – Super Galaxy Rumble was coincidentally released on April 3, 2014 – and shows the Mechanized Menace in a Mad Max-esque setting, with a clear resembling to villain Immortan Joe.

And after two years, since the release of Radiant Wukong back in Janury 2016, Wukong is also getting a new skin, called “Lancer Stratus Wukong”, the newest member of the “Lancer” family who has so far Lancer Zero Hecarim and Lancer Paragon and Rogue Blitzcrank, and depicts the Monkey King as a giant robotic creature, ready to bring doom upon his enemies.

Both Badlands Baron Rumble and Lancer Stratus Wukong will be available for 1350RP each.


New Emotes!

Closing up the field of new “cosmetic” features, we have three new emotes coming out on patch 8.7 – Everything is Okay, Little Camper and Deal with Grit. Despite all three having a theoretically friendly-looking appearance, they can be a quite effective way to…let’s say, annoy an opponent further, especially the middle one, who can be used by junglers in order to tilt an enemy whose lane he is mercilessly camping throughout the game.


Swain Down

Now moving to balance changes, one of the biggest highlights coming out tomorrow are the changes to one of the most dominant champions in both competitive play and solo queue – where he bolsters a win ratio of over 52% according to Champion.gg - right now.

Swain’s Q, Death’s Hand, received a substantial nerf in the early levels: a much increased cooldown and reduced base damage will surely reduce the lane dominance of a champion who technically should shine only during the latter stages of a game.

One of the reasons Swain was so overwhelming to deal with – especially during teamfights – was because his laning phase was way too comfortable, as he could easily farm up and getting ready for the teamfighting stage while constantly harassing his lane opponent. With the nerfs to Death’s Hand, it gives the opposition more room to create plays around the mid lane, in attempts to reduce his ever-growing power during the course of the match.

But besides that, the Master Tactician will be receiving a small quality-of-life improvement, with now the remaining cooldown on his passive being shown to all allies upon clicking on its icon.

Check out the full list of changes coming out to Swain on patch 8.7:

Passive - Ravenous Flock
THE FLOCK GATHERS: Ravenous Flock's icon can now be pinged to show allies the remaining cooldown on the pull

Q - Death's Hand
COOLDOWN: 5.5/4.75/4/3.25/2.5 seconds ⇒ 7.5/6.25/5/3.75/2.5 seconds
BASE DAMAGE: 65/85/105/125/145 ⇒ 55/75/95/115/135


By the light!

It is a couple of small changes, but who can potentially have a bigger impact in lower elo games, where Lux is more frequently picked: her ultimate, Final Spark, now has a bigger cooldown refund on kill in the first two levels, with the cooldown now being granted now if the enemy dies within 1.75 of being hit by the spell – and not only if Final Spark deals the final blow.

Why can this be a big change? Well, for that you need to take a look at the changed Presence of Mind rune – more on that below – as well, which now will give refund 10% of your ultimate's cooldown upon takedowns, meaning that if the Lady of Luminosity can grab herself a couple of kills during a teamfight, the cooldown on her Final Spark will be significantly reduced. Imagine the prospect of a Lux using her ultimate twice or even thrice during extended fights? Scary, right?

Take a look at the changes:

R - Final Spark
COOLDOWN REFUND ON KILL: 10/30/50% ⇒ 30/40/50%
THE SPARK THAT LIGHTS THE FIRE: Cooldown refund is granted if one or more enemy champions die to Final Spark ⇒ die within 1.75 seconds of being hit by Final Spark


Oh, hello AP Gragas

Remember the (very) old times of AP Gragas being a menace in the midlane? Well, we are perhaps bound for a big comeback. Both his Q, Barrel Roll, and W, Drunken Rage, received buffs to their ability power ratio, meaning that at least a partial AP build is much more viable than before.

The increased ratio on Drunken Rage in particular is a significant one, from 0.3 to 0.5, meaning that his basic attacks will do significantly more magic damage – ideal in a situation where the flashes in with his Body Slam in order to burst down squishies.

Besides that, Drunken Rage will give additional damage reduction – 4% per 100 AP. Another incentive to go on full damage as the Rabble Rouser – once again.

All changes are as follow:

Q - Barrel Roll
DAMAGE RATIO: 0.6 ability power ⇒ 0.7 ability power

W - Drunken Rage
RATIO: 0.3 ability power ⇒ 0.5 ability power
FEEL NO PAIN: Drunken Rage grants Gragas additional damage reduction equal to 4% per 100 ability power


Big Nerfs to Locket and Ninja Tabi

Moving over to itemization changes, two of the most popular items throughout the last weeks received big nerfs in order to decrease their overwhelming power.

By far the number one choice for boots – especially if the opposition team is stacked with attack damage dealers – Ninja Tabi lost straightaway 33% of the armor it offered, from 30 to 20. To counterpart this true “gutting”, it received a small increase to its basic attack damage reduction.

Riot’s justification was simple: as an item aimed for tanks, it should remain a core purchase for tanks who need to be able to take punishment, but less for marksmen who just want some armor to survive against assassins, hence the significant nerf.

Meanwhile, Locked of the Iron Solari is simply too strong right now, with its shield being the main reason why it has been the go-to item for supports during the last patches. Therefore, pretty much everything received a nerf, from the base shield to its cooldown, and its bonus health will no longer progress throughout the game, rendering the item even less effective during the later stages.

Check out the changes:

BASE SHIELD: 38 ⇒ 30
SHIELD PER TARGET'S LEVEL: 22 ⇒ 15
BONUS HEALTH RATIO 2-36% (at levels 1-18): ⇒ 20%
COOLDOWN: 90 seconds ⇒ 120 seconds
MULTIPLE SHIELD REDUCTION AMOUNT: 50% ⇒ 75%
MULTIPLE SHIELD REDUCTION: DURATION 8 seconds ⇒ 20 seconds


Rune Changes

Runes are receiving quite a few changes on patch 8.7, including two full updates for two of them – Presence of Mind and Manaflow Band  - as well as numbers tweaking for 4 more.

Starting with Presence of Mind, instead of making spells “free” for 7 seconds after killing an ememy champion, it will simple restore 20% of your maximum mana and refund 10% of your ultimate's cooldown after a kill, meaning that especially champions with long cooldowns on their ultimate with benefit a lot from this change.

Moving over to Manaflow Band, it will now grant maximum after hitting enemies with a spell – 25 per spell, up to 10 times for a total of 250 extra maximum mana. And after reaching the cap, it will instead restore 1% of your missing mana every 5 seconds. Definitely an attractive change for mages who consume a ton of mana, although a certain one whose abilities’ damage multiply off his total mana can benefit the most from it…

Check out the rest of the changes:

Resolve Tree
RESOLVE PRIMARY: 65 health ⇒ 15-135 (at levels 1-18)
RESOLVE + INSPIRATION: 130 health ⇒ 30-270 health (at levels 1-18)
INSPIRATION + RESOLVE: 140 health ⇒ 35-300 health (at levels 1-18)

Legend: Tenacity
TENACITY: 5% + 1.5% per stack ⇒ 5% + 2.5% per stack
MAX TENACITY: 20% at 10 stacks ⇒ 30% at 10 stacks

Cut Down
DAMAGE MULTIPLIER: 4-10% (at 150-2000 max health difference) ⇒ 4-12% (at 150-2000 max health difference)

Zombie Ward
ZOMBIE WARD DURATION: 60-180 seconds (at levels 1-18) ⇒ 30 seconds at levels 1-4; 36-120 seconds at levels 5-18

Approach Velocity
MOVEMENT SPEED: 10% ⇒ 15%

Minion Gold Changes

Closing out, a very interesting change: cannon minions (and super minions), will drop significantly more gold, being worth more as the game progresses. In the other hand, they will have more base health, which will also grow more throughout the game, and will be quite hard to kill during the later stages.

Riot clearly wants to make cannon minions worth fighting for, punishing players who fail last hitting or who go back to base too often. It can also serve as an extra incentive to aggressive players, as denying his opponent from the sweet, sweet gold provided by the cannon minion is a quite significant (small) victory in lane.

However, to counterpart the increased gold gained from the cannon minion, caster minions will drop slightly less gold, while melee minions, while giving an extra gold, will also not drop more as the game progresses, with their gold-per-wave increase being set to 0.

Check it out:

Melee Minions
BASE GOLD: 20 ⇒ 21 GOLD
GROWTH EVERY 3 WAVES: 0.125 ⇒ 0

Caster Minions
BASE GOLD: 17 ⇒ 14 GOLD
GROWTH EVERY 3 WAVES: 0.125 ⇒ 0

Cannon Minions
BASE GOLD: 45 ⇒ 60 GOLD
GROWTH EVERY 3 WAVES: 0.35 ⇒ 3
BASE HEALTH 828 ⇒ 900
HEALTH GROWTH: EVERY 3 WAVES 23, increased to 32 for waves 16 onward ⇒ 50, increased to 60 for waves 16 onward

Siege Minions
BASE GOLD: 45 ⇒ 60 GOLD
GROWTH EVERY 3 WAVES: 0.35 ⇒ 3

And that would be all! What are the changes YOU are the most excited about in LoL’s newest update? Let me know below! Patch 8.7 is expected to be deployed on Wednesday, April 4.

(Photos courtesy of Riot Games)