League of Legends Patch 9.7 dropped Wednesday, bringing with it a number of Quality of Life changes along with fixes on certain heroes.
The patch brings back Butcher’s Bridge, but only for a limited time as the developers want to test the changes done to the ARAM. One feature, for example, is "Ban to Davy Jones' Locker." Here players can ban champions of their choice and once done, the champions selected will not be among those assigned at random.
Two new skins are released with the patch: the Dunkmaster Ivern and Hextech Jarvan IV. A Dunkmaster Ivern chromas has also been added.
For the champions, Kayle and Urgot got the brunt of the changes.
Urgot was originally nerfed in patch 9.4 as he continued to be a strong champion, even with a previous nerf in 9.2. However, he was buffed a bit in 9.6 with his base stats increased, particularly the mana upped to 340 and mana regen growth to 0.8.
This time Urgot is again nerfed with damage of his Echoing Flames Passive lowered to 2/3/4/5/6 percent of the target's max health. In 9.6, Urgot's E-Disdain skill had the cooldown changed to 14 seconds from 16/15/14/13/12 seconds. In this latest patch, the cooldown was scaled again to 16/15.5/15/14.5/14 seconds, with the cost increased to 60/70/80/90/100.
For the R - Fear Beyond Death, the damage was increased back in 9.6 from 50/175/300 to 125/250/375. This has now been lowered to 100/225/350.
The changes clearly will make Urgot more balanced, but will remain to be a good carry. He may not be that much of an "Urgod" anymore but is a strong force.
Kayle also underwent rework, not a surprise given how she only had a 49.6 percent win rate at patch 9.4 and increased to 55.3 percent by patch 9.6. According to the development team, the adjustments done to the champion were "to make her late-game spikes more reliant on doing well and getting items rather than coasting off raw power from levels."
In terms of base stats, health regen was lowered to 5 with armor growth also lowered to 3. Both Q - Radiant Blast had its mana costs increased from 60/65/70/75/80 to 70/75/80/85/90. While the mana cost for W - Celestial Blessing was lowered to 60/70/80/90/100, the bonus movement speed was also decreased to 24/28/32/36/40%. Finally the bonus magic damage of E - Starfire Spellblade has been dropped to 8/10/12/14/16 percent (+1 percent per 100 ability power) target's missing health.
The changes done to Kayle means players no longer have to rely on scaling but need to make use of items. This means you won't be as dominant especially on reaching level 11.
For Azir, despite a buff on the attack speed, his win has been dropping since 9.4. The two changes done hopes to change that, even if a little. Health regen growth is now 0.75 from 0.55. Damage from his Q - Conquering Sands has been increased from 60/80/100/120/140 to 70/90/110/130/150.
Overall five champions got nerfed with eight got buffed.
Complete details of the patch notes for 9.7 can be viewed here.
