LoL Patch 25.04: Major System Overhaul & Key Champion Updates Revealed

Lock in, it’s the last patch of Season 1, Act 1! Patch 25.04 introduces the first major systemic item adjustments of the year, aimed at tank itemization, tier-2 boots balance, and an accelerated Infinity Edge power spike for crit ADCs. In the champion department, this patch sees Mel‘s safety trimmed down, alongside role-adjustment tweaks for Elise and Diana. A dozen additional champions are also receiving balance changes to swap up the current meta.

Beyond balance, this update brings the arrival of the Masked Justice skins, an Honor System revamp, ARURF and Swiftplay tweaks, the 2025 Clash schedule, and a Mythic Shop rotation — along with a host of quality-of-life bug fixes. You can find the whole Patch Notes here.

League of Legends Patch 25.04 Patch Naming Update

The previous 25.S1.x naming convention is being retired in favor of a clearer, more intuitive format. Patch 25.04 represents the fourth patch of 2025, and the final patch this year will be 25.24, resetting to 26.1 in January 2026. This aligns with seasonal events like Worlds and will make patch tracking more consistent.

League of Legends Patch 25.04 Honor System Revamp

Instead of updating irregularly after a certain amount of time, Honor will change based on your behaviour constantly. This should make players feel like they progress instead of your Honor just updating once every few months. Honor 3 will now be the neutral players, below them will be the disrupting players, while above them are the honorable members of the community who help their teammates. Some new rewards have also been included, such as Three Honors Akshan, Shen, and Malzahar.

• Honor Levels now reflect recent positive behavior, not just games played.
• New Rewards & Entitlements, including Battle Pass XP bonuses and exclusive skins at Honor 5.
• No More Seasonal Resets—progression is now fluid rather than resetting each season.
• Honor Penalties display required penalty-clearing matches, similar to Ranked restrictions.
• Exclusive Skins: Honor 5 players will permanently unlock Three Honors Malzahar, Shen, and Akshan, plus Grey Warwick, Medieval Twitch, and their chromas.

League of Legends Patch 25.04 Champion Adjustments

Champion Buffs

Ashe

• Q – Ranger’s Focus:
  • Total damage per flurry increased: 110/115/120/125/130% AD → 111/117/123/129/135% AD.
• W – Volley:
  • AD ratio increased: 100% bonus AD → 110% bonus AD.
• R – Enchanted Crystal Arrow:
  • Damage increased: 200/400/600 (+120% AP) → 250/450/650 (+120% AP).
  • Secondary target damage: 50% → 100%.

Ekko

• Q – Timewinder:
  • Damage increased: 70/85/100/115/130 (+30% AP) → 80/95/110/125/140 (+30% AP).

Gangplank

• Base Stats:
  • AD growth increased: 3.7 → 4.2.

Jayce

• W – Hyper Charge:
  • Set attack speed increased: 2.67 → 3.0.

Nautilus

• Q – Dredge Line:
  • Damage increased: 70/115/160/205/250 (+90% AP) → 85/130/175/220/265 (+90% AP).

Sion

• Base Stats:
  • Base armor increased: 32 → 36.
  • Health regeneration increased: 7.5 → 9.

Teemo

• E – Toxic Shot:
  • Monster damage increased: 125% → 145%.

Yasuo

• Passive – Way of the Wanderer:
  • Critical damage reduction (10%) removed.

Champion Nerfs

Hwei

• Passive – Signature of the Visionary:
  • AP scaling reduced from 35% to 30%
• QW – Severing Bolt:
  • Damage decreased early: 80/100/120/140/160 (+25% AP) → 60/85/110/135/160 (+25% AP).
• WE – Stirring Lights:
  • Damage reduced: 25/35/45/55/65 (+20% AP) → 20/30/40/50/60 (+15% AP).

Kalista

• W – Sentinel:
  • Soul-Marked target max HP damage 14/15/16/17/18% → 10/12/14/16/18%.

Kog’Maw

Q – Caustic Spittle:

• Damage decreased: 90/140/190/240/290 → 80/125/170/215/260.
• AP ratio increased: 70% → 80%.

Lulu

• W – Whimsy:
  • Bonus Attack Speed reduced: 25/27.5/30/32.5/35% → 20/22.5/25/27.5/30%.
  • Cooldown increased: 17/16.5/16/15.5/15s → 18/17.5/17/16.5/16s.
• E – Help, Pix!:
  • Damage/Shield Strength decreased: 80/125/170/215/260 → 80/120/160/200/240.

Warwick

• Q – Jaws of the Beast:
  • Mana cost increased: 70/75/80/85/90 → 80/85/90/95/100.

Champion Adjustments

Mel

• Q – Radiant Volley:
  • Cast range reduced: 1000 → 950.
  • Projectile speed reduced: 5000 → 4500.
• W – Rebuttal:
  • Duration reduced: 1s → 0.75s.
  • Mana cost increased: 60/45/30/15/0 → 80/60/40/20/0.
  • Reflected damage reduced at later ranks: 40/47.5/55/62.5/70% → 40/45/50/55/60%.
• E – Solar Snare:
  • Root duration reduced early: 1.75/1.88/2/2.13/2.25s → 1.25/1.5/1.75/2/2.25s.
  • Direct hit damage increased: 60/100/140/180/220 (+50% AP) → 60/105/150/195/240 (+60% AP).
• R – Golden Eclipse:
  • Damage per Overwhelm stack increased: 4/7/10 (+2.5% AP) → 4/7/10 (+3.5% AP).

Elise

• W (Human) – Volatile Spiderling:

• Damage reduced: 60/105/150/195/240 (+95% AP) → 60/100/140/180/220 (+75% AP).
• W (Spider) – Skittering Frenzy:
  • Cooldown reduced: 10s → 6s.
  • Bonus attack speed increased: 60/70/80/90/100% → 60/75/90/105/120%.
• R – Spider Form:
  • Spiderling damage increased: 8/14/20/26 (+15% AP) → 10/20/30/40 (+15% AP).

Diana

• Passive – Moonsilver Blade:

• Monster damage reduced: 300% → 225%.
• Q – Crescent Strike:
  • Damage increased: 60/95/130/165/200 (+70% AP) → 70/105/140/175/210 (+70% AP).
• W – Pale Cascade:
  • Maximum damage increased: 54/90/126/162/198 (+54% AP) → 60/96/132/168/204 (+54% AP).

Item Changes

Abyssal Mask

• Magic Resistance: 50 → 45.

Fimbulwinter

• Everlasting Shield:

• 100-180 (based on level) (+4.5% current mana) → 100 (+4.5% current mana).
• (~30% less shielding in average cases).

Heartsteel

• Colossal Consumption: Max HP scaling reduced: 10% → 8% of damage.

Infinity Edge:

• 3600 → 3450 gold.
• Attack Damage: 70 → 65.

Mercury Treads

• 1300 → 1250 gold.

Plated Steelcaps

• Auto Attack Damage Reduction: 12% → 10%.

Symbiotic Soles

• Flat Movement Speed: 35 → 40 (Evolved speed unchanged at 45).

Unending Despair

• Anguish: 8-15 (based on level) (+3% bonus health) → 3% of bonus health (results in 10-15% damage nerf).

System Changes

Atakhan

Early Lane Trading (Increased Impact in Pro Play)

• Early PvP damage now generates double the points.
  • This gradually decreases to normal over 14 minutes.
• Goal: Account for more aggressive early trading in pro play where smaller amounts of damage mean more.

Diminishing Kill Score

• The first few kills grant significantly more points.

• Points diminish with each subsequent kill.
• Tower Dive Kills:
  • Now grant multiplicatively more points due to their high tension.

Threshold Recalibration

• Thresholds adjusted to align with a new scoring system.

Overall, League of Legends Patch 25.04 looks to shake the meta up a bit more than the previous one. With Infinity Edge being cheaper, some crit ADC’s should be able to scale sooner into the game. With the buffs to Sion and the nerfs to Warwick, there should be a shakeup in the toplane meta. The professional games should look different as well, as the Mel and Elise changes should affect the drafts of pros, especially in the Fearless format. We shall see how Patch 25.04 will land, but it should be a more significant update!