The preview for the latest League of Legends Patch, 25.08 is here thanks to Riot Phroxzon – who is keeping the hype around League of Legends alive with his X posts. The latest update tries to address some of the biggest outliers on Summoner’s Rift, such as Gwen, Ahri, Yone – and Yuumi, for some reason (the reason is very good).
While the Patch 25.08 doesn’t stir League of Legends as much as some previous updates, but going into the Mid-Season Invitational, that’s to be expected. There are still a lot of changes, however, so let’s jump into the next chapter of LoL.
Contents
League of Legends Patch 25.08 Champion Buffs
Blitzcrank
- Passive mana ratio increased from 30% to 35%
- Q damage increased from 105-285 to 110-310
Brand
- Passive monster damage mod decreased from 215% to 240%
Hwei
- Passive base damage increased from 35-180 to 35-230
- Ultimate explosion base damage increased from 200/300/400 to 200/325/450
Mel
- Attack Speed Ratio increased from 0.4 to 0.625
- Health increased from 600 to 620
- Passive Attack Damage per stack increased from 5-20 to 8-25
Renekton
- Ultimate damage increased from 30-90 to 30-120
Singed
- Passive cooldown per target decreased from 10 seconds to 8 seconds
Shen
- Q moving away slow increased from 15-35% to 25-45%
- W cooldown decreased from 18-12 to 16-10
Sona
- Q damage increased from 50-170 to 50-190
Xerath
- Passive cooldown refund per kill increased from 2.5 seconds to 3 seconds
- Q damage increased from 70-230 to 75-235
Zeri
- R chain lightning damage increased from 25% total AD to 30% total AD
Zoe
- Q non-primary target damage reduction decreased from 20% to 0%
The buffs are more numerous than the nerfs in Patch 25.08, and there are some significant changes as well. Brand will finally return to the jungle after Riot keeps cranking up his ability to clear monster camps – if they keep doing that, he will reach the clear speeds of old (and the Zyras of the present day). Shen is also being pushed into popularity, as if these changes go live, it will be the second buff the Eye of Twilight will receive in a short period of time.
Riot is also trying to put some proplay staples back on the map with the buffs to Renekton, Mel and Zeri, as well as trying to revive Zoe. The most significant changes are for the heiress of the Medarda family, as Mel should feel more fluid now that she got some AD and AS buffs.
League of Legends Patch 25.08 Champion Nerfs
Gwen
- E on-hit damage decreased from 12-20 to 8-20
Lulu
- Health decreased from 595 to 565
Tristana
- Ultimate cooldown increased from 100s to 120-100
- Ultimate damage decreased from 275-375 to 225-325
Yone
- W target max HP damage decreased from 10-14% to 8-12%
Yuumi
- P base heal decreased from 25-110 to 20-110
- E shield decreased from 80-180 to 65-165
The balance team at Riot Games also feels like they overbuffed Gwen in the last update – however, Phroxzon and his squad take things a bit slower, with a slight slap on the wrist for the Hallowed Seamstress. Yone also keeps catching strays, much to the delight of Solo Queue players and esports fans alike, as the brother of Yasuo can’t be nerfed enough.
A surprising change is the nerfs that Yuumi received. The number one cat of League of Legends hasn’t been a factor for quite a while, neither professionally nor casually. However, she has a good winrate when played with the proper ADC’s – ones that benefit from Attack Speed, as Yuumi’s buildpath and abilities have turned into a full-on buffing enchanter instead of a nuke attached to a Marksman player’s back. Riot caught on quickly and tried to nip Yuumi in the bud before she turns into a huge problem again.
League of Legends Patch 25.08 Champion Adjustments
Ahri
- Armor growth decreased from 4.7 to 4.2
- W base damage decreased from 45-145 to 40-120
- AP ratio increased from 30% to 40%
- Cooldown increased from 9-5 to 10-6
- E AP ratio increased from 75% to 85%
Annie
- HP per level decreased from 102 to 95
- Q AP ratio increased from 75% to 80%
- W damage increased from 70-250 to 70-270; cooldown decreased from 8 to 7
- [NEW] R now passively grants 10% / 12.5% / 15% magic penetration to Annie;
- Tibbers Flame Aura decreased from 20-40 (+12% AP) to 8-16 (+4% AP)
- Tibbers auto-attack damage decreased from 50-100 (+15% AP) to 30-60 (+10% AP)
Syndra
- W slow changed from 25-45% to 25%
- E base damage decreased from 75-235 to 60-200
- AP ratio increased from 45% to 60%
- Ultimate AP ratio per sphere increased from 17% to 20%
- Base damage per sphere decreased from 100-180 to 90-170
The adjustments of Patch 25.08 are very interesting. There were some strange builds popping up over the course of the last few weeks for a number of mages consisting of bruiser items such as Rod of Ages and Cosmic Drive, favoring tankiness instead of damage. The new strategy was the most prominent on Ahri, who kind of didn’t need to build damage as she was mostly picked for her charm, but with the new ratio changes, it might be more worth to buy AP items again.
Annie received a new effect for Tibbers, but lost a bunch of raw power in exchange for it. The passive penetration is always good, and the added ratios should make her play more like a burst mage – even though Tibbers won’t be as potent once the patch drops.
League of Legends Patch 25.08 System Buffs
Cryptbloom
- Ability haste increased from 15 to 20
Opportunity
- Lethality increased from 15 to 18
- Out of combat lethality gained decreased from 11 / 7 to 11 / 5
Overlord’s Bloodmail
- Bonus HP to AD increased from 2% to 2.5%
- Max %AD based on missing health increased from 10% to 12%
League of Legends Patch 25.08 System Nerfs
Dead Man’s Plate
- Slow Resist decreased from 25% to 15%
The item changes of this patch are fairly lackluster, but the Dead Man’s Plate nerf could be adhered to the fact that Shurelya’s Cho’Gath has been rising in popularity. The buffs to Overlord’s Bloodmail are nowhere near enough to make it contend with items like Sundered Sky, but it’s nice to see that Riot didn’t forget about the item.
League of Legends Patch 25.08 won’t be the most impactful update to the game, but the developers are trying to nudge some champions in a better direction. A focal point of this patch should be the changes to Yorick, but as per Phroxzon’s post, we don’t know if any of the changes will go live – however, the state of the gravedigger is either too strong or too weak, so expect some nerfs to the Shepherd of Souls.
