[Patch 4.15] Master Tier General Discussion

Champions

Alistar
When we buffed Alistar back in 4.12, our big concern for competitive play was that he would be too strong in the jungle, where his terrifying level 2 ganks would obliterate all semblance of lane safety on the map. Didn't happen! He just went to terrorize top lane instead.

Jokes aside, it's not a bad thing when a champion finds a new position to play on the map, but often times we'll see their strength being used in inhibitive ways (hello Soraka, hello Lulu). We're not taking large steps against Alistar for now, but we did identify one very obnoxious aspect of his strength where he could get a free high-damage trade by Headbutting his opponent while also sneaking in a basic attack. When combined with next-attack items like Sheen, it's easy to see how uninteractive Alistar can get, especially when he puts the opponent in a position where they can't retaliate in a meaningful way. We still think Alistar's in a very strong place after his buffs, but will continue to monitor him for the future.
W - Headbutt
SUCKER PUNCH Alistar can no longer land an additional basic attack on his Headbutted target as they fly away

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Caitlyn
Part one of three.
General
BUGFIX Fixed a bug where abilities that give true sight of enemy champions would reveal stealth wards under certain circumstances

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Fiddlesticks
We're fixing a bug with Fiddlesticks that got introduced in 4.14 where his drain would occasionally break by one tick.

It's important to note that the Drain bug introduced in 4.14 was cutting off only one or two drain ticks if the opponent ran away to break the tether. It's not to say that this was a light issue (it was definitely a power reduction and an awkward 'feel' change for Fiddlesticks masters), but we just wanted to clarify the impact this had. To fix this, we actually re-coded certain aspects of Drain, but it should feel the same as 4.14.
W - Drain
A VERY ODD BUG Fixed a bug where Fiddlesticks' Drain tether would occasionally snap prematurely if an opponent moved out of a specific range within a certain window of time. The below two changes should maintain the old Fiddlesticks Drain feeling of pre-4.13, but since we've re-scripted parts of the ability (to fix the bug), we figured we should document it.
DRAIN TETHER RANGE Drain's tether now has a range of 750 ⇒ 800
DRAIN REFRESH RATE Drain now updates every 0.5 seconds ⇒ 0.25 seconds (overall damage remains unchanged)

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Graves
We're documenting the collateral in Collateral Damage (this is now the third time we have used this joke).
R - Collateral Damage
UNDOCUMENTED BUFF Back in patch 4.13, we increased the damage of Collateral Damage but forgot to mention that this would also buff Collateral Damage's Explosion Damage to 200/280/360 ⇒ 200/320/440. There is no functional change from 4.13, but we're just documenting it.

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Gnar
Gnar gets his bonus health immediately on transforming (rather than slightly delayed). Boomerang works more logically and its width, speed, and return indicators have all been improved. Boulders now get picked up and thrown faster, and they fly faster. GNAR! has an AP ratio (but please, for your sake, don't try AP Gnar).

We've been keeping a close eye on Gnar during the past two weeks, and while we try not to make major changes during big learning periods, we did see the opportunity to improve some of his play patterns. In other words, while these are definitely buffs, they're more 'spiritual improvements' that we'd like to do regardless of power. So even if Gnar ends up being too strong (or too weak), these are changes we're making to get him to feel better, and future tuning points would be unrelated.
General
SO MANY POSSIBILITIES Recommended items have been updated
BASE HEALTH REGEN 3 health regen per 5 seconds ⇒ 5 health regen per 5 seconds
Passive - Rage Gene
GROWTH SPURT Fixed a bug where Gnar wouldn't get his bonus health immediately on transforming
Q - Boomerang Toss
NEWTHAT'S A SMART BOOMERANG Boomerang's return logic has been improved to better track Gnar
OUTGOING WIDTH 45 ⇒ 60
RETURN WIDTH 70 ⇒ 75
MINIMUM SPEED 1000 ⇒ 1400
BOOMERANG CLARITY Boomerang's return particles have been improved!
Q - Boulder Throw
BODY BLOCK Boulder now checks to see if any enemy champions are standing really close to Gnar's center point when he casts (and it now hits them)
SHRAPNEL Boulder now does its area-effect damage in a small radius on landing if it hits no enemies
BOULDER SPEED 2000 ⇒ 2100
BOULDER WIDTH 80 ⇒ 90
GOOD FORM, GNAR Gnar can now pick up his thrown boulders off the ground after 0.5 seconds ⇒ 0.3 seconds
W - Wallop
WHOOPS Fixed a bug where enemies could sometimes cast spells when Wallop's stun was overlapped with GNAR!'s stun
R - GNAR!
NEWMAGICAL GNAR Now scales with 0.0 AP ⇒ 0.5 AP
RELIABLE GNAR! Fixed a bug where GNAR!'s knockback ministun (not the wall stun) would sometimes be removed too early
GNAR SO STRONG Gnar now moves and perform actions after casting GNAR! in 0.5 ⇒ 0.4 seconds

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Lee Sin
Part two of three. Around here is where most would make a joke about Lee Sin being blind. We will not.
General
BUGFIX Fixed a bug where abilities that give true sight of enemy champions would reveal stealth wards under certain circumstances

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Rumble
Many Rumble bug fixes.

Heat management is what separates the good Rumbles from the great Rumbles, so when we heard of bugs that punish Rumble for playing at his best (and a few that reward him when he shouldn't be), we felt we needed to act. That said, some of these changes might be a significant buff to Rumble's power, and that'll be something we'll need to keep a close eye on.
General
RESPONSIVE RUMBLE Fixed a bug where Rumble's Flamespitter and Scrap Shield should be more responsive in being affected (or not affected) by Danger Zone bonuses even if they're cast immediately after going above or below 50 heat
PROPER VENTILATION Fixed a bug where Rumble's basic attack would cancel if he was in the middle of attacking while Overheat expired
PUNCHING UNDER FIRE Fixed a bug where Rumble would occasionally not receive bonus magic damage on his first basic attack during Overheat
TOO HOT TO HIDE Fixed a bug where Rumble wouldn't fade out when he entered brush during Overheat
SUPER GALAXY MISSILES Fixed a bug where Super Galaxy Rumble would occasionally fire a "Danger Zone'd" Electro Harpoon missile on his second cast, even if his first cast wasn't in the Danger Zone

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Shyvana
While we realize this is a small power reduction, we had the choice of either buffing Shyvana's late ranks in damage or just reducing her level 1 damage by 20.
E - Flame Breath
SORRY SHYVANA Fixed a bug where Flame Breath was dealing an extra 20 damage at Rank 1. Shyvana's damage now accurately reflects the tooltip (at 60 damage).
VISUALS Adjusted Flame Breath's dragon form particles to better match the damage cone. Actual area of effect remains unchanged.

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Sivir
We're just re-aligning the visuals on Sivir's Q to better match the actual hitbox of the spell (but it's still a small buff!).
Q - Boomerang Blade
CLARITY! Sivir's Crossblade now accurately deals damage when the center of the projectile ⇒ edge of the projectile hits an opponent
RANGE 1175 ⇒ 1250 (to match the visuals)
ALL IN THE WRIST Fixed a bug where Sivir's basic attacks would cancel whenever Boomerang Blade would begin its return

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Twisted Fate
Part three of three.
General
BUGFIX Fixed a bug where abilities that give true sight of enemy champions would reveal stealth wards under certain circumstances

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Urgot
Urgot's basic attack now travels faster and Acid Hunter refunds half its mana cost if it kills an enemy. Hyper Kinetic Position Reverser also has a shorter cooldown and lower mana cost at later ranks, and lets Urgot ignore unit collision immediately after using it.

We're just doing a bunch of small changes aimed at helping Urgot get back onto his... feet. While we try not to discuss our changes in the context, the big thing here is the mana refund on Acid Hunter, which will give Urgot a better fallback mechanic when it comes to last hitting.
General
THIS REALLY HELPS Recommended items have been updated
THIS PROBABLY HELPS MORE Basic attack missile speed is now 1300 ⇒ 1600
Q - Acid Hunter
NEWGET BETTER AT LAST HITTING, URGOT Now refunds half mana cost if Acid Hunter kills an enemy
NEWFANCY PARTICLES Now with extra spinning and a trail
RESPONSIVE MISSILES Fixed a bug where Acid Hunter would fail to home if it was fired too quickly after Noxian Corrosive Charge was applied
R - Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser
COOLDOWN 120 seconds at all ranks ⇒ 120/110/100 seconds
COST 120 mana ⇒ 100 mana
NEWHYPER KINETIC WALKING THROUGH THINGS Urgot now ignores unit collision for 1 second after successfully using Hyper Kinetic Position Reverser
A VERY SMALL BUFF Now grants bonus armor and magic resistance after a 0.25 second delay ⇒ immediately
LESS DISORIENTATION The in-game camera no longer shifts for Urgot when he completes his Hyper Kinetic Position Reverse (so Urgot can follow-up with appropriate skillshots without having to re-orient his camera)

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Xerath
The hidden power of support Xerath.
W - Eye of Destruction
SORRY SUPPORT XERATH The Spellthief's line of items no longer procs twice when Xerath hits targets in the center of his spell.

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Updated Splashes
As we've mentioned previously, the splash art team is engaged in a long-term effort to update our oldest base splashes. We've got a few more fresh updates for this patch.
SPLASH The following champions have received updated base splashes (click the portraits for the full image!):
Shyvana
Vayne

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Items

Banner of Command
SOMEONE MAKE A TIBBERS BUILD Fixed a bug where Annie's Tibbers wasn't gaining increased damage from Banner of Command

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Iceborn Gauntlet
Don't let us prevent you from being inefficient with your unique passives.
THE SUPERIOR SPELLBLADE Fixed a bug where if you had both an Iceborn Gauntlet and a Trinity Force in your inventory, you'd deal 150% of your base AD to your primary target instead of the expected 200% (you'll still deal 125% of your base AD to surrounding enemies)

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Essence Reaver
Cheaper Essence Reaver. Bam. Summary and context in one.
COMBINE COST 1050 gold ⇒ 850 gold
TOTAL COST 3400 gold ⇒ 3200 gold
BUGFIX Fixed a bug where Essence Reaver was restoring more mana than it should at higher mana levels

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Twin Shadows
EVEN GHOSTS DON'T FACE CHECK Fixed a bug where the spooky ghosts from Twin Shadows would sometimes not path correctly into bushes to tag enemies
Item Purchasing
We think players should be able to shop in the comfort of their own death, without the stress of tipping their hand to their opponents.
PERSONAL BOUNDARIES Item purchases, sales and undos while dead are no longer visible to opponents who have vision on your corpse

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Twisted Treeline
Twisted Treeline Aura
These days, double AP comps have been very dominant in the meta, so we're trying to reduce those that focus on non-stop push / waveclear.
MAP-WIDE MANA REGENERATION AURA 1.5% of missing mana ⇒ 0.7% of missing mana

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Ichor of Illumination
Too much cooldown reduction! We don't want it to be so easy for mages to hit - and stay at - the cooldown reduction cap.
COOLDOWN REDUCTION 15% ⇒ 10%

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Cassiopeia
Miasma can be a bit overbearing on Twisted Treeline. This change, combined with the nerf to TT's mana regen aura, should make her more reasonable.
W - Miasma
BASE MAGIC DAMAGE PER SECOND 25/35/45/55/65 ⇒ 20/30/40/50/60
MAXIMUM POTENTIAL MAGIC DAMAGE 225/315/405/495/585 ⇒ 180/270/360/450/540
Dominion

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Pantheon
Passive - Aegis Protection
BUGFIX Fixed a bug where Aegis Protection was not blocking shots from Dominion towers.

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Twisted Treeline & Dominion

Leona
Solar Flare is a game changer, and with easy access to a number of tanky cooldown reduction items on these maps, her ult is up a little too frequently.
R - Solar Flare
COOLDOWN 90/75/60 seconds ⇒ 100/90/80 seconds

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Jarvan IV
Jarvan has great base stats and gets to build a ton of damage items while still remaining fairly tanky. We don't want to take away his utility, so we're focusing on his damage potential instead.
Passive - Martial Cadence
COOLDOWN 10/8/6 seconds ⇒ 10/9/8 seconds
Q - Dragon Strike
ARMOR SHRED 10/14/18/22/26% ⇒ 10/12/14/16/18%

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Ranked Play
We're adding a new tier to ranked play and announcing end-of-season rewards. Check out the announcement for more info.
Master tier will be activated following initial testing on a few servers. More details in the official article!

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Framerate Improvements
We've made some incremental performance improvements this patch, resulting in a small framerate boost across all configurations.
PERFORMANCE Framerates have been improved by 5-10%

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Bugfixes
Fixed a bug where the landing circle indicator for Pantheon's R - Grand Skyfall sometimes showed as green (blue in colorblind mode) for his enemies instead of red
Rengar's stealth indicator no longer persists through death if Rengar dies after casting R - Thrill of the Hunt but before gaining the stealth effect
The tooltip for Zed's W - Living Shadow now displays the amount of bonus AD granted even if the skill hasn't been leveled up yet
The particles for Nocturne's Q - Dusk Trail no longer obscure other particle effects
Status text for crowd control effects no longer overlaps when multiple CC effects apply at the same time
Kayle's recommended starting items on Twisted Treeline have been updated to no longer exceed the default amount of starting gold
Katarina's E - Shunpo no longer benefits from spell vamp on wards, despite doing no damage