Patch 7.1d changes

Our take

Holding a Tumble-empowered attack now lasts 4s instead of 7s, cutting the window between rolling and striking. Waiting out an opening before landing that hit is much harder, and a misread on positioning costs Vayne outright. Silver Bolts loses 1% true damage and 5% attack speed at every rank, so she shreds tanks more slowly and wins fewer extended trades. There are simply fewer moments where she can step forward for free.

Our take

Four extra base AD plus 10% more AD ratio at every rank make Urgot's lane trades straightforwardly stronger. Echoing Flames is his main source of chip damage, so getting that 10% from rank 1 shows up immediately in the early game. His last-hitting and wave clear steady up as well, meaning fewer stretches spent shoved under his own tower. The ratio increase keeps paying off once his items are finished.

Our take

The explosion gains damage at every rank, rising from 145 to 170 at rank 4. Since it goes off when the charged unit dies, Tristana clears waves faster and can shove the lane more freely. That shove converts into tower pressure, a roam, or a safe recall, which is where her early tempo comes from. Rank 1 gains 10, so the buff is noticeable well before the ability is maxed.

Our take

Shimmering Strike hits champions for less while its minion modifier climbs from 75% to 90%, so Mel's wave clear actually improves. The split is deliberate: less pressure on the enemy laner, the same ability to hold the lane. The bigger change is Rebuttal, whose rank 4 cooldown stretches from 23s to 32s, ending the habit of keeping it available almost constantly. Each cast has to be earned now, which turns the ability into a much sharper read on the opponent.

Our take

Three more base AR makes the early trades against AD opponents a little easier to sit through. Crimson Pact converts AP into bonus HP, so raising the rate from 120% to 140% means every AP item now also buys durability. Vladimir's damage build feeds his survivability more directly, giving him more room to step forward in teamfights. The patch shores up both his early stability and his late-game staying power.

Our take

Bonus damage against champions drops by 10%, so Riven's trading power in lane and in skirmishes clearly falls. At the same time her jungle modifier rises from 50% to 65%, which speeds up her clear. Jungle Riven is pushed toward farming first and picking her fights carefully. In the baron lane she only gets the downside, so reading when to trade and when to back off matters more.

Our take

Sivir gains 0.5 more AD per level, so the gap in her base AD widens the longer the game runs. Both her basic attacks and Boomerang Blade scale off that, strengthening her ability to push back once the lane settles. Boomerang Blade also picks up 5% AD ratio at every rank, speeding up her wave clear and her poke. None of this decides an early skirmish outright, but it compounds as the game goes on.

Our take

Zeri gains 0.5 more AD per level and Living Battery's ratio now tops out at 125%. Since her damage comes from a steady stream of shots, extra AD feeds directly into her sustained output. Spark Surge returns 2s sooner at every rank, so she can cross walls and reposition far more often. Adjusting her stance mid-trade becomes easier, which cuts down on the moments where she simply gets caught.

Our take

Lethal Tempo's ranged cap falls from 12% to 10%, so drawn-out trades reward marksmen less than they did. Empowerment moves the other way, with 9% damage amplification and adaptive damage topping out at 200, favouring a short burst of attacks instead. Absolute Focus is easier to keep active now that its health threshold drops from 70% to 65%, and its adaptive force ceiling rises from 15 to 20. Ixtali Seedjar cuts the wait for each plant from 45s to 30s, which means more seeds over the course of a game.

Our take

Shortening the knock-up at the start line from 0.5s to 0.2s means fewer runs ruined by being pinned at the gate. The new augments arrive as two families, the strike set and the sync set, widening the range of picks that suit a given composition. Adaptive Force drops from 2 to 1, so it is no longer the safe default you take when nothing else stands out. Together with the pool changes, augment choices now need to be matched to your champion rather than taken on reflex.