Teamfight Tactics 18.5 Patch Notes - All Changes

Teamfight Tactics patch 18.5 is a smaller, more focused update that mostly follows up on the big changes from patch 18.4. Some of it is clean-up for changes that didn't land where the developers wanted, while the rest makes sure every AP line feels viable, not just Azir and Kha'Zix.

Riot published the notes on October 20, and a mid-patch update followed on October 22. If you want to know what moved before your next climb, this is the place to check. We will go over every change in Teamfight Tactics 18.5, from trait and unit balance to Augments, Wisps and bug fixes.

Teamfight Tactics 18.5 Highlights

• Choncc or Treat: a Halloween version of Choncc's Treasure with new encounters, including everyone starting with a unique Avatar Lux. It's live until November 17.
• Trait nerfs: Blackthorn, Elderwood, Flora Fatalis, Rapidfire and Riftbeast all come down, while Fae gets a buff.
• Azir nerf: the main Azir change is a flat ability damage nerf, backed up by trait tweaks around his go-to comp.
• Wisp filtering: optimizing the bench and board to filter Wisps gets less demanding, and several Wisp costs change.
• Mid-patch update: a partial revert of the Brambleback buff, a Wisp cost clean-up and a few bug fixes arrived on October 22.
• Cosmetics: 52 cosmetics are readded this patch.

18.5 Mid-Patch Update (October 22)

The big winner of 18.5 won out too much, so the Brambleback heal is partly reverted. The Armor Ignore buff stays, so he isn't forced out of the meta.

• Brambleback: Healing On-Hit 5% ⇒ 4%

A couple of Wisps were showing up even when you couldn't buy them, because they cost more than the base version. They aren't overperforming, and matching costs is more intuitive, so these were adjusted.

• Die Roll: Upgrade Cost 3 ⇒ 2
• Downpour: Upgrade Cost 3 ⇒ 2
• Hero's Entrance: Upgraded Cost 4 ⇒ 2
• Hireling: Base Cost 2 ⇒ 5
• Knick-Knack Bag: Upgrade Cost 2 ⇒ 1
• Moonlight Ritual: Base Cost 2 ⇒ 3

The bug fixes in this update are short:

• Elderwood Emblem's stats are corrected after the 18.4 nerf was temporarily reverted.
• Luxury Subscription correctly grants 2-star 1-cost champions.
• U.R.F. and Spreading Roots are now properly excluded.
• Abandon Ship's Blossom Upgrade properly costs 2 gold.

18.5 Trait Changes

Blackthorn (6) and the base AP sacrifice are targeted to lower the power of the strongest Blackthorn comp, which uses a super-charged Azir. Elderwood (9) was almost an auto-win with the Emblems and two-stars. Fae was buffed too conservatively last patch, so the heal gets the most love, which helps Rakan and Lillia. The later Golden Pixie breakpoints are flattened to smooth the econ transition.

Flora Fatalis healing could keep super tanks' health bars from moving, so its heal comes down to hit Rammus and Azir comps. Rapidfire is a bit too strong for a vertical Class that needs only one Emblem, and Riftbeast (7) is slightly too strong now that it's playable from multiple angles.

Blackthorn

• 6 Piece Enhanced Bonus: 60% ⇒ 50%
• Base AP Sacrifice: 12% Damage Amp + 2 Mana Regen ⇒ 10% Damage Amp + 2 Mana Regen

Elderwood (9)

• 9-Piece Summon Bonus Health: 140% ⇒ 125%

Fae (2/4)

• Heal: 2.5/4% ⇒ 3/5%
• 4th Pixie Threshold: 30000 ⇒ 25,000
• 5th Pixie Threshold: 70000 ⇒ 60,000
• 6th Pixie Threshold: 110000 ⇒ 100,000

Flora Fatalis

• Max Health Healing: 8% ⇒ 7%

Rapidfire

• AS Per Attack: 3/5/8/12% ⇒ 3/5/7/10%

Riftbeast (7)

• AD/AP: 6% ⇒ 5%

18.5 Unit Changes

Tier 2

Caitlyn can find success in a few narrow comps. She gets a small buff so she can lock in on more comps as a reroll Rageblade user.

• Caitlyn: Empowered Auto Damage 190/285/470 AD ⇒ 200/300/490 AD

Tier 3

Azir gets the main nerf, a flat damage cut. Mama Beak has a mana lock bug fixed, which shortens total Mana Lock time by about a second, and her damage drops a tad as compensation. Tristana gets a pretty big buff that should make her a major threat once her traits and items come online.

• Azir: Ability Damage 46/69/110 AP ⇒ 43/65/105 AP
• Kha'Zix: Unisolated Damage 255/360/515 AP ⇒ 250/345/500 AP
• Kha'Zix: Isolated Damage 285/410/605 AP ⇒ 280/390/590 AP
• Mama Beak: Mana lock now ends when the Tiny Beaks start to despawn rather than finish
• Mama Beak: Ability Attack Damage 22/33/52 AD ⇒ 20/30/50 AD
• Master Yi: AD Form Starting Attack Damage 60 ⇒ 63
• Master Yi: AP Form AP Ability Damage 125/190/285 AP ⇒ 135/200/320 AP
• Tristana: Mana Buff 0/60 ⇒ 0/50
• Tristana: Ability Damage per Attack 10/15/25 AD ⇒ 12/18/28 AD

Tier 4

Malphite's power ceiling comes down with the Flora Fatalis nerf, which leaves room for a stronger shield. Morgana gets more initial and bonus curse damage so she can push through frontlines. Sentinel gets a slight overall nerf: he's worse unitemized but a bit better with items. Sett gets a tiny AP ratio buff, and Soraka's ability buff should make her a viable primary carry in AP lines.

• Brambleback: Alpha Mark Heal 4% ⇒ 5%
• Brambleback: Armor Ignore 20% + 25% AP ⇒ 25% + 25% AP
• Malphite: Shield 700/850 AP ⇒ 735/885 AP
• Morgana: Initial Curse Damage 60/90 AP ⇒ 70/105 AP
• Morgana: Curse Bonus Damage 22/33 AP ⇒ 25/38 AP
• Sentinel: Stun Duration 1s ⇒ 0.5s
• Sentinel: Shield 350/450 AP ⇒ 375/475 AP
• Sett: Heal AP Amount 225/275 AP ⇒ 250/300 AP
• Sivir: Ability Damage 200/300 AD ⇒ 220/330 AD
• Sivir: Bounce Damage 20% of initial ⇒ 18% of initial
• Soraka: Initial Star Damage 225/335 AP ⇒ 235/355 AP
• Soraka: Additional Star Damage 100/150 AP ⇒ 110/165 AP

Tier 5

Alune is good, but itemizing her doesn't move the needle, so her durability passive is weakened to make room for her as a strong itemized carry. Ashe was over-nerfed in 18.3, and the buff now nudges you to give her AD items. Taric gets tankier and a much bigger AP ratio on his and his partner's empowered attacks.

• Alune: Moonshard Damage 55/83 AP ⇒ 58/88 AP
• Alune: Attack Speed 0.8 ⇒ 0.85
• Alune: Attuned Durability 7% ⇒ 5%
• Ashe: DoT Damage 9/14 AD ⇒ 11/16 AD
• Taric: Resists 65 ⇒ 70
• Taric: Ability empowered two attacks Damage 100/150 AP ⇒ 130/200 AP

18.5 Radiant Item Changes

• Adaptive Helm: Mana Regen 7 ⇒ 6
• Adaptive Helm: Non Tank/Fighter AD/AP 40 ⇒ 35
• Blue Buff: Base AD/AP 30% ⇒ 25%

18.5 Augment Changes

Augments get some behind-the-scenes tailoring, so you should see fewer AP Augments when you lean AD and fewer AD Augments when you skew AP. With Flora Fatalis Emblem coming down in power, Consuming Flora gets a nice buff. The super-tank Elise strategy with Dark Ritual is a few legs above other super-tank strategies, and Expected Unexpectedness is nerfed because 4-costs and scaling 5-costs are already very strong in this set.

• Bronze for Life II: Resists per Trait 3% ⇒ 2.5%
• Build-A-Bud: Gold Granted 6 ⇒ 9
• Challenger's Grace: AS Buff 25% ⇒ 30%
• Cooking Pot: HP per Emblem 60 ⇒ 70, and it's now excluded from Coronation, Spreading Roots+ and The Trait Tree+
• Consuming Flora: Bonus Effectiveness 50% ⇒ 70%
• Cry Me a River: Mana Regen Bonus 4 ⇒ 3
• Dark Ritual: AP Granted 7/12/33/50/100/175/300/400 ⇒ 5/10/28/45/85/175/300/400
• Electrocharge II: bugfixed to deal the proper damage
• Embiggen: Base AD/AP Bonus 10% ⇒ 18%
• Expected Unexpectedness: Stage 3 Gold Granted 18 ⇒ 15
• Expected Unexpectedness: Stage 4 Gold Granted 20 ⇒ 18
• Expected Unexpectedness: Stage 4 5 Costs Granted 3 ⇒ 2, and the 5 Cost roll reward now additionally grants 3 gold
• Flowing Tears: Mana Threshold for Cashout 6500 ⇒ 7000
• Heart of Steel: re-disabled due to a bug
• Investment Strategy I: Initial Gold 6 ⇒ 3
• Investment Strategy II: Initial Gold 10 ⇒ 6
• Item Extraction: no longer grants a Veigar
• Malicious Monetization: Initial Gold Granted 4 ⇒ 6
• Nesting Anvils: Gold Granted 4 ⇒ 6
• Omega Riftbeast: Bonus HP 10% ⇒ 8% and Bonus AS 10% ⇒ 8%
• Pandora's Bench: Gold Granted 4 ⇒ 1
• Pandora's Items II: Gold Granted 4 ⇒ 1
• Pandora's Items II+ (new): appears on 3-2 and grants 4 gold
• Pandora's Items II++ (new): appears on 4-2 and grants 6 gold
• Patience is a Virtue: Initial Rerolls 4 ⇒ 5
• Prismatic Destiny: Gold Granted 4 ⇒ 2
• Promised Protection: HP Granted 200 ⇒ 175
• Seraphim's Staff: AP Threshold 90% ⇒ 110%
• U.R.F: now excluded from Coronation, Spreading Roots, Spreading Roots+, The Trait Tree and The Trait Tree+
• We Stick Together: tailoring changes from 18.3 are now correctly applied, and the tooltip is updated for clarity

Pandora's Items Augments are also excluded from each other.

18.5 Wisp Changes

Optimizing the bench and board to filter Wisps is a heavy knowledge check and an APM (actions per minute) check that the developers aren't comfortable with. You can still optimize for Wisps if you want to, but it's now less optimal and less required, so you can focus on what's core to TFT: missing your roll down. Abandon Ship at 0 gold was too easy to force, and Hand of Baron was just too powerful.

• Wisp filtering: Wisps that filter by number of itemized champions now also include benched champions
• Wisp filtering: Wisps that filter by specific roles now snapshot the last combat rather than the current board
• Abandon Ship: Cost 0g ⇒ 2g
• Beggar's Wisp: Gold 3/5g ⇒ 2/3g
• Blood and Iron: Cost 3g (bug) ⇒ 4g
• Hand of Baron: Cost 6g ⇒ 4g
• Hand of Baron: Stats 33/55 HP + 3/5% Resists/AD/AP/AS/Omnivamp/Durability/Damage Amp ⇒ 22/33 HP + 2/3% of the same stats
• Hand of Baron: Crit Chance 10/15% ⇒ 6/8%
• Heroic Sacrifice: Bonus Health 1200/1500 ⇒ 1000/1250
• Life Debt: fixed a bug where its missing Health requirement wasn't functioning
• Returning Friend: added to Stage 3
• Grove Armor: added to Stage 3

18.5 Bug Fixes and Cosmetics

The developers still list the bug fixes in the notes, and they point to the Follow the Fix website for a full breakdown of fixes for this patch, the last patch and beyond. Highlights from the list:

• Fixed an issue where in-game chat could automatically send after hitting a certain length.
• Fixed an issue where Taric's passive could fail to activate on Ghost teams.
• Double Up: fixed an issue where partners could have different placements.
• Fixed an issue where spatulas and pans were failing to drop in Tocker's Trial.
• Fixed an issue where the Top 4 Ceremony sometimes did not play.
• Fixed an issue with disconnection then reconnection after accepting a game.
• Fixed an issue where a champion's max Health could be reduced by equipping three Forbidden Idols. This tech is forbidden.
• Fixed various server crashes with a broad code clean-up that should result in fewer crashes overall.

Cosmetics return too. 52 cosmetics are readded this patch, including 11 Mythic Chibis, 3 Mythic Unbounds, 19 Little Legends, 6 Legendary Portals and 9 Mythic Booms. The developers found visual bugs with some of them late in the conversion process. None of them affect gameplay, so they shipped anyway, and the team plans to come back to squash the bugs. Affected items include Prestige Chibi Porcelain Ezreal, PROJECT: Vayne Unbound, Chibi Yuubee and Prodigy Baron (Tacticians), plus God King Noxian Guillotine, K/DA Charm and God Fist Tempest (Booms).

And that covers all of the changes in Teamfight Tactics 18.5. You can read the official patch notes on the teamfighttactics.leagueoflegends.com website. For more TFT patch coverage, see our look at the TFT 14.18 patch notes and the TFT 14.20 buffs and nerfs.