Winners and Losers of Patch 25.09 in League of Legends: Annie Rekindled!!!

With patch 25.09 fresh out of the oven, Season 2 of League of Legends is starting out with a bang. The latest wave of buffs and nerfs to come with the patch has left some champions feeling great coming into the new season, while others begin to fall in priority after taking heavy hits to their kits.

So, who are the biggest winners and losers of patch 25.09? Let's take a look!

Winners of Patch 25.09

Morgana

After being forced to live in the shadow of stronger support picks for a long time, perhaps Morgana's time to shine has finally arrived. Buffs to her [E] Black Shield promise to make it harder for enemies to pierce through Morgana's shield, helping the champion keep her carries safe from those pesky crowd control abilities.

Perhaps more importantly, though, buffs to the damage and movement speed burst to her [R] Soul Shackles make it easier for Morgana to land crucial multi-man stuns during 2v2 skirmishes in the bot lane or in later team fights. This alone makes Morgana one of the biggest winners of patch 25.09.

Annie

There is hardly a champion in the game that will be feeling as good about the arrival of the new patch as Annie. Changes to the mana cost of her [W] Incinerate make it easier for Annie to push waves and roam around the map looking for kills in the early game.

Really, though, it's the buffs to her [Q] Disintegrate and [R] Summon: Tibbers that turn Annie into a mid lane menace once more. Now with access to 15%/17.5%/20% passive magic penetration by leveling up her ultimate ability, the enemy carry is simply never be safe whenever Annie has flash up in the mid-to-late game.

Ashe

The arrival of the new patch has brought buffs to Ashe's [Q] Ranger's Focus. Though no other part of her kit has been touched, buffs to both the damage scaling and attack speed portions of this ability mean that Ashe may well be trading her bow and arrow in for a gatling gun in the late game, making it easier for her to pierce through tankier members of the enemy front line.

Losers of Patch 25.09

Kalista

After an extended period of time terrorizing the highest levels of play, Kalista was well due for some nerfs. In this new patch, Kalista's early game does not quite pack the punch it once did after nerfs to her base health and base AD ensure that her laning phase is no longer as oppressive.

Though Kalista now scales a little bit better with AD moving forward, further nerfs to her [E] Rend mean you might want to stack a couple more of these before you decide to go for the execute.

Gwen

Ever since she received considerable buffs earlier in the year, Gwen has been an absolute menace in the top lane. The arrival of patch 25.09, however, seems to be putting an end to the champion's glory days.

Hits to her armor growth make specific top lane matchups against AD champions a little tougher on Gwen moving forward. Meanwhile, the AP scaling on Gwen's main damage ability, [Q] Snip Snip!, has been reduced by more than half, meaning the champion's late game power is no longer the threat it used to be.

Naafiri

Naafiri's rework turned this dog into an outright killer several patches ago. Now, the champion's bite just lost some edge with the latest patch.

A damage reduction to her [E] Eviscerate means Naafiri now has a slightly tougher time assassinating enemies. A longer cooldown on [W] The Call of the Pack, meanwhile, gives Naafiri reduced safety when diving the enemy back line looking for a kill. These changes ensure Naafiri players need to put more thought into timing her abilities before going for a flashy play, making it more difficult to pilot the champion effectively.

Adapting to the changes

The arrival of patch 25.09 to has brought plenty of change to League of Legends. Along with the introduction of Season 2, the game has received a new-look Summoner's Rift, adjustments to major objectives, a brand new game mode, as well as new Battle Pass rewards.

Check out our patch highlights to make sure you don't miss any of the latest changes. If you're a long-time Annie or Morgana enjoyed, then you may have spent a long time hiding in a cave. Well, wake up, your time to dominate is now!

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Featured image credit: Image exclusive to Strafe Esports

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