It’s Wednesday and League of Legends needs to be patched. This time Riot is rolling out some significant changes to how we play the game, and some less significant changes to the champions we play in game.

Don’t Miss Last-Hitting that Siege Minion!

Do you sometimes miss your last hit on that big siege minion?

Well, don’t. Because now, instead of missing out on 45 gold, you will be missing out on 60. And that’s just in the first wave. Each wave that gold will go up by 3 rather than 0.35.

You know those caster minions that you always get because your spell pretty much clears them?

Now they will only be worth 14 gold each rather than 17. That amount of gold will not grow as the game goes on (which it used to). This is also true for melee minions, but their base gold is now 21 instead of 20. What this means is that getting that cannon minion is highly important and it may well create a mini fight each time one is in lane.

You will now have to make sure to time your recalls much better. Also save your mana and spells for when that canon minion is about to die – or for when your opponent is trying to hit his (or hers).

This change might not sound like a lot to you, but it will shake things up, especially in higher level play. 60 gold is a fifth of a kill, a whole potion and more – and that is just in the first wave. It will be worth fighting over, especially since you will be receiving less gold overall from your regular minions.

The Poor Man’s Relic Shield

The other most notable change is the one done to relic shield. Which will now also give less gold and make it more in line with the other support items. Passively its gold is reduced from 4 to 1, which is a huge nerf. Of course, sharing minion kills will remain important, especially since that siege minion which is now worth even more.

Mana Mastery

Manaflow band, which was already strong, is now going to be even better for champions such as Ryze, Kassadin and Cassiopeia.

It will now grant 25 mana each time you harass your opponent with a spell, up to 250 mana. After this, it will restore 1% of your missing mana every 5 seconds. Harassing someone with a spell, when you have click and hit spells – like the aforementioned champions do – will not be difficult. You only need to do this 10 times for the mana restoration effect to start.

Moreover, you will also get 250 mana for free. This is equivalent to a Sapphire Crystal and thus worth 350 gold. That’s a good deal.

Bird’s the Word

This patch also brings some nerfs and buffs to champions, but none of them are overly important. Swain has lately had an incredibly high pick/ban ratio in the NA and EU LCS. Let’s not forget a win rate that is over 60%, is getting a nerf to his Q (Death’s Hand).

The increase in its cool down on lvl 1 will be a slight pain as it is by 2 seconds. Ultimately when it is maxed it will remain on a 2.5s cool down. The damage reduction by 10 will hardly be noticed. Swain’s real power lies in his ultimate, his sustain and his ability to drag people in, and none of those things have been changed – so expect him to still see play.

The other notable buff is to Gragas, who receives extra AP ratios on almost all of his skills, which may bring him back into play.

Please note that patch 8.7 will not be seen in pro play any time soon as only the final remains of the spring split in both EU and NA LCS.

Thoughts on the patch? Secret OPs? Please note them in the comments below!