Patch 25.4 Preview! Tank Items - After an extended period last year of being quite weak and unsatisfying, tank items have found their footing in a strong way, especially for normal play but also in high levels for some of them - A lof of tanks in those times were opting into things like Thornmail 2nd item (in particular), which indicated that they don’t really have any good item choices - Being able to opt into specialized items like Thornmail 2nd sometimes is OK, but it feels pretty unsatisfying when it’s the option in most games, especially when playing against magic damage compositions - Unending Despair was reworked to be this 2nd baseline item to allow players to pivot off this foundation if an option is better (eg. MR heavy vs magic, AR heavy vs phys) - From our player surveys, champs like Mundo, Kench, Skarner, K’Sante, etc. who prominently use these items and are high on “perceived strength” will be nerfed Boots - We’re also doing a small pass to the boot options to ensure they are better balanced; these and the changes above will also systemically help ADC’s do more damage in most games - Steelcaps in particular has been a bit too good at shutting down these types of damage Attack Speed Cap - With the buffs to attack speed cap last patch, Kog has been pretty happy with that - A bit... too happy; so we're taking him down a peg Mel - For Mel, we are looking at some changes this patch to reduce her frustration, by bringing down her range and reliability slightly, lowering the forgiveness on her W a bit, now that players have had time to learn her, reducing her rank 1 root duration and making her R damage more dependent on having stacks - Mel sports a pretty low winrate on her first game in particular, but after players have played a few games, this rapidly increases Elise - Elise is a champion who’s had a dramatic rise in the support role; we’re not looking to swat her out of there too quickly, but her jungle has been slightly weak and we’re looking to distribute a bit of power into that role without removing her from support