The “Moonstaff” combo — Moonstone Renewer and Staff of Flowing Water — has dominated League of Legends in Season 11. However, the two items are being nerfed hard in patch 11.8 as Riot tries to put a stop to its tyranny.
Movement speed has been the name of the game in League of Legends Season 11. Since the item rework came through, Turbo Chemtank, Moonstone Renewer, and Staff of Flowing Water have dominated the meta.
It’s why picks like Udyr, Lillia, and Hecarim have been must-picks in the jungle. Moonstaff can be build on almost any AP champion — whether it be a mid-lane mage, an enchanter support, or even junglers like Lillia and Nidalee.
Its power spike, for just 4,800 gold, is better than most AP items in the game. You do a ton of damage, all while buffing and healing your team with the Moonstone and Staff passives.
However, Riot is looking to nerf the combination big time in League patch 11.8, and it could drastically shake up the meta.
Moonstaff movement speed removed entirely
Staff of Flowing Water is having its passive changed to give 20 Ability Haste instead of 15% movement speed on an ally once you heal or shield them, according to Surrender@20. Losing the movement speed is a huge nerf to the item, and while extra Ability Haste is nice, it’s not the same.
On the Moonstone Renewer side, its two passives — Starlit Grace and Mythic — are being nerfed. The heal is being drastically cut to a flat 60 health, and the bonus now increases to a maximum of 20% instead of 50%.
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The Mythic passive is being changed to an extra 10 healing per Legendary item instead of 5 Ability Haste, which is a big nerf to how well Moonstone scales into the late game.
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The two changes, in conjunction with one another, should basically kill the Moonstaff combo as we know it.
No bonus move speed really hurts the power of the combo drastically. While the Ability Haste nerf on Moonstone is made up with the Staff changes, it’s no longer going to be the dominant force it once was.
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That’s not the end of Riot’s quest though. Shureyla’s Battlesong is also being changed, and it might become the best of both worlds.
Its Mythic passive have been changed to give Ability Haste instead of movement speed. However, there is a new passive on the item called Motivate, which synergizes with the active.
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If you empower or protect an ally, you get 25% decaying movement speed for 1.5 seconds, on a four second cooldown. It’s not quite Moonstaff levels of OP, but it could spark a shift in the meta.
League patch 11.8 is set to launch on April 14. These changes are currently in testing on the PBE, and aren’t guaranteed to ship.
