In this patch we're looking to make Azir a bit more powerful for players at home. These changes should be pretty appreciable for all Azir players, regardless of rank.

Azir marks one of a very few changes we are making specifically due to First Stand. We want to preserve Azir’s high points and core strengths of sustained late game damage while opening up late-game weaknesses to AP assassins in the hope that we see some exciting counter picks at the tournament.

Azir's a bit too powerful in higher levels of play at the moment, but he's in pretty good shape for regular play. So we're looking to shift his power around and reduce those pro-specific strengths. To do this, we're digging into his early laning phase and giving him less passive guaranteed wave control and compensating him with better late-game scaling and more rewards for taking big risks.

Azir has been at the top of his rule, especially in pro play. He's reliably able to get to a high point of power, so we'd like to reduce how effective he is when that happens by bringing down his Attack Speed growth and late-game W damage.

Our recent set of changes for Azir has left him a bit weak, so we've carefully curated some buffs for everyone's favorite bird emperor. We're starting by giving him some additional base health to help out his early game while also increasing his W's AP Ratio to incentivize him to stack AP over health.

Azir’s no stranger to pro play, but right now the emperor is standing a bit too high above his competition. We want Azir to feel slightly weaker late game and struggle a bit more in movement based match ups, so we’re doing some small tap down of his strength in these areas.

We've recently walked back several Azir nerfs that didn't have the effects we wanted and since he's still got some room for additional power we're delivering some more straightforward buffs. There's nothing too fancy here, just an increase of damage that mostly skews toward the late game in order to give him the carry potential that he wants.

Azir is overall a bit weaker than he’s meant to be. This does not mean he’s supposed to have a 50% win rate at all levels of play, as he’s rather difficult and doesn’t have that many mains, but he’s still weak even when measuring highly practiced players. We’re delivering some simple buffs aimed at making his failure cases gentler.

It’s Worlds, so you know what that means, it’s time for Azir balance changes! This time it’s nerfs. We’re pro-skewing these nerfs so that he can keep a reasonable win rate for normal players without taking over the mid lane game champion pool in Pro. We’re taking down some of his early laning power as pros currently manage to squeak out of laning phases with a very small farm deficit, which we’re hoping to grow. And for the late game damage, the average solo queue game doesn’t go nearly as long as pro games do, so we hope that both of these changes disproportionately hit Pro play.

We have some relatively straightforward changes for Azir this patch, giving him some more resilience, particularly against physical damage opponents. Our last round of Pro-focused nerfs mainly affected him in solo queue, so we're rolling them back.

Azir has been a Pro play staple for an incredibly long time thanks to his passable laning phase paired with an incredible late game and playmaking potential. We'll be adjusting his early game safety by lowering his base health regeneration, and lowering the early damage of his W with a goal to give his counter picks a better opportunity to beat him in lane.

Now that Azir’s soldiers apply on-hit effects, he has fully moved over to Fleet Footwork as his main rune of choice. Now, thanks to his newfound sustain, he’s become nearly impossible to push out of lane. As a result, we’re taking a crack at his overall durability, particularly his early health regeneration which is currently too high thanks to Fleet.

We're happy that Azir has a new suite of items to consider and that Nashor's Tooth finally functions as many players expect it should. Looking into his builds, Liandry's-Nashor's, Luden's-Nashor's, and Crown-Nashor's are all performing a little bit worse than they were in the last patch so we'll be walking back one of the smaller nerfs he received in 13.23.

Azir's lack of interaction with on-hit items has been a source of confusion and disappointment for players newer to this champion. This was recently highlighted again when Arena released, as there were several Augments that could be really cool for Azir but actually didn't work and baited players into taking them. After exploring allowing his soldiers to proc on-hit items we believe this a nice win for the Emperor of the Sands that will enhance his fantasy on both Summoner’s Rift and Arena! As this will increase his item scaling potential, we did need to pair it with some proactive nerfs so that he doesn’t go too crazy with this newfound power.

Last patch we changed Crown of the Shattered Queen in hopes of nerfing the item for Pro play while maintaining its power level in solo queue. That said, we still want to be cautious around Azir taking an overly dominant position at Worlds this year. Here's a light nerf to his early laning to open up more counterplay against him. This will make an Azir pick a dedication to late game power without smooth sailing through the laning phase.

Azir's skill bracket skew has flattened significantly and he isn't seeing any Pro play, which means there’s some room for smaller buffs. This time around, we're aiming for changes that have been specifically requested by live Azir players, so the goal here is that he'll be a much more satisfying champion without breaking the Pro play bank.

Please max W now. There are three goals with these changes: First, strongly signal to players that W max is the way to go. Seriously, W max is currently the overall stronger build for Azir and makes for a much easier to balance champion long term. If he's not forced to be balanced around pro play with unending poke in lane, then he has room for a lot more power in the hands of a lot more players. This patch contains that power. Please max W now. Second, there are a few edges to sand off: Currently Azir Q can hit an enemy while still being out of auto-attack range, meaning right clicking after Q can make him walk forward. This is still a direct nerf, of course, but a pretty small one as the ability currently has around 1200 units of reach, which is going down about 4%. His passive Sun Disc summoning range is being increased to match his would-be attack range against a living turret and the duration of that Sun Disc is going up to keep it from falling over quite so quickly while he's still standing beside it. Also, please max W now. Third, there are some direct buffs: A modicum of armor should help him in a very AD-heavy solo queue environment… provided he doesn’t take over top lane, which we’ll be keeping an eye on. The attack speed growth allows him to match his prior levels of attacks per second from W's passive stats, while still enjoying the higher damage per hit from 13.5. This should make Azir a great high-DPS soldier commander while retaining the gains made from taking away his poke identity. The goal of these changes is to add more power to his W max build. If this list overshoots that goal, there are likely to be some nerfs coming his way. In summary, please max W now.

Azir is a pretty nifty champion and is exciting to watch. However, the vast majority of players, even in Challenger, don’t find appropriate success with him. Here's the rationale behind these changes: First, weaken his early game and give him compensation in the late game. Second, push him away from early Q poke and awkward soldier spam and raise his overall DPS otherwise. Third, update his base stats to bring back Nashor's Tooth as a viable option. Fourth, buff tools that especially help fledgling Azir players: more auto-attack damage in case his soldiers aren't in range and a stronger passive turret that's up more frequently so that Shurima's Legacy itself can protect him.

After Kassadin and Ryze received nerfs earlier this year, Azir has become the go-to mid laner in pro play (imagine that), which is a throne the emperor has resided upon comfortably for years. These changes are meant to lower his oppressive early lane pressure and give him compensation that likely results in overall buffs in the hands of non-pros.

The Emperor of the Sands can quickly become the Emperor of the Mid Lane in Pro play when he's too powerful. We're reducing the safety of his laning phase and bringing down his late game scaling so that he maintains his identity as a hyper scaler, but without scaling too hard.

A little birdy told us that Azir's been weak, and the numbers told us the birdy was right. His lack of Pro presence in a scaling meta that should favor him was the final confirmation, so we're giving him some base stat power that should help the Emperor of Shurima in all skill brackets.

Azir was soaring too high in Pro play, so we lowered his altitude with the 11.5 nerf. Now that he’s in calmer skies, we’re making his laning phase feel a bit more forgiving.

Balancing out Azir’s steady power curve throughout the duration of a game by pecking down his early lane control.

Azir lost the cooldowns on Nashor’s Tooth and thus, some of the wind beneath his wings. We’re giving him a lift by returning some of it directly into his kit.