Welcome to our patch notes breakdown for League of Legends Season 12! Let’s break down all the new changes in LoL coming this week.

We recommend following along with the official 12.20 patch notes since we won’t be listing all the specific stat changes, but rather, focusing on the impact of the changes and the champions updated place in the current meta.

If you’re wondering how these changes will affect the meta, check out our LoL champion tier list!

Buffs, nerfs, and changes

Aatrox (nerf)

• His heal is reduced.
• It will impact him negatively in the Top and Mid roles.

Akshan (buff)

• His E Duration is increased. He can now swing for longer, which is a buff overall.

Blitzcrank (adjust)

• The passive shield is adjusted. His base stats are also changed.
• Q damage is decreased. W monster damage is adjusted.
• E damage is changed, but deals more damage to monsters.

Elise (buff)

• Q range is decreased. Hitbox changes

Evelynn (buff)

• Q damage is increased slightly.
• W charm duration is increased too.
• Some good buffs to Evelynn. I just hope they don’t make her meta and OP again.

Gwen (buff)

• Q damage is increased. This will help her in both the Top and Jungle roles.

Jayce (buff)

• Melee mana restoration is increased a little bit.
• The bonus defensive stats now scale with AD!
• It will help Jayce in both the Top and Mid roles.

Kennen (buff)

• E attack speed buff will now allow him to get over 2.5x attack speed limit. It’s a buff overall.
• It could bring back attack speed Kennen.

Maokai (nerf)

• Heal is down, and his Ultimate cooldown is increased later on.
• This will negatively impact him in the Top and Jungle roles.

Rammus (buff)

• W slow is removed, and R speed is increased.

Sett (nerf)

• Magic resistance is down; passive regen is reduced early on. Damage ratios are down.

Wukong (buff)

• R AD ratio increased a little bit.
• It will help him in all the roles he is played in.

Ziggs (buff)

• Q damage is increased. It will help with poke and wave clear. This buff is going to help him in the Mid and ADC role.

Items

Demonic Embrace

• Health reduced, more AP, and less damage per tick. It’s a nerf overall.

Frozen Heart

• Cost is increased, but gives a little more armor. However, the Rock Solid Damage reduction is changed a bit.

Mortal Reminder

• The amount of autos required to trigger it has been reduced.

Sterak’s Gage

• Bonus AD is increased. The shield amount is increased. Decary time is increased. Overall some nice buffs to Steraks.

Runes

Lethal Tempo

• Bonus range is reduced to 50 for both melee and ranged champions.

Thank you for reading, we hope you enjoyed this patch breakdown. How do you feel about this patch? Let us know in the comments. As always, if you have any questions, find us in our Discord!

The post League of Legends 12.20 Patch Notes Breakdown appeared first on Mobalytics.

Looking forward to the next patch for League of Legends??

We’ve got you covered with the latest information from Rioters and other trusted sources that have been revealed for Patch 12.20.

Our preview will cover all known buffs, nerfs, and other changes to champions, items, and more.

If you want to see our breakdown for Patch 12.20 that’s on live now, check out our LoL patch notes breakdown.

Let’s dive into our preview for the new patch coming soon!

League of Legends New Patch 12.20 Preview

Champion Buffs

• Jayce
• Wukong
• Gwen
• Evelynn
• Ziggs
• Rammus

Champion Nerfs

• Sett
• Aatrox
• Maokai

Champion Adjustments

• Elise
• Blitzcrank

Item Changes

• Sterak’s Gage
• Frozen Heart
• Demonic Embrace

Runes

• Lethal Tempo

Next Patch Preview Sources

Patch 12.20! Buffing Rammus, because he went down a lot after a change to how his W calculates. Small buffs to others in the list. Blitz JG changes are a buff, but he needs a decent tap down for Supp.

Aatrox is still too strong after Eclipse changes, so tapping him down pic.twitter.com/66q99qEeoB

— Matt Leung-Harrison (@RiotPhroxzon) October 11, 2022

That’s all for now! Check back again every Tuesday before the next patch notes release to see our previews for future patches. In the meantime, see the best champions for our current patch with our LoL Tier List.

The post League of Legends Upcoming PBE Patch Preview (12.20) appeared first on Mobalytics.

In this breakdown, our three experts analyze the most impactful changes for the 9.6 League of Legends patch update. We’ll discuss the buffs, nerfs, and adjustments regarding champions, items, and Summoner’s Rift itself to understand the patch’s effect on the meta for all roles.

We recommend following along with the 9.6 patch notes since we won’t be listing all the specific stat changes. Head to our 9.6 tier list if you’re looking for champions to climb with this patch!

Patch 9.6’s impact on the roles

State of Top Lane: Kellen – “Exil”

• “I like Top lane right now, but one thing that is still a bit imbalanced is how strong fighters are compared to tanks. As a fighter player, this isn’t really a worry, and probably prefer it, but tanks are quite bad.
• Tanks get shredded by Conqueror abusers and it’s really hard for them to get out of lane. Scaling also isn’t favorable right now and it’s a very early game meta in high elo.
• Picking something that breaks the game wide open on 2 items is what is necessary to climb with in high-ELO. Good examples are Vladimir, Riven, Jax, and Singed.

State of Mid/Jungle: Adam – “Moriarty”

• Currently, Mid laners are very focused on roaming early on to help out their Jungler while also looking to impact bot lane greatly. This is why you see many champions like Talon, Aurelion Sol, and even Taliyah come back and do well.
• As for Junglers, they are focused currently on skirmishing and frequent ganks, making champs like Nidalee, Kha’Zix, or Jarvan IV be very impactful.
• The most important thing for these two roles is if Mid and Jungle can get priority together, they can impact bot side early and secure a game.

State of Bot lane (Carry + Support): Hewitt – “prohibit”

• Neeko is leaving bot lane as quickly as she took over. Her bug fix to her W damage and the attack speed growth changes have a big effect on her ability to output DPS.
• The Morgana update also helps shape the meta of bot lane as her rise in popularity increases the effectiveness of enchanters but holds down aggressive melee champions like Leona, Rakan, and Thresh.
• Enchanters are the most effective Supports but the most skilled players have the ability to influence the game on the few playmaking champions like Bard and Thresh.

Buffs, nerfs, and adjustments

Major changes:

Kayle (nerfed)

• Kayle is quite interesting as she started off Patch 9.5 looking pretty weak but started to dominate and rise towards the end of the patch cycle.
• Our experts believe that these nerfs won’t be incredibly significant and she will still be a dominant pick in 9.6
• She’s actually Kellen’s Pick of the Patch as an S-tier Top laner, check out our tier list for his explanation!

Neeko (buffed)

• Neeko was buffed in the previous patch, and saw a sudden explosion across all roles due to an on-hit build (which was so powerful it was hotfixed).
• The slight buff to her attack speed growth (to 2.5%) won’t mean much as she originally had 3.5% before her nerfs and she’s going to take a hit from the bugfix to her W.
• That being said, Neeko will still be B-tier on our tier list for Top and Bot Carry, due to her versatility as a champion that can poke, self-peel, and engage.

Ornn (buffed)

• Orrn is one of those champions that seems incredibly hard for Riot to balance for both competitive and solo queue play so he’s always stuck in identity-crisis limbo.
• These changes are designed to help out is early game (looks like they want you to max W?) but he still isn’t worth picking up if you’re looking to climb this patch.

Urgot(buffed)

• Similar to Rakan in the previous patch, Urgot is seeing some love after being absolutely gutted. The previous nerfs were quite fair though as he had been dominant in both solo queue and pro-play.
• His mana and mana growth base stats are seeing increases, his shield is being moved from his W to his E (something Urgots have been asking for for a long time), and his ultimate is seeing a large increase in range and more damage.
• These changes should be a welcome sight for the Urgot-faithful who stuck with him since then. He should definitely be solid for low-ELO, we’ll be keeping an eye on how he does before we place him back on our tier lists.

Minor champion changes

Caitlyn (buffed)

• Caitlyn has been rising recently as ADCs have made their return due to the crit item changes and this buff to her ultimate will make her even more attractive in champ select.
• She still hasn’t established a consistent place in pro-play but she’s at A-tier for our General and High-ELO list.

Gnar (buffed)

• Mega Gnar’s W is being standardized to 7 seconds at all ranks…it isn’t too meaningful, you can move along.

Hecarim (buffed)

• Our expert Moriarty thinks that the bugfix to allow Hecarim’s Q to stack properly may be big for his viability.
• He’s been sort of a feast or famine Jungler that goes back and forth between B-tier and off the list. For now, we’re going to wait a bit to see what happens before we really recommend him for climbing.

Ivern (buffed)

• This is more of a quality of life improvement, it won’t really change his status as an already strong Jungler for high-ELO.

Jayce (nerfed)

• These changes are more targeted for pro play so it won’t really alter our feeilings about Jayce. He’s A-tier for high-ELO and off the list for our general list.

LeBlanc (nerfed)

• Similar to Jayce, LeBlanc is more of a high-ELO champion that most players can’t properly handle.
• She’ll still be quite strong at high-ELO but this reasonable nerf will open the door for other Mid champions to rise.
  • Midbeast’s Pick of the Patch is Ahri, partly due to LeBlanc and Zoe’s nerfs (more on Zoe below). Check out his explanation in our tier list.

Nautilus (buffed)

• Poor Nautilus was in the depths of meme territory for quite some time.
• These buffs to his early game have our experts placing him at B-tier for Supports on both of our lists. He was already sort of serviceable for the role (we did see him played at Worlds 2018).
• The buffs still aren’t enough for us to recommend him as a Top laner or Jungler.

Rek’Sai (nerfed)

• Rek’Sai’s ultimate is seeing some nerfs to balance out how easy it is to land now.
• She was a force to be reckoned with in solo queue and pro-play for 9.5 so although she will certainly feel these nerfs, she will still be a strong pick in the Jungle being S-tier for high-ELO and B-tier for the general population.

Shen (buffed)

• Shen is sort of like Ornn in that he’s a champion that seems like he’s built for coordinated competitive play. If he’s not good in pro-play he’s probably really bad in solo queue and if he’s good in solo queue, he’s probably broken.
• This buff to his Q is a step in the right direction for viability but it won’t be enough to convince players to pick him up.

Sylas (nerfed)

• Sylas’s nerfs are sort of expected as his tankiness and sustain have been absurd.
• He should be a champion that’s a little harder to execute and be looking to reward players more for making smart choices in stealing ultimates instead of just confusing people with how much he heals for.
• With all this in mind, Sylas will still be solid, our experts are placing him at B-tier for Mid lane on the general list and A-tier for high-ELO.

Trundle (buffed)

• Trundle has been receiving buffs recently but he still isn’t there just yet.
• The changes from this patch will help out his early game a bit but the strong champions out there are just too good for you to want to consider the troll.

Xayah (buffed)

• According to our expert, Prohibit, Xayah will be an A-tier ADC as a result of these buffs since she’ll have more consistent scaling into the late game.
• She’ll be especially strong if you’re able to find a Rakan to duo with (he received buffs as well recently).

Zoe (nerfed)

• Sleepy Trouble Bubble has been the focal point to Zoe’s power since her release – hit a bubble, land a Q for massive burst, repeat.
• Adding 4 seconds to Bubble’s level 1 CD is nothing to scoff at and enemies will be able to escape more consistently throughout the mid and late game with a decreased slow effect.
• Due to these changes, Zoe has fallen from S-tier to B-tier for our high-ELO list and remains as a champion that we can’t recommend for lower-ELOs.

Runes

Minion Dematerializer (adjusted, leaning towards buff)

• This one’s a little tricky because Riot isn’t super clear in their explanation for the changes.
• The main thing to focus on is that the starting cooldown is being decreased from 240 seconds to 180 seconds. The earlier activation means that champions with a level 3 all-in will consistently be able to have a level advantage over their opponent.
• If you see a LeBlanc, Fizz, Zed, or Syndra taking it against you, watch out!

Overheal (nerfed)

• This rune was hardly ever seen in solo queue (outside of some ADC/Enchanter duos perhaps) and it’s mostly for pro-play so this nerf shouldn’t have much of an impact.

Items

Tear of the Goddess line (nerfed)

• Let’s cut to the chase, this is an Ezreal nerf. No other champions are going Double Tear builds.
• If you’re an Ezreal player that still wants to make him work, try swapping out Archangel’s with a Blade of the Ruined King or a Last Whisper.

Thank you for reading, we hope you enjoyed this patch breakdown. How do you feel about this patch? Let us know in the comments. As always, if you have any questions, find us in our Discord! 

The post League of Legends 9.6 Patch Notes Breakdown appeared first on Mobalytics.

In this patch notes breakdown, our three experts analyze the most impactful changes for the 9.5 League of Legends patch update. We discuss the buffs, nerfs, and adjustments regarding champions, items, and Summoner’s Rift itself to understand the patch’s effect on the meta for all roles.

We recommend following along with the 9.5 patch notes since we won’t be listing all the specific stat changes. Head to our 9.5 tier list if you’re looking for champions to climb with this patch!

Patch 9.5’s impact on the roles

State of Top Lane: Kellen – “Exil”

• We’ve seen the rise of Conqueror champs such as Riven, Jax, Yorick, and Kled for top. However, that keystone has been nerfed two consecutive times in the course of two weeks, which does mean that Riot is trying to push it out more and more. On top of that, we did see some nerfs to Yorick.
• For now, these champions are still going to perform well with the keystone, but keep an eye out on them in the next week or two because they might not be as strong as before.
• Tanks will probably work their way back into the game soon as tanks are really good with enchanters such as Soraka, who keep them alive forever. The popularity of these types of supports will be higher because of the nerfs to the Relic line, so watch out for Maokai + Ivern + Soraka combos.

State of Mid/Jungle: Adam – “Moriarty”

• Not much has changed for mid lane this patch. The Conqueror changes don’t impact many mid laners so overall, the role is still about roaming and keeping lane priority to aid your jungler. Laners with high kill potential early game, CC, and skirmishing ability, like Sylas, are strongest in this meta. Depending on how things turn out, Akali could make a small comeback with her buffs.
• As for the jungle, the nerfs to Conqueror and Aftershock aren’t impactful enough to shift power. Right now, champions with high early ganking power are still the best. Nunu received a nerf but is a god-tier champion anyway, Rek’sai is also still the reigning Queen of the Jungle and won’t be impacted too much. New and upcoming junglers due to some changes are Skarner and Vi but due to being ult reliant, they are a tier below our S tier roster who commonly do not rely on ults to pull ganks off consistently.

State of Bot lane (Carry + Support): Hewitt – “prohibit”

• Bot lane received a few changes this patch, most notably, Relic Shield & Aftershock nerfs hit melee champs that want to pressure and all-in enchanters.
• Stormrazor changes make it a more enticing option for Energize focused builds in the late game while the Cut Down changes also improve Marksmen late-game prowess.
• Overall we will see enchanters and any support that can punish enchanters, like Thresh, be solid and scaling marksmen are continuing to rise in stock.

Buffs, nerfs, and adjustments

Major changes:

Akali (buffed)

• Akali is seeing some love after getting absolutely eviscerated in her last rounds of nerfs.
• The changes to her passive and W will give some power to her shroud play patterns.
• Damage increases to her E and shorter cooldowns across the board for her ultimate will improve her offensive capabilities.
• However, overall our experts still think she won’t be that great as a solo queue pick up. If you’ve stayed as an Akali main since her nerfs, let us know how you like these buffs.

Neeko (buffed)

• Neeko has been a pro pick in Asia but has finally emerged in the West with TSM’s recent pick.
• This is a buff/quality of life hybrid as the change was partly made to simplify Neeko’s gameplay.
• Her E, Tangle Barbs now has a longer root effect on all enemies after hitting the first enemy, rather than trying to make you land it on a particular last target.

Rakan (buffed)

• Rakan is another champion that was nerfed to the ground so he could be slowly rebuilt.
• These buffs to his W are good enough for him to make a return to our tier list, at B-tier for the general list and high-ELO.

Skarner (buffed)

• Spires captures will no longer be revealed on the mini-map and now they will help him clear Krugs and Raptors.
• These changes will improve his ability to clear camps and reduce the counterplay of his opponents.
• If you’d like to learn more about Skarner, check out our 9.5 tier list as he’s the pick of the patch for our expert, Moriarty.

Vi (adjusted, but mostly buffed)

• Vi seems like she has a lot going on this patch but the TLDR is that she’s transitioning from being a semi-AD assassin diver kind of thing to being more of a tankier, bruiser presence.
• We recommend trying her out with Aftershock (yes even though it’s nerfed), and build somewhere along the lines of Trinity Force into Sterak’s into Spear of Shojin.

Minor champion changes

Cho’gath (buffed)

• Cho is one of those tanks that has a tough laning phase but becomes a literal monster late game.
• With E being his most used ability in the early game, this is nice but won’t be super impactful. At least in the current meta, you won’t see him on this patch’s tier list.

Dr. Mundo (buffed)

• With increased magic resist to his E, the doc is becoming a nice niche pick into teams with double AP.
• Unfortunately, with AD marksmen returning to marksmen, it’s rarer to see double AP carry compositions.
• Mundo may have a nice place in a future meta if AP becomes more common, but for now, he’s still a situational choice as he struggles against current strong Top laners like Riven and Yorick.

Gangplank (buffed)

• GP is getting early game buffs to his kegs and more damage for his ultimate across the board.
• These are buffs are more impactful for high-ELO where you’ll see him at B-tier on our tier list, but won’t be enough to be a strong pick at lower-ELOs.

Graves (buffed)

• This buff may signal a change that Riot wants scaling junglers to have their time in the spotlight again.
• The increase in his AD base stats will improve Graves’s early game clear and make him more viable against the current strong early game junglers.
• It isn’t the Graves meta again just yet – we’ll see him at B-tier for both of our tier lists.

Jhin (buffed)

• Lane bullies like Jhin may be losing steam to scalers pretty soon, but these buffs to his grenade will help him stay a strong pick in the meantime.
• He was an A-tier pick for us previously, so these changes will make him more of an A+ pick for us for the general list (still not quite enough to be S).

Nunu & Willump (nerfed)

• Despite these slight nerfs, Nunu will still be a jungle god (as we mentioned in the role commentary earlier).
• Although it isn’t listed, the invisible snowball bug from fog of war has been fixed (finally).

Tryndamere (buffed)

• The changes to Tryndamere’s passive will give his crits more consistency and easier build access (since he’ll only need two items).
• He’ll be a B-tier top laner in both of our lists this patch.

Sylas (nerfed)

• This nerf to his W isn’t that substantial, Sylas will still be a force to be reckoned with.
• As we mentioned in our role commentary, he’s a top pick, especially in high-ELO where you’ll see him in S.
• For the general playerbase, he’ll be strong as well – he’s an A-tier choice for our guest curator, Midbeast.

Yorick (nerfed)

• The premier solo queue split-pusher is taking hits from these nerfs to his early game as well as from the Conqueror changes. That being said, our experts still believe that he’ll be dominant in the current meta, being S-tier in our general list and A-tier in our high-ELO list.

Runes

Aftershock (nerfed)

• In a game like League, a few seconds can feel like an eternity (just think of when you get hit by a Morgana bind).
• Although it’s a bug fix, the resist duration decreasing from 3 to 2.5 could be quite significant.
• That being said, Aftershock was already incredibly strong before the nerfs so it should still be quite solid for some picks, just less of a default choice.

Conqueror (nerfed)

• These are pretty big nerfs but there were so many champions laners taking Conqueror (especially in the top lane) so it’s sort of hard to really point out the losers.
• The champions that may see a boost are the ones that didn’t really use it, like Garen, Teemo, Singed, and Malzahar.

Cut Down (buffed)

• As Prohibit mentioned in his role commentary for bot lane, the changes to Cut Down make it more enticing for late game marksmen.

Items

Relic Shield Line (nerfed)

• This is sort of a strange change in regards to solo queue since ranged supports have reigned supreme for a long time now.
• It makes much more sense when you take a look at the competitive play landscape where melee supports like Tahm Kench, Alistar, and Braum are permapicked.
• You guessed it, the rich are getting richer as melee supports will have much less sustain and poke supports like Sona and Nami will be even better.

Stormrazor (buffed)

• Stormrazor wasn’t seeing any love after the recent crit item changes and these slight buffs probably still won’t make it a must build item.
• It’ll still be a niche pick for Energized build paths, you probably won’t see it that much otherwise.

Thank you for reading, we hope you enjoyed this patch breakdown. How do you feel about this patch? Let us know in the comments. As always, if you have any questions, find us in our Discord! 

The post League of Legends 9.5 Patch Notes Breakdown appeared first on Mobalytics.

In this article, our experts analyze the most impactful changes for the newest League of Legends patch notes. We’ll discuss the buffs and nerfs and other changes, and provide insight on how the patch affects each role.

Here are the 9.4 patch notes for reference. if you’re looking for numbers, we won’t be listing specific stat change so make sure to have the patch notes open.

If you’re looking for the best champions to climb with this patch, head to our 9.4 tier list.

Patch 9.4’s impact on the roles

State of Top Lane: Kellen – “Exil”

• With the nerf to the more bursty style of Conqueror, chances are you will see champions such as Irelia or Riven probably be doing worse. However, Conqueror’s changes open up a plethora of new possibilities.
• Mordekaiser, Cassiopeia, Syndra, Camille, Jayce, and Wukong can all be new Conqueror users. Because of it’s Adaptive Force, this means AP Champions maybe even like Teemo or Rumble can see the light of day with this rune.
• The rest of the Top Lane META outside of this one change looks better too, as super OPs such as Urgot finally received the nerfs he needed.
• This new Keystone and nerfs on OP champions probably make this the most open-ended game we have had in a long time. So go have some fun.

State of Mid/Jungle: Adam – “Moriarty”

• There weren’t many changes directed at mid lane during this patch with Azir being the only noticeable direct change. However, one thing that may have flown under the radar is Conqueror.
• Intended to rebalance the rune on fighters, Riot also gave some DPS mages like Azir and Cassiopeia and amazing keystone to synergize with in the mid lane.
• The Conqueror changes also impact jungle. Over the last few patches tank and supportive junglers seemed more and more viable but with the recent Conqueror changes, we may see a resurgence of fighters that didn’t quite have a Keystone that fit their play pattern or is just straight up better than Press the Attack in some cases.
• An example is a champion like Kayn who can now stack Conqueror with his abilities and get a nice long lasting buff. Keep an eye out for Conqueror in jungle and mid and see if you can find any unique champions that other people haven’t picked up yet.

State of Bot lane (Carry + Support): Hewitt – “prohibit”

• The recent marksmen item changes have been a success. The bottom of the barrel marksmen have been pulled up from trash tier without heavily influencing how good the best marksmen are performing.
• Two things to look out for are the new Conqueror and the continual return of enchanter supports.
• Conqueror works like old Fervor but allows for extra true damage and healing. Combine this with the buffed up Bloodline and you will have all the healing and lifesteal you need as a crit marksman and can continue to focus on buying armor penetration and additional crit items.
• With enchanter Supports becoming more and more popular, playing low mobility scaling marksmen are becoming more and more enticing.
• If you want to go against the mold, the value of champions like Thresh and Blitzcrank go up with how easy it is to snowball versus slow, squishy, scaling enchanters, and immobile marksmen.

Buffs, nerfs, and adjustments

Karthus (nerfed)

• The nerfs to Karthus’s Q will cause him to primarily take a hit as a jungler as it will result in a more painful early game.
• Outside of that, the damage reduction won’t be too bad for skillful players as you can still deal a great amount of damage if you can hit the skittles consistently.
• This change is deserved as Karthus had been constantly banned due to his oppressive presence.

Lucian (nerfed)

• Before 9.4, Doran’s Ring had become a staple starter for Lucian mains. They would max W and would often go W-E-W without taking Q.
• This really goes against how Lucian is sort of designed to be played so Riot is targeting his W, both in its mana cost and its base damage.

Rek’Sai (buffed)

• In recent times, Rek’Sai suffered due to two primary things: 1. Tiamat was nerfed and screwed her clear, and 2. her ult sucked.
• 9.4’s buffs will allow her to rise in viability as she is getting some love given to her camp clears and her ultimate’s ability to land.
• If you’re wondering, yup, she made the cut for our tier list.

Sylas (adjusted)

• Sylas is pretty good right now and these changes will be putting him at A-tier on our tier list.
• The TL;DR is that his W is getting a slight nerf to its mid-late damage, but his Q’s detonation is getting more range against champions, and his ult will no longer cause tower aggro when you steal (which was pretty dumb in the first place).

Thresh (nerfed)

• Riot buffed Thresh before Worlds (because he’s hype for viewers), but it proved to be too easy to spam in solo queue.
• They’re somewhat reverting the changes so that his Q isn’t as spammable – it’s increasing in mana cost and getting longer early game cooldowns.
• These changes are quite fair as Thresh is intended to be a scaler with his soul collection. He really shouldn’t be as much of a lane bully as he is.

Urgot (nerfed)

• The crab man just won’t die, he’s getting more nerfs after we’ve continued to see him as a pro-play staple.
• It feels bad for his loyal mains but he’s had his time in the spotlight. Q is seeing another increase in mana cost and W is taking a hit to its mana cost and shield. These changes should be enough to put him to rest in pro-play (hopefully) and will be the nail in the coffin to all but his most hardcore players.

Yasuo (nerfed)

• It turns out that the crit item changes were incredibly good for Yasuo in 9.3 (he was S-tier for us in three roles).
• This patch, he’s seeing nerfs to his base AD and his critical strike damage on his Q.
• He’ll still be strong in 9.4, especially as a bot carry, but don’t expect him to still be permabanned.

Zed (adjusted, mostly buffed)

• The changes to Zed’s W are massive as it’s range is seeing a huge increase from 1300 to 1950 and it’s getting shorter cooldowns in the early game. Be ready for more outplay potential.
• His Q is also getting more punch at all levels with increased base damage and a small increase in bonus attack damage. The attack speed growth from 2.1% – 3.3% will also be pretty nice.
• All these buffs are in exchange for Zed losing his ability to gain AD from his ult’s target.
• Overall, we see these changes as a buff – Zed is an A-tier Mid laner on our tier list.

Trundle (buffed)

• It seems that we all forgot about the troll! The buffs to his W (mana decrease and bonus attack speed increase) are pretty nice, but not enough to bring him back just yet. We’ll be keeping an eye on him the next few patches.

Hecarim (buffed)

• The other “Simple Changes” aren’t really worth mentioning since they’re so minor, but we thought that it was interesting that Hecarim was getting buffs when a Hecarim one-trick, BeNice2EachOther, was recently at the top of the NA ranked ladder.
• The pony is getting some love to his early game with decreased mana costs for his Q and a lower CD on his E.

Runes

Conqueror (adjusted)

• This is probably one of the most impactful changes of the patch – here are the main things to understand:
  • It now requires 5 hit stacks (on champions, not minions), that can be procc’d with auto-attacks AND abilities. Note that it stacks with damage over time effects.
  • At 5 stacks, 10% of your damage is converted into true damage – you are also healed for the same value.
  • The new Conqueror’s damage is now adaptive instead of attack damage, meaning that it will open the door for consideration from AP champions.
• To understand the impact of the new Conqueror and some champ recommendations, check out our expert commentary at the top of this article!

Items

Essence Reaver (adjusted, leaning towards buffed)

• ER really wasn’t that appealing with the recent marksman item changes. This patch, it’s getting an increase to its AD but also having its CDR component being turned to unique, nothing too crazy.
• If anything it just serves to make Sivir, who’s already really good, better.

Spellthief’s Edge & Ancient Coin (adjusted)

• These changes are a continued result of the previously rising tide of these items being used outside of the Support role.
• To discourage Frostmancy sort of strategies, these items will now require you to be within 2000 range of an ally in order to proc the gold gain.
• This kind of sucks for Supports who look to roam often and for players that were taking advantage of the unconventional strategies, but it is receiving some slight increases to gold gain if you are staying in lane with your bot carry.

Thanks for reading! Let us know what you thought of this patch in the comments. As always, if you have any questions, find us in our Discord! 

The post League of Legends 9.4 Patch Notes Breakdown appeared first on Mobalytics.

In this series, we analyze and breakdown the most impactful changes for every patch. We’ll go over buffs, nerfs, and gameplay changes as you’d expect, but we’ll also have a section where our three high-ELO Mobalytics experts provide insight on how the patch affects each role.

Here are the 9.3 patch notes for reference. We won’t be listing the stats of every change so make sure to have the notes open if you’re looking for those.

If you’d like to find the best champions to climb with this patch, head to our 9.3 tier list.

To hear more about the patch in an audio format, check out our podcast:

Patch 9.3’s impact on the roles

State of Top Lane: Kellen – “Exil”

• That’s a big spear…Spear of Shojin has to be a major talking point of top lane this patch. Many champions who can use and abuse this will start to see a lot of play because of it, keep an eye out for Renekton, Darius, Riven, and Fiora. This means that champions who counter it, such as Singed, can be great as well as a potential pick to start climbing with.
• Also, on the same note, because of Camille’s massive jungle nerf, no longer being able to stun camps and Scuttle, this means she will most likely seem some top lane play again, so expect to see her too.
• Top laners in the early parts of Season 9 should be trying to group more often. Right now, Dragons and early towers typically mean you win the game. The game length is slightly longer than in late Season 8, so also tanks are quite a bit better as well. So, although the Spear being added into the game means that bruisers will be better, Sion and Urgot should still be doing well.

State of Mid/Jungle: Adam – “Moriarty”

• With the changes to junglers going more low econ due to experience changes, you’ll be seeing more champions like Sejuani and Ivern rise up in the ranks. This, of course, will impact mid lane as currently, the most successful mids are ones that skirmish and pick people off well. However, with the increase of utility from the jungle role as well as enchanters potentially coming back for Support, that style of mid might not do as well.
• Expect more mage style champs like Vel’koz and Orianna to become more popular in the upcoming patches due to their ability to get lane priority while also scaling well so that they can DPS down the bigger frontlines that will appear.

State of Bot lane (Carry + Support): Hewitt – “prohibit”

• Bot lane is getting a major overhaul in itemization. Stormrazor is being shifted over to a more late game scaling item instead of the premier one item power spike. It still gives desirable stats for a one item spike but the values and the cost have been made much less efficient.
• Crit Marksmen get a lot of new goodies with Phantom Dancer being overall better for survivability and kiting on Marksmen, Stormrazor giving an amazing buff to RFC + Fleet Footwork builds in the late game, and Essence Reaver giving back good build paths to champions like Sivir and Xayah. Their potential scaling into 3+ item phase of the game seems improved but we will have to see if the meta slows down enough to let that be a viable line of play.

Buffs, nerfs, and adjustments

Aatrox (nerfed)

• Prepare yourselves, there’s a lot of pain coming to some of the “reworked” champions. Aatrox starts off the axing with the loss of his double-dash. This is an unfortunate change because it sort of removes a lot of his skill expression and what made his kit fun. He’ll also have worse trade potential, worse escape potential, and less all-in potential…gg.
• The removal of the healing against non-champions is just another nail in the coffin for what was left of anyone still trying to jungle with him.
• He’s receiving some slight buffs to his base stats (health regen and health regen growth) but it’s nowhere near enough to make up for his losses.

Akali (nerfed)

• Next up on the reworked champ chopping block is the very controversial Akali. Despite consistent poor win rates in solo queue, her play style just isn’t that fun to play against for most players.
• Riot is removing the much-hated turret avoidance aspect of her Shroud, as well as the healing component of her Q. This removes a lot of her dive potential and will make playing her be much riskier in general, both offensively and defensively.
• She’s getting a slight increase in base regen, but like Aatrox, not really enough to make a difference.

Camille (nerfed)

• In this patch, we’ll see Riot start to lean toward pushing champs that are good in multiple lanes to be more intended for a single lane.
• With Camille’s E being no longer able to stun minions or monsters, her ability to jungle will be hit hard as she’ll have difficulty clearing healthily
  • Our expert, Moriarty thought that she was already on the decline in the jungle, this could make her basically unplayable in the role.
• The E change also hurts her ability to trade in top lane since she won’t be able to stun minion waves.

Cassiopeia (nerfed)

• This shouldn’t be too surprising, Cass has been exceeding the expectations of her design – what we mean by this is that she’s intended to be a late-game monster but she’s more of a lane bully in the early game.
• These nerfs will have her fall more in line with her original intention as she’s taking a hit to her early and mid game as W max will no longer be a viable option (mana costs too high).
• Time will tell how her mains will adjust her builds, she may indeed revert back to previous scaling build styles.

Irelia (adjusted, nerfed for mid lane)

• Overall, Irelia is being shifted away from attack damage and toward attack speed builds, and away from mid lane and more towards the top lane.
• Looks like they realized they went a little overboard with the Q nerfs from previous patches so it’s receiving some damage increases to minions.
• W is changing so that it’s stronger against physical damage and useless against magic damage – as we mentioned earlier, this will make many matchups incredibly hard in the mid lane. Irelia might be okay against AP top lane champions like Rumble if Wit’s End becomes a good option for her.

Lissandra (nerfed)

• Liss isn’t taking too hard of a hit – her Q is becoming a bit more expensive mana-wise and her E is losing some damage and receiving a QoL buff for her enemies (they’ll be able to see the endpoint more easily).
• Overall, she should still be pretty viable, just a bit harder to play.

Sion (nerfed)

• This is a reworked champ that escaped the big nerfs – he’ll be taking a hit but still be pretty good. Before 9.3, he was just too good as an inevitably huge tank. He could often get 5k health by level 15 due to his passive.
• The damage nerfs to his Q will affect his early game laning and his W CD nerf will limit the spammability of his shield and slow his waveclear a bit.

Zyra (nerfed)

• Seems like Riot has been watching Zyra closely recently as she’s receiving another nerf. She’s been too much of a monster in lane! Last time they hit her mana, now her plant damage is up for the nerf bat.
• She’ll still be pretty good, but likely not S-tier. Her strength also depends on how strong ADCs are – if they’re powerful again, Zyra may be outshined by her enchanter counterparts.

Items

In general (there are a few exceptions), crit items are being changed so that they are being reduced in price but having their critical strike chances (aka damage potential) reduced. This will allow items to be completed faster and may allow marksmen to feel more at home in the current speed of the meta (which leans more toward early/mid game).

Cloak of Agility (returning item)

• It’s back, nothing too exciting. Simply used as a component for Infinity Edge and Essence Reaver.

Infinity Edge (adjusted)

• IE will be more viable of an option as an early completed item buy. Riot is shifting its power by removing its ability to double critical strike chance and removing its conversion to true damage in exchange for 25% critical strike chance and increasing critical strike damage for 25%.
• The flat AD increase from 70 -> 80 is also nice for an early game buy.

Essence Reaver (adjusted)

• Essence Reaver is being sort of reverted to encourage ADCs to use it and discourage bruisers like Renekton and Riven from using it. Fear not bruisers, because you’ll be getting a replacement item (right below).
• Overall, Essence Reaver is losing its 300 mana bonus and Essence Flare ability, and will instead give 25% critical chance. Downsides are that it’s losing some punch dropping from 75 -> 60 AD and becoming 200g more expensive.
• Our experts aren’t too impressed with these changes, it probably won’t be great on anyone besides Xayah and Ashe.

Spear of Shojin (new item)

• And here’s the replacement item for Essence Reaver for bruisers! Our experts think this item will eventually cause some champions like Riven, Fiora, Renekton, and Darius to be nerfed.
• Overall, the item is worth 3400 gold, gives 60 AD, 250 health, 20% CDR, and Awakened Dragon which is just a renamed Essence Flare.

Stormrazor (adjusted)

• Warning: do NOT build this first anymore! Stormrazor will no longer be a good first item choice and will be more of a third or fourth in a build – get this after you get a Zeal item.
• The item is getting more expensive at 3100 gold, is losing some attack damage 60 -> 55, is losing attack speed 35% -> 25%, but is gaining Energized (the usual) and Storm (enhances Energized effects and slows targets) as abilities.

Phantom Dancer (adjusted)

• PD looks like it might be good, it’s getting cheaper and it’s becoming sort of a Sterak’s Gage for ADCs with its new quality, Lifeline, which grants a shield that activates when you take damage that would take you below 30%.
• It’s losing some attack speed 45% -> 30% and losing some critical strike chance 30% to 25% but with Lifeline, it’s more of a defensive option anyhow.
• PD still allows you to pass through units but keep in mind that it’s changing from being within 550 range of a visible enemy champ and is instead, activated for 2 seconds after auto-attacking a champion.

Kircheis Shard (buffed)

• Cost decreased 800 -> 600 gold

Zeal (buffed)

• Cost decreased 1300 –> 1200 gold

Rapid Firecannon (adjusted)

• Following the trend of becoming cheaper (2800 –> 2600 gold) but losing power (30% crit strike chance –> 25%)

Runaan’s Hurricane (adjusted)

• Following the trend of becoming cheaper (2800 –> 2600 gold) but losing power (30% crit strike chance –> 25%)

Statikk Shiv (adjusted, leaning towards buff)

• Shiv is getting cheaper 2800 –> 2600 gold, gaining attack speed 35% ->40%, and gaining critical strike chance 30% to 25%.
• Despite these changes, most ADCs (except maybe Sivir) probably won’t be opting to choose it that often.

Last Whisper (adjusted, leaning towards buff)

• It’s increasing in price from 1300 –> 1450 gold, but gaining 10 additional attack damage and increasing in armor penetration from 10% to 20% – not bad for an extra 150g.

Lord Dominik’s Regards (buffed)

• AD increase from 40 –> 45

Mortal Reminder (buffed)

• AD increase from 40 –> 45

Thanks for reading! Let us know what you thought of this patch in the comments. As always, if you have any questions, find us in our Discord! 

The post League of Legends 9.3 Patch Notes Breakdown appeared first on Mobalytics.

In this series, we analyze and breakdown the most impactful changes for every patch. We’ll go over buffs, nerfs, and gameplay changes as you’d expect, but we’ll also have a section where our three high-ELO Mobalytics experts provide insight on how the patch affects each role.

Here are the 9.2 patch notes for reference. We won’t be listing the stats of every change so make sure to have the notes open if you’re looking for those.

If you’d like to find the best champions to climb with this patch, head to our 9.2 tier list.

To hear more about the patch in an audio format, check out our podcast:

Patch 9.2’s impact on the roles

State of Top Lane: Kellen – “Exil”

• With the sizable nerfs to Irelia and Urgot and some slaps on the wrist to Aatrox and Jax, Top lane seems like it might start to open up for a whole new pool of champions. Nasus has risen way up for lower levels of play but still struggles a bit in top-tier Challenger solo queue.
• However, with tank itemization being buffed, I think scaling champions like Gangplank and Nasus do have the option to come back into High Elo solo queue. Games will start to go longer with Riot changing Baron and inhibitor towers as well…so you will have more time in Season 9 to farm a side lane. Scalers, tanks, and carries all viable…that’s cool as heck.

State of Mid/Jungle: Adam – “Moriarty”

• Jungle, received an overall nerf this patch due to red smite getting damage nerfs. Although this hurts almost all the Junglers, less damage early will mean that scaling style Junglers will start to be given a chance to compete. With Karthus on the rise as the premier scaling Jungler who barely needs his Smite, since he just hits R with Dark Harvest, you’ll like start to see him a lot more. Early game Junglers like Xin won’t be out of the picture but with Riot looking to tone down damage overall and include more tanks, you’ll start to see champs like Sej make a comeback.
• As for Mid lane, the Ignite and Absolute Focus nerfs will hurt a lot of burst mages like Zoe but not enough to create an overall shift in the meta yet. Also, RIP to Galio, the Q nerfs were a bit too harsh but no one will miss him.

State of Bot lane (Carry + Support): Hewitt – “prohibit”

• Bot lane is probably the most stagnate role for some time now because it’s in a transition period. With every patch shaving power off from assassins and burst damage, buffing tanks, and giving power back to auto-based crit ADCs, we are eventually going to see a shift in the overall meta.
• For now, the biggest change to bot lane is champions like Zyra having their early game dominance reduced through direct mana regen nerfs, as well as flat nerfs to AP runes. Combine this with Bloodline being buffed and ADCs may have enough breathing room to sustain through mage supports poke.
• Lastly, Rakan is being sacrificed to the gods for his sins in competitive. There are better picks to play in support so unless you’re a Rakan enthusiast, you’re much better off dropping him for the foreseeable future.

Buffs, nerfs, and adjustments

Aatrox (nerfed)

• The nerfs to his Q and E will hit Aatrox’s early game so he’ll be even less viable in lower ELOs (where he was already struggling due to his difficulty).
• For high-ELO, the changes won’t be as substantial but he’ll be falling as a top pick (Optimal, S-tier) to around A-tier.

Aurelion Sol (adjusted, leaning towards buffed)

• The changes to Sol’s Q will make him easier to play for newer players since it’ll be easier to utilize in more situations.
• For example, despite it’s lower stun duration at close range, Sol will have a better time dealing with melee and assassin matchups that previously gave him a ton of trouble (Fizz, Talon etc). These matchups will still be problematic, but now he’ll have some semblance of self-peel with a quick Q-Q-R combo.
• It remains to be seen how this will impact his viability going forward so we’re keeping an eye on him.

Brand (nerfed)

• His passive is taking a hit to keep his early game damage in check. To be honest, we all know that a nerf was long overdue so it’s not too surprising. He’ll still be decent but won’t be dominant without actually being good at him.

Cassiopeia (nerfed)

• These nerfs will affect Cassiopeia’s utility as she won’t be able to spam Miasma as often for zone control. Cass players were maxing W 2nd often so hitting its damage and CD will definitely have some impact but overall, she won’t be knocked down too much as a strong pick. She’ll just be a tad more reasonable.

Galio (nerfed)

• Balancing Galio has been…problematic to say the least. Before 9.2, he was incredibly tanky while being able to assassinate somehow…with waveclear…AoE CC…the list goes on. However, now that he’s getting nerfs to his mana cost, AP ratio, and damage, he’s going to be falling pretty hard and possibly completely off.
• The changes will completely force his mains to change his build path so we’ll see what they’ll come up with. But for now, it’s not looking good for the gargoyle.

Irelia (adjusted, but definitely nerfed)

• Ouch, Irelia’s Q nerfs are huge as her resets will be much less consistent and it’ll force her players to adjust and relearn her “rhythm” and play pattern.
• Irelia’s changes will primarily affect her as a Top laner and some matchups (like Orianna) in the Mid lane, due to the removed passive bonus against shields.
• Her ultimate isn’t getting completely shafted as some extra burst damage and a 90% are pretty nice, but the removal of its disarm affect will negatively impact her ability outplay potential in 1v2 situations.
• In most cases, unless you’re in high ELO, you’re going to want to avoid playing her.

Jarvan IV (buffed)

• Solid, straightforward buffs. This will definitely help him out as a Jungler.

Jax (nerfed)

• These nerfs are more of a slap on the wrist and they will affect him more in the jungle than Top lane (clear speed, etc). We’ll see what happens if Riot ends up taking away Conqueror but for now, Jax will still be a very strong pick.

Kassadin (nerfed)

• Kassadin’s nerfs are pretty fair and bring him in line for his original designed purpose as an anti-mage. It didn’t really make sense that he would be safe into AD picks like Talon. He’ll still be a late-game monster but his mains will have to avoid being countered at champ select by AD champs and be a little more careful against autoattacks in general in the early game.

Kayn (QoL buffs)

• Kayn mains are finally getting the requests they’ve been asking for since his release. These quality of life changes will make life much easier and playing him feel much smoother.
• You’ll be able to reliably get the form you want more consistently and you can even ping your allies on your transformation progress. This aren’t huge buffs, but they are impactful,  so we expect him to rise in the meta as a solid pick.

Neeko (adjusted)

• Riot is shifting some power away from Neeko’s ultimate (removing the slow) and making her trickster playmaking ability more powerful (longer duration).
• We’re not sure how these changes will impact her just yet as our experts still believe that she isn’t being played to her full potential – players just haven’t mastered her transform/clone gameplay yet.

Ornn (buffed)

• Well, the Ornn rework hasn’t been so hot. He had a pretty miserable win rate in 9.1 so Riot is trying to give him some love but giving simple buffs to his base health and armor.

Rakan (nerfed)

• Someone at Riot hates Rakan because his recent nerfs just don’t make any sense. It’s nice they finally fixed his ult bug but jeez, he’s going to be unplayable in solo queue. Only play him if you’re running lover’s lane as a duo or you’re a Rakan one-trick who really doesn’t want to pick up another champ.

Shyvana (buffed)

• In her current state, Shyvana struggled to really carve a distinct niche. It seemed like that other champions did what she wanted to do, just better. With these buffs, she’ll have her own unique strengths to give players reasons to choose her.
• The changes won’t be impactful enough to send her to S-tier, but now she might be picked up as a go-to counterpick against tanks like Sejuani.

Tahm Kench (nerfed)

• This nerf was more for balancing TK in pro-play (since he’s still quite popular) but this just hurts for Kench mains from regular everyday solo queue.
• He was already struggling but now they’re taking away another one of his tools. Similar to Rakan, avoid using unless you’re in a specific duo queue combo or a dedicated enthusiast.

Urgot (nerfed)

• Similar to Jax, Brand, and others, Urgot’s nerfs were probably expected and overdue. He’ll still be pretty strong as these changes won’t completely gut him but will instead, give some of his matchups a chance to beat him pre-6.
• The mana changes will also hurt less-skilled Urgots who spammed or weren’t able to consistently land his Q during laning phase.

Volibear (adjusted but mostly buffed)

• 9.2 is giving Voli max health damage on his E and more punch and speed to his ultimate. This will allow him to be able to deal with frontliners as a tanky melee instead of only excelling against squishies.
• It remains to be seen if this will be enough to allow Voli to become a mainstay in the meta, but these changes definitely bode well for him (especially at lower ELOs).

Yorick (adjusted but mostly a buff)

• Yorick’s changes will allow him to be THE premier late game split-pusher but a big problem is that there really isn’t a late game in this fast meta. We’ll see if this allows him to come back to his former glory but this change should definitely help him, especially in lower ELOs where games tend to go longer.

Zyra (nerfed)

• You guessed it, this is another nerf we expected. Zyra has been a top-tier Support for a long time and could often carry games in solo queue. She will definitely still be a strong pick but the gap is slightly closing as she won’t be able to AFK spam spells as much.

Evelynn (QoL)

• Quality of life changes are always somewhat buffs. These shouldn’t be super impactful but she’ll feel nicer to play overall and be more consistent where she should’ve always been.

Items

Oblivion Orb (nerfed)

• For its gold value, Oblivion Orb just provided too much bang for its buck. Many players were happy enough to just sit with it without finishing it. It’s not only becoming more expensive but also losing some AP, so it won’t be as much of a brain dead pick up every game.

Morellonomicon (nerfed)

• Our experts feel that this AP nerf wasn’t deserved and it was more that Oblivion Orb was what was problematic. However, Riot wants to make it more of a niche item as the Grievous Wounds item so it’s becoming less of an attractive general choice.

Sunfire Cape (buffed)

• The return of tanks continues! It hasn’t been a popular choice recently so its cheaper costs may allow it to be competitive with other tank choices.

Runes

General stat rune changes

• Adaptive damage nerfed 10 -> 9
• Armor buffed 5 -> 6
• Magic resist buffed 6 -> 8

Overheal (adjusted, leaning towards buffed)

• Agency is always a good thing in ranked solo queue, so the changes that shift its power towards more independence will favor most players. It might be a bit worse for duos that were using it in bot lane.

Legend: Bloodline (adjusted, leaning towards buffed)

• Bloodline is having its power shifted more towards the late game as its cap is being increased but losing immediate value as each stack is reduced. This makes it more of an attractive choice for later game champs and will allow it to steal some thunder from its more popular counterpart, Alacrity.

Cut Down (adjust, leaning towards buffed)

• With the meta being as fast as it is, giving up some late game power for some early game strength will be worth it. Who knows if it will lose appeal in a future meta shift, but for now, these changes indicate a buff.

Absolute Focus (nerfed)

• As Riot mentions, Absolute Focus was simply overtuned. It’s healthier for the game if other runes are more appealing instead of one clear choice every time.

Summoner Spells

Ignite (adjusted, leaning towards nerfed)

• Don’t be fooled, sure you’ll be able to cast it more often but the hit to Ignite’s damage will take away a lot of its early game killing power. Supports will be feeling these changes the most.

Baron, Jungle, and turret changes

• Overall, the big thing to take away from these changes is that there will be a net increase in average game duration. It remains to be seen if the meta will favor early game and snowballing or will slow down to a more grindy, tanky meta, but it appears to be certainly trending toward a longer and safer early-mid game.
• Champions and team comps which involve tanks, crit marksmen, and scaling split-pushers will be rising in stock.
• Jungle as a role is taking a deserved hit as it has been a really strong role for some time and early game gankers will be the ones who feel it most.

Thanks for reading! This was our first patch breakdown so let us know what you liked and what you’d like to see. As always, if you have any questions, find us in our Discord! 

The post League of Legends 9.2 Patch Notes Breakdown appeared first on Mobalytics.

In this series, we analyze and breakdown the most impactful changes for every patch. We’ll go over buffs, nerfs, and gameplay changes as you’d expect, but we’ll also have a section where our three high-ELO Mobalytics experts provide insight on how the patch affects each role.

Here are the 9.1 patch notes for reference. We won’t be listing the stats of every change so make sure to have the notes open if you’re looking for those.

If you’d like to find the best champions to climb with this patch, head to our 9.1 tier list.

To hear more about the patch in an audio format, check out our podcast:

Patch 9.1’s impact on the roles

State of Top Lane: Kellen – “Exil”

• With this patch, Shield Bash received some buffs which means that some Top laners with Shields (that’s you Riven, Sion, Urgot, Rumble) might see more play.
• We will see tanks continue to come back as well as Riot has outright stated they want tanks to feel more prevalent. Expect nerfs to damage to come through to”Systemic Damage” such as Red Smite, Ignite, Conqueror, Grasp, Electrocute, etc. These all seem to be too high in their eyes, which means that tankier options will be brutal in the future. Other than that, top lane is mostly the same.

State of Mid/Jungle: Adam – “Moriarty”

• In Patch 9.1 the biggest changes to mid/jungle are that Sejuani may return to the jungle as well funnel strats or laners taking Smite being nerfed incredibly hard. If you have more lane minion gold than jungle monster gold while having a non-completed jungle, you’ll see your income take a big hit. This should put a stop to things like Lulu and Taric from having the highest Mid lane win rates, at least for now.
• With the removal of this the meta for Junglers remains mostly the same, can your jungler gank early and often and/or contest Scuttles? And can your mid laner gain priority to help fight in skirmishes? If yes, then you will be strong on this patch. Examples of these are things like Kha’zix and Elise for the jungle and Galio and Talon for mid lane.

State of Bot lane (Carry + Support): Hewitt – “prohibit”

• Things are trending up for bot lane in Patch 9.1. The most direct impactful buffs being the ones to Kalista, Sivir, and Vayne. However, the viability of bot lane Marksmen also relies on what champions are being played in the overall meta.
• With Shield Bash and tank champions like Sejuani and Ornn starting to receive buffs, this may start the trend that pivots away from burst damage and back towards having a solid frontline in Solo Queue. Strong frontlines mean that there is less burst damage and more need for high DPS champions to cut through big meatshields which is where the more traditional Marksmen shine as well as Enchanter and Tank supports over Mages.
• If we don’t start seeing that shift occur soon, expect the more spell-oriented Marksmen (Ezreal, Lucian, Miss Fortune) and high damage aggressive Supports (Zyra, Thresh) to continue being the norm. Spell-oriented Marksmen and high damage supports generally have the mobility and/or upfront damage in order to meaningfully contribute to a fight quickly enough before the outcome has been decided by the rest of the players in the game.

Buffs, nerfs, and adjustments

Kalista (Individual power buffed, objective utility nerfed)

• Riot is looking to make Kalista more viable for solo queue while keeping her pro-play power in check by giving her more “independent” power and taking away some of her team-related power.
• Since they buffed her base attack damage, attack damage growth, attack speed growth, and Q damage, Kalista mains will enjoy more overall and consistent damage.
• As a result of these damage buffs, her W is losing its bonus attack damage. This isn’t a big deal because now it means that you don’t have to worry about keeping the Oathsworn nearby.
• The one downside of her increased power as an individual is that she’s losing some of her teamplay power. Her E was traditionally one of the most feared “Smite abilities”, along the likes of Cho’Gath and Nunu – this power to execute objectives is taking a hit so now it only deals 50% damage. It’ll still be useful but now it won’t be a guaranteed secure.

Ornn (Damage buffed, CC nerfed, passive reworked)

• Ornn is receiving slight buffs to his base health, health regen growth, and armor growth.
• His biggest change this patch is the rework to his passive.
  • Ornn and his allies can no longer purchase upgraded items. Instead, Ornn receives upgraded items at level 13 and can upgrade his ally’s items starting at level 14 (one item per ally).
    • Frozen Gaulent → Frozen Fist
    • Youmuu’s Ghostblade → Youmuu’s Wraithblade
    • Blade of the Ruined King → Might of the Ruined King
    • Luden’s Echo → Luden’s Pulse
  • He also gains an additional 10% armor/magic resist from items, receives free upgrade at level 13 (Ornn can have two upgraded), at level 14 onward, Ornn can upgrade one of his ally’s item.
• Ornn, along with Sejuani, is following Riot’s trend of buffing tank damage and nerfing their CC
  • Q had its mana cost decreased and damage adjusted so that its base damage is slightly nerfed mid game but buffed late game. Its slow is now standardized to 40% at all ranks.
  • W had its shield removed, but has regained its unstoppable property. You’ll be able to use it more since its cooldown was reduced so you’ll be able to express your skills more often if you have good timing against CC abilities. Brittle proc damage was buffed across the board.
  • E/s mana costs changed slightly but won’t make a huge impact. The big thing here is that you’ll be able to hit the Q pillar more often since it will remain until your E animation finishes (instead of it disappearing while you were dashing toward it).
  • R’s first hit slow now scales on based on the distance the ram projectile traveled. The second hit’s stun has changed to 1 second on the first enemy hit and now only lasts for 0.5 sec on other hits after the first.

Sejuani (Damage buffed, CC nerfed)

• Sejuani is receiving stat buffs to health growth, base armor, armor growth, base magic resist, magic resist growth, and AD growth.
• As we mentioned earlier, she’s experiencing the overall trend of tanks gaining damage but losing CC power.
  • Passive – the overall % of bonus armor/magic resist has decreased but now it lasts an extra second.
  • Q received a simple base damage buff.
  • W’s changes focus on the second hit, which will see its damage increased but have its slow normalized across the board.
  • E’s stun duration decreased and range were decreased but had its damage increased.

Jungle Changes

• The TL;DR is that if you farmed more lane minions than jungle minions you will get penalized if you bought a jungle item.
• These indicate that Riot wants to keep cheese/funneling strats involving laners taking jungle items and/or Smite.

Jayce, Katerina, Zyra (Buffering Quality of Life changes)

• These are technically buffs since they will improve combo consistency but won’t be insanely impactful. Players with poorer connections may experience the most enjoyment from the changes.

Ashe (buffed)

• Q received a nice QoL change so it flashes at max stats.
• E now grants an assist if you granted vision within 10 seconds of a kill.

Jinx (buffed)

• W cast time decreases as she gains more attack speed.

Nasus (buffed)

• Q now gains more stacks when you last-hit a champion, large minion, or large monster.

Sivir (buffed)

• Q damage no longer falls off when hitting champions (only minions and monsters)

Vayne (buffed)

• This one is really cool – Vayne’s Q now has a reduced cooldown when used during her ultimate. Keep an eye out for some flashy outplays!

Xayah (buffed)

• E root duration was slightly increased.

Runes

Hail of Blades (adjusted)

• Standardized the attack speed bonus at all levels (buffed early game, nerfed late) and adjusted so attack resets don’t consume a stack.
• Riot’s goal with these changes is to synergize with champions that were traditionally discouraged from taking it.

Celerity (buffed)

• Movement speed multiplier increased, it should be more viable for more champions instead of just a dedicated few.

Shield Bash (buffed)

• Damage has been buffed. Tanks have been using the rune decently but now it should be more appealing to other champions (such as ADCs with a shield Support).

Stat choice changes

• Attack speed rune buffed

Turret Assists

• This won’t be super impactful but it’s another nice QoL change. Now it will feel more natural and intuitive instead of forcing you to stay longer than it felt like you should.

Ability Ping Improvements

• Communication is crucial! You should be pinging key information when you can, now you’ll have more options to stay more in sync with your team. This is something that can show impact over the long run, you may not notice it immediately but you’ll have an advantage over the players who do not utilize or pay attention to these ability pings.

Thanks for reading! This was our first patch breakdown so let us know what you liked and what you’d like to see. As always, if you have any questions, find us in our Discord! 

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