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style="font-style: italic;">The light show has arrived.
Lux has some fancy effects for her spells and is a joy to
play as.
The people have been clamoring for a major overhaul to
many of the games overpowered and underused champions, and their
voices have been heard! Some of the biggest losers of the
game have been overhauled, and some of the powerful tools of the
current meta-game of ranked play have been nerfed as well. In
addition, the luminous light lass Lux joins the battlefield,
bringing another powerful support option to players. How do
the changes all weigh in, though? Thats what were here to
discuss!
Lux, the Lady of
Luminosity
Light Binding: Fires a ball of light
towards a target location, binding the units hit. The units take magic
damage. Can hit up to two targets with the second target receiving a
reduced effect.
Prismatic Barrier: Lux throws her wand
and bends the light around any friendly target it touches, protecting
them from enemy damage.
Lucent Singularity: Creates a zone that
slows enemy units (zone lasts 5 seconds). Can be detonated to deal
magic damage to enemies in the area.
Finales Funkln (Ultimate): After a
short delay, Lux fires a beam of light in front of her dealing damage
to all enemy units in the area.
Illumination (Passive): Lux's damaging
spells illuminate the target for 6 seconds. Lux's next attack ignites
the debuff, dealing magic damage to the target.
Verdict - Lux is a hero who has amazing range and fairly low
cooldowns. She also has a powerful version of Morganas Dark
Binding that is capable of locking down two targets at once, and it
still has the same incredible range. Prismatic Barrier is
difficult to aim, but gives a decently powerful shield to allies
hit. Its on par with Jannas, but has a shorter duration and
is hard to aim at moving allies.
Lucent Singularity has multiple uses. It can ignite a group
of enemies near instantly for the purpose of farming with your
passive. It functions as a powerful slow that can be
detonated the moment your target is about to escape. Perhaps
most important is the fact that it reveals the terrain it is fired at,
and this includes brush. No one can hide from the light, and
that continues with her ultimate. Its a line nuke with a
solid range of about one and a half screens. There is a tiny
delay before the laser fires, and the enemy can see a very thin red
line before it connects. This is not a Pantheon warning, and
its going to be very tough to react and dodge in time for
players. Her passive functions as a free Sheen more or less,
giving her free bonus damage on targets she hits with her damaging
spells.
She will not have the late game effect a good Morgana has, but she has
much more versatility and much faster cooldowns to compensate. I would
expect her to get nerfed slightly.
Anivia
Health per level increased to 70 from 65
Base damage increased to 48 from 45
Verdict These changes were necessary. Anivia is damn near
impossible to last hit with at level 1 due to having a terrible
projectile and base damage. She also ranks up with the
frailest heroes in the game, limiting her late game
effectiveness. 90 more max HP at max level is a welcome
addition.
Amumu
Bandage Toss cooldown reduced to
16/14/12/10/8 from 18/16/14/12/10
Curse of the Sad Mummy duration reduced
to 2 from 2.5
Verdict Amumu is typically rated as the best tank in the game by
people who take the game far more seriously than they should, and for
good reason. He has two stuns/interrupts and his ultimate can
set up every other AOE ultimate effortlessly while he continues his AOE
damage rampage. Bandage Toss always has had a crappy
cooldown, so the buff isnt so bad, but the duration nerf to his
ultimate will be felt. He will remain as one of the best
tanks until other tanks can put out the kind of damage Despair
& Tantrum deal over time in a big battle.
Blitzcrank
Mana per Level increased to 40 from 36
Static Field cooldown reduced to 30
from 40
Static Field no longer targets
stealthed units
Overdrive
o Cooldown reduced to 15 from 20
o Mana cost reduced to 75 from 90
o Now reduces movement speed by 75
instead of 25% , which also fixes an edge case bug
Mana Barrier no longer uses (or
refunds) Blitzcrank's mana when it is activated
Verdict Some serious love here. His hook needed help and
didnt get it though140 mana at level 1 is ridiculous and needs to be
toned down, even if the iconic Pudge ability has always been that, this
is a far different game at this point. The ultimate cooldown
reduction means theres a potential to get two off in a large team
battle with some cooldown reduction gear, but I would like to see the
passive benefit from that as well. Overdrive is now a real
threat due to its high uptime (8 second duration, 7 second cooldown
once its done before cooldown reduction) and his passive has been
fixed to enable him to actually cast while at deaths door.
Words cannot describe how frustrating it is to escape to your tower,
turn to fire off your rocket punch and pull them in for the kill, and
your mana is depleted to form a shield at the worst time.
Cho'Gath
Rupture cooldown reduced to 9 from 10
Rupture mana cost changed to 90 at all
levels from 80/90/100/110/120
Vorpal Spikes is now classified as an
area of effect spell for the sake of items like Rylai's Scepter or
Hextech Revolver
Verdict ChoGath is an underrated jungler, and giving him a faster,
flat mana cost Rupture is going to speed him up greatly. The
Vorpal Spikes buff will make Rylais give him a permanent cone slow
when attacking a runner
. Quite dangerous.
Corki
Gatling Gun mana cost reduced to
60/70/80/90/100 from 60/75/90/105/120
Phosphorous Bomb mana cost reduced to
80/90/100/110/120 from 90/100/110/120/130
Verdict Corki suffers from mana problems just like a lot of the old
cast. A welcome change, but he still just doesnt do enough
damage for his low survivability and high skill required.
Evelynn
Determined Killer (passive) tooltip
clarified to explain it does not work on neutral minions.
Shadow Walk
Fixed a bug with Shadow Walk where you
could stun towers
Fixed a bug with Shadow Walk where
autoattacking would break stealth even if the attack was canceled
Ravage no longer has back facing
requirement in order to gain the extra effect
Malice and Spite lifegain changed to a
flat 350/500/650 upon kill or assist
Malice and Spite's active now has a 90
second cooldown and refreshes whenever an enemy champion dies
Stats
o Base health increased to 500 from 475
o Health per level increased from 86 to 76
o Mana regen per level increased to 0.4
from 0.25
o Base mana regen increased to 5 from
3.85.
Additional note: these changes do not
represent the final remake on Evelynn. These are simple usability fixes
for her current design.
Verdict Its still Evelynn, sadly. The Ravage buff is huge
early on and will make her a real threat against low armor and magic
resist targets no matter where she strikes from. Malice and
Spite is still a terrible ultimate for her even when its up.
Her base stats got a huge increase, but she still suffers from one of
the worst skill sets and passives in the game
wait for the full remake.
Ezreal
Essence Flux ability power ratio
increased to .7 from .6
Trueshot Barrage abiilty power ratio
increased to .8 from .7
Verdict Ability Power Ezrael is considered a complete joke, you need
a ton of ability power and a Lich Bane to even compete with a physical
build. This is a good step to making the build competitive
again.
Fiddlesticks
Drain cooldown reduced to 10 from 12
Drain mana Cost reduced to
80/95/110/125/140 from 80/100/120/140/160
Dark Wind cooldown reduced to 14 from 15
Verdict Dark Wind has always had a ridiculous cooldown, and Im glad
to see Drain no longer costing 20% of my mana bar per cast early
on. The cooldown reduction will speed his jungling, possibly
making him viable beyond the occasional golem.
Galio
Righteous Gust mana cost increased to
80/85/90/95/100 from 70/75/80/85/90
Resolute Smite mana cost increased to
70/75/80/85/90 from 60/65/70/75/80
Idol of Durand mana cost increased to
100/150/200 from 100/145/190
Idol of Durand duration reduced to 2
from 2.5
Verdict Galio had an exceptionally strong showing at the most recent
big tournament, and this is the result. Its warranted,
because his nukes scale quickly in damage due to his passive and his
mana would barely go anywhere with a Chalice. I would still
like to see something done about the Idol of Durand being near
worthless against people with Mercurys boots.
Garen
Judgment can no longer damage invisible
minions or objects like wards
Verdict An important change. Good Garens could spin past
typical ward areas and keep you in the dark all game.
Gragas
Barrel Roll cooldown reduced to
11/10/9/8/7 from 12/11/10/9/8
Barrel Roll now slows attack speed by
20/25/30/35/40%
Drunken Rage cooldown reduced to 25
from 30
Body Slam cooldown increased to 7 from 6
Explosive Cask no longer slows attack
speeds
Verdict As a big Gragas player, the only real change that matters
here is the Body Slam nerf. To be honest, it needed
it. A big slow, a tiny cooldown, and massive damage to a lone
target make for a really powerful skill. The cooldown
reduction on Drunken Rage will give him an even stronger early
game. The Barrel Roll and Cask changes arent too impressive,
as the Cask is used for the knockback, not the attack speed debuff.
Jax
Equipment Mastery tooltip updated to
show health gained from each source dynamically
Leap Strike
o Cast time reduced by 20%
o Travel speed increased by 20%
o Ability power ratio reduced to 0.7 from
0.8
Empower
o Now only deals damage to a single
target rather than to an area of effect
o Now resets Jaxs autoattack timer when
cast
o Damage increased to 75/110/145/180/215
from 40/60/80/100/120
o Ability power and damage ratios
increased to 0.4 from 0.2
o Mana cost reduced to 20 from 35
o Cooldown increased to 9/8/7/6/5 from
5/5/5/5/5
o Tooltip corrected to accurately state
it deals magic damage
o Fixed bugs where Empower incorrectly
did less damage when used at the same time as Leap Strike or each 3rd
Relentless Assault strike.
Counter Strike damage increased to
80/110/140/170/200 from 80/100/120/140/160
Relentless Assault
o New Active: Grants 20/35/50 + Jax's
dodge percent in bonus magic resistance for 5/6.5/8 seconds upon
activation. Costs 80 mana. Cooldown of 60/60/60 seconds.
o Buff icon now dynamically shows the
number of Relentless Assault stacks which Jax is benefitting from
o Tooltip correctly indicates that Jax
gains up to 10 stacks of Relentless Assault
Recommended items updated
Verdict - Holy crap. Before you cry overpowered
though, realize Jax has lost one of his main legaciestaking out an
entire team himself in seconds. The loss of AOE Empower
hurts, but makes his single target burst much better. The
Counter Strike buff gives him a quicker jungling speed, and Jax now has
an answer to wading into a team fight. You dont need armor
due to your ridiculous dodge rates, so giving him a magic resist boost
on demand answers a lot of his problems in large team fights and bad
matchups.
Karthus
Lay Waste mana cost reduced to
20/26/32/38/44 from 20/28/36/44/52
Wall of Pain cooldown reduced to 18
from 22
Death Defied now allows all spells to
be free to cast while defying death
Fixed several usability bugs with Death
Defied
Verdict Lay Waste gets expensive quickly, so a reduction gives him a
better, more offensive early game. Wall of Pain is one of the
best debuffs in the game, so having it get a ~18% cooldown buff is
glorious if youre a Karthus lover.
Kassadin
Nether Blade cooldown reduced to 12
from 15
Verdict So you get a free charge on your Force Pulse 3 seconds
faster. God this skill is terrible
Katarina
Death Lotus now fires blades at three
targets at all levels
Verdict - A huge buff to her early mid game when
ganking. Countless ganks have failed due to Death Lotus
switching targets at an inopportune moment, and now itll shred in the
lane no matter what the level.
Kog'Maw
Fixed several bugs with Icathian
Surprise to be more consistent
Malphite
Seismic Shard cooldown reduced to 8
from 10
Unstoppable Force cooldown reduced to
130/115/100 from 140/125/110
Fixed a bug with Ground Slam causing it
to look like it had shorter range than it actually did
Verdict Malphite still has way too high of a cooldown for his
ultimate, which is basically required to be up or Malphite isnt very
useful.
Malzahar
Nether Grasp range reduced to 700 from
750
Call of the Void mana cost reduced to
80/90/100/110/120 from 90/100/110/120/130
Null Zone mana cost changed to
90/100/110/120/130 from 80/95/110/125/140
Verdict : Malzahar is a strong mage who can hammer out spells faster
early on now. The range nerf is barely noticeablethe
ultimate can still be cast from relative safety.
Miss Fortune
Bullet Time range reduced to 1400 from
1500
Bullet Time scaling reduced to 40% of
damage per shot from 45%
Strut maximum movement speed bonus
reduced to 70 from 80
Double Up bounce range reduced to 500
from 575
Verdict Ouch! The new gal in town eats a lot of nerfs, but
theyre all warranted. It is nigh impossible to lane against
a good Miss Fortune solo if she knows how to work Double Up, and this
will make it so you get zoned out of experience range a lot
less. Strut being toned down also hurts her early game
immunity, and the ultimate hit is a step in the right direction.
Morgana
Dark Binding hitbox size reduced
Black Shield ability power ratio
reduced to .8 from 1
Soul Shackles ability power ratio
reduced to .9 from 1
Soul Shackles damage reduced to
175/250/325 from 175/250/350
Verdict The first real set of nerfs to a hero that got nothing but
love for months, Morgana is in a real good spot after this.
Soul Shackles was a dominating, game-winning spell at level 3 with a
truckload of ability power, so nerfing the coefficient to not be 2.0 is
a step in the right direction.
Nasus
Siphoning Strike now resets autoattacks
Verdict Not really a big change, but can be timed for some extra
damage.
Nidalee
Base damage increased to 53 from 50
Verdict She suffered from the same terrible base damage as Anivia, so
this will help greatly.
Poppy
Devastating Blow now resets autoattacks
Verdict Not really a big change, but can be timed for some extra
damage.
Rammus
Movement speed increased to 310 from 305
Base Mana regen increased to 4.5 from
3.75
Powerball cooldown reduced to 10 from 11
Defensive Ball Curl cooldown reduced to
14 from 15
Defensive Ball Curl now scales on 10%
of Rammus's total armor
Puncturing Taunt mana cost reduced to
50/60/70/80/90 from 50/65/80/95/110
Fixed several bugs with Puncturing
Taunt to make it more responsive
Verdict Was this really necessary? Rammus was already quite
good
and now each ability is better. The taunt did cost too
much mana though, so that was warranted.
Shaco
Jack in the Box cast range reduced to
400 from 500
Jack in the Box can no longer be cast
inside walls
Verdict Can this jester catch a break? The nerfs continue,
slight as this one may be. It will hurt his ability to fear
people escaping from him, however.
Singed
Stats
o Magic resistance reduced to 30 from 35
o Base health increased to 448 from 429
o Health per level increased to 82 from 78
Mega Adhesive mana cost reduced to
70/80/90/100/110 from 80/90/100/110/120
Fling cooldown reduced to 10 from 11.5
Insanity Potion cooldown reduced to 100
from 120
Insanity Potion no longer has a cast
time or animation
Verdict Most Singed builds already end up with him being a massive
pile of HP, so more is only going to make him even more annoying to
take down. The critical spells have all been buffed as well,
making this alchemist even more dangerous when he is charging at your
team. The shorter Fling cooldown is important because it
makes him harder to ignore when hes tossing your fragile teammates
into the fray more often.
Sion
Death's Caress no longer has a cast
animation
Death's Caress shield reduced to
110/160/210/260/310 from 120/170/220/270/320
Verdict a minor nerf and a large buff to the same spell.
The pause in casting was extremely annoying, and now its gone!
Sivir
On the Hunt attack speed bonus
increased to 30/60/90% from 25/45/65%
On the Hunt now provides 1/3 of the
attack speed bonus to allies
Spell Shield mana return increased to
150 from 125
Spell Shield cooldown reduced to
22/19/16/13/10 from 28/24/20/16/12
Verdict On the Hunt now makes Sivir a fairly dangerous opponent to
engage in a direct battle, but that isnt how this game plays
out. She needs a rework to be considered worthwhile, even
with all of these buffs.
Swain
Decrepify
o Ability power ratio increased to 0.9
from 0.75
o Fixed a bug where Decrepify would slow
through Highlander or Ragnarok
o Fixed a bug where the damage portion
sometimes would not stop after leaving the area
Nevermore ability power ratio increased
to 0.7 from 0.5
Torment damage increased to
75/115/155/195/235 from 72/110/148/186/224
Torment ability power ratio increased
to 0.8 from 0.6
Carrion Renewal regen increased to 300%
from 250%
Verdict This might be too much. Swain is a powerhouse
disabler, and these ratio improvements will give him a lot more late
game power. If he gets going, he might be
impossible to stop!
Taric
Imbue mana cost increased to
80/95/110/125/140 from 70/85/100/115/130
Imbue heal reduced to
60/100/140/180/220 from 70/110/150/190/230
Verdict Another patch, another Taric heal nerf. Taric is
capable of debuffing, stunning, healing, and increasing his teams
damage though, making him a powerful jack of all trades and theyre
slowly chipping at it. Why is Sona untouched though?
Teemo
Stats
o Base movespeed increased to 305 from 300
o Base damage reduced to 47.5 from 51.3
o Damage per level reduced to 3.0 from 3.3
Camouflage
o Fade time reduced to 2.0 seconds from
3.0
o Being invulnerable will now prevent
Teemo from Camouflaging. Specifically, Zhonya's Ring and Guardian
Angel's effects will block Camouflage while they are active.
o Recalling and Teleporting will now
prevent Teemo from Camouflaging
Blinding Dart
o Duration reduced to 1.5/1.75/2/2.25/2.5
from 1.5/2.0/2.5/3.0/3.5
o Cooldown reduced to 8 seconds from 10
Move Quick's tooltip will now update to
display the effects of cooldown reduction
Toxic Shot per tick damage reduced to
6/12/18/24/30 from 8/14/21/28/35
Toxic Shot on-hit damage increased to
9/18/27/36/45 from 8/14/21/28/35
Noxious Trap
o Teemo now gains a "stored mushroom"
charge every 30/26/22 seconds. Maximum three charges
o Each cast requires and consumes a charge
o Time to gain a charge is reduced by
cooldown reduction effects
o Time to gain next charge does not
progress while you are at maximum charges
o Teemo always has two charges stored
upon reviving at base
o Cooldown on placing a trap reduced to 1
second from 20
o Damage changed to 250/475/700 from
350/500/650
Recommended items updated
Verdict Teemo has not changed as much as he looks. The most
important difference is that he can save up and chain cast Mushrooms to
deny a large area or prepare a battlefield instantly. Hes
still going to be weak as long as he has Strut as an activated, leveled
ability.
Tryndamere
Bloodlust cooldown reduced to
12/11/10/9/8 from 14/13/12/11/10
Bloodlust damage per stack increased to
5 from 3
Spinning Slash cooldown reduced to 8
from 9
Spinning Slash area of effect increased
to 225 from 185
Verdict Bloodlust stacks are going to make Tryndamere VERY dangerous
at level 1-3. At 8 stacks, hell be packing +40
damage. This is before runes and armor penetration, and if he
crits you an enemy, I wouldnt be surprised to see half of their life
instantly vanish. This will also speed his jungling speed a
good amount early on. Spinning slash has always had an
embarrassingly small area of effect for a guy swinging such a large
blade, so Im glad to see some love for the skill.
Twisted Fate
Pick a Card Blue Card damage/mana
return increased to 40/60/80/100/120 from 30/45/60/75/90
Verdict Blue Cards were almost always mistakes, or wasted
cards. Now they can actually restore Twisted Fates mana with
repeated use.
Twitch
Debilitating Poison now has a range
indicator
Expunge now has a range indicator
Deadly Venom duration reduced to 6 from
8
Verdict No real change here. Twitch will still blow up an
entire team with his ultimate active and good positioning, or get blown
up the moment hes spotted.
Urgot
Removed "Recommended" tag
Heat Seeking Missiles can no longer hit
invisible minions or objects like wards
Corrosive Charge no longer will lock
onto invisible minions or objects like wards
Verdict - I have nothing to say. Urgot needs
serious help, and didnt get a damn thing this patch. Might
as well remove the useful tag too.
Zilean
Chronoshift now removes most positive
buffs from your champion when it activates. For example, Soraka's
Astral Blessing, Garen's Judgment, and Fiddlesticks' Crowstorm will now
be removed.
Verdict A dying Garen has killed me before. I was not
pleased, and now people will stop swinging when they go down!
Items
Guardian Angel now removes most
positive buffs from your champion when it activates. For example,
Soraka's Astral Blessing, Garen's Judgment, and Fiddlesticks' Crowstorm
will now be removed.
Last Whisper unique armor penetration
now functions with abilities (but still not against turrets)
Verdict Very important buff to Last Whisper here that may actually
make Pantheon competitive again with the other buffs to runes.
Soul Shroud has a new recipe: Kindlegem
+ Ruby Crystal + Mana Manipulator + 485 gold. Stats remain unchanged.
Kindlegem recipe price lowered to 375
from 425
Shurelya's Reverie recipe price
increased to 550 from 500, total price unchanged from the previous patch
Malady (remake)
o Recipe changed to: Dagger + Dagger +
Amplifying Tome + 550 gold = 1825 total cost
o Base stats changed to +50% attack
speed, +25 ability power
o Unique Passive changed to: Your
physical attacks shred your target doing 20 magic damage and reducing
their magic resistance by 6.
o Magic resistance reduction stacks up to
4 times.
Verdict A hybrid item at heart. Jax loves this thing, and
since he generally cant afford to go Sorcerors Shoes, this is the
next best thing to making his lamppost hit for disgusting amounts.
Warmog's Armor
o Combine cost reduced to 980 from 1100
o Base stats increased to 920 health from
770 health
o Bonuses now cap at 450 health and 15
hp/5
o Unique Passive changed to: Permanently
gain 4.5 health and .15 health regen per 5 sec per minion kill.
Champion kills and assists grant 45 health and 1.5 health Regen per 5
sec. Bonuses cap at +450 health, and +15 health Regen per 5.
Verdict Warmogs is now better, but is it worth it yet? Probably not,
its still too specific.
Atma's Impaler unique passive tooltip
clarified to state that it adds to your bonus attack damage
Rod of Ages base stats increased to 450
health, 525 mana and 60 ability power from 360 health, 425 mana and 50
ability power
Rod of Ages bonus cap reduced to 180
health, 200 mana and 20 ability power, from 270 health, 300 mana and 30
ability power
Fixed a bug that allowed Quicksilver
Sash to be affected by cooldown reduction
Quicksilver Sash cooldown reduced to
105 seconds from 120 seconds
Runes
Lesser Mark, Mark, and Greater Mark of
Desolation armor penetration reduced by 15%
Lesser Mark, Mark, and Greater Mark of
Strength damage increased by 200%
Lesser Mark, Mark, and Greater Mark of
Might damage per level increased by 35%
Lesser Glyph, Glyph, and Greater Glyph
of Strength damage increased by 200%
Lesser Glyph, Glyph, and Greater Glyph
of Might damage per level increased by 35%
Lesser Seal, Seal, and Greater Seal of
Strength damage increased by 200%
Lesser Seal, Seal, and Greater Seal of
Might damage increased by 35%
Lesser Quintessence, Quintessence, and
Greater Quintessence of Desolation armor penetration reduced by 15%
Verdict Of particular note here are the attack damage
runes. Stacking these can give a person +30 damage at level
1. If you see a Pantheon taking mid with this setup, swap and
let someone else die repeatedly.
General
Zooming in will now match its previous
functionality where scrolling results in zooming in instead of zooming
out
Summoner Flash no longer breaks stealth
Updated selection radii for a number of
champions
Skins
Pentakill Mordekaiser's size has been
increased
Verdict Have you seen that guitar? He needs to be huge!
Final Words
A great step forward, this patch levels the playing field greatly for a
lot of heroes, both in the form of nerfs and buffs. Jax
hasnt had much time out of the spotlight, and hell be back in it at
this rate. Eve will slowly become viable as she receives test
realm buffs. And for the first time in forever, a large set
of rune changes to stir things up and make picking your runes a more
difficult decision than armor penetration or magic
penetration? Bravo, Riot, and see you all on the fields of
Summoners Rift!
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