Without the Mid-Season Invitational, the slew of recent patches have been conservative, so once again, don’t expect patch 10.12 to change the meta.
There are some positive changes to summoner spell Ghost and a few runes however, which should make some players happy.
Winner: Ghost (Summoner spell)
- (New) Ghosting the build-up: Ghost’s movement speed now activates instantly
- (New) Takedown MS extension: Ghost’s increased movement speed duration now extends by 4-7 seconds (levels 1-18) when you get a takedown
- Movement speed adjusted from 28-45% (levels 1-18) to 20-40% (levels 1-18)
- Cooldown increased from 180 to 210 seconds
While Ghost has a slightly increased cooldown and decreased movement speed percentage, it’s an overall buff because its movement speed now activates instantly as opposed to gradually.
Ghost also has a longer duration after you get a takedown, which is a nightmare for anyone laning against Darius, for junglers will now think twice about ganking top.
Mid lane champions like Viktor and Twisted Fate who run this summer spell also benefit.
Winner: Guardian rune
- Tether range increased from 175 to 350
- Trigger condition adjusted from any damage to 90-250 post mitigation damage in the last 2.5 seconds, or lethal damage
- Shield amount buffed from 70-150 to 80-200
- (Removed) No longer gives movement speed
According to Riot, “Guardian is a powerful keystone that’s been largely unpicked and ignored, despite outperforming other keystones like Aery and Aftershock on individual champions.”
Guardian’s shield amount at max level has been increased by 50, and it now triggers when it matters.
For Nami or Bard — support champions who recently received nerfs – or other ranged utility supports who would like more survival in lane, this large buff to Guardian means it’s equally viable to Aery now.
Winner: Predator rune
- Cooldown decreased from 150-100 to 100-70 seconds
- Damage decreased from 60-180 (+0.4 bonus attack damage) (+0.25 ability power) to 30-90 (+0.2 bonus attack damage) (+0.1 ability power)
- I’m goin, I’m goin: Active is no longer disabled for the first 150 seconds of the game.
- (New) Run, run as fast as you can: Upon completion, Predator now grants 45% bonus movement speed while moving towards enemy champions at a range of 3000, including enemy champions out of vision
- (Removed) Active is no longer interrupted if you cast an ability or enter combat (still has a 1.5 second ramp up time for damage effect and full movement speed)
- (New) Charlie, that hurts: Predator now only deals damage and ends the hunt against enemy champions.
- Duration decreased from 15 to 10 seconds
An overall buff to Predator has seen its cooldown decreased, which means more ganks by jungle champions like Gragas who utilize this rune, and a bonus movement speed boost after its completion.
Even though its damage decreased, the strength of Predator has always been its movement speed. Laners, be on your toes!
- Did Riot botch the Volibear rework?
- Riot is exploring changes to League of Legends ranked and matchmaking systems
Winner: Volibear
Base stats
- Mana growth increased from 40 to 50
- Health growth increased from 85 to 90
Q – Thundering Smash
- Thundering Smash’s empowered attack can no longer be interrupted by crowd control once it’s been initiated
- Thundering Smash’s empowered attack now scales its timing with attack speed
R – Stormbringer
- Turret disable duration increased from 2/4/6 to 3/4/5 seconds
- Epicenter radius increased from 250 to 300
- Base damage increased from 250/475/700 to 300/500/700
While the mana and health growth will certainly help Volibear, and the increased base damage of his ultimate is a good thing, these changes do not address that it is still hard to fully optimize this champion whose abilities scale off different attributes.
What’s more, base numbers don’t help as the game progresses and items stack up. There still isn’t a great way to build damage on Volibear without him being too squishy, or build tank items but not doing enough damage to be a real threat.
Winner: Xayah
R – Featherstorm
- Base damage increased from 100/150/200 to 125/250/375
At level six, Featherstorm has 25 more damage. At tier three, it will now do an extra 175 base damage.
One of the weakest AD carries in the current meta, no one’s complaining about this random buff.
Loser: Trundle
W – Frozen Domain
- Bonus movement speed decreased from 30/35/40/45/50% to 20/28/36/44/52%
Amassing a 58.2% win rate in Spring across major regions in professional play, Trundle has been a go-to jungle champion in the current meta.
Back in patch 10.2, Frozen Domain’s bonus movement speed was buffed to 30/35/40/45/50% from 20/25/30/35/40%. The current nerf has almost reduced it to its previous numbers at early levels.
Loser: Yasuo
Base stats
- Health decreased from 523 to 490
Passive – Way of the Wanderer
- Flow shield activation increased from 100-510 (levels 1-18) to 115-525 (levels 1-18)
W – Windwall
- Cooldown increased from 26/24/22/20/18 to 30/27/24/21/18 seconds
Riot’s intention is to reduce Yasuo’s power in bot while impacting him less when he’s in a solo lane.
Taking a hit to his base health and early levels of Windwall, these nerfs still outweigh the slight increase to his passive’s shield.
Whatever the case is, solo queue players are grateful.
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