As always, League of Legends preseason is chaotic. 2021 has been particularly wild thanks to Riot Games’ complete overhaul of the item system. Patch 10.23 introduced the infrastructure, and patch 10.24 is here to fine-tune it.

For champions, there were more nerfs than buffs this update, while targeted nerfed items fell into the AP Mythic category.

Here are the winners and losers of patch 10.24.

Winner: Varus

Credit: Riot Games

Q – Piercing Arrow

  • (Removed) Blight cooldown reduction: Cooldown is no longer reduced by 3 seconds if Piercing Arrow detonates on a Blighted enemy
  • (New) Bow Up: Damage from Blight effects detonated with Piercing Arrow are now increased by the amount of time Varus charges it for up to 50%, in addition to increasing Piercing Arrow’s damage for up to 50%
  • (New) VFX: Piercing Arrow will now show crit text when fully charged

W – Blighted Quiver

  • Bonus damage adjusted from 7/10.5/14/17.5/21 to 7/8/9/10/11
  • (New) Bow Down: Detonating a Blight stack on enemy champions and Epic Monsters now reduces all basic cooldowns by 12% of the max cooldown per stack

R – Chain of Corruption

  • (New) Snapback: Varus now snaps to face the target direction on start of cast
  • Missile speed decreased from 1950 to 1500

Varus was a hot pick until Summer 2020, especially in pro play due to his long range poke and crowd control from Chain of Corruption. The damage on Q and E was nerfed ten patches ago. Since then, other ADCs were buffed and favored, which resulted in him not being picked at all at Worlds 2020.

Recognizing his strengths in pro play, Riot wants to bring back his “unique playstyle of charged arrows and spellweaving”. His ultimate’s missile speed was nerfed to give opponents a chance to react, while Piercing Arrow’s is now in proportion to his charge-up time.

Winner: Marksmen dealing with tanks

Credit: Riot Games

Kraken Slayer

  • Attack damage increased from 60 to 65
  • Wyrmfallen Sacrifice attack damage increased from 80 to 85
  • Damage ratio increased from 30% AD to 45% AD

That’s it. That’s the message.

No additional notes from Riot were given for this buff. Kraken Slayer definitely hurts against squishy champions, but it has not been effective in dealing with the strong tank meta in the preseason. With increased base damage and damage ratio, Vayne has been given an indirect buff as Kraken is her core item.

Will this item be balanced enough to manage tanks but not be OP against everyone else?

Loser: AP mages

Credit: Riot Games

Liandry’s Anguish (Mythic)

  • Torment damage ratio decreased from 2.5% AP to 1.5% AP

Luden’s Tempest (Mythic)

  • Echo movement speed decreased from 30% to 15%
  • Echo damage ratio decreased from 15% AP to 10% AP

Night Harvester (Mythic)

  • Soulrend damage decreased from 175-250 magic damage (level 1-18) to 125-200 (level 1-18)

Demonic Embrace (Legendary)

  • Azakana Gaze burn damage reduced from 1.5% to 1.2% max health magic damage every second for 4 seconds

The two-item power spike from AP mages prior to this patch was pretty powerful. Coupled with the dissolution of Hex Core, Viktor was unleashed and is an undisputed S-tier pick in the mid lane. Swain bot lane too, is now a legit choice.

Riot’s response is to decrease the AP ratios on two of their core Mythic items, Lidnary’s and Luden’s, as well as tone down the damage from two legendary items, Night Harvester and Demonic Embrace. Overall, a fair balance change.

Loser: Amumu

Credit: Riot Games

Base stats

  • Mana growth decreased from 60 to 40 (reverting a 10.23 buff)

W – Despair

  • Base damage over time decreased from 5/7.5/10/12.5/15 to 4/6/8/10/12
  • Damage ratio decreased from 0.5% AP per 100 AP (every half second) to 0.25% AP per 100 AP (every half second)

E – Tantrum

  • Damage decreased from 75/100/125/150/175 (+50% AP) to 75/95/115/135/155 (+50% AP)

R – Curse of the Sad Mummy

  • Stun duration decreased from 2 seconds to 1.5/1.75/2 seconds

Amumu was so strong that he got nerfed twice in this patch because the first nerf to Despair was not enough. His kit and numbers synergized so well with the preseason ecosystem that he’s been dishing out killer blows on pure tank items.

The nerfs to each ability are slight, and are unlikely to knock him out of S-tier. For now, he’ll keep crying and he’ll keep winning.

Credit: Riot Games

Read the full patch 10.24 notes on Riot Games’ League of Legends site.

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