League of Legends Patch 14.6 is nearly here, and with the launch of the patch, over a dozen champions are going to be hit with intense balance changes.
Although 13 champions are slated to receive direct buffs, nerfs, and adjustments (and countless more will be affected by indirect changes to items), three champions stand out in the crowd as their heavy changes are worth noting far more than any others.
When Patch 14.6 goes live, you should see the League meta change extensively. Many of the champions that have been dominating the ranked ladder for the better part of the last month are set to receive some heavy nerfs, while others are receiving changes that should either bring them back into the realm of viability or completely change their playstyles altogether.
Here are the three biggest balance changes to watch for when League Patch 14.6 goes live next week.
Galio receives a complete facelift
The champion that’s set to receive the biggest set of changes in Patch 14.6 will be Galio, who is getting a total revamp of his core abilities. These upcoming changes nerf the AP ratios and scaling damage rates of his passive, Q, W, and E. But Galio will get an attack speed buff, as well as a three-second portion of his passive’s cooldown refunded every time it strikes an enemy champion or epic monster to balance things out.
Still, Riot is trying to toe the line with Galio as the devs want to nerf his damage ceiling in the mid lane while not wanting to make the champion a stronger support than he’s intended to be. While these changes are definitely meant to make him more durable, the devs are hoping that he stays a mid laner first and foremost.
“Changes are a little tricky to get Galio onto more durable builds without overly buffing support who is much more reliant on actually engaging,” League executive producer Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison said in the Patch 14.6 preview. “We’re trying to incentivize having him regularly get multiple passive procs into his combos to provide him with satisfying payouts for good spell usages.”
Smolder is on deck to endure another round of nerfs
Smolder has been an unignorable presence in the League meta since his release last month. While the nerfs he got in Patch 14.5 knocked him down a peg, he’s still been a relatively reliable pick for many ADCs. This set of changes, though, should reduce him from a priority pick to, at most, a balanced champion.
In Patch 14.6, Smolder’s ability to execute enemy champions has been significantly nerfed as the threshold attached to his Super Scorcher Breath (Q) has been reduced by a full percentage point and the scaling benefit that the ability received from Smolder’s passive has been removed entirely. This change should make Smolder a far less threatening damage dealer, especially in the late game. Additionally, Smolder’s W has been made thinner, making it harder to land, and the extra movement speed he gets from his E has been reduced from a 100 percent bonus to a 75 percent bonus.
Riot is trying to take Karma out of mid lane
In season 14, Karma has transformed entirely from a reliable support to a devastatingly strong mid laner. The champion’s AP ratios and reliance on Malignance as a core item have made her a poke-heavy monster that’s earned the fourth-highest win rate among all mid laners across all ranks, as well as a 60 percent pick/ban rate in professional play. The League dev team described Karma as being “too good” in the mid lane and is taking measures that look to encourage players to get back to using her as a support.
To knock Karma off the top of the mid lane meta, Riot is taking an approach that makes it harder for her to effectively spam abilities and constantly pump out damage, most notably via her R-Q combo. Her mana per level is being reduced by 10 in Patch 14.6, while the mana cost of her Inner Flame (Q) is going way up. No longer will it cost a flat 45 mana at all ranks, and instead, it’ll cost upwards of 80 mana at max rank moving forward. Additionally, the late-game, max-rank cooldown of Karma’s ultimate is going up by a whole three seconds.
To counteract these heavy nerfs, Riot is upping the rate at which Karma regenerates mana, which should make it more enticing for players to build support items that scale with mana regeneration.
These changes will be implemented to the game next week as League of Legends Patch 14.6 is scheduled to go live on March 20.
