The Duskblade of Draktharr was barely ever purchased before the last patch, so it makes sense that Riot would buff it to bring it some attention. Unfortunately, the buffs went way too far, and the item quickly became the meta on anyone that could build AD effectively.
Luckily, Patch 7.15 arrives tomorrow, and it’s bringing a huge nerf to the Duskblade with it according to the official patch notes.
Just in case you missed our Patch 7.14 coverage, the buffs to the Duskblade where monumental. For starters, there were some stats swapped around on the item that really helped it out. It was given cooldown reduction and more lethality, and in return its movement speed boost and a little bit of AD were removed. Oh, and the cost of the item was dropped from 3250 to 2900 gold—a whopping 350 gold price drop.
All of that probably would have made the item great enough to entice AD assassins into more purchases, but that’s not where the buffs stopped. The Nightstalker proc was changed to deal flat physical damage scaling with your own level rather than double your lethality. That made the damage much more reliable, and for the cost reduction, that reliable damage is now very cost efficient. Not only that, but a 99 percent micro slow was added to the proc’s application as well.
It was all just a bit too much, and soon, everyone and their cousin began to build the Duskblade like they didn’t have a choice. Everyone has been calling for nerfs since the last patch went live, so it’s no wonder there’s a big one coming tomorrow. The micro slow will now only work if you’re a melee champion, and the Nightstalker proc’s damage is now much lower at late game levels.
Overall, this nerf doesn’t seem like it will be enough. The item’s early pressure is why it’s so oppressive, and it seems like lowering its late game damage isn’t going to solve anything. By the time most ADCs get to the point that the nerf would effect them, they’ll have plenty of critical strikes boosts to make up for it. If the nerfs end up not being enough to lower the build priority of the Duskblade, it’s safe to expect more nerfs later down the road.
