Get out of the way, Rumble and Morgana. Some new junglers are jumping out of the shadows to take over the Rift.
Following a preview of champion changes for Patch 11.11 yesterday, League of Legends’ game design director Mark “Scruffy” Yetter revealed specifically how certain champions will be tuned today. Some of the Mid-Season Invitational’s most prioritized picks, including Rumble and Morgana in the jungle, are the targets of massive nerfs. Meanwhile, other champions are receiving some buffs that may boost their play rate—even within roles where they don’t normally belong.
Morgana and Rumble, due to their domination of the jungle throughout Patch 11.10, are finally being toned down. The bonus damage that they gain against monsters on their abilities—Morgana’s W and Rumble’s passive, respectively—are receiving lower modifiers that won’t take them out of the jungle entirely but will prevent them from being the most contested picks. Morgana will have her modifier decreased by 30 percent, while Rumble’s damage cap with his passive will be topped at 80.
Lee Sin and Leona are two other champions that have seen quite a bit of play at MSI and have been particularly strong in their respective lanes for some time. To throw Lee Sin back into his intended spot in the jungle and away from his dominance in the solo lanes, his E cooldown is being increased by one second. Leona, on the other hand, isn’t having her stunning abilities tackled. Rather, the secondary effect of her W damage is being nerfed from 60 to 200 to 50 to 190.
Other nerfs revealed in this Patch 11.11 preview tackle some champions that have made waves in various ranks, some more oppressive than others. In the top lane, Urgot’s W AD ratio is being lowered from 20 to 36 percent to 20 to 34 percent, making him a bit less oppressive with his shotgun knees later in the game. Elise and Shaco are the other junglers getting nerfed—Elise with a 10-percent decrease on her Spider Form AP damage ratio and Shaco with small AP ratio decreases on his W and E abilities. Qiyana is the only mid laner being nerfed, this time in regard to her oppressive movement speed that makes it difficult to track this assassin down.
While the most oppressive champions throughout and before Patch 11.10 are set to be nerfed, other champions are being buffed to take the spotlight that’s eluded them for some time. The most notable of these buffs are to Seraphine, Nautilus, and everyone’s favorite horse in the jungle, Hecarim.
Seraphine will receive large late-game buffs to her W, both the self shield and the ally shield, that will likely make her a bit overtuned with the simultaneous buffs to Moonstone Renewer and Staff of Flowing Water. Nautilus is returning to his roots with the addition of a 200-percent modifier on his E against monsters, perhaps looking to plant his anchor outside of the support role.
After being tossed to the side due to his monstrous strides in the jungle toward the middle of the season, Hecarim is once again being brought back into the meta with changes that (hopefully) won’t be as strong as those pre-Patch 11.10. The horse’s Q AD ratio is set to be increased from 70 to 75 percent, while the minimum base AD ratio on his E will be increased from 50 to 55 percent and the maximum increased from 100 to 110 percent.
Stepping away from the top lane tank meta, Singed and Teemo are getting buffs, while Graves and Master Yi are receiving some changes to better compensate for their role in the jungle. Singed’s E cooldown is being lowered to eight seconds at max rank from 10 at all ranks to throw his enemies a lot quicker. Teemo is getting a lot quicker as well, with a W cooldown decrease to 14 seconds at all ranks.
Graves is set to receive a small increase of one additional AD per level from three to four, but Master Yi’s changes are a bit more extensive. The champion is known to be a burden for lower-ranked players to deal with due to his low-risk, high-reward playstyle. So Yetter and his team seek to lower the power of some builds that make him even harder to deal with—specifically with Duskblade. While his Q’s base AD ratio is being lowered to 90 percent, his E’s base damage is being increased by 10 at all ranks.
With the (hopeful) absence of Lee Sin in the mid lane, buffs are being granted to other champions to potentially reinstate their importance in the meta. Azir’s Q mana cost will be reduced to 55 for more consistency when laning and Ryze is getting a bit more survivability with an increase of 110 HP per level.
The ADC and support metas may not shift too much in this patch, but two options are jumping up in viability—one in a new way. Ezreal, who’s been struggling to compete alongside Kai’Sa, Aphelios, and Varus, is receiving an increase in base armor to 24 and a better health regen percentage per level to help him deal with the massive amounts of poke from enemy laners.
Yetter previously revealed that Senna’s support builds featuring Frostfire Gauntlet would be a priority for changes in Patch 11.11 and he’s detailed those extensively with this patch preview. Besides changes to the item itself, Senna will have her health per level increased to 82, her Q healing will now scale 160 percent of her Lethality, her E movement speed bonus will now scale with 0.5 percent of her AP, and her R’s AP ratio will be boosted to 70 percent. The changes open up new build paths for Senna, particularly within the support role, where she may not opt to choose Kraken Slayer once more or venture into more AP-centric builds with other support items.
All of these changes revealed within this Patch 11.11 preview are subject to be altered before they hit the PBE or live servers. Patch 11.11 is expected to be released on League’s live servers on May 26.
Make sure to follow us on YouTube for more esports news and analysis.
