League of Legends Patch v1.0.0.111 Analysis

High Command Katarina: a new skin I am no doubt going to buy.

Hi there and welcome to this weeks League of Legends patch analysis. I've left out the client changes as I can't exactly provide analysis on them, but they all sound good. As a summary their adding Co-op vs AI amongst other features for the client, and changing XP/IP rewards to give out an amount matching how long you have played for. Check out the official site for more details.


Maokai, the Twisted Treant

• Sap Magic (passive): Each time a champion near Maokai casts a spell, he gains a charge of Magical Sap. When he has 5 charges, Maokai's next melee attack drains energy from his target, healing him for a percentage of his maximum HP.
• Arcane Smash: Maokai slams the ground, the force of which knocks nearby enemies back and sends an arcane shockwave forward, damaging and slowing his enemies.
• Twisted Advance: Maokai dissolves into a cloud of arcane energies. He regrows near a target enemy, dealing damage and rooting it in place.
• Sapling Toss: Maokai hurls a sapling, dealing damage on impact. The sapling becomes implanted in the ground, warding a nearby area. When enemies approach, the sapling attacks, exploding in an arcane blast that damages enemies.
• Vengeful Maelstrom (ultimate): Maokai shields his allies by drawing power from hostile spells and attacks, reducing non-tower damage done to allied champions in the area. Maokai can prolong the effect as long as he has mana to spend on it. When the effect ends, Maokai unleashes the absorbed energy to deal damage to enemies within the vortex.

I've already discussed Maokai in my article below, the spotlight pretty much confirms my initial thoughts.

Akali

• Fixed a bug where the sound of Mark of the Assassin could persist after her target died

Amumu

• Base damage increased to 47 from 45
• Base armor increased to 18 from 15
• Tantrum passive physical damage reduction increased to 2/4/6/8/10 from 1/2/3/4/5
• Despair mana cost reduced to 8 from 10 at all levels
• Despair now has a new particle to match the area of effect

It's funny really, Amumu has fallen largely out of the limelight but not really due to nerfs, other tanks just seemed to take over. He was still a good champion, and maybe this might nudge him back towards being played again. Mostly seems to buff his jungling.

Anivia

• Fixed a bug where Flashfrost stunned for 0.75 seconds instead of 1 second as the tooltip stated
• Fixed a bug where unlike other skillshots, Flashfrost could not be cast from out of range
• Glacial Storm
  • Initial mana cost increased to 100/150/200 from 25/35/45
  • Cost per second reduced to 40/50/60 from 50/70/90
  • Slow duration reduced to 1 second from 2.5
• Rebirth
  • Armor/magic resist modifier changed to -40/-25/-10/5/20 from -40/-20/10/40
  • Rebirth now always shows the passive in the passive slot, and an additional buff in the buff bar with the current status (ready, active, or on cooldown)
   
  

Controversial stuff here. The idea behind Glacial Storm was to stop Anivia players 'pulsing' it to chill opponents before hitting them, but the amount of mana it costs now really seems excessive. It's also unclear whether the reduced slow duration means a reduced chill duration, because if it is only 1 second that's barely enough time to actually hit them after they are chilled. The rebirth changes I don't really think solve the problem. It's more of an issue early game, particularly when she dies behind towers. Late game if she becomes an egg Anivia would usually be surrounded and raped anyway, yet it is only the late game that has changed.

Dr. Mundo

• Fixed a bug where Infected Cleaver's PvP.net description was incorrect

Fiddlesticks

• Base magic resistance reduced to 30 from 35

Interesting they are nerfing him now, he has become more common. Shouldn't put you off using him though, his passive means your opponent will still have less magic resist than you.

Irelia

• Fixed a bug where the Transcendent Blades cooldown tooltip was incorrect

Just a small comment here. It's not relating to this change. By god she needs to be nerfed. The 3 real problem characters at the moment are Irelia, Nasus and Renekton. All 3 of them are insanely tough, but can put out an amazing amount of damage despite this. I realize that cooldown reduction items have been hit in an effect to counter these, but I don't really feel any of the items hit are often used on these characters. The main problem, I believe, is their lifesteal. It just makes them near impossible to kill and keeping them out of lane difficult.

A few games ago I played Mord, and had a Jax by my side in a 2 v 1 solo lane against Nasus. I spent the entire time sitting between him and our creeps so that his farm was at an absolute minimum. Other than repeatedly killing him, I could not have made it any more difficult, and out of the 3 aforementioned characters, farming is most important to Nasus. Despite this, he still later destroyed my team. The feeling is that they always seem fed, even if they have done very little. It's an issue that needs to be addressed at the moment, more than any other.

Karma

• Spirit Bond now properly assigns assist markers to allies that receive the haste bonus
• Fixed a bug where Spirit Bond would break friendly spell shields and not apply the haste bonus
• Fixed a display bug where Spirit Bond's beam would appear at Karma's feet for enemy players

Kog'Maw

• Fixed a display bug with Bio-Arcane Barrage attacks on several skins

LeBlanc

• Fixed a bug where the sound of Sigil of Silence could persist after her target died

Nasus

• Fixed a bug where attack damage granted by Fury of the Sands was not showing in your stats/character sheet
• Fury of the Sands now updates the buff tooltip to explicitly state how much attack damage granted

Olaf

• Fixed a bug where Undertow could hit the same target twice

Pantheon

• Heartseeker Strike now deals damage slower - it takes 0.5 seconds longer to deal full damage
• Grand Skyfall now has a small area near the center that deals full damage (previously it was impossible to deal full damage to any target)

The HSS change is a somewhat bizarre one. They changed his stun duration so the HSS could not achieve full effect after a stun - doing this as well feels a little over the top. His original channel time was 0.8 seconds, so the added time is more than half of that, a fair bit.

Rammus

• Powerball speed reduced by about 15%

Probably deserved, previously Powerball could outrun ghost, now you might stand some chance of getting away.

Renekton

• Fixed a bug where Slice and Dice would remember your order after casting, causing him to move toward previous locations

Vandal Twitch: the as yet other unannounced skin

Ryze

• Overload
  • Cooldown reduced to 3.5 from 11/10/9/8/7
  • Base Damage reduced to 30/55/80/105/130 from 50/90/130/170/210
  • Mana cost changed to 70/70/70/70/70 from 30/65/80/95/110
  • Missile speed increased to 1400 from 1200
  • Ability power ratio decreased to .2 from .45
  • Range increased to 675 from 600
• Rune Prison
  • No longer deals damage per tick and deals 60/95/130/165/200 damage up front (down from 80/120/160/200/240 over the duration)
  • Ability power ratio changed to a flat .6 from .4/.6/.8/1/1.2 (depending on snare duration)
  • Now deals 5% of Ryze's maximum mana in bonus damage
  • Cast range increased to 625 from 600
  • Duration reduced to 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 from 1.2/1.5/1.8/2.1/2.4
• Spell flux
  • Ability power ratio per hit reduced to .35 from .38
  • Cooldown increased to 14 from 9
  • Mana cost reduced to 60/75/90/105/120 from 60/80/100/120/140
  • Cast range increased to 675 from 625
  • Base damage reduced to 50/70/90/110/130
• Desperate Power
  • No longer grants ability power but now grants 15% spell vamp
  • Area of effect damage percentage reduced to 50% from 65%
  • Cooldown changed to 70/60/50 from 50/50/50
  • Duration changed to 5/6/7 from 8
  • Now grants a passive 75/150/225 mana
• General
  • Reduced base magic resistance to 30 from 35
  • Fixed a bug where Ryze's base mana regen did not get updated properly during the previous patch's revamp
   
  

Big remake here. The idea was to turn Ryze into a sustained caster rather than a burst. Many people are already complaining about a 'nerf', but the change to Overload could really hurt. Combined with a Lichbane, and Rod of Ages + Archangel's Staff now unbelievable items for him, prepare to feel damage. He still has some of his early game power, but seems to be more angled towards late game now. The addition of spell vamp to Desperate Power I'm unsure about. It may yet work, but I don't really see it sustaining him through a teamfight, which seems to be the intention.


Sivir

• Boomerang Blade
  • Damage reduction to each subsequent target increased to 20% from 10%
  • Now scales from bonus attack damage instead of total attack damage
  • Base damage increased to 75/120/165/210/255 from 20/70/120/170/220
  • Attack damage ratio increased to .95 from .75

 This is apparently a nerf, but the increase in damage is almost as much as the starting attack damage bonus that was taken away. It looks more like a buff to me, a very odd change that suggests thoughtlessness.

Tryndamere

• Fixed a bug where Undying Rage could not be used while suppressed

Many people have claimed this wasn't a bug but a feature, however this apparently was always the case until a few patchs ago where it was accidently changed. Alas, prepare to see your Malzahar's head cleaved in twain.

Vladimir

• Crimson Pact Bonus ability power gained reduced to 1 ability power per 40 bonus health from 25 health
• Sanguine Pool no longer grants a speed bonus on use
• Fixed a bug where Turrets would sometimes idle while Vladimir was pooled
• Fixed a bug where Sanguine Pool would occasionally not properly draw aggro upon exiting his pool

Makes him a bit more bearable but doesn't solve the fundemental problems with his design, but I doubt anything other than a total rework will.

Zilean

• Base magic resistance reduced to 30 from 35

Any nerf to Zilean is welcome for me, I hate the bearded sod.

Items

• Fixed a bug where Vampiric Scepter improperly showed it could build into Malady
• Sight Wards and Wriggle's Lantern wards now have a green top
• Vision Wards now have a pink top
• Doran's Shield
  • Fixed a bug where it said it provided 9 armor but actually provided 8
  • Armor increased to 10 from 8
  • Health regen per 5 seconds reduced to 8 from 10
• Frozen Heart
  • Combine cost reduced to 650 from 800
  • Cooldown reduction decreased to 20% from 25%
• Glacial Shroud
  • Combine Cost reduced to 425 from 575
  • Cooldown reduction decreased to 15% from 20%
• Ionian Boots of Lucidity cost increased to 700 from 550
• Quicksilver Sash magic resistance increased to 56 from 48
• Randuin's Omen cooldown reduction decreased to 5% from 8%
• Spirit Visage cooldown reduction decreased to 10% from 12%
• Soul Shroud cooldown aura reduced to 10% from 15%
• New Item: Morello's Evil Tome
  • Builds out of Fiendish Codex and Blasting Wand (Total Cost of 2350)
  • +75 ability power
  • +12 mana regeneration per 5
  • UNIQUE passive: 15% cooldown reduction

 The cooldown reduction hits don't really affect those it was aimed at, except maybe Spirit Visage. Boots of Lucidity did need changing though as they were stupidly cheap. Quicksilver Sash obviously buffed to make it used more, but it was always a brilliant item anyway. Now it's even better. Morello's Evil Tome is ok, but just an inferior version of Deathfire Grasp. That said, they are already looking at buffing it before it has been released. Riot's testing procedures do concern me sometimes.


General

• Added a new UI to better convey Shields on the health bar.
• Surrender time on Summoner's Rift reduced to 20 minutes from 25
• Surrender time on Twisted Treeline reduced to 15 minutes from 17
• Smite now deals true damage instead of magic damage
• Updated tooltips for Akali, Annie, Ashe, Caitlyn, Cassiopeia, Jax, Malphite, Rammus, Singed, and Zilean

 The smite change might not affect as much as you think, it means slightly more damage to Baron and Dragon. Be prepared to adjust for this. The surrender time change is interesting. I'm not a fan of surrendering as many people do it pre-emptively, but with the changes to the way IP is given out this might be less prevailant. It's very rare that a game is totally over before 20 minutes, but admittedly not much fun when it is.


Thanks for joining me this patch, and hopefully I'll be writing some new articles soon. Until then summoners, try and make sure you have Renekton solo and Irelia jungle every match!