A lot of new changes await us in the latest 4.3 Patch. If you're wondering how they could influence the day-to-day and competitive scenes of League of Legends, you can join our own Alex Matteo in this short analysis of what is good and what isn't.
Some of the more interesting changes include changes to Kassadin, Kha'Zix and Yasuo, a revamp of the Support items as well as numerous other changes to both champions and items.
If you want to read about the Patch 4.2 which just went live for the LCS, click here!
NEW BONUS ATTACK DAMAGE RATIO: +0.5 Bonus Attack Damage Ratio
NEW CLARITY: Now shows area-of-effect indicator for Corki (previously displayed only for enemies)
Corki is a unique ADC Champion, as three of his four spells deal magic damage. Phosphorus bomb, unlike his ultimate, only had AP Scaling up to now, which wasn't very useful. These new changes mean that a Corki with 150 bonus physical damage and a level 5 Q will deal 355 instead of 280 damage. An increase of roughly 26% in damage in such a situation. Overall, this change will allow for Corki to deal more damage during every phase of the game, although the damage will not increase by 26% at all levels. A resurgence of the champion in the competitive scene is a possibility, as players will look towards adding more options for their team compositions.
TOTAL ATTACK DAMAGE RATIO: 0.66 at all ranks ⇒ 0.3/0.4/0.5/0.6/0.7
This change will reflect on Gragas' damage throughout the game. A level 1 Body slam being used by a Level 3 Gragas with an activated Drunken Rage with a theoretical 50 Ability Power currently deals 168.3~ magic damage. With the new changes, it will deal 133.7~ magic damage. This equals a reduction of approximately 20.5% in damage in such a scenario. Let's consider a late game situation. Gragas is Level 18, he has a level 5 Body Slam, 400 Ability Power and he's activated his level 5 Drunken Rage. Currently, that would mean 563.1~ damage. With the new 0.7 Ratio, he would roughly gain 1.3% more overall damage and inflict a loss of 570.5~HP.
R - Explosive Cask
ABILITY POWER RATIO: 1.0 ⇒ 0.9
OLD MANA COST: 100/125/150 ⇒ 100 at all ranks (legacy patch note from an undocumented change in 4.2)
The mana cost tweak will be welcomed, as Gragas is a fairly mana-hungry champion. As far as damage output, a Gragas with 400 AP and a Level 3 Explosive Cask will do 4.7% less damage with his ultimate.. The change in damage will be a fall from 850 to 810.
Overall: Gragas' early game presence has taken a hit, but his late game dominance should remain fairly unscathed.
A healthy nerf to Kassadin. During early game, with a theoretical 50 AP and Level 2 Null Sphere and Force Pulse, the combined damage output is currently 315, which would fall off to 300 with the implemented changes. A decrease of 4.7%. A Kassadin with a Level 5 Null Sphere and Force Pulse and 400 AP would currently deal 1060 magic damage by combining both spells. The new changes will drop that down to 1000, meaning a decrease of 5.6% in such a situation. The changes to his Null Sphere silence effectively show a reduction of 33 to 20% in duration based on its level.
Overall: Kassadin has been toned down a notch, but these changes might not be enough, as he is still considered a dominant force by numerous players and is a frequent ban in the LCS.
A serious change to Kha'Zix's evolved Q; it will lower his damage versus champions slightly, but seriously impede his damage in the Jungle with a 50% cut to his max damage vs. monsters - a concerning change when going for larger objectives. This damage cap only applies to the Missing Health Damage on his evolved Q. As his Q is most often the first evolved spell, this change will effect his midgame presence.
The Math: Kha'Zix has a Level 5 Q, 150 Bonus AD and he's about to use his Q on a Baron with 6000 missing HP. The damage he does is increased by 45%, since Baron is an isolated target. Normally he would deal 190 physical damage (+150% of his Bonus AD), plus 6% of the missing health (capped at 100 damage vs. monsters) all of which is except for the cap is then increased by 45%. Before the total damage dealt with one Q would be 801.75 damage. The new cap lowers this damage down to 701.75 damage, which means an effective damage decrease of roughly 12.5% in this situation.
E - Leap
BONUS ATTACK DAMAGE RATIO: 0.8 ⇒ 0.2
A large cut on Leap's ratios can be looked at as something needed, as Kha'Zix can get multiple resets when it is evolved. In a situation where Kha'Zix has 100 bonus attack damage and a level 5 Leap, the spell will now deal 225 damage, compared to the 285 it dealt before. A decrease of roughly 21%.
R - Void Assault
NEW UTILITY: Kha’Zix ignores unit collision while in stealth
R - Evolved Active Camouflage
NEW UTILITY: Void Assault Duration +1 seconds (total 2 seconds)
Two interesting changes to Kha'Zix' ultimate. The removal of unit collision gives Kha'Zix more options when trying to catch up to a target or run away from pursuers. On the other hand, evolving Void Assault now means that besides getting 3 uses, each use receives a 100% increase in duration, a cumulative 6 seconds in stealth, compared to 3 seconds before.
Overall: Much needed changes to Kha'Zix which will see him losing a good chunk of his strength and becoming a more manageable threat.
Very good balance changes to Ryze. His new Overload range means that he will be able to have some unpredictability in his kit, even if its range is only 4% larger than his other spells' range. His new base health of 500 at level one puts him in the upper echelon of early-level beefiness. That good 12% increase will give him a calmer early game with more footing against newer mid lane options.
Overall:Last patch saw Skarner lose some of his Crowd Control chainability in exchange for slightly better Jungle clearing times. In this patch, his Crystal Slash will receive a reduction of its mana cost by 4 flat mana on all levels. This should allow him to maintain his mana pool at a higher level, especially during his first run of the Jungle. Fracture has received a good bump on its slow, with a new range from 45 to 65% slow, compared to the old 30 to 50%. This addition of 15% will be a welcomed addition to a champion that has not been performing well since his rework. This however might not be enough to make him a viable LCS pick.
A very healthy balance to Teemo. Currently his Noxious Traps are a sore for most opponents. In a situation where he has 400 AP and a Level 3 Noxious Trap, he will now deal 650 damage, down from 770. A reduction of 15.6% in such a situation. This will definitely lessen the effect his Noxious Traps have.
Another good quality change. Yasuo will definitely take a hit, as the maximum amount of his shield has been lowered by roughly 32%. Combined with the shield duration getting cut down, this turns Yasuo into a far squishier target overall.
UTILITY: Affected units run around in fear ⇒ Affected units now run away from the Jack in the Box with impaired movement speed
Overall: The changes to how these three champions' fear abilities work will enable more predictability for both sides. Fiddlesticks' Drain will get a good 21% increase in its cast range, which might prove useful in the Jungle or as a Support.
BUGFIX: Fixed a bug where % increases to Volibear’s health were not being included in the bonus damage calculation
Overall: These changes are rather ambiguous, as no clear data is available, but depending on the size of the damage being now correctly calculated, this could either be a small change or a big one to either champion.
Back in patch 3.10a, the pickup/stomp radius was reduced from 100 to 25. This new radius will hopefully breathe back some life into Zac. However, it is far from what is needed to make Zac a strong pick in all possible situations.
An expected change given the item's widespread usage as a default option in laning, as it filled the role of a starter item for lanes it shouldn't be used in.
BUTCHER PASSIVE UTILITY: Health / Mana restore no longer halved for area-effect spells
Overall: Junglers with single-target damage will see reduced health and mana restore, whereas AOE Junglers will experience the jungle differently after their first run. This could show new champions being used in the Jungle as it will affect a large amount of popular picks.
MOVEMENT SPEED: 45 in combat / 105 out of combat ⇒ 25 in combat / 105 out of combat
TOTAL COST: 1000 gold ⇒ 800 gold
A trade of movement speed when in combat for 200 less gold spent. Although this may be useful, it might as mentioned by Riot, be hard on some junglers and could be changed in the future.
Overall:The changes to Ruby Crystal and Sightstone might not seem big, but they certainly are. Supports and champions that frequently buy Sightstone like Lee Sin will definitely enjoy the roughly 15.8% lower item cost.
NEW PASSIVE TRIBUTE Old Tribute Passive ⇒ Spells and basic attacks against champions or buildings deal 10 additional damage and grant 5 Gold. This can occur up to three times every 30 seconds. Killing a minion disables this passive for 12 seconds.
NEW PASSIVE TRIBUTE: Old Tribute Passive ⇒ Spells and basic attacks against champions or buildings deal 15 additional damage and grant 10 Gold. This can occur up to three times every 30 seconds. Killing a minion disables this passive for 12 seconds.
NEW PASSIVE TRIBUTE: Old Tribute Passive ⇒ Spells and basic attacks against champions or buildings deal 15 additional damage and grant 10 Gold. This can occur up to three times every 30 seconds. Killing minions does not disable the passive.
NEW UNIQUE ACTIVE: Old Unique Active ⇒ Fires an ice lance that explodes dealing 50 (+5 per champion level) magic damage to nearby enemies while slowing their movement speed by 80%, decaying over 2 seconds (60 second cooldown).
Overall: Numerous changes to the Spell Thief and its upgrades should be welcomed by supports. The modified item trades some basic stats for more gold on autoattacks versus champions and turrets. Some may say that the items have been nerfed, but they have received more quality for cost, especially for support champions like Zyra and Annie.
NEW PASSIVE SPOILS OF WAR: Old Spoils of War Passive ⇒ Melee basic attacks execute minions below 200 Health. Killing a minion heals you and the nearest allied champion for 40 Health and grants them kill gold. These effects require a nearby allied champion. Recharges every 60 seconds. Max 2 charges.
NEW CLARITY: Allies who benefit from Spoils of War now also gain +1 to their minions killed score
NEW PASSIVE SPOILS OF WAR: Old Spoils of War Passive ⇒ Melee basic attacks execute minions below 200 Health. Killing a minion heals you and the nearest allied champion for 50 Health and grants them kill gold. These effects require a nearby allied champion. Recharges every 30 seconds. Max 3 charges.
NEW CLARITY: Allies who benefit from Spoils of War now also gain +1 to their minions killed score
NEW PASSIVE SPOILS OF WAR: Old Spoils of War Passive ⇒ Melee basic attacks execute minions below 200 Health. Killing a minion heals you and the nearest allied champion for 50 (+1% of your maximum Health) and grants them kill gold. Recharges every 30 seconds. Max 4 charges.
NEW CLARITY: Allies who benefit from Spoils of War now also gain +1 to their minions killed score
NEW UNIQUE ACTIVE: Old Unique Active ⇒ Shield target ally for 10% of your maximum Health for 4 seconds. After 4 seconds, the target explodes dealing 100% of their total Attack Damage plus 30% of their Ability Power as magic damage in an area (60 second cooldown).
HEALTH: 375 health
HEALTH REGEN: 25 health regeneration
COOLDOWN REDUCTION: 10% cooldown reduction
Overall: A number of interesting changes in the Relic Shield line of items await melee supports. The new mechanic of Spoils of War might enable the resurgence of older melee supports or even enable champions that were never designed to be a support to be played as one. Zac, who can effectively heal himself a lot more, could be one of those champions. The most interesting part is the new Active for Face of the mountain, which will allow for more offensive options when being used. Very good quality of life changes to this line of items.
NEW PASSIVE FAVOR: Old Favor Passive ⇒ Being near a minion death without dealing the killing blow grants 3 Gold and 10 Health.
MANA REGEN: 15 ⇒ 10
ACTIVE: Grants nearby allies +40% movement speed for 3 seconds (60 second cooldown).
HEALTH REGEN: 10 health regeneration
GOLD PER 10: 2 gold per 10 seconds
COOLDOWN REDUCTION 20% cooldown reduction
Overall: Depending on how this is used, it will allow supports to passively heal more at once, but might reduce the overall passive healing based on the support's whereabouts and their lane companion's farming. I would deem this as a slight nerf to this line of items, although it could be considered otherwise based on in-game circumstances.
Spirit Stone Items
Spellthief’s Edge Line
Relic Shield Line
Ancient Coin Line
