Yesterday’s League of Legends patch was a big one, including many nerfs and buffs for some favorite champs, as well as some news for the future. So what are the changes for the upcoming fourth season and first update of 2014?
For starters, Riot will implement a reset for the 2014 season in the next few days, and has announced that they plan on assisting in the “new player experience,” including implementing a “stable roster of free champions.” Traditionally, League rotates a small selection of its massive champion roster for summoners to use for free while the rest of the champs are available for purchase. That change will occur at a later date.
For now, the changes are primarily to champs as well as a few more visual tweeks.
The most hotly contested change to occur is with popular champ Riven. Many claim that her abilities have been significantly nerfed, and that she is now effectively useless in early game situations. The change is a reduction of her base attack damage from 56.7 to 54, as well as an attack damage increase from 2.7 to 3.
Her E, Valor, was decreased from 2.5 seconds to 1.5 seconds and her Q, Broken Wings, was decreased substantially. Riot explained the decision by stating; “Riven’s burst damage is just too high at early levels, so we’re dulling her blade.”
Other champion nerfs and buffs include:
Anivia
Riot lists the changes to Anivia as being “modernizations,” and they are fairly minor. Her basic attack projectile speed will increase from 1100 to 1400. Her Q (Flash Frost) and W(Crystallize) have mana cost reductions, and there is now a warning partile over Anivia that only the Anivia summoner can see when she is close to the max range of her ult (Glacial Storm).
Annie
Annies changes appear to nerf her a bit early game, but with a late game buff to balance out the change. To do this, her Passive stun Pyromania has a reduced duration from 1.76 seconds at all levels to 1.25/1/5/1/75 at levels 1/6/11. Riot explained the change by saying “This should lessen a bit of Annie’s power without incinerating her overall strengths.”
Evelynn
Riot explains that “Evelynn’s newfound strength in the preseason is partially a result of our changes to the vision system,” and the changes during this patch were meant to reduce some of her burst. To balance her out, they are reducing the speed of her Q (Hate Spike) from 2000 to 1250, changing the damage of her E (Ravage) from magic to physical, and changed the response time of her R (Agony’s Embrace) from .5 seconds after the projectiles return to instantly.
Janna
All of Janna’s changes are to her R (Monsoon) in an attempt to buff her visible power. She now begins immediately channeling upon activation (a change from a .25 second initial cast time), total channel duration has gone from 4 seconds to 3, her heal per second is increased from 70/110/150(+0.35 ability power) to 100/150/200(+0.6 ability power). Her total heal amount has also increased to 300/450/600(+1.8 ability power) from 280/440/600(+1.4 ability power).
Jinx
A recent addition to the champion roster, Jinx is getting some reworking as well as a bug fix to her E (Flame Chompers), upping the standardized arm time and reducing damage at earlier levels. Her base health is also being reduced from 500 to 462, but her health per level is being upped to 82 from 80.
Nasus
The changes to Nasus predominately feature in his W (Wither). Post patch, his R (Fury of the Sands) will no longer increase the cast ranges of Wither or Spirit Fire, and the range of Wither has been reduced from 700 to 600.
Rengar
While there were some bug fixes to Rengar’s Q (Savagery), the most significant changes were to his W (Battle Roar.) In Riot’s words, “Rengar’s overall sustain with Empowered Battle Roar is incredibly high, especially because he can transition from a tank in the mid-game to an unseen predator in the late-game.” His heal is now 20 + (10 xlevel) amplified by a 1% per 1% of Rengar’s missing health.
Shyvana
Riot felt that Shyvana was a bully early game, so they nerfed the damage per second, minimum magic damage and maximum magic damage of her W (Burnout), as well as reducing the damage of her E (Flame Breath), and fixing a bug on her ultimate Dragon’s Descent so that it now matches the tooltip.
Thresh
With the way Thresh’s lantern interacts with other objects, it can be difficult to figure out that it is a clickable item. Therefore, Riot gave it a small collision radius and indicator particles, making it so that it interacts more clearly with minions and other items. There is also a delay on wall formation from .5 to .75 seconds on Thresh’s R (the Box).
Yasuo
As the newest champions, Riot took this opportunity to “smooth out” his gameplay. His W (Wind Wall) no longer blocks friendly Syndra orbs and his Q (Steel tempest) is automatically smart cast. His R (Last Breath) now grants maximum flow on cast, with a shortening of the spell animation by 0.1 seconds, with a few visual alerts to spectators and allies when the ability is in cooldown.
There are a few other changes, such as the addition of the Lord Van Damm’s Pillager to the Twisted Treeline and Crystal Scar maps, as well as the removal of the Infinity Edge from those maps. For a complete run down of the Patch changes, check out the Riot Patch notes.
What do you think of the changes from the League of Legends 4.1 Patch?
