Patch 6.10 Buffs, Nerfs, and Changes
Riot Shoots for Conservative, “Reactive” Balance in Patch 6.10
Related Story: Patch 6.10 Scheduled for Wednesday
Patch 6.10 is scheduled to go live early tomorrow. For this patch, Riot focused mostly on smaller scale changes for champions and game elements that rocked the boat too much in one direction or the other. As RiotScarizard put it, “6.9’s template is one we break out for special occasions, and ‘changing almost everything in League’ seemed to fit that description.”
Only time and thousands upon thousands of League of Legends games can tell us how these changes will work out, but here is a look at what’s on its way in Patch 6.10!
Buffs
Taliyah Surfs In
Taliyah is given the gift of live server life, and will be available for play and purchase some time within the next few days. Designer Daniel Z. Klein’s champions are often a force in competitive play (think Lucian and Azir), so there’s a good chance that some earthbending pro player pro plays are on their way.
Related Story: Interview With Taliyah Voice Actor Erica Lindbeck
Swain is Probably Less of a Dismal Burden
Champion.gg has Swain pegged dead last in winrate over the lifetime of Patch 6.9. Riot thinks they’ve missed the mark in making Swain an effective drain tank who can go toe-to-toe with the League’s burlier battlers, and statistics would have to agree. To amend their desolation of Swain’s kit, Riot has re-re-worked his ult, Ravenous Flock, to heal Swain for flat rates with a small ratio instead of a percentage of damage dealt. (This makes the skill more effective in drawn out fights against high MR champs.) Swain’s Q, Decrepify, also now properly applies Rylai’s and Liandry’s and executes pesky low health minions caught in Beatrice’s talons.
Illaoi More Rapidly Converts People to Tentacle Worship
Illaoi received some proper buffs in 6.9, but Riot wants to further shore up her early brawling in lane. He W, Harsh Lesson, now has a 4 second cooldown at all levels, matching the skill’s uptime when maxed from last patch.
Cassiopeia Spreads Her Toxic Love Around
Another win rate casualty of last patch’s balance changes, Cass is getting some solid buffs to her Q, Noxious Blast, and her W, Miasma. Both spells have received powerful range increases, while Q’s burst movement speed lasts a little longer and W has reduced cooldown and is no longer frustratingly stopped short by terrain.
Vlad, Vel’Koz, and Anivia Feel More Loved When They Press R
All three of these mages feel a little undertuned after their mid-season changes, and have received buffs to their ultimate abilities. Anivia’s Glacial Storm is buffed in nearly every way, with reduced cost and increased cast range and radius, and a returned ability to go for the gold with Zhonya’s while ulting. Vlad now gets a large flat self heal on Hemoplague with a big .7 AP ratio, which is further increased by hitting multiple enemies. Vlad also got quality of life tweaks to his over-telegraphed Q and his occasionally clunky E. Vel’Koz has researched a new, better AP ratio on both Disintegration Ray and the damage from his passive, Organic Deconstruction.
Riot Is Confused By The Itemization System They Have Designed For Themselves, So They Handed Out Some Goofy AP Ratios
Nocturne now has a tiny AP ratio on his passive, Umbra Blades, and Shyvana has a slightly less tiny ratio on her W, Burnout. Riot’s justification for these changes according to the patch notes essentially amounts to “a lot of our items give AP, so…” This does make the reforged Rageblade and Trinity Force mildly more attractive buys for these champions, and maybe helps offset the loss of Sated Devourer last patch. Yi was given a buff to his existing ratio on Meditation and an increase to the true damage dealt by Wuju Style, with seemingly similar motivations.
Bloodrazor Bloodier
While we’re talking carry junglers hit by the removal of the Devourer Enchantment… Bloodrazor is way better now. The item now gives more attack speed (now a 50% increase) and deals 4% max health damage on-hit, up from 3%.
Fizz Has a More Tenacious Shark Friend
This is not so much of a buff as an un-nerf. In changing how debuffs are removed by items and skills last patch, Riot inadvertently allowed champions who removed the slow from Fizz’s ult, Chum the Waters, to juke their rightfully deserved shark. This was a pretty rough nerf to accidentally throw at Fizz, and it has thankfully been fixed so that the Shark can better keep up.
Ghost and Barrier are Back!
Ghost has had its cooldown reduced, and now gives a scaling movespeed increase by champion level, ranging from 28% (already higher than the current live value) all the way up to 45% at max level. This makes Ghost an undeniably valuable Summoner Spell, which is a good thing for a diverse game experience. Barrier has a similarly reduced cooldown to help make it more reliable against all-ins. Somebody might run barrier now, but probably not.
Tristana So Fetch Now
Tristana got a splash art update, with changes to six skins, and they all look fabulous.
Bugs Squashed.
Bugs were fixed for a few champions that should knock out a few unintended instances of unpleasantness: Annie (Tibbers cooldown re-setting), Ahri (Fox-Fire count), and Ziggs (passive cooldown interacting with skills) will all be a little stronger for not having things go weirdly wrong. Sterak’s Gage had a cooldown re-set bug fixed, which should make the item a little stronger and more reliable.
Nerfs
Aurelion Sol’s Star Is Dimmed
Not content with their tuning from 6.9, Riot is striking once again at the heart of Angry Falcor. Celestial Expansion, Sol’s W, now has a longer cooldown than it did before at higher levels, and his ultimate, Voice of Light, got knocked down 50 base damage at all levels. Aurelion Sol nerfs are quickly becoming a never ending story.
Breaking News: Highest Win Rate Champion in Game Too Strong
The new and improved Malzahar remains too improved, even after the 6.9 balance hotfix toned down his mid-season release. The early cooldown on Malzahar’s passive, Void Shift, has taken a solid hit (now 30 seconds at Level 1), making Malz more vulnerable in lane. Void devotees need not fear too much though, as the cooldown eventually scales back up to catch up with current late game values.
Fiddle Less Bouncy, More Spooky
Fiddle is another mage who is winning a little too often in patch 6.9. His E, Dark Wind, loses one bounce (down to six from seven), which will slow his jungle clear and lessen his damage output in teamfights a bit. On the other hand, wtf is this:
Zyra’s Passive Plants Are Squishier Faster
This is a small nerf, but will make it a little easier to handle Zyra’s oppressive zone control in lane. Seeds spawned from her passive, Garden of Thorns, (but not those from her W) can be trampled down by her enemies half a second sooner.
Putting the Drag on Some Drags
Two of the more obnoxious Elemental Dragon buffs have been adjusted. Ocean Drake now only regens health and mana after being out of combat for five seconds. Mountain Drake no longer violates the laws of Demacia by amplifying true damage against epic monsters and structures. (Other damage amp remains the same.)
Bugfix: Varus No Longer Occasionally Breaks Things
Apparently, some Varus Q’s were sneaking through spellshields. Now they won’t. Great!
Other Changes
Fishbones More Boomy, Less Snappy
Jinx’s rockets now have a higher base attack speed, but gain less bonus attack speed from items. This sounds like a wash, but it could be a moderate buff to Jinx players who are able to effectively harass their lane opponents early with faster attacks from range.
Taric’s Allies Now Less Confusingly Invincible
As the patch notes have it, “R is more shiny.” Cosmic Radiance, Taric’s ultimate, now gives affected champions brighter signifying particles. This is a good change that will help Taric’s enemies and occasionally his allies.
Tryndamere’s Ult Works Like It Also Did Before
Tryndamere’s ultimate, Endless Rage, now restores a flat amount of HP, scaling up per skill level, at its conclusion. Previously, the skill restored 3% of his max health. Armchair League theorists have alternatively called this change a buff and a nerf, but in practice it works exactly the same as it always did.
The Dumb Red and Blue Buff Respawn Timers Take Up Less Space On-Screen
…which is good, but they’re still dumb.
The First Wave of Minions Now Behaves More Consistently
Previously the very first minion wave could arbitrarily decide to attack an opposing caster minion, which would mess with the equilibrium of the lane. The vast majority of players will never notice this change, but it is a good fix that removes some randomness from laning at very high/pro levels of play.
Turret Backdoor Protection Is More Resistant to True Damage
Presumably to compensate for the Yi buffs! Actually, Riot cites Red Buff and Mountain Drake as the main culprits that have caused this change to be necessary.
More Champion Mastery Tiers!
Players with a Mastery Level of 5 on a champion can now go higher! Six games with at least an S- rating will grant you Level 6, and seven games of at least with at least an S rank will get up to Level 7.
Something is Going to Happen to Improve Dynamic Queue!
It’s coming! But we don’t know what it is yet.
Check out the full patch notes here, and keep up with Patch Updates on Blog of Legends!