League of Legends Patch 9.16 breakdown – Summoner’s Rift edition
Ezreal
"Q – Mystic Shot Ratio: 0.3 Ability Power –> 0.15 Ability Power. E – Arcane Shift Cooldown: 19/17.5/16/14.5/13 seconds –> 25/22/19/16/13 seconds."
For months Ezreal has plagued solo queue and pro play due to his incredible early game safety and consistent DPS in the mid-late game. This was increased tenfold when players began adding Ability Power to their builds and chunking opponents down to half HP with a single W-Q combo.
No more.
Halving the AP ratio on Ezreal’s Mystic Shot ensures the long range poke doesn’t immediately wipe out your squishy teammates before a teamfight has even begun. On top of that, a longer cooldown on his E – Arcane Shift increases his vulnerability in the early game and opens up more opportunities for fights and ganks.
Does this kill Ezreal? No. He only really needs one E to escape a gank and Q still provides a lot of damage even with a smaller ratio. Does it reduce Ezreal’s huge bottom lane presence? Definitely, damage is significantly reduced, and he is slightly less safe in lane, AD mains will be more reluctant to pick the Prodigal Explorer throughout Patch 9.16 and beyond.
Fiora
"E – Bladework Cooldown: 13/11/9/7/5 seconds –> 11/9.5/8/6.5/5 seconds. Bonus Attack Speed: 50% at all ranks –> 50/60/70/80/90%."
Fiora always has the ability to mix up a top lane meta when she rises in popularity, and with Worlds on the horizon, this could be the perfect time to increase her power level.
Patch 9.15 Fiora has a 49.84% win rate, and with this small E buff, she’ll find it a lot easier to snowball leads, win trades, and win games, propelling her up the top lane tier list.
Jax
"Q – Leap Strike Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6 seconds –> 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 seconds."
In the Game of Top Lanes, you’re either ranged, or you die. Jax knows this feeling all too well as his small cameo in competitive play was immediately shut down by the rise of Karma, Gangplank, Corki, Kennen, Vladimir, etc.
Fortunately, the Grandmaster of Lamps will be given an opportunity to dive on his ranged foes more often with a cooldown reduction on his Q – Leap Strike. By no means does a 2 second reduction lead to Jax dominating in the top lane, but it definitely increases his early game power and is a healthy buff for Jax mains in an annoying ranged meta.
Kassadin
"W – Nether Blade Empowered Basic Attack Damage: 40/65/90/115/140 (+0.8 Ability Power) –> 70/95/120/145/170 (+0.8 Ability Power)."
Kassadin is supposed to be the guardian of mid lane, a barrier for all mages to cross if they wish to be picked and be successful in solo queue and pro play. But what’s that? Nine picks across the top five leagues throughout 2019? Yeah, Kassadin is dead.
There is no room for scaling in our mid-late focused meta. There is no room for Kassadin when our mid lane consists of assassins and long ranged mages. There is no room for tiny buffs that won’t bring Kassadin into the mid lane conversation, no matter how large they are.
Ultimately, Kassadin’s hopes of seeing pro play in 2019 are dead in the water due to the early game focus. However, asserting his dominance over solo queue is another matter. A 50.38% win rate already puts the Void Walker in a decent position, and a relatively large buff to his W – Nether Blade will no doubt increase this win rate further.