League of Legends Patch 9.19 breakdown – a whole new World (Championship)

Gragas

"W – Drunken Rage COOLDOWN :: 5 seconds >>> 6 seconds DAMAGE RATIO :: 8% of target’s maximum health >>> 7% of target’s maximum health"

It might just be me, but League of Legends is more exciting when Gragas isn’t a massively oppressive jungler. Giving him less damage to clear and dueling power should open up the meta, but I think he’s still going to be a fine pick in pro play.

Graves

"Base Stats ATTACK DAMAGE :: 66 >>> 68 HEALTH :: 551.1 >>> 555 MANA :: 322.2 >>> 325 MANA REGEN :: 7.9 >>> 8"

Riot’s rounding out some weird numbers in his kit, but also giving him a nice base AD boost. Before you scoff at it, remember that Caitlyn got a 3 AD buff last patch and she vaulted from B+ tier to A+ tier. This could enable Graves to become a viable pick at Worlds, but I fear that the meta is still too early-game skirmish-focused for him to be a successful pick.

Heimerdinger

"Q – H-28G Evolution Turret BASIC ATTACK RATIO :: 30% ability power >>> 35% ability power E – CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade STUN DURATION :: 1.25 seconds >>> 1.5 seconds R – H28Q Apex Turret BASIC ATTACK RATIO :: 30% ability power >>> 35% ability power"

Maybe Heimerdinger could have been an alternative to ADCs in the meta during the early part of the season, but that time has long passed. Even though he can be massively oppressive into melee match-ups in the solo lanes, particularly top lane, he just doesn’t give pro teams a lot of viable options outside of push towers and take dragon/Baron quickly. Unless this is enough extra damage to make him able to bully bot laners again, he probably won’t be seen at Worlds.

Karma

"Q – Inner Flame Q1 DAMAGE RATIO :: 60% ability power >>> 40% ability power"

Karma tends to get picked a lot (especially top) because of her ability to shove waves and give her jungler priority to invade that side of the map. Even though losing AP scaling tends to hurt champions more late game than early game, 20% off should be enough to make her not be as easily able to shove waves as a solo laner. I expect her priority at Worlds to fall significantly because of this.