League of Legends Patch 9.24b breakdown: Aphelios and Shaco nerfs

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League of Legends. Courtesy of Riot Games. /

Champions

Gnar

"Q – Boulder Toss Damage Ratio: 1.2 Total Attack Damage -> 1.4 Total Attack Damage. W – Wallop Base Damage: 25/45/65/85/105 -> 25/55/85/115/145."

Players are quick to jump on the balance team hate train when Gnar receives buffs, but it’s important to note that both of these changes are targeted at Mega Gnar, the much less annoying part of the champion’s kit. Plus, at a 48.90% win rate, what harm could a few buffs do?

Both buffs affect Gnar’s all-in damage when he transforms at 100 Rage and looks to engage on the enemy backline or his lane opponent. Usually, the crowd control is the most important aspect of Mega Gnar in team fights, so the added damage to Boulder Toss and Wallop will mostly be felt during the laning phase or split-push.

Opposition top laners should remain wary that Gnar will now deal much more damage if he lands his Wallop stun, then follows it up with a few Boulder Tosses, especially if he’s gone for an AD-heavy build.

Ultimately, once players begin to respect this new-found Mega Gnar power, then the champion will hover around a 50% win rate and continue to remain balanced, not dominate the top lane meta thanks to his auto attack range.

Graves

"E – Quickdraw Cooldown: 18/17/16/15/14 seconds -> 16/15/14/13/12 seconds."

Fortunately, Graves’ four consecutive buffs in 2019 weren’t enough to see him return to the jungle meta in Season 9, but this Patch 9.24b change might be all that’s required to boost a 49.07% win rate to a 51%+ towards the end of the year.

Base stats, Q – End of the Line, and E – Quickdraw have all seen improvements on various patches over the course of this year, but none have landed in quite the way the balance team intended. This latest change is seemingly the one that will finally raise Graves’ win rate above 50% and re-include him in the jungle meta conversation on Patch 9.24.

Reducing the Outlaw’s E cooldown by 2 seconds at all ranks increases his clear speed, mobility, and duel potential at every stage of the game. Combine this with Shaco’s upcoming nerfs, and a space in the S tier of the jungle just opened up for Graves to step into!

Heimerdinger

"W – Hextech Micro-Rockets Base Damage: 60/90/120/150/180 (109/162/216/270/324 total) -> 50/80/110/140/170 (90/144/198/252/306 total). Empowered E – CH-3X Lightning Grenade Damage: 150/250/350 (+0.75 Ability Power) -> 100/200/300 (+0.6 Ability Power)."

Heimerdinger was subject to three pretty significant buffs on Patch 9.19 which have since seen him climb to the second-highest win rate amongst bot laners on Patch 9.24 (52.45%, below only Miss Fortune). These nerfs don’t revert those buffs, but instead target other areas of the Donger’s kit in order to reduce his strength in the current meta.

His W rocket base damage has been reduced by 10 at all ranks, reducing the complete damage of a full rotation, while his Empowered E damage has also been reduced in both its base and ratio, decreasing its effectiveness in a team fight or bot lane skirmish.

Ultimately, neither of these abilities are Heimerdinger’s main source of damage, but his Empowered E – CH-3X Lightning Grenade is often used to start a fight, so seeing its damage reduced will have a small effect on Heimer’s power post-level 6. However, don’t expect the champion’s win rate to fall too much following this set of nerfs. It’s almost guaranteed that he’ll remain around the S and A tiers of bot laners.

Shaco

"E – Two-Shiv Poison Damage: 70-170 (+0.8 Bonus Attack Damage) (+0.6 Ability Power) -> 70-170 (+0.7 Bonus Attack Damage) (+0.55 Ability Power). Cost: 50/55/60/65/70 mana -> 65 mana."

Similar to Heimerdinger, Shaco also received a bunch of buffs on a recent patch that has resulted in him climbing up the tiers of his respective role and cementing himself as an S tier pick on Patch 9.24 with a monstrous 53.16% win rate.