League of Legends Patch 10.2 preview: Aphelios set for BIG nerfs

1 of 4

League of Legends is about to receive its second patch of 2020, Patch 10.2. Here’s a preview of the upcoming changes and how they may affect the game.

We’re just over one week into Season 10 and the solo queue meta is beginning to take shape. League of Legends has never had a wider variety of strong champions competitively viable in every role, but there are still a few outliers that need to be taken care of on Patch 10.2.

While the game is in a fairly balanced state at the moment, there are some overpowered champions that require nerfs over the next few patches. Previewed by Riot Scruffy on Twitter earlier in the week, Patch 10.2 looks set to address some of these issues, most notably Aphelios’ broken damage numbers and his monstrous 67.7% ban rate in solo queue.

Here’s a breakdown of the proposed changes and how they’ll impact the current meta and game state:

Champions

Aphelios

"Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle Cooldown: 9/8.25/7.5/6.75/6 -> 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 Mark Damage: 20/25/30/35/40 (+30% bonus AD) -> 15 (+20% bonus AD) Severum, the Scythe Pistol Damage: 35% bonus AD -> 30% bonus AD"

As mentioned earlier, Aphelios is – for lack of a better word – broken. His early game damage is insane, his kit remains confusing to those facing him, and his ridiculous burst damage offers zero counter play.

Patch 10.1 made an attempt to stop Aphelios from dominating games in the bottom lane to no avail. Movement speed, base health, and Infernum ult AoE damage all received nerfs, yet they seemingly had no effect on the champion’s current power on the Rift.

Round two now, and a second attempt to balance a champion that may never achieve true balance due to the nature of his kit. Aphelios is set to receive damage nerfs on both Calibrum and Severum on Patch 10.2, as well as a cooldown increase on the former.

Initially, these nerfs seem like they’ll have a substantial impact as they target two of the most powerful aspects of the champion’s kit with some significant changes. Losing a large chunk of base damage on Calibrum, as well as a lower AD ratio on both weapons, will ultimately reduce Aphelios’ control over the current bot lane meta.

That being said, the Lunari marksman is currently so far ahead of his competition that this may just serve as a nerf to reduce the gap between himself and other ADCs, rather than drop him down a tier. Nevertheless, any nerf to Aphelios is a positive change, such is the sheer dominance the champion has been showing over the last few weeks in solo queue.

Draven

"R – Whirling Death Damage: 175/275/375 (+110% bonus AD) -> 175/275/375 (+110/130/150% bonus AD)"

Draven thrives early in the season as ADC mains look to single-handedly carry their placements and regular solo queue games to rapidly shoot up the ladder and achieve their desired rank. As a result, his pick rate and ban rate have climbed to 6.4% and 8.7% respectively on Patch 10.1.

More from Blog of Legends

Despite this, the Glorious Executioner and the players controlling him have only managed a mediocre 49.84% win rate on the current patch signaling that either he’s a weak champion or his player base lack the skill to operate him. The balance team has opted for door number one.

Whirling Death contributes a minuscule amount to Draven’s damage output, particularly in the latter stages of the game. But, a +20% and +40% AD ratio at Levels 11 and 16 will certainly be appreciated amongst the community of Draven mains as they may now begin to prioritize their ultimate more in team fights.

At present, Draven is an A/B tier marksman, but this change could see him cement his place in the A tier and perhaps challenge the S tier AD Carries during the next few patches.

Home/League of Legends