League of Legends Patch 10.2 preview: Aphelios set for BIG nerfs
Champions
Trundle
"W – Frozen Domain Movement Speed: 20/25/30/35/40% -> 30/35/40/45/50% E – Pillar of Ice Slow: 15/25/35/45/55% -> 20/30/40/50/60%"
Trundle has vanished from most tier lists on Patch 10.1 as he has less than a 1% play rate. In short, nobody’s playing Trundle right now.
More from League of Legends
- Bee’koz Vel’koz Skin: Splash Art, Price, Release, How to Get
- King Beegar Skin: Splash Art, Price, Release, How to Get
- EMENES retires following leave from Cloud9, cites military service
- EMENES Donezo Manifesto: Former Cloud9 Midlaner airs out grievances
- Team Heretics Perkz: European legend reportedly playing for TH
The balance team has looked to remedy that with these proposed changes for Patch 10.2 targeted at his utility, chase potential, and gank set-up. A +10% movement speed buff on Frozen Domain combined with a +5% slow buff on Pillar of Ice adds up to make a significant +15% movement speed buff towards enemy champions when both skills are used.
What this means is Trundle is now 15% faster when chasing down enemies, sprinting to the backline in team fights, and setting up ganks in the laning phase. In a similar vein to Sona, this doesn’t automatically make Trundle a stronger pick but adds a unique twist to his kit that could be a potent threat if placed in the right hands, particularly in the early stages of the game.
Ziggs
"Q – Bouncing Bomb Damage: 75/120/165/210/255 -> 80/130/180/230/280 W – Satchel Charge Knockback: 400 -> 500"
While champions that love to blow you up thrive in the mid lane, the original explosions expert has bombed on Patch 10.1 and sits at the bottom of the tier list with a weak 48.74% win rate. These buffs might blast Ziggs back into contention over the next few weeks.
We all know that Ziggs spams his Q in lane, in the mid game, and during team fights, so any damage increase is going to have a big impact on the champion’s strength. +5 damage at Level 1 and +25 damage at Level 9 (maxed first) may seem like a relatively small buff, but when you consider the sheer amount of Bouncing Bombs that are thrown during the game, then you realize just how big this buff might be for Ziggs.
Couple that with the increased knockback from Satchel Charge that can help set up ganks or pick off a vulnerable opponent in the mid game, and Ziggs might just be a champion to watch on Patch 10.2.
Items
Cloak of Agility
"Critical Strike Chance: 25% -> 20%"
Cloak of Agility was given 25% crit chance during preseason to make it a viable purchase instead of a useless combination item. It worked and players began buying the item if they didn’t have enough to make a more effective purchase.
It seems like that’s going to stop now for some reason though.
Frozen Heart
"Armor: 100 -> 110"
Players are put off buying Frozen Heart because the alternative armor items also include health. Now, the trade-off is a little more harmful and players might be tempted to rush a Frozen Heart early on for a huge 110 armor if the enemy team has enough physical damage.
From Patch 10.2 onwards, be sure to pick a magic damage user if your team needs it because Frozen Heart could become the norm against physical-heavy teams following this buff.
Stormrazor
"Attack Damage: 55 -> 50"
Since its rework on Patch 9.23, Stormrazor has become a viable option for most ADCs due to the ease in which crit, attack damage, and attack speed fits into their kits. On top of that, the 75% slow is huge against fleeing enemies and can be combined with a Rapid Firecannon to pick off opponents with ease in the mid-to-late game.
Instead of nerfing the most annoying part of the item, the slow, the balance team has instead looked to reduce the AD by 5. This makes sense as it’s clear the balance team wants to keep the unique aspect of the item strong, but it feels like this nerf would be much more effective if the slow was targeted instead.
Either way, marksmen may start to think twice about buying Stormrazor in the future if this small damage nerf goes through as the alternatives offer higher, more consistent DPS.
Next. Patch 10.1 tier list: Sound the Ornn Horn. dark
Once again, it’s important to note that these are proposed changes and are subject to change over the next week before the official release of Patch 10.2. Watch this space for a full breakdown of the published patch notes next Tuesday in anticipation of the next set of changes hitting the live League of Legends servers.