League of Legends Patch 10.2 breakdown: Aphelios NERFED again
The second patch of 2020 is here. Here’s a breakdown of all the important Patch 10.2 changes to League of Legends on Summoner’s Rift.
League of Legends is an exciting, chaotic, fast-paced, Elemental Dragon focused game in 2020. Teams are creating the compositions most suited to picking up an early lead and snowballing the game quickly. This, of course, will include some broken/overpowered champions that will hopefully be targetted in the Patch 10.2 Notes.
Darius, Ekko, Diana, Miss Fortune, Sett, Aphelios, Nautilus. These names probably haunt your nightmares as they’ve been allowed to run riot in solo queue for a number of weeks.
Now, Riot has a chance to address some of these annoying champions on Patch 10.2, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by their decisions. Here’s a breakdown of all the changes in this week’s patch:
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) Crescendum, the Chakram Basic Attack Damage: 130-264% total Attack Damage -> 130-223% total Attack Damage Severum, the Scythe Pistol Damage: 35% bonus AD -> 30% bonus AD"
From the Patch 10.2 preview:
“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.”
Since Patch 10.2 was previewed last week, the balance team has gone one further and nerfed Crescendum as well as Calibrum and Severum. This -41% AD damage on Aphelios’ Chakram goes some way to reduce his DPS and, combined with the other two changes, should do a job in reducing the Lunari’s crazy priority and power in the current meta.
However, as previously stated, just expect him to level off with the other strong ADCs, rather than fall into irrelevancy on Patch 10.2.
Draven
"R – Whirling Death Damage: 175/275/375 (+110% bonus AD) -> 175/275/375 (+110/130/150% bonus AD)"
From the Patch 10.2 preview:
“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.”
Furthermore, these changes should aid Draven in his climb towards a positive win rate, as he currently sits at just 49.75%. It’s likely he’ll now see a greater player base and, as a result, reach the S/A tier of ADCs on Patch 10.2.