League of Legends Patch 10.2 breakdown: Aphelios NERFED again

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%"

From the Patch 10.2 preview:

“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.”

Trundle has vanished from all tier lists as his play rate has sunk below 1%, so it’s clear that he deserves some help on Patch 10.2. It’s a fact that he cannot compete with Ekko, Elise, and Olaf yet, but he’ll become a niche pick as a result of these interesting changes.

Ziggs

"Q – Bouncing Bomb Damage: 75/120/165/210/255 -> 85/130/175/220/265 W – Satchel Charge Knockback: 400 -> 500 E – Hexplosive Minefield Slow: 20/25/30/35/40% -> 30/35/40/45/50%"

Initially, this was a much large Q buff alongside a W buff, but the balance team has clearly changed their minds about the Ziggs’ gameplay direction over the last few days.

Adding an increased slow to Hexplosive Minefield makes Ziggs less of a Q poke bot and a champion that requires a little more thought. All in all, the combination of these three changes should be enough to start seeing him regularly in solo queue, both in the mid and bot lanes.

Items

Cloak of Agility

"Critical Strike Chance: 25% -> 20%"

From the Patch 10.2 preview:

“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"

From the Patch 10.2 preview:

“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.”

Stormrazor

"Attack Damage: 55 -> 50"

Stormrazor has become a bit too reliable in the inventories of a number of ranged champions, so it’s right that the balance team have focused it for nerfs on Patch 10.2. It’s also clear that the team wanted to preserve the unique aspect of the item, the 75% slow.

What this has resulted in is a fair nerf that won’t see players stop buying it, but instead see its effectiveness reduced from Patch 10.2 onwards.

Rift Herald

"Base Stats Health: 5500 (8250-16500 [level 6-12]) -> 4750 (7125-14250 [level 6-12])"

Often, players will completely ignore Rift Herald in favor of Elemental Dragons, tower damage, or even just to sit AFK farming minions.

Herald has failed to have the top lane impact that it was changed for on Patch 9.23, so changes are on the way. Now, Shelly will be slightly easier to kill at all stages of the game, encouraging top laners and junglers to make their way towards the north river and take down the objective, rather than blindly running to bot.

Will it help? Probably not. League of Legends players love a bot lane party.

Patch 10.2 is set to hit live servers on Thursday 21 January. Take a look at what’s in store for Patch 10.3 on the PBE on Thursday afternoon!