League of Legends Patch 10.3 Preview: Sett Set for Nerfs

We’re well into Season 10 in League of Legends which means the patch schedule is back to normal. Here’s a preview of what’s to come in Patch 10.3.

Once again, the League of Legends balance team have blessed the player base with a preview of upcoming changes one week before Patch 10.3 will be implemented. It’s clear that the three most recently added champions – Sett, Senna, and Aphelios – all require significant nerfs, but there are a few other outliers that have flown under the radar and set to be addressed in this patch.

Riot Scruffy tweeted out the provisional patch notes on Tuesday afternoon and the community has already made their thoughts known, as they always do.

Along with no less than seventeen major champion changes, there are also updates to jungle experience to address heavy complaints from junglers about being severely under-leveled in Season 10.

These jungle changes will be analyzed at a later date, but for right now, here’s a breakdown of every other change set to hit live servers with Patch 10.3 next week:

Champions

Akali

"Q – Five Point Strike Energy Cost: 100/95/90/85/80 -> 120/115/110/105/100 W – Twilight Shroud Bonus Movement Speed: 20/25/30/35/40% while in shroud -> 30/35/40/45/50 decaying for 2 seconds on cast R – Perfect Execution R1: Akali dashes in a target direction -> Akali dashes to a target"

Akali is the only champion to boast a 100% presence across the top four competitive regions in Season 10. Although she may be struggling in solo queue, it’s clear how highly the pros rate this champion with 1 pick and 54 bans over 55 games so far.

As a result, the balance team have made the wise decision to nerf three of the Rogue Assassin’s skills on Patch 10.3. These changes are aimed at reducing Akali’s impact on pro play, while also potentially improving her current solo queue state.

The first of the three changes is to Five Point Strike which will now cost 20 more energy at all ranks making wave clear more expensive and reducing the amount of time Akali has to leave lane and dip into the fog of war.

Twilight Shroud is also set to receive nerfs with its movement speed increased by 10% on the initial cast, but its duration reduced from 5-7 seconds to 2 seconds decaying.

This is manageable for players who use the Shroud as a tool to dodge skill shots and quickly escape an incoming gank, but it’s quite a significant change for those who like to maneuver around Akali’s W, waiting for cooldowns or reinforcements while invisible.

Finally, Perfect Execution’s first use is being switched from a target direction to a targeted attack, lowering the skill floor in this area of her kit. It’s important to note that this means Akali’s first ult can no longer be used as an escape tool (unless an enemy champion is behind her) and also reduces the effectiveness of her ult’s second cast as she’s forced to narrow the gap between her and her opponent before using it.

Overall, Akali will be much weaker as a result of these changes and will almost definitely lose her 100% presence in competitive play as a result. Her wave clear has taken a hit and her main escape tool is nowhere near as powerful as before.

Aphelios

"Calibrum, the Sniper Rifle Mark Range: Infinite -> 2000"

Patch 10.3 is set to contain the fourth consecutive Aphelios nerf after the previous three did not do enough to stop yet another overpowered newly released champion from dominating the meta. Like a broken record, right?

Aphelios is still broken and reducing Calibrum’s mark range to an entire screen’s length away isn’t going to change that. For reference 2000 range is the same as Kai’Sa’s rank 2 Killer Instinct and slightly shorter than Nocturne’s rank 1 Paranoia (2500 range).

How often is Aphelios’ target more than 2000 range away from him, meaning he’s unable to activate his mark damage? Not often. How likely is it that a champion is going to stand in Aphelios’ way in his current state as he closes the gap between himself and his target? Not likely.

Aphelios will remain an extremely strong champion until Patch 10.4 at the earliest.