League of Legends Patch 10.3 Preview: Sett Set for Nerfs

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League of Legends. Photo courtesy of Riot Games. /

Champions

Azir

"R – Emperor’s Divide Width: 5/6/7 -> 6/7/8 solders"

Don’t be fooled. Jensen and Jiizuke picking Azir in the first week of the LCS does not mean he’s a strong champion. He’s not.

At the moment, the Shuriman Emperor is some way off competing with champions in the higher tiers of the mid lane meta, and adding 1 soldier to his wall isn’t going to change that.

Sure, this change will add to the outplay potential of Emperor’s Divide and give it a more terrain-y feel to obstruct opponents in team fights, but outside of the top 1% of Azir players, this will have little impact on the champion’s current strength.

Corki

"Passive – Hextech Munitions Special Delivery Damage per second: 7.5-25 (+37.5% bonus AD) (+5% AP) -> 7.5-25 (+50% bonus AD) (+6% AP) Special Delivery Damage over Time Duration: 1 -> 1.5 seconds"

This is quite a situational Corki buff but can be quite effective if used correctly. Instead of using Special Delivery as an escape tool or to cut off fleeing enemy champions, maybe Corki players will now look to knock back as many opponents as possible to make use of the proposed increased damage.

Increasing the DoT duration by 0.5 seconds means the overall damage is already increased by 50%. Combine that with the small increase in bonus AD and AP damage to the ability and it all adds up to a pretty decent buff for Corki.

Will it be enough to make him a viable option in the current meta? Probably not, but it is something to consider when playing or coming up against Corki in on Patch 10.3 and beyond.

Diana

"Base Stats Mana: 420 -> 375 W – Pale Cascade Magic Damage per Orb: 22/34/46/58/70 -> 18/30/42/54/66"

Diana was the recipient of one of the most successful gameplay updates in League of Legends history on Patch 9.24 as she went from a niche mid-jungle pick to the most highly contested mid laner of Season 10 so far. Despite being an obscure pro play pick, the Scorn of the Moon has risen to a massive 53.61% win rate in solo queue paired with an unmatched 29.2% ban rate.

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Obviously, a win rate that high will lead to the balance team addressing the champion and Diana is now set for some small nerfs on Patch 10.3.

The mid laner’s base mana will be reduced to make the early laning phase a bit more troublesome and punishing, forcing players to choose between maintaining their mana pool or clearing out waves quickly. This is combined with a -4 damage per orb nerf to her W – Pale Cascade.

These changes are certainly not the end of Diana, but they will bring her back down to a more balanced state. Pale Cascade adds a lot to the champion’s burst damage and will be felt, even if it is just -4 damage per orb, and reduced base mana allows opposing mid laners to out-farm her or force her under tower during the opening minutes of the game.

Ekko

"Base Stats Attack Speed: 6.88 -> 6.25 W – Parallel Convergence Stun Duration: 2.25 -> 2 seconds"

Despite jungle experience changes reducing the impact of the role at all elos, Ekko has started strong from the jungle in Season 10. He currently has the third-highest win rate of all junglers (52.81%, behind Sett and Ivern) and can also be played in either solo lane if required.

Ekko’s strengths lie in his fast jungle clear and his excellent gank set-up, both of which have been targeted in this list of proposed Patch 10.3 nerfs.

First, his base Attack Speed has been lowered to make clearing the jungle a harder, slower task, reducing the time the champion has to roam the map and prepare to gank lanes.

On top of that, his ganks are now less impactful too, with a 0.25-second decrease on his Parallel Convergence stun. This makes sense as, although it takes skill to land Ekko’s W, it doesn’t take enough skill to warrant a huge 2.25-second stun.

Much like the Diana changes, these nerfs do not remove Ekko from the meta, nor do they pull him down from the top tiers of the jungle tier list. However, they are still significant changes and Ekko jungle will suffer as a result, becoming a more niche pick rather than an instalock in solo queue.

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