League of Legends Patch 10.6 Preview: Aphelios and Senna Set for Nerfs
League of Legends is about to receive its sixth patch update of Season 10, Patch 10.6! Here’s a preview of the current change list!
Twenty-four champion changes, two item changes, and one summoner spell change are what make up the proposed list of changes heading to League of Legends with Patch 10.6!
Included is a huge Teleport buff targeted specifically at top laners’ influence over the Rift, nerfs for two of the most obnoxious champions in the game, Aphelios and Senna, as well as a mini-rework for Wukong.
Here’s our breakdown of the projected Patch 10.6 changes, as revealed by Mark Yetter (Riot Scruffy) on Twitter yesterday:
Champions
Anivia
"E – Frostbite Magic damage doubled against targets damaged by a fully formed Glacial Storm within the last 2 seconds 3 seconds."
This is a simple QoL buff for Anivia players. Now, Glacial Storm’s chill duration matches Flash Frost’s chill duration which will make Frostbite’s doubled magic damage much easier to judge and land.
This buff improves Anivia’s gameplay and could lead to increased DPS in some situations, but it’s unlikely to have a huge impact on her state in the current meta.
Aphelios
"Severum, the Scythe Pistol Heal: 8-25% of damage dealt -> 3-20% of damage dealt Infernum, the Flamethrower Damage to Minions: 45% -> 30% Crescendum, the Chakram Damage: 30-173% AD -> 24-164% AD"
Aphelios is set to lose a touch of his massive life steal on Severum, minion damage on Infernum, and overall damage on Mini-Chakram. This isn’t the end of the world for Aphelios as he already deals a ton of damage in team fights, mainly due to the fact that nobody understands his kit three months after release.
Darius
"W – Crippling Strike Bonus Physical Damage: 50/55/60/65/70% AD -> 40/45/50/55/60% AD Cost: 30 Mana -> 40 Mana E – Apprehend Cost: 45 Mana -> 60 Mana"
The balance team have targeted S Tier top lane champions in Patch 10.6, the first of which is Darius.
Increased mana costs mean Darius is a little less free to spam abilities in lane without punishment, making life easier for his lane opponent.
As for the reduced Crippling Strike damage, this impacts the champion’s trading power which is currently unmatched when it comes to top laners. Being a percentage of total AD, it’s clear that this nerf will impact Darius at all points of a game, not just during the laning phase.
Draven
"W – Blood Rush Movement Speed: 40/45/50/55/60% -> 50/55/60/65/70%"
Increased Blood Rush movement speed is helpful in pushing Draven towards ADC consideration, but not what he needs to become a viable option. Nevertheless, this slightly aids Draven’s ability to chase his opponents down and land a finishing blow.
Expect a small increase in Draven’s pick rate, but no more than that.
Garen
"Base Stats Magic Resistance per Level: 1.25 -> 0.75 E – Judgment Critical Strike Damage: 50% bonus physical damage -> 33% bonus physical damage"
Part two of the top laner nerfs comes in the form of Garen changes which are far more impactful than Darius’ changes earlier in the preview.
First of all, 0.5 reduced magic resistance per level makes life a bit more difficult for Garen in match-ups against magic damage users, particularly as the game scales into the later stages and he’s forced to split-push against the likes of a Singed, Swain, or Vladimir.
Secondly, Garen’s Judgment is set to lose 17% of its bonus physical damage on critical strikes which is a large portion of Garen’s current damage output. By no means is Garen overkilling his opponents, so this is quite significant when it comes to avoiding being one-shot by a Beyblade in the late game.
Hecarim
"R – Onslaught of Shadows Fear Duration: 0.75-1.5 seconds -> 0.75-2 seconds (based on distance)"
Hecarim has seemingly been forgotten in the Season 10 jungle meta, but maybe that’s about to change.
Being hit by a max range Onslaught of Shadows was already punishing enough with a 1.5 second cooldown, so increasing it to 2 seconds means if you do not have a Quicksilver Sash, you are dead.
As a result of these changes, we’ll probably see Hecarim showing his face more as a niche pick around the A/B tiers of the jungle tier list. He doesn’t have what it takes to match the likes of Rek’Sai, Olaf, or Trundle just yet, but he’s definitely close.