League of Legends Patch 10.6 Preview: Aphelios and Senna Set for Nerfs

Champions

Soraka

"Q – Starcall Total Self-Heal: 40/50/60/70/80 -> 50/60/70/80/90 Bonus Movement Speed: 10/12.5/15/17/20% -> 15/17.5/20/22.5/25%"

Compensation buffs for the torture Soraka support players went through last month, watching their beloved enchanter fall victim to the slightly overpowered -> nerfed to the ground cycle we’ve become so used to seeing.

Increased Starcall healing improves Soraka’s sustain in lane, which in turn improves her lane partner’s sustain. Add this to the +5% movement speed buff on the same ability, and Soraka players can breathe again!

Twisted Fate

"W – Pick a Card Blue Card AP Ratio: 0.5 -> 0.9 Red Card AP Ratio: 0.5 -> 0.7"

If these changes aren’t modified before the implementation of Patch 10.6 to live servers this time next week, it would be wise to start playing Twisted Fate as much as possible in solo queue.

Although the champion isn’t known for a high Ability Power build, a +0.4 and +0.2 AP ratio buff is enough to increase TF’s damage output massively in skirmishes and team fights, particularly in the latter stages of the game.

Urgot

"Q – Corrosive Charge Slow Duration: 1 second -> 1.25 seconds E – Disdain Stun Duration: 0.75 seconds -> 1 second"

These may not look like huge buffs, but they could be enough to see Urgot rise to the higher tiers of top lane as the crowd control is enough to punish any overextending ally, particularly when setting up for early game ganks.

The most annoying of these changes has got to be the extended Corrosive Charge slow, which now means Urgot will slow his opponents for 65% at max rank for 1.25 seconds, making it near impossible to flee from the Dreadnought.

Veigar

"Q – Baleful Strike Damage: 70/110/150/190/230 -> 80/120/160/200/240"

Veigar is right on the edge of being a high presence mid laner in the current meta and these buffs may be what he needs to make the step up to the S/A tiers.

Despite the fact that +10 damage doesn’t look huge, you’ve got to consider how much Veigar uses his Q ability. Baleful Strike makes up the majority of his wave clear, trading damage, and overall DPS in team fights.

Considering how much damage this champion already does if allowed to build a gold lead, it’s quite worrying how strong he could be if players begin to pick him up over the next few weeks and months after these changes go through.

Wukong

It’s been a long time coming, but Wukong’s mini-rework is finally heading to live servers! Here’s a slightly outdated breakdown of the changes.

Xerath

"W – Eye of Destruction Enhanced Damage: 90/135/180/225/270 -> 100/150/200/250/300 R – Rite of the Arcane Damage: 200/240/280 (+43% AP) -> 200/250/300 (+45% AP)"

Who? It’s been a long time since Xerath has been a meta champion, mainly due to his vulnerability and lack of escapes making him a very easy target for ganks. On top of that, he does lack damage.

However, Xerath is set to receive damage buffs on Patch 10.6 in the form of increased Eye of Destruction sweet spot damage by 16.7%, as well as slightly increased Rite of the Arcane damage.

Is this enough to see Xerath become a viable mid lane pick? Almost definitely not, but it’s a nice push in the right direction for those who suffer through maining the champion as those around him receive much larger buffs (looking at you Lissandra and Twisted Fate).