League of Legends Patch 10.10 Breakdown: Nidalee Returns to the Jungle
League of Legends is receiving its tenth gameplay update of 2020 this week with a bunch of familiar faces receiving significant buffs on Patch 10.10, including Nidalee!
Another fortnight has passed by which means another League of Legends patch update is on our doorsteps. This time, it’s Patch 10.10 which contains changes to no less than 14 champions including some old favorites that have failed to see consistent play so far in Season 10, including Nidalee, Sivir, and Udyr.
Last week, we previewed the changes heading to the game with Patch 10.10 and now we’ll be fully breaking down and analyzing the official patch notes released on Tuesday, 12 May. Here are detailed explanations of how each champion change will affect your League of Legends experience on Patch 10.10 and beyond:
Annie
"E – Molten Shield Damage Reduction: 10/13/16/19/22% -> 13/17/21/25/29% R – Summon: Tibbers Tibbers Aura Damage: 10/15/20 (+10% AP) -> 20/30/40 (+12% AP)"
With a minuscule 1.3% pick rate in mid lane and a tiny 0.2% pick rate in the support role, it’s clear to see why the balance team have chosen to hand substantial buffs to Annie on Patch 10.10. Despite her decent 50.53% win rate, the Dark Child’s impact on the current League of Legends meta is non-existent and her popularity is at an all-time low.
That could all be set to change though as Annie’s Molten Shield will now block 13% of all incoming damage, rather than 10%, which will improve her trades in the laning phase and allow her to avoid being instantly blown up by assassins and burst mages.
Summon: Tibbers will also see improvements as the bear’s aura damage will be increased by up to 20 damage per second, as well as an AP ratio buff.
While they may not seem like huge changes, combined they make for quite a substantial buff to a champion that already boasts a positive win rate in solo queue. As a result, Annie’s popularity will no doubt increase on Patch 10.10 and she could become a frequent mid lane pick over the coming weeks.
Diana
"Base Stats Health: 594 -> 570 Attack Damage: 57.04 -> 57"
Going in the opposite direction is Diana who continues to dominate the mid lane meta with a remarkable 52.11% win rate on Patch 10.9. The Scorn of the Moon’s impact on team fights is too great considering her excellent laning phase, so the latter of the two is being hit with nerfs on Patch 10.10.
From now on, Diana will start the game with 24 less health, allowing opponents to shut her down early if they punish her lack of mobility with ganks. Obviously, this isn’t the end of the world for Diana players, but they’ll have to contend with a lower health pool and more effective incoming poke damage during the early stages.
Irelia
"E – Flawless Duet Base Damage: 70/110/150/190/230 -> 80/125/170/215/260"
Surprisingly, Irelia has dipped out of the meta after an extended period of solo lane supremacy and currently suffers from a dismal 46.83% win rate. As a result, Flawless Duet will receive a small increase in damage which won’t have much of an impact until the mid game, when 30 damage isn’t really that noticeable.
Nonetheless, this should help the Blade Dancer rise from the very depths of the top lane tier list on Patch 10.10.
Katarina
"Passive – Voracity Dagger Damage Ratio: 55/70/85/100% ability power -> 55/66/77/88% AP ability power"
Katarina has firmly cemented her place in the mid lane S tier over recent patches and has secured a 52.49% win rate on Patch 10.9. What does this mean? Nerfs!
This nerf targets the AP ratio of Kata’s Passive, Voracity. As this is one of the main components of the Sinister Blade’s damage output, any reduction will have an impact. While a 4/8/12% decrease might not seem like anything at all, it will definitely be felt by Katarina and her opponents during the mid to late game.
Kayn
"Passive – The Darkin Scythe Rhaast Heal: 34.5-43% of damage dealt (levels 1-18) -> 30-40% of damage dealt (levels 1-18)"
Prior to the implementation of Patch 10.9, we explained that Kayn would start to dominate the jungle as a result of his changes. That came into fruition and the balance team have recognized their mistake and are pulling back the Shadow Reaper a touch.
Rhaast – the more popular of the two transformations – will now heal approximately 35% of all damage dealt at level 9, rather than 38.5%. Once again, this is a small nerf, but enough to reduce the Shadow Reaper’s control over certain jungle matchups in the current meta as he’ll have less survivability after transforming.
Kled
"Q – Beartrap on a Rope Cooldown: 9/8.5/8/7.5/7 seconds -> 11/10/9/8/7 seconds"
The Cantankerous Cavalier has charged his way into the S+ tier of top lane and currently boasts an impeccable 52.62% win rate, destroying any champion that stands in his way. This is partly as a result of the reliable, low cooldown engage tool, Bear Trap on a Rope.
Reducing the cooldown of this ability by 2 seconds at rank 1 is the perfect way to limit Kled’s early game dominance as he can no longer permanently threaten an engage on his lane opponent and needs to pick his fights more intelligently.
No doubt he’ll remain an S tier pick on Patch 10.10, but at least he’ll be more bearable for top lane mains.
Maokai
"Base Stats Mana: 377.28 -> 375 Q – Bramble Smash Cost: 50 mana -> 60 mana"
No champion benefitted from the Bami’s Cinder buffs as much as Maokai as he climbed from complete irrelevance earlier in the season to the highest win rate of any top laner on Patch 10.9 (52.75%).
The Twisted Treant is a menace in the late game due to his unmatched crowd control, but his laning phase is also a point of power as he can farm without pressure with Bramble Smash.
However, on Patch 10.10 this is set to change as both Maokai’s base mana and Q mana cost will be nerfed, reducing his sustain and harming his wave clear throughout the laning phase.