League of Legends Patch 10.14 Breakdown: Ezreal and Varus Nerfed

This is a breakdown of the League of Legends Patch 10.14 notes

The fourteenth patch of Season 10 is here! The official Patch 10.14 notes have been released and your average Summoner’s Rift experience is about to receive a small update in the form of 13 champion changes, 1 rune change, and 1 summoner spell change.

Last week, the patch was previewed by Riot Scruffy, lead gameplay designer for League of Legends, and now the official notes have been confirmed. There have been few differences between the two editions and the community have already reacted positively to what’s coming on Patch 10.14.

Here’s a full breakdown of the Patch 10.14 changes:

Champions

Alistar

"Q – PulverizeCooldown: 17/16/15/14/13 seconds -> 15/14/13/12/11 seconds"

Tank, engage-heavy supports have ruled the bot lane meta throughout Season 10 so far with the exception of one popular champion. Despite the likes of Leona, Nautilus, and Thresh all dominating the support role over the last few months, Alistar has only managed an underwhelming 3.4% pick rate in solo queue and 1% presence in pro play.

That could be about to change as the Minotaur will see his Pulverize cooldown reduced by 2 seconds at all ranks on Patch 10.14.

As this is a key crowd control ability for Alistar – particularly in pivotal 2v2 fights – any small cooldown reduction will have a huge positive impact on his win rate. Support players will undoubtedly start to welcome Alistar back to their champion pools over the next few patches, albeit semi-regularly.

Ezreal

"E – Arcane ShiftCooldown: 25/22/19/16/13 seconds -> 28/25/22/19/16 seconds"

Ezreal has been frustrating bot lane players for what seems like forever now. The Prodigal Explorer’s ridiculous level of safety and excellent DPS both make it hard to pick alternative ADCs ahead of him. That could be about to change as the balance team take aim at the safety provided by E – Arcane Shift.

On Patch 10.14, Ezreal’s blink will see its cooldown increased by 3 seconds at every rank making it even more crucial when/where it’s used both in the laning phase and during late game team fights.

This certainly won’t remove Ezreal from the bot lane meta due to the fact that the best Ezreal players know to use Arcane Shift as infrequently as possible. However, it will certainly have an impact on his presence in both solo queue and pro play as his main strength will be worsened by this nerf.

Karthus

"Base StatsHealth: 528 -> 550Movement Speed: 325 -> 335Q – Lay WasteDamage: 45/65/85/105/125 (+0.3 ability power) -> 50/70/90/110/130 (+0.35 ability power)Damage to Monsters: 100% -> 85%E – DefileMana Restore: When toggled off -> AlwaysTick Rate: 1 ticks per second -> 4 ticks per second"

This Karthus buff is intended to improve his quality of life in both the jungle and mid lane roles, although the latter is likely to be the most impacted by these changes.

Increased base health allows the Deathsinger to sustain through more poke from long-range mid lane opponents while also maintaining health during his jungle clear. Improved movement speed allows Karthus to trade more aggressively into the enemy mid laner.

In terms of Q – Lay Waste, any buff to Karthus’ primary damage tool is going to have a huge impact on his presence and win rate over the coming patches, especially when paired with a great QoL change on E – Defile.

To compensate for this big bunch of buffs, Karthus’ Q damage to monsters is being reduced by a significant 20%, which will substantially harm his jungle clear speed.

Kha’Zix

"Q – Taste Their FearIsolation Damage: 100% -> 120%"

Kha’Zix has been abandoned as the current crop of meta junglers have taken over the Rift.  The Voidreaver simply doesn’t offer enough early damage, utility, or gank set-up to be worth picking over more powerful picks like Lee Sin or Rek’Sai.

Q – Taste Their Fear will see its Isolation damage increased by 20% on Patch 10.14 which improves Kha’Zix’s ability to 1v1 enemy junglers and snowball from there, however, doesn’t really help out in terms of his crowd control and ganking for teammates.

Pyke

"Base StatsArmor Growth: 5 -> 3.5Magic Resist Growth: 1.5 -> 1.25Q – Bone SkewerCost: 70 mana -> 50/55/60/65/70 manaCooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 seconds -> 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 secondsDamage: 75/125/175/225/275 -> 85/135/185/235/285W – Ghostwater DiveMovement Speed: 40/45/50/55/60% -> 40%E – Phantom UndertowDamage: 95/125/155/185/215 -> 105/135/165/195/225"

All you need to know about these changes is that the balance team are hoping to pull Pyke away from solo lanes and back into the support role. Keep an eye out over the next few weeks to see how successful these changes will be.

Riven

"Passive – Runic BladeDamage: 0.25-0.5 total attack damage -> 0.3-0.6 total attack damage"

Despite Riven’s ability to 1v5 games after picking up even the slightest of gold leads, she isn’t really doing much in solo queue right now with a poor 49.63% win rate. Increasing the Exile’s Passive – Runic Blade AD ratio is one way to fix that.

Sejuani

"E – PermafrostDamage: 40/90/140/190/240 -> 55/105/155/205/255Cooldown: 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 seconds -> 8 seconds"

Tanks and engage-heavy champions are all the rage in the jungle at the moment but Sejuani is surprisingly absent and her 48.03% win rate in solo queue (the fifth-worst amongst junglers) is also a worry.

By improving both the damage and cooldown of E – Permafrost, the balance team have boosted Sejuani’s jungle clear speed and damage in early game ganks/duels. While she still has some way to go before joining back up with the meta junglers, we’ll probably see her pop up more often in solo queue and pro play from Patch 10.14 onwards.

Trundle

"W – Frozen DomainAttack Speed: 30/47.5/65/82.5/100% -> 20/40/60/80/100%"

Trundle continues to be hit with nerfs and continues to dominate the jungle meta. This time it’s his W – Frozen Domain attack speed that’s the target which will be reduced from 30% to 20% at level 1.

The Troll King will continue to devastate his opponents with unavoidable E – Pillar of Ice ganks but his jungle clear speed will take a major hit. Don’t expect Trundle to tumble down the jungler tier list as a result of these changes but do expect him to see fewer games and his win rate drop.

Varus

"Q – Piercing ArrowMaximum Damage Ratio: 1.5 attack damage -> 1.25/1.30/1.35/1.40/1.45 attack damage (minimum damage is always 66% of maximum damage)E – Hail of ArrowsDamage: 70/105/140/175/210 -> 50/90/130/170/210"

Lethality Varus refuses to die. His Q damage is obnoxious, his E slow is unbearable, and his ability to engage with R – Chain of Corruption is something unparalleled among marksmen.

Nevertheless, the balance team have taken action. From Patch 10.14, Varus’ Q – Piercing Arrow will no longer have a 1.5 AD ratio and instead, this number will be reduced to 1.25 scaling up to 1.45. While this isn’t a huge nerf as Varus ranks this ability up first, it will definitely make the Arrow of Retribution much more punishable during the opening levels.

E – Hail of Arrows will also see its damage reduced slightly, which will have a small but noticeable impact on Varus’ early game damage output.

Volibear

"Base StatsAttack Speed: 0.66 -> 0.625W – Frenzied MaulHeal from Monsters: 100% -> 50%"

Volibear’s 82% pro play presence can’t be ignored anymore. The Relentless Storm won’t hit as fast and his sustain in the jungle will be decreased after these Patch 10.14 changes hit live serves.

Wukong

"R – CycloneKnockup Duration: 0.75 seconds -> 0.6 seconds"

Since his mini-rework, Wukong has become a solo queue monster, dominating the meta cross FOUR different roles. While primarily a top laner, the Monkey King has seen play in the jungle, mid lane, and support roles throughout the last few months.

In order to combat his popularity, the balance team are reducing Wukong’s R – Cyclone knockup duration by 0.15 seconds. Not only will this give opponents more time to react to the bruiser’s all-in damage, but will also potentially make Wukong’s kit feel much clunkier, possibly forcing players to opt for different champions in the future.

Zed

"W – Living ShadowMissile Speed: 1750 -> 2500Cooldown: 22/20/18/16/14 seconds -> 20/18.5/17/15.5/14 seconds"

Here’s our breakdown of what these buffs mean for Zed.

Runes

"PredatorDamage: 30-90 -> 40-120Cooldown: 100-70 seconds -> 90-60 seconds"

Predator’s recent update has had little effect on its number of users as it hasn’t really changed much about the identity of the rune. Increasing its damage and reducing its cooldown slightly won’t make much of a difference as those who can effectively take Predator are already taking the rune.

Summoner Spells

"GhostMovement Speed: 20-40% -> 24-48%"

Ghost was updated recently to apply the bonus movement speed immediately rather than over time. Since then, few players have added the summoner spell to their selection as it doesn’t offer the same level of utility as the likes of Ignite or Teleport.

Increasing Ghost’s movement speed by 4% at level 1, scaling to 8% at level 18, is one way to encourage more players to take the spell.

However, with the increasing number of dashes and movement speed buffs (such as Nimbus Cloak) currently in the game, there really is no need for champions to take Ghost in its current state. As a result of this change, expect to see a few more players take Ghost but it will remain a very niche spell on a few specific champions.

League of Legends Patch 10.14 will hit live servers on the morning of Wednesday, 8 July. Keep an eye on the Riot Games server status page for maintenance updates.