LoL PL;DR (Perfectly Long; Definitely Read) Patch 5.10
Welcome to another edition of PL;DR — where we wonder how exactly has Riot Games responded to player concerns and then criticize their decisions accordingly (probably with or without prior thought). I’m Kyle, aspiring champion designer, and I still think that Tristana’s overpowered. I’ll be your guide for the rest of this patch rundown.
Patch 5.10 sails in the wake of 5.9’s focus of champion diversity by giving the supports some attention this patch. A small, elite group of champions (small and elite meaning very few people actually dedicate themselves to the role,) supports have seen some love in the past seasons with the introduction of support items and revamps to the item tree. However, given the interconnected nature of League, the changes being made to junglers and top laners have been giving some slight trouble to the mechanics of bottom lane, and so Riot brings in the balance team to … balance things. Let’s see how they did.
Champions
Ryze’s rework is seeing him get more action top lane again, but he tends to fall off if pushed even slightly to his disadvantage. Clearer interactions between his passive and ultimate should still give him a fighting chance even with a shoved lane, while being able to dish out damage of his own while pushing.
Lulu and Taric have gotten some quality-of-life improvements this patch by having some numbers fiddled around with their mana costs and regeneration, though if this truly outrageous change will bring back top lane Taric and mid lane Lulu is yet to be seen.
Nothing too much to see here, except the collective cries of all Jinx mains (she’s been hit with a series of arguably reasonable nerfs in the last few patches.) Shifting focus to early game with the changes to Rek’Sai and Cassiopeia may cull their effectiveness against the ongoing tank meta, but the nerf to Sejuani’s damage may signify the incoming demise of the League of Tanks.
While Karma’s mostly here and there in PH meta, her role has never been quite that rewarding unless the enemy team gives her five kills in the first ten minutes of the game. These changes to her kit (particularly how her passive interacts with cooldown reduction and the interactions her ultimate have with the rest of her kit) reward players who use Karma’s natural strengths. Granted that her dueling potential is now lowered in favor of her heavy CC, Karma’s utility has been pushed to the fore — perhaps this is Riot’s way of telling us that support Karma is actually not a troll pick? As one of the few utility-zoning mages in the game however, these changes might just see a resurgence of mid-lane Karma again.
That aside, Akali and Sion have been polished over — a bugfix on the latter’s ultimate and more reliability with the former’s skillset should make playing both of them a little smoother.
Items
Who builds Ancient Coin? Ever since Righteous Glory appeared, Ancient Coin has been falling off the radar when it comes to support items. Given that the active is a speed boost that Righteous Glory does better, there was never any immediate reward when it came to building from the line. This somewhat contrasted with the current focus of early game action. Buffs to the rewards gained by building this essentially passive support item should make it more lucrative to the tanky supports that usually build towards Face of the Mountain, and allow for more plays that center around gold gain.
Bilgewater Cutlass (and by extension Blade of the Ruined King) have seen a couple of nerfs to their actives recently. Given this change, it seemed only appropriate to increase the active skill range of these items to compensate. The change to Banner of Command is more of cohesion than any sort of skill balance — the active range now matches the aura range of the passive, something that makes sense.
Wrapping Up
A few more changes to the Utility tree, visual updates to the client and release of a new batch of skins ends this particular patch cycle. While we’re not exactly reeling from the Cinderhulk nerfs in the last patch, it seems like the prediction of Riot shifting focus from junglers and top lane to the bottom lane is steadily coming true.
Supports getting all the attention is only the beginning- marksmen have been flying under the radar for several patches (think of the Ashe and Jinx changes a while back) so it might be best for all ADC’s to be on the lookout for several changes that may hit their favorite champions. While certainly not overarching, changes to ADC’s early power during laning phase *cough* Tristana *cough* doesn’t seem like a far-off happening — it only remains a question of which bottom lane champion gets to be called OP next. I’m looking at you, Sivir.
That’s it for this supportive Patch 5.10 rundown. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll proceed to autolock Ekko for the next two weeks. I’ll see you next time.
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