League of Legends patch 10.15: Support mains rejoice
Let’s get this party started!
All the nerfs in patch 10.15 were targeted at S-tier champions used in pro play, while new buffs to champions outside the meta signal the start of a shift.
Unsurprisingly, Aphelios, Lee Sin, Ornn, Fiddlesticks and Twisted Fate, who have high pick rates in competitive games, received nerfs.
The buffs on the other hand, are quite random, but are definitely welcomed considering the stagnant state of the game.
Newjungle champion Lilliawill also be released with this patch.
Here’s the entire list of winners and losers of patch 10.15:
W – Drunken Rage
R – Explosive Cask
Gragas sobered up a little more this patch, after receiving an added punch to Drunken Rage and his ultimate. These increased ratios not only help him late game, but will also increase his damage from early to mid game.
Expect to see the return of jungle and support Gragas. (And therefore, Yasuo)
Winner: Caitlyn
Base stats
Caitlyn as an AD carry needs time to scale. Even with these buffs, she still can’t compare to the added utility and crowd control that Ashe brings.
As a champion who likes to run Fleet Footwork, the additional movement speed will be felt, while the increased base damage will certainly help in the early game.
Riot’s intention is for her “to be a reasonable fit with and against certain meta compositions” and we’ll have to see if these buffs are enough for pro teams to pick her against certain types of drafts.
For now, ADC mains in solo queue can start reaping the benefits.
W – Vision of Empire
E – Nevermove
Vision of Empire’s range has been massively increased! On top of that, his hard crowd-control root spell, Nevermove, now has a flat ten second cooldown and flat mana cost.
Support mains, if you haven’t picked up Swain yet, now is the time.
To keep Swain in check, his movement speed, mana restore and base damage of Vision of Empire were decreased. As much as Riot wanted to “fire up his power” in both the mid lane and support roles, the huge utility buffs means that support Swain got the longer end of the stick.
Winner: Shen
Passive – Ki Barrier
The changes for Gragas, Shen, and Swain all help more than one role, giving more flexibility to players. The overall winner? Support mains.
Shen now has extra effective HP from his passive’s shield, which was buffed for no apparent reason. For solo queue, this could also mean seeing a little more jungle Shen as well.
Winner: Yuumi
Passive – Bop ‘N’ Block
Yuumi was put to rest after the gigantic mana cost increase to Zoomies inpatch 10.13. To give her some life back, Riot made her passive more rewarding, in which players will need to detach, auto attack and put themselves at risk more frequently.
We don’t think this is enough to bring Yuumi back into the meta, but it does give incentive for Yuumi mains to start playing her again.
Frostfang
Shard of True Ice
After the buffs to Guardian, many ranged supports ended up opting for Relic Shield. The increased 25% mana regen on Spellthief is a solid incentive for ranged/poke supports to return to the offense.
Loser: Twisted Fate
W – Pick a Card
Pick a card is now limited to one per skirmish, especially from the early to mid game.
From a flat CD to a scaling one, the nerf to TF’s bread and butter spell will severely hinder his performance. The immobile mid laner will be even more vulnerable than before, as the window for opponents to punish him after the first card is thrown is larger.
Q – Crescendum, the Chakram
Q – Infernum, the Flamethrower
Aphelios has appeared in almost every patch since his release. Of late, he’s been receiving small nerfs every two weeks as Riot continues their conservative approach in lowering his dominance.
If you dislike playing against “200 years”, the good news is that Aphelios’ two best guns finally received a nerf this patch. Flamethrower’s synergy with Runaan’s Hurricane has been reduced, which gives opponents more leeway to work around its decreased crit and range.
Crescendum’s bouncing Chakrams remain the same however, so we still expect Aphelios to be a top tier ADC.
Loser: Fiddlesticks
W – Bountiful Harvest
What a relief. Tank Fiddlesticks mid was oppressive, especially if you’re against him without Ignite. The reduced healing gained from Bountiful Harvest will even out lane trades a bit more.
For the full 10.15 patch notes, clickhere.
READ MORE:League of Legends patch 10.14: The return of mid lane and jungle Karthus
