League of Legends Lead Gameplay Designer Matt “Riot Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison posted a preview of LoL patch 14.7 today.
A handful of mid lane champions were buffed, namely Galio and Lux, alongside off-meta jungle champions Olaf and Sylas.
In terms of nerfs, the biggest hit is to Rell jungle, where Riot Games made a decision to have her played only in one role as a support.
LoL patch 14.7 preview: First look
Champion buffs in LoL patch 14.7
- Galio
- Karma
- Lux
- Nasus
- Olaf (jungle)
- Smolder
- Sylas (jungle)
Galio
- Passive AP ratio increased
- W base damage reduction increased
- E base damage increased
Galio sees increased AP ratios to favor mid lane. This also puts power in his passive which backs up the longer fight times from last patch.
Karma
- Mantra+E secondary shield changed to 90% of R
- W root duration increased
LoL patch 14.7 aims to divorce the power of R shield from E to encourage more supportive casts.
Also, Riot Games will be increasing more of her utility outputs of W, which is expected to be more support skewed as it’s easier to land compared to mid lane Karma.
Lux
- Passive AP ratio increased
- Q AP ratio increased
Lux will receive buffs to her AP numbers, which will skew her more towards mid lane. According to Riot Phroxzon, Lux support is in a reasonable spot.
While the buff benefits both roles, support Lux is nerfed comparatively more by Zaz’Zak’s nerf. The net result is intended to be a net buff to mid lane.
Nasus
- Passive lifesteal increased
- Q damage increased
“For one of the lowest mastery curve champions, he should be excelling in regular play but he’s not. These buffs are focused on enabling the late game drain tank fantasy and opening up the Q last hitting thresholds a bit more,” Riot Phroxzon explained.
Olaf (Jungle)
- New: Q includes monster damage
- W duration increased
- W mana cost increased
- R now has mana cost
LoL patch 14.7 aims to make jungle Olaf more viable. Increases to Q and W are more jungle skewed. Olaf will also receive added buffs to E when jungling.
Smolder
- Base armor increased
- Q crit ratio increased
“We’ve drained a lot of power out of the burn and execute, so these changes are aimed at making him a bit more stable in the early game,” Riot Phroxzon wrote. “These changes are also biased towards making Navori a bit more competitive on second slot over Shojin.”
Overall, the dev team is looking to go about halfway to his power level before as he’s “significantly weaker” compared to the patch before.
Sylas
- Q minion and monster damage changed to 40% for minions, 70% for monsters
Sylas to receive a straightforward jungle buff. While Riot is not looking to make it his primary role, they acknowledge that some players do enjoy it.
Champion nerfs in lol patch 14.7
- Fiora
- Rek’Sai
- Rell (jungle)
- Volibear
Fiora
- Base AD decreased
Fiora has been strong in Elite for a pretty long time. A champion with a steep mastery curve, it seems reasonable that she shouldn’t be solidly so far over 50%, Riot Phroxzon explained.
Rek’Sai
- Passive healing decreased.
In short, Rek’Sai top is too strong. According to the devs, the way she wins is by ignoring opponents and spamming sustain on the wave, so they would like to tone that down.
Rell (jungle)
- All monster mods removed
- Magic resist decreased
At the moment, Rell is only strong in pro play and is especially strong as a flex champion.
Right now, Riot Games’ assessment is that her playrate in the jungle is low, yet she’s able to secure dragons incredibly well in the support role.
“Similar to Blitzcrank, we’re happy we did this experiment, but supporting her in one role is how we’re going to maintain her moving forward,” Riot Phroxzon concluded.
Volibear
- Q crits for AD instead of ability damage
- R cooldown increased
Volibear’s ultimate is rather deterministic with low gameplay outcomes when played in the jungle. The moment he shows up and uses R, the champion that gets dived is dead. As such, the dev team is nerfing its CD.
Champion adjustments in LoL patch 14.7
- Camille
- Nami
- Nunu
- Sona
System nerfs in LoL patch 14.7
- Bloodsong
- Imperial Mandate
- Statikk Shiv
- Zaz’Zak’s Realmspike
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