It’s been 2 weeks sinceLeague of Legends’patch 10.8rolled out but players have already adjusted to the strongest picks in the meta which have mostly stayed the same. But as the end of the first ranked split nears, Riot Games is looking to make a few more changes with the 10.9 update. Although this patch isn’t as large as some previous ones in Season 10, there are a few significant changes coming soon.
As a result of past changes and direct or indirect nerfs, someLeague of Legendschampions have been pushed out of their respective roles due to not being as good as their competition. At the same time, other champions have climbed to a higher than average winrate in solo-queue because they have stayed consistently strong while their counters have gotten weaker. Patch 10.9 aims to address both issues for some specific champions.
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First off,Bardis getting some nerfs to his roaming potential with his W and E receiving cooldown increases and W also granting less movement speed on pickup. Similarly, Nami’s passive will grant less movement speed and her base health and mana are also taking a hit. Next up, Wukong has been strong after his rework despite several nerfs, so the Monkey King is getting another cut to his base armor plus Q and E damage. Similarly, Trundle will get a cooldown increase on his R so he can’t just win every duel by stealing the enemy’s stats. Finally, Karthus is receiving a small nerf to his base movement speed, but this shouldn’t affect his jungling too much.
On the other hand, Cho’Gath andFiddlesticksare receiving damage buffs to their E’s which will improve their ability to fight in lane against the meta picks. While transformed, Gnar is getting a slight increase to his Q’s cooldown reduction on pickup and E will also do more damage. After all but disappearing from pro-play, Lissandra’s Q cooldown will be slightly shorter which partially reverts a nerf from last year. The recent top lane changes haven’t favored Quinn, so her utility is getting buffed with Q’s nearsight duration lasting longer. Last but not least, Kayn’s Q will now apply its bonus damage to minions as well as monsters, Q has a lower cooldown, and W’s decaying slow is stronger.
With these latest changes, Bard and Nami can still do damage but will have a slightly harder time disengaging from fights and should slightly lower their winrates. Moving on, the rest of thenerfs and buffs in 10.9shouldn’t have too much of an effect on any champions even for Wukong and Trundle. The big winner, however, is Kayn who will be able to clear minions much faster with Q as a jungler or laner in rare cases. Furthermore, the increased slow on Kayn’s W will lead to more successful early ganks and help out in team fights especially if players choose Kayn’s red form, Rhaast.
In the end, although these 10.9 changes are imminent, the community shouldn’t expect the full impact of these changes on the meta for several weeks. And despite the buffs, it’s unlikely that these champions will become pick or ban in pro-play when the summer season starts after thecoronavirus temporarily suspended the spring split.
