Why Mages Love the New Electrocute in Patch 8.16

"We called them the Thunderlords, for to speak of their lightning was to invite disaster." And so disaster was invited back to the Rift. The recent changes to Electrocute went live on August 15th and since then we've seen a ton of different champions looking for different options while others revel in the keystone's lower cooldown. Unfortunately for Zed and Talon mains, there really isn't much of an alternative out there, but mages in the mid lane are sure to want to read on. If you haven't reviewed the 8.16 patch notes yet, make sure you do so after reading this article. There's a lot of fun stuff in there! For now, all you need to know is that Electrocute's base damage and damage ratios were significantly nerfed while its cooldown became much shorter. Let's take a look at the exact numbers:

Based on the image above, we can conclude that Electrocute deals less damage...right? Well, not quite. See, while Electrocute's damage was nerfed, the fact that it can now deal damage every 25-20 seconds (based on level) means that you can get more out of it so long you're efficiently triggering the effect on cooldown. Essentially, the new Electrocute works a lot more like the old Thunderlord's Decree. A lot of the assassins in the game might have a hard time triggering the effect on cooldown during the early stages of the laning phase without overextending or spending tons of mana. However, there is a selection of champions that absolutely can generate Electrocute stacks with ease and from a safe distance.

Before we take a look at which champions I'm referring to, let's go over the numbers and make sure that our conclusion above is in fact correct. If you absolutely don't care about the numbers, feel free to skip this paragraph; otherwise do give it a shot since it's what powers this strategy. Let's start by setting a hypothetical scenario in which you're applying Electrocute damage on a target for 3 minutes straight. That's 180 seconds. In this example, you're applying the damage on cooldown at level 1. If we were to punch in the pre-patch Electrocute values to this scenario, you would've dealt 270 damage over 180 seconds. By the "pre-patch Electrocute values" I mean:

• 50 Base Damage
• 0.5 Bonus Attack Damage
• 50 Second Cooldown

The basic formula is: ((Time / Cooldown) * Base Damage) + Bonus Attack Damage Multiplier = Total Damage
With the values: ((180 / 50) * 50) + 50% = 270

No wonder why you'd get obliterated by a wild Kha'Zix lunging at you from a brush, huh? Jokes aside, quick maths are in fact the solution to most of these so-called nerfs. Let's the run the same scenario and formula using the new Electrocute values which are:

• 30 Base Damage
• 0.4 Bonus Attack Damage
• 25 Second Cooldown

The result is: ((180 / 25) * 30) + 40% = 302.4

Yep. You read that right. The damage was brought down but since you can trigger the keystone more times during the same number of seconds (we used 180 in our examples), you actually deal more damage overall. We could run this thing for bonus magic damage too or even try to calculate the exact damage taking into account level-ups, but, honestly, it'd take too much time and not everyone would geek out with us, so let's go back to what really matters... shocking. opponents. to. death.

 

Remember when I said that there's a handful of champions that can take advantage of the new Electrocute while keeping themselves safe? Zyra was the first champion I thought about when I read the changes. Not only do her Thorn Spitters and Vine Lashers count as individual sources of damage towards the Electrocute stacks, but the fact that she can do it while connecting an E at a distance is extremely attractive! If you have two seeds close to an opponent and you manage to hit them while rooting the poor soul you're targeting, Electrocute will quickly proc. The E generates a stack, and each of the Vine Lashers that hit the target also generate a stack. Keep in mind that Thorn Spitters and Vine Lashers will generate a single stack regardless of how many auto attacks they land, but the fact that they generate stacks at all is what makes Electrocute a great option for Zyra. By the way, your own auto attacks generate stacks as well. I've seen Zyra trending upward on a lot of tier lists online, some even showing her as good as S Tier. While I don't think she'll be as good as say Rakan, Morgana, or Janna, I do think that this will make her so much deadlier in the bottom lane.

I know, I know... I did say I was going to go over mid lane mages at the beginning of the article. Listen, you can take Zyra mid for all I care. That may work out! She was just the first champion I thought about as I mentioned before. Now, which other champions control pets that can also help us proc the new Electrocute every 25-20 seconds? Well, of course, you guessed it right, he's right there in the picture! Malzahar is an excellent option! Azir isn't bad either. Both champions, just like Zyra, control units whose auto attacks generate Electrocute stacks as well. Admittedly, if you're looking to roam a lot with Malzahar, Predator will remain the best option, but if you're looking for sheer damage, consider taking Electrocute under the same principals mentioned above. As for Azir, at the time of writing this article most pro players are still using Summon Aery but a couple of the big ones have a couple of games with Electrocute, most notably Fabian "Febiven" Diepstraten and Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg.

Don't let this list of champions discourage you from taking Electrocute on your favorite character. It's all a matter of AB testing. We might not see these selections in pro play often but try them out in solo queue and you're sure to surprise a couple of people with the damage this keystone can dish out. Other champions that can take advantage of the new Electrocute without mana-gating themselves are Ahri, Vel'Koz, and Xerath. Interestingly enough, Electrocute went from your go-to assassin keystone to a damage-dealing option for ranged champions that like to poke at a safe distance. What other champions do you think benefit exceptionally well from the new Electrocute? Let us know in the comment section below and make sure to follow us on social media for more content!

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