Blogs
Thoughts and Analysis - Spectator Mode Patch
Tomorrow a new patch is going to come out on EU servers which bring us a spectator mode. I will analyze the most important changes in this patch which are worth mentioning and how they are going to affect champion picks in solo queue and 5v5 premade matches, as well as for new players starting their adventure with League of Legends.
Full patchnotes link:
http://na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=2077255
At the start let's talk about spectator mode changes to League of Legends:
• Spectate your Friends
-Added the ability to spectate games that friends are playing by right clicking their name in the buddy list
- Easily identify friends you can spectate by the eye icon near their name
• Featured Games
- The landing page will now host featured games that anyone can spectate
- Click the 'Watch Now' icon to view some of the most skilled players in League of Legends!
- Games cycle at regular intervals so be sure to check back often
• Directed Camera
- Implemented a directed camera mode that will automatically follow the action in game!
- The camera will seamlessly jump between champion fights and other critical moments
- Interesting events like Champion kills will be prioritized
- When multiple Champions are on the screen, the camera will automatically adjust to include them
• Timeshift Controls
- Spectators can now jump around the timeline of a live game to watch past events!
- Replay events in slow motion to review action-filled moments
- Spectators can now actively fast forward through the game
• Spectator announcer coverage will now report more events
• Updated spectator UI elements to respect colorblind mode (right one is colorblind mode)
Changes to interface and overall performance of game that come with this patch:
• Champion skin names will now be displayed on the load screen
• New option added: Show All Chat
- Cross-team chat in all games is now hidden by default
- Cross-team chat in spectated games will also be hidden by default
- If you enjoy competitive banter, opt-in using the new toggle in the 'More Options' menu!
• Announcements will now take up the same proportional amount of screen space regardless of the display resolution. The net result is a smaller size at smaller resolutions
• PvP.net Store
- Added an indicator to show owned rune content when attempting to purchase a new rune
- Rune purchases past the usable rune limit will now be prevented
There are as well new skins in this patch:
• Frostblade Irelia
• Rune Wars Renekton
Now more about changes for each specific champion and how it going to influence gameplay:
Taric
Nunu
Leona
Alistar
• Now gains 1.25 Magic Resist per level
Since those champions mostly don’t build a defensive items (since they are all supports = no farm and they need to build Gold per 10 items) it will be possibly only form of passive Magic Resist they are going to get. At max level it will increase MR by 22.5, which will increase damage reduction on those champions by around 10% at level 18.
Amumu
• Curse of the Sad Mummy (R) cooldown reduced to 150/130/110 seconds from 170/150/120 seconds
• Now gains 1.25 Magic Resist per level
At last Riot is buffing Amumu. I really think after those changes he might be really viable jungler in competitive scene, since his jungle clear speed is really good, his ganking potential is great after and before level 6, his team fighting is incredibly strong.
Annie
• Base Health increased to 460 from 424
• Incinerate (W) Mana cost reduced to 70/80/90/100/110 from 80/95/110/125/140
• Molten Shield (E)
- Duration reduced to 8 seconds from 15 seconds and cooldown reduced to 16 seconds from 30 seconds
- Mana cost reduced to 20 from 25
- Armor and Magic Resist increased to 20/30/40/50/60 from 10/20/30/40/50
Those are really interesting changes to Annie, which are going to make her quite tanky in early game. Increased HP and +10 resists (since you always leveled Molten Shield (E) as last anyway) are going to allow her sustain longer in teamfights and will allow her to trade better during laning phase.
Cho'gath
• Movement Speed increased to 320 from 315
Cho'gath as a pure tank and an initiator requires good movement speed. I guess RIOT tried to make him more popular by buffing his movement speed to be just a tiny bit easier to initiate with Cho'Gath. Not sure if it will change anything but I guess it is going to help.
Dr. Mundo
• Burning Agony (W)
- Now has a short cooldown upon activation (to avoid accidental disabling)
- Base damage reduced to 35/50/65/80/95 from 40/55/70/85/100
- Crowd control reduction decreased to 10/15/20/25/30% from 15/20/25/30/35%
• Sadism (R) cooldown increased to 75 seconds from 65 seconds
Few months ago everyone was thinking that Dr.Mundo was really bad pick, after M5 brought him in Kings of Europe (where Diamondprox did not so good with him), people started testing him and found out that he is viable. He became one of top picks in jungle from that moment on. Those nerfs are just to tune him down a little bit since his late game and his transition into late game are incredible. It won’t change anything and he is still going to be tier1 jungle champion.
Irelia
• Base health increased to 546 from 515
• Health per level increased to 90 from 85
• Base health regen per 5 increased to 7.5 from 6.5
• Base damage increased to 59.3 from 56.3
After recent Irelia nerf to her Hitten Style (W) most of top players stopped using her even Wickd (CLG.EU), who is known for his Irelia. Those buffs are to help her early levels since it was biggest issue - surviving on lane, because her teamfight power is great anyway.
Kog'maw
• Void Ooze (E) slow reduced to 20/28/36/44/52% from 28/36/44/52/60%
This is one of nerfs I am really happy about. Since I main junglers such as Udyr, Shyvanna and Mundo it was really annoying to play against Kog'maw that knew how to use this ability to its fullest. 60% slow was a bit too much in my opinion and even a small nerf makes me happy about it.
Lee Sin
• Iron Will (W) Life Steal and Spell Vamp reduced to 5/9/13/17/21% from 5/10/15/20/25%
• Safeguard (W) and Iron Will (W) cooldown increased to 9 seconds from 8 seconds
After Voyboy from Team Dignitas played a lot of the Lee Sin on toplane almost every game at IEM Hannover, many toplane players started to practice Lee Sin since his sustain and lane dominance are really high. Those nerfs are not a big deal in my honest opinion and still is going to be great agressive toplaner and a great heavy ganking jungler. I don't feel like this nerf is going to change anything.
Lulu
• Glitterlance (Q)
- Ability power ratio reduced to 0.6 from 0.7
- Mana cost increased at later ranks to 40/50/60/70/80 from 40/45/50/55/60
Lulu is really dominant laner and a great support AP. Her Glitterlance (Q) had not bad scaling for a support and a really low mana cost, which made her able to poke out anyone of the lane. I feel like they should nerf as well amount of slow from her Glitterance (Q), because in my opinion her 80% slow is a bit too much.
Master Yi
• Meditate (W) mana cost reduced to 70/80/90/100/110 from 70/85/100/115/130
• Highlander (R)
- Fixed a bug where assists with Highlander failed to reduce Alpha Strike's cooldown
- Duration changed to 8/10/12 seconds from 6/9/12 seconds
I was waiting for those changes for a quite some time. At last the level 1 Highlander (R) got its duration increased by fair amount so it won’t be countered so hard by Crowd Control abilities (6 seconds, which mostly 1-2 seconds was to catch up enemy then 2-3 seconds of stun meant your ultimate could be totally negated at level 1). Mana cost change to his Meditate (W) isn’t important at all since it was last skill you leveled-up anyways.
Miss Fortune
• Bullet Time (R) now deals physical damage
• Double Up (Q) secondary target damage increased to 120% from 115%
At last Ultimate got changes so it deals physical damage. As Miss Fortune was always supposed to be AD carry it was weird that it did magic damage and was not affected by Armor Penetration. With this change Miss Fortune is going to scale better into late game due to Last Whisper is going to work on her ultimate. Her Double Up (Q) buff was not really necessary, but it going to make her laning phase even more dominant.
Olaf
• Reckless Swing (E) cooldown increased to 9/8/7/6/5 seconds from 8/7/6/5/4 seconds
This change doesn't look like a big change, but if you look at this correctly it decrease a cooldown at max rank of Reckless Swing (E) by 25%. For abilities with a such low cooldown a change by 1 second is a big deal. Olaf recently was growing up to be one of the best toplaners and it's nice a nerf to him to tune him down a bit. Before this ability did 85 damage per second (with 4 sec cooldown) now it’s going to be 68 DPS so its -17 damage lower than before, which means nerf of damage over same cooldown by exactly 20%.
Ryze
• Base attack damage increased to 52 from 49
• Base missile speed increased to 2400 from 1400
• Animations updated for Overload, Rune Prison, and Spell Flux
• Overload (Q)
- Mana ratio reduced to 6.5% from 7.5%
- Ability power ratio increased to .4 from .2
- Overload base damage increased to 60/85/110/135/160 from 40/65/90/115/140
- Range reduced to 650 from 700
• Rune Prison (W)
- Mana ratio reduced to 4.5% from 5%
- Mana cost adjusted to 80/90/100/110/120 from 80/95/110/125/140
- Rune prison duration reduced to .75/1/1.25/1.5/1.75 seconds from 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds
• Spell Flux (E)
- Added a 1% mana ratio
- Missile speed reduced
- Bounce radius increased to 400 from 375
- Spell Flux now prioritizes enemy champions over Ryze
- Mana cost adjusted to 80/90/100/110/120 from 80/95/110/125/140
• Desperate Power (R)
- Passive mana component removed
- Active now adds 35/45/55 movement speed
Those are the biggest changes in a whole patch and to be honest I feel like they made Ryze even better. Only real nerf in those patch notes in the decreased range on his Overload (Q) by 50. Most incredible change is movement speed boost on his ultimate, which will allow him to position himself better in the team fights, allow him to chase down people, kite people or just simply could be used as defensive cooldown like Ghost. I don't think this was really needed to give him this movement speed boost, because it will make him even more OP. In competitive scene we are going to see even more Ryze bans.
Singed
• Base Health increased to 487 from 448
Sivir
• Boomerang Blade (Q) bonus attack damage ratio increased to 1.1 from 1.0
Sivir is still going to be a bit worse version of Graves, since she is as well an AD caster type of carry. Her biggest issue is not damage output but close range and lack of mobility / jump ability except ultimate that after nerfs isn't that good anymore.
Soraka
• Starcall (Q)
- Duration of Magic Resist reduction decreased to 5 seconds from 8 seconds
- Mana cost increased at later ranks to 20/35/50/65/80 from 20/30/40/50/60
• Infuse (E) will no longer target allied minions
• Astral Blessing (W) armor bonus adjusted to 25/45/65/85/105 from 25/50/75/100/125
Soraka is one of really annoying champions to deal with as support and as AP caster. Her mana cost on Starcall (Q) was so low she could easily push out anyone out of lane. Her Heal - Astral Blessing (W) could easily counter AD damage if put before huge physical damage output. Those changes won't change much, because she is still really good.
Talon
• Rake (W) mana cost reduced to 50/55/60/65/70 from 60/65/70/75/80
• Base armor increased to 20.5 from 18.5
I don't think those changes will bring Talon back since he is too easily countered on lane, and small mana cost buff and 2 armor won't make much difference if you look at big picture.
Udyr
• Turtle Stance (W) shield reduced to 60/95/130/165/200 from 60/100/140/180/220
I don't have much to say about this nerf. As one of top jungle picks and one of best toplaners that was needed to nerf his sustain by a small amount. Udyr was one of those champions that if got ahead he became this unstoppable force, which was tanky and dealt incredible damage.
Warwick
• Hungering Strike (Q) damage reduced to 8/10/12/14/16% from 8/11/14/17/20%
His Hungering Strike (Q) against a high HP champions was really strong since it based damage of it. Tuning it down was really needed since 20% of total hp for an ability that is on 6 second cooldown was really high.
There were additionally few other important changes in gameplay that involved:
Deathfire Grasp
• Now builds out of Blasting Wand and Kage's Lucky Pick (total cost reduced to 2600 from 2610)
• Now grants 80 Ability Power and 15% Cooldown Reduction, from 60 Ability Power, 12 MP5, and 15% Cooldown Reduction
• Increased cast range to 750 from 650
• Active base damage changed to 25% +4% per 100 AP of the target's current Health from 30% + 3.5%
Changes to Deathfire Grasp made it viable on wider range of champions since it no longer has mana regeneration and it's build from gold per 5 item. After this item change I'm almost sure we are going to see many AP carries and top lane AP going for Kage's Lucky Pick as one of first items.
Fiendish Codex
• Cost reduced to 1125 from 1245
Morello's Evil Tome
• Now builds out of Fiendish Codex and Kage's Lucky Pick (total cost reduced to 2330 from 2350)
• Now has Grievous Wounds active - Inflicts target enemy champion with Grievous Wound, causing 50% reduced healing and regeneration for 8 seconds (20 second cooldown)
For me it's really interesting item especially because its new active is on really low cooldown and can counter many champions such that are based of self healing such as Vladimir.
Sunfire Cape
• Aura damage increased to 40 from 35
I feel like only champions that this item was worth building only on an Amumu, Malphite and Shen since they benefit from having Magic Penetration. It will increase damage output from this item by so small amount, that I'm still not convinced it will be worth building.
Will of the Ancients
• Now builds out of Blasting Wand and Hextech Revolver
• Total cost increased to 2500 from 2100, combine cost reduced to 440 from 465
Huge nerf to double Will of the Ancients teamcomps. After introduction to two new AP items I feel like AP casters are going to make Hextech Revolver and skip upgrading it to Will of the Ancients untill late game, since there are so many new possiblities.
Atma's Impaler
Manamune
Archangel's Staff
Randuin's Omen
Force of Nature
Deathfire Grasp
- Tooltips now update dynamically
Nice change to item interface, since I really like to see exactly how much stats each item is giving me and it’s going to make item purchase decisions for new players much much easier.
Heal
• Base value reduced to 100 from 145
This change is actually a thing I was expecting, but in my honest opinion it was not needed. Since a lot of Asian teams were already running an Exhaust + Flash on support and Ignite +Flash on an AD carry to make it extremely aggressive lane, I feel like now more teams from NA and EU are going to move into that direction, because the Ignite is even better counter to a Heal after this change (Some simple calculations - before it was 170 heal x 50% (ignite heal reduction) = 85 heal at level 1 vs 70 ignite at level 1, so heal was more efficient, even when used while ignite was on you, After this change Ignite is going to be more effective - 125 heal x 50% (ignite heal reduction) = 62.5 heal vs 70 ignite, so ignite is going to be more effective). Basically we will probably see less people picking a Heal and more Ignite on a bottom lane on an AD carry.
Turret
• Base damage decreased but armor penetration and damage to minions increased
I didn’t test or even noticed this change on the PBE, but it seems like it will be a bit easier to dive on earlier levels. Personally I don’t like this change since Alistar level 3+ ganks are going to be even scarier. Even now if enemy was at 50% HP it was possible to easily dive him with Alistar as a jungler.
Summary of this patch:
- Buffs - Taric, Nunu, Leona, Alistar, Amumu, Annie, Cho'Gath, Irelia, Master Yi, Miss Fortune, Singed, Sivir, Talon, Ryze, Deathfire Grasp, Fiendish Codex, Sunfire Cape, Morello's Evil Tome;
- Nerfs - Dr.Mundo, Kog'Maw, Lee Sin, Lulu, Olaf, Soraka, Udyr, Warwick, Will of the Ancients, Heal,