Rengar, the Pridestalker: Nerfed or buffed?

The second patch of this preseason for League of Legends brought with it a multitude of champion and item changes. One of the champions most affected is Rengar, the Pridestalker. This update softened earlier nerfs that developers felt went too far: Riot gave Bonetooth Necklace back some flat attack damage, increased Savagery’s attack speed buff duration, increased Thrill of the Hunt’s duration and reduced its delay time.

However, the status of the change to the heal on Battle Roar is at first glance unclear. Riot removed one of Rengar’s core mechanics in his percent-based heal and replaced it with a flat heal that scales per level. Is this update a nerf, a buff, or somewhere in the middle?

Battle Roar
Empowered Battle Roar now heals for 60-400 (based on champion level) instead of 10% of Rengar’s health.

Players saw Rengar’s percent heal as one of main reasons he was overpowered in earlier patches. Rengar could stack health items and become an immovable object in lane because he gained more sustain based on how much health he had. That has now changed.

Rengar will now heal for a set amount regardless of how much maximum health he has. The graph below shows the “break-even” point between the old heal and the new one.

Picture courtesy of counterganked.wordpress.com

The graph asks a simple question: How much bonus health does Rengar have at each level? If the value falls below the line, the new heal is more effective. If it’s above that line, the old heal would have been more powerful.

Rengar has 520 health at level one without any bonuses from runes or masteries, which means that the old Battle Roar healed him for 52 health at level one. The new heal is slightly stronger: it heals for 60 health at level one.

Rengar gains 85 health per level, resulting in 1,965 HP at level 18. The graph above shows how much bonus health Rengar must have at each level for the old heal to surpass the new heal.

For example, if a level 10 Rengar has a Warmog’s Armor and no other sources of bonus health, the new heal is just as effective as it was before. 

To demonstrate this further: a level-18 Rengar would need more than 2,035 bonus health for the old heal to be more effective. Any time a Rengar has less bonus HP than that at level 18, the new heal is stronger. It’s realistic for a level 18 Rengar to have more than 2,035 bonus health: Warmog’s Armor, Randuin’s Omen and Sunfire Cape give a combined 1,950 HP. Augmented by runes and masteries, it’s certainly possible to surpass the break-even point.

However, this change makes Rengar’s heal effective regardless of how much health he has. Just as FeralPony outlined in the patch note video, Rengar players can now choose to build more damage items without losing sustain.

Bottom line: The change to Rengar’s heal was largely neutral. He can build more damage items without losing out on sustain, but Rengar players building purely health items will lose a miniscule amount of healing. Given the other changes in this patch, Rengar has been considerably buffed overall.