League of Legends’ ranked season 11 may have just started, but the new Mythic and Legendary items introduced in the preseason are already having a major impact on Summoner’s Rift.
For Patch 11.2, which is expected to drop on Jan. 21 alongside League’s newest jungler, Viego, some of these items will be getting major adjustments while others are receiving some fine-tuning to reintroduce them into the fray.
Mark Yetter, League’s gameplay designer, revealed in a Patch 11.2 preview today that the main target of the nerfs are Mythic items, particularly those used by some of the champions with the highest win rates. These changes haven’t been revealed yet, but Yetter said more information is coming tomorrow. Extensive buffs and general adjustments have also been revealed that look at the costs of many items that are important to meta champions’ kits.
Hextech Rocketbelt, Galeforce, and Imperial Mandate are on the list to receive those nerfs in 11.2 following their dominance in the preseason and start of season 11. Rocketbelt has been a great option for AP assassins and fighters, such as Fizz, Ekko, and Gragas, who use the item’s unique active ability to engage quickly on opponents while also doing major AP damage to them before even using their abilities.
Some ADCs have seen major win rate increases thanks to the helpfulness of Galeforce, whose active is similar to Rocketbelt but without the AP damage. Jhin, Miss Fortune, and Jinx are just a few of the champions that have had success with this item, which lets them get out of sticky situations and gives them another flash on a shorter cooldown. Jhin alone thrives with this item since he has no form of speeding himself up and benefits greatly from hitting that fourth shot, now without the fear of being one-shot by an assassin.
Imperial Mandate is a contender for one of the strongest Mythic items in the preseason. The item is specified for supports with crowd control, but many mages have found synergy building the item with Rylai’s Crystal Scepter’s slow passive.
Although the damage increase from Imperial Mandate from the user’s crowd control has been nerfed, new strategies have developed in the bot lane that center around both the ADC (or replacement mage) and support building the item, then snowballing through the lane. Champion combos featuring Ashe, Anivia, Swain, and Galio have emerged that result in enemies taking tremendous amounts of damage once Imperial Mandate has been bought by both.
A large number of other items are set to receive buffs and adjustments, either due to their prevalence on many different champions or their lack of power.
This patch preview’s buffs target mostly tank items, looking to bring more variety into a role where Sunfire Aegis continues to reign supreme. Turbo Chemtank, a new Mythic introduced in the preseason, is having its cost lowered from 3,200 gold to 2,800 gold, as well as increases to the Ability Haste it gives and decreased magic resist. Its Mythic passive is also being changed to give five Ability Haste to all Legendary items.
Frostfire Gauntlet is seeing similar changes, including the same cost change but accompanied by an Ability Haste increase from 15 to 20 and armor decrease from 50 to 25. Gargoyle Stoneplate, on the other hand, will have its active resistance increase raised to five percent when damaged by enemy champions.
An item that’s fallen out of ADC builds as of late is Essence Reaver, but these upcoming buffs could make it a profitable option as a second or third item. Essence Reaver is one of the only ADC items that provides mana restore. And to keep up with the massive changes to mana items, it will now have that restore scale off 40 percent of the champion’s base AD and 16 percent bonus AD.
The various item adjustments tackle many issues regarding the prices of overused and underused items, as well as subtle tweaks to two Mythic items.
Phantom Dancer and Runaan’s Hurricane will have their costs increased from 2,500 gold to 2,600 but will receive a bonus five percent increase to the attack speed that they give. Umbral Glaive and Serpent’s Fang’s costs will be lowered from 2,800 gold to 2,600. But to compensate for this better availability to players, they’ll both have their AD decreased by five—as well as a build path change for Glaive. Similarly, Chempunk Chainsword’s cost will be decreased from 2,700 gold to 2,600 but will come at the cost of 50 lowered health.
Sunfire Aegis and Shureliya’s Battlesong make the list of Mythic items being adjusted in Patch 11.2 as of now, looking at their synergies with other items as well as overall usefulness in comparison with other Mythics. The tank item that decimated the preseason and has since received extensive nerfs will have its Mythic passive changed to give five percent tenacity and slow resist added to each Legendary item, giving it back a bit of the power that was ripped away from it.
Shureliya’s Battlesong has been an underused item by supports since many look to build Moonstone Renewer for its assistance in healing teammates or Imperial Mandate for its sheer power. Therefore, at the cost of 150 health, its movement speed will be replaced by 40 AP, its base mana regen will be increased to 100 percent, and it has a new build path. All of these changes may make it a contender for a must-build item as an engage support.
The only rune seeing a change at this moment is Ravenous Hunter, which will have its Omnivamp per stack decreased from two percent to 1.7 percent. This may not mean much for jungle assassins, though.
Yetter also said in a follow-up tweet that Kraken Slayer’s damage for on-hit champions will also be seeing some reductions. But like the Mythic item nerfs, specifics will likely be coming tomorrow.
All of the item changes detailed in this preview for Patch 11.2 are tentative and may be altered prior to their release on the live servers.
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