Patch 7.16 is the playoffs patch, so don’t expect it to affect the League of Legends landscape too much. That said there are plenty of changes pros will have to consider. Let’s take a look at them!
Champions
Caitlyn – Substantial Nerfs
Despite recent nerfs to Caitlyn’s attack speed, the champion is still in the must-pick-or-ban status, Riot is addressing the issue by making her Piltover Peacemaker [Q] deal less damage to anything beyond the first target hit (from 67% to 50%) and merfing her Yordle Snap Traps [W]. Now, traps will do much less bonus damage at early ranks and have less AD scaling too. Ultimately, this doesn’t push out The Sheriff of Piltover out of the meta, although it does give her more defined weaknesses.
Fiora – Minor Buff
It doesn’t seem like Riot knows what to do with Fiora. Even though they’ve just nerfed the movement speed on her ultimate, they’re now bringing it back up (from 30% to 45% at max rank). This change seems haphazard since it doesn’t address Fiora’s laning phase while giving her even more firepower in the late game.
Kayn – Massive Nerf
Despite the fact that this change comes under the guise of a bug fix, Kayn mains weep all around the world. Corruption Potion, Deathfire Touch, Red Buff, and Challenging Smite will no longer stack up Kayn’s passive, making it that much harder for him to transform. This is a massive hit to the champion’s laning phase, and since Kayn was already a sketchy pick in competitive, we doubt we’ll see much more of him.
Maokai – Minor Nerf
Sapling Toss [E] now deals less damage at early ranks. While this will definitely affect Maokai’s clear speed, the main reason teams pick Maokai is his robust frontlining, which isn’t going away anytime soon.
Sion – Minor Buffs
Sion’s Soul Furnace [W] grants more bonus health per small unit killed (from 2 to 3), but the real kicker is his ultimate. Unstoppable Onslaught [R] will inflict a whopping 1200 maximum damage at level 16 (up from 900). The only issue here is that Sion is an incredibly niche pick on the competitive stage, and considering how hitting his ultimate is no easy task, we’re not expecting the Undead Juggernaut to come back.
Vi – Substantial Buffs
Vi’s Excessive Force [E] can no longer be canceled after the animation starts and her Assault and Battery [R] has a lower cooldown at all ranks. These changes are great for the Vi mains out there, but in pro play, The Piltover Enforcer just doesn’t bring as much to the table as most meta junglers.
Cassiopeia – Substantial Nerf
How often have we seen a Cassiopeia run down the opposing mid laner at level 1? Well, the tactic will no longer be an option because Cassiopeia’s base mana was reduced from 375 to 334 and her mana growth stat was buffed from 60 to 63 to make up for the change. Not only that, but Twin Fangs [E] had their mid-game damage taken down a bit in favor of a slight AP scaling increase.
Corki – Minor Nerf
Corki’s base damage was reduced from 58 to 55. This is a nice change, considering that the champion was already turning into a hyperscaling monster, so his potent laning phase made him a bit overbearing.
Fizz – Minor Buff
Fizz is about to get even more slippery with an early rank cooldown reduction on his Playful / Trickster [E]. This is an obvious buff to his laning phase, which might actually bring the champion back as a niche counter pick.
Galio – Substantial Nerf
The Colossal Gargoyle had its Hero’s Entrance [R] cooldown increased at levels 6 and 11 while losing 10% ally damage reduction at max rank. Even though this change won’t render the champion useless, Galio players will have to be much more selective about using their ultimate.
LeBlanc – Minor Nerf
League’s illusionist had the minion damage on Shatter Orb [Q] reduced from 80% to 60%. This tweak is a bit out of nowhere since LeBlanc was already far from being oppressive. And now, she’s bound to struggle even more against champions with wave clear.
Orianna – Substantial Nerfs
There’s no denying that Orianna is one of the most well-rounded champions in the game. Even though she rarely takes over the mid lane, it’s hard to find a matchup where she’s on the losing end.
Riot is addressing this by taking away 10 damage from her Command: Dissonance [W] and making the spell activate closer to the ball. If that wasn’t enough, Orianna also loses 20 points of shield at all ranks of Command: Protect [E]. In spite of these changes, Orianna’s potent teamfighting and superb synergy with other champions will likely keep her in the meta.
Syndra – Minor Nerfs
Syndra’s Dark Sphere [Q] lost 0.10 ability power scaling while Scatter the Weak [E] got 0.10 ability power scaling in return. Syndra will have a tougher time trading in lane by spamming Q’s, but her burst combo will remain unchanged.
Taliyah – Substantial Nerf
For a champion that’s so adept at roaming, Taliyah was a bit too safe. The Stoneweaver had her Threaded Volley [Q] mana cost increased at every rank, making it that much harder to spam the ability in the early game. And even though the change hurts, Taliyah’s kit is too good to pass up on, so we’ll likely continue seeing her on the competitive stage.
Ancient Coin – Substantial Nerf
Mana coins will now restore 10% of the missing mana instead of 15%! While this does fix the absurd amounts of sustainability the item brought to the table, it does little to address Ancient Coin’s insane gold generation. And until that’s fixed, don’t expect the item to go away anytime soon.
Enchantment: Cinderhulk – Minor Nerf
Cinderhulk had its cost increased by 75 gold. Even though this is a relatively small nerf, it can mess up the timings of tank junglers, considering they’ll have to do an additional camp to upgrade their jungle item.
That’s all for our patch 7.16 breakdown! We hope our analysis will make it easier for you to see the latest trends in the League of Legends meta. And as always, we’ll see you on the Rift!