The League of Legends patch 8.17 was released on August 28. It comes with a number of small tweaks that are adjusting the meta for the upcoming 2018 World Championship. Let’s take a look at the top changes that will affect Solo Queue and competitive play!
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League of Legends Patch 8.17
Nunu Rework
Nunu or, rather, Nunu & Willump has been overhauled! The rework preserves a number of trademark traits like true damage nukes against monsters, attack speed/movement speed buffs for allies, and even the channeling AoE ultimate. However, Nunu can also Consume [Q] champions, knock up foes with the Biggest Snowball Ever [W] and suppress enemies with Snowball Barrages [E]. Sounds exciting? Check out this link to learn more about the rework!
Annie Attack Range Increase
Annie had her basic attack range increased from 575 to 625! Now, this might sound insignificant, and it probably is if you’re talking about the mid lane. But it’s worth considering that the range nerf was one of the things that pushed Annie out of the support role. And now that it’s been reverted, the Dark Child might once again find her way into the bot lane.
Irelia Gets Better Wave Clear
The Blade Dancer also saw a seemingly minor change. That is, Bladesurge [Q] now deals 100% damage to minions instead of 70%. Wave clear has always been the thing that makes or breaks mid lane champions. and even a small buff like that can lead to Irelia regaining her old dominance.
Varus Base Stats Nerfs
It’s no secret that Varus is the go-to marksman for most pro player. Well, things are about to change because the Arrow of Retribution had his base health reduced from 549 to 499. His health growth stat was also bumped down from 89 to 86, so Varus will be much squishier in lane and out of it.
The Return of Jungle Wukong?
The recent rune changes haven’t been kind to Wukong. However, Riot doesn’t seem to be looking to bring him back to the solo lanes. Instead, they’re giving him 8% extra attack speed at level 1 to make the initial jungle clear a bit easier for the Monkey King. Now, this isn’t a huge change, but it will definitely push a number of players to experiment with jungle Wukong.
Stormrazor Nerf
Ever since the marksman nerfs, Stormrazor became the primary band-aid solution for AD carry players. The item offers way too much burst from auto attacks, and while it does fall off later on, it’s still a great choice for anyone looking to get an early game power spike. Riot is addressing this by changing the critical strike modifier from 160-200% to 140-200% and reducing the attack damage from 65 to 60. To make up for the change, the item will grant 35% bonus attack speed instead of 25%. Still, this is a sizeable nerf to Stormrazor, and while the item will still be popular among marksmen, it definitely won’t be as oppressive.
Duskblade Burst Nerf
In a similar fashion, Duskblade procs brought too much damage to the table. With patch 8.17, the Duskblade-empowered auto attacks will deal 30-150 damage instead of 30-200 damage. Granted, the item did get 3 extra points of lethality, but this is still an overall nerf to its burst.
That’s it for top changes of the League of Legends patch 8.17! You can check the complete patch notes here, and we’ll see you on the Summoner’s Rift.