League of Legends patch 8.2 hit the Rift on January 24. Rest assured, it’s going to alter the way the game’s played, so let’s break down the most impactful changes!
Champions
Jinx turns into scaling monster
It’s no secret that Jinx became one of the least popular AD carries in the bot lane. Well, things are about to change because Jinx received several buffs to her scaling! For one, Get Excited! [Passive] now allows her to surpass the attack speed cap, although the effect doesn’t stack anymore. And Switcheroo! [Q] grants a massive 130% attack speed increase at max rank (compared to 70% before the patch).
Of course, these changes do little to fix her early game. In fact, Jinx’s base attack damage was slightly reduced, so her laning phase is as vulnerable as ever. But the fact that Jinx can now match—or even outscale—other hypercarries makes her viable once again.
Malzahar’s burst nerfs
Few champions are as frustrating to deal with as Malzahar. The point-and-click spells are hard to avoid, and the burst makes it next to impossible to trade with the Void Prophet. Riot recognized the issue and reduced the scaling on Call of the Void [Q] from 0.8 to 0.65 bonus AP. Additionally, Nether Grasp’s [R] cooldown was increased at early ranks, so you’ll have a larger window of opportunity once Malzahar casts his ult.
Nunu gets a buff… for his buff
When a champion becomes so bad it’s considered a troll pick, you know you’ve got a problem on your hands. That being said, we’re not sure about the direction Riot’s taking our favorite Yeti rider. The addition of the on-hit damage to Consume [Q] is a welcome change for most junglers. However, the massive 40% AP increase on Blood Boil [W] makes us think that Nunu might be turning into a glorified buff bot. And that means Nunu support is coming back, baby!
Ornn isn’t unstoppable
Let’s face it, changes were overdue for Ornn. The Forge God has an incredibly potent combination of =base damage and innate tankiness that makes it impossible to lane against. But Riot didn’t address that. Instead, they removed the unstoppable effect from Bellows Breath [W] and increased Call of the Forge God [R] cooldown at all ranks. And while this will definitely make Ornn easier to lock down, we can’t help thinking these changes don’t fix his core issues.
Vayne scaling reduced
Some League of Legends pros believe that every time Vayne becomes meta, bot lane is in an unhealthy place. Looks like Riot is inclined to agree. Vayne received a nerf to her attack speed growth stat (from 4% to 3.3%), and the bonus attack damage on her ultimate (from 30/50/70 to 20/30/40). With that, Riot is hitting Vayne’s late game scaling, and you’ll have to focus more on outplaying your opponents if you want to make the Night Hunter work.
Goodbye Sightstone
That’s right, Sightstone was completely removed from the game. Moreover, gone are the items like Frost Queen’s Claim, Talisman of Ascension, and Face of the Mountain. Oh, and old support quests were completely abandoned. Now, Frostfang, Nomad’s Medallion, and Targon’s Brace will grant wards (i.e. old Sightstone active) once you generate 500 gold and complete their new quest. Of course, you can still upgrade them by throwing in a Ruby Crystal and 550 gold, so you won’t be losing any stats. But this change means that wards will be much more accessible, and supports will have more resources to work with.
Aftershock damage nerfed, tankiness buffed
It’s true that Aftershock was overtuned. And we wholeheartedly agree with the decision to reduce its damage by 30 at lower levels. However, the change to increase its flat resistance bonus to 70-120 (up from 20) strikes us as nothing but bizarre. And sure, Aftershock scales worse in the late game. But does it really matter when this keystone will make most tanks unkillable in lane?
Kleptomancy tweaks
Kleptomancy is obnoxious to play against. After all, if you’re getting grazed by enemy spells, the other guy is already winning by generating more gold. Riot is taking steps towards fixing this by ‘significantly’ decreasing the item drop rate in the first 15 minutes of the game. Afterward, the drop rate will be slightly decreased for melee champions (rejoice Gangplank mains!) and significantly decreased for their ranged counterparts (goodbye, Ezreal). Also, sell value for Kleptomancy items will be 20% lower, so you will be inclined to use them as they come.
Precision rune nerfs
That’s right, Precision runes are taking a hit. For starters, Coup de Grace had its damage reduced from 9% to 7%. The Last Stand suffered a similar fate, and its damage dropped from 12% to 11%, and Triumph had its gold on kill value decreased by 5. These are all steps in the right direction, but we’d have liked to see a more significant nerf to Triumph. After all, the fact that it grants so much health ‘for free’ feels cheap.
Targeted spells draw aggro
Last but not least, Riot is changing the way targeted abilities work. Now when champions like Annie, Pantheon, and Cassiopeia poke you with their spells, your minions will step in to protect you. This completely alters the way laning phase works. Wave manipulation, in particular, becomes more difficult, and you’ll have to be smarter about the way you pressure your opponents with point-and-click abilities.
That’s it for our top changes of patch 8.2! As always, you can check the complete patch notes here, and we’ll see you on Summoner’s Rift!