League of Legends patch.3 was released on February 6. Let’s see what are the most impactful changes that will reshape the landscape of Solo Queue and competitive play!
SWAIN REWORK IS OUT
That’s right! Swain finally went from the resident bird person to an accurate representation of the Noxian Grand General. We’re not going to break down his entire kit, but to give you a quick preview, he can siphon souls, enhance crowd control and transform into a demonic monstrosity. Hell, one of his abilities even allows you to snipe people halfway across the map!
Our only worry is that he’s looking like a weird mix of Galio and Vladimir, but hey, first impressions can be mistaken. Find out more about the new Swain here!
AZIR GETS NERFED
It’s about time for some Azir nerfs! The emperor of Shurima turned into the go-to mid laner both in Solo Queue and pro play. His combination of sustained damage and long-ranged poke is a bit too hard to handle, so Riot’s increasing the cooldown on Conquering Sands [Q] at early ranks. More importantly, attacks from Arise! [W] will now draw minion aggro, so sand soldiers won’t be as oppressive in lane.
These changes don’t completely nullify Azir’s strengths. On the contrary, he preserves his identity of one of the best scaling mid laners in the game. But his newfound weaknesses make it easier to exploit him in the laning phase.
KOG’MAW LOSES SCALING
Meanwhile, League’s trademark hypercarry—Kog’Maw—lost a sizeable chunk of damage in the late game. Bio-Arcane Barrage [W] now deals damage equal to 5% of target’s maximum health at max rank (compared to 7% before the patch). We still expect Kog’Maw to hit like a truck in the mid game. That being said, other hypercarries like Jinx and Tristana will become more useful as the game goes on.
MASTER YI BUFFS
Ordinarily, Master Yi buffs are nothing to write home about. And indeed, the mana cost reduction on Alpha Strike [Q] is a minor, albeit welcome change. However, the tweaks to Wuju Style [E] are much more interesting. Not only does the ability deal more base damage in the early game, which is bound to make Yi better at dueling and clearing camps, but the scaling was increased from 25% to 35% bonus AD. Obviously, this isn’t going to make Master Yi into a staple competitive pick, but the buffs will be noticeable in Solo Queue.
RYZE LOSES GET-OUT-OF-JAIL-FREE CARD
Yeap, you heard it right! The interaction between Realm Warp [Q] and Stopwatch/Zhonya’s Hourglass was completely removed from the game. If you’re not sure what the deal was, Ryze could cast his ultimate and activate Stopwatch to get out of a sticky situation without any counterplay. No more, though! This is a great change for competitive play since Ryze players will have to be much more careful about their positioning.
INSPIRATION RUNES CHANGED
After the nerfs to other rune trees, Inspiration became far too impactful. Riot is addressing this by bringing down the summoner spell CDR on Unsealed Spellbook from 25% to 15%. Additionally, Stopwatch is now in the same tier as Magical Footwear, so players will have to choose between the two. Of course, you shouldn’t expect the Inspiration path to fall out of favor, but this should keep it in line with other options.
That’s it for our top changes of patch 8.3! You can check the complete patch notes here, and we’ll see you on the Rift!