Patch Day: Quinn

Quinn should soon be released, but in the meantime her patch brings with it a crapton of notable changes.

Amumu has been nerfed. Reducing the damage on his Bandage Toss and range on his ultimate makes him a less scary initiator. These changes, however, concern me. Perhaps it's different in some other tier of play, but he didn't strike me as anything more than decent. Riot would do well to avoid a game of perpetual whack-a-mole, where anything that's being picked frequently must be nerfed.

Ashe, Tristana, and Vayne received minor buffs. For some time these champions have been second tier picks due to either poor mid-game performance or reliance on outside protection. The buffs will help a little, but more than anything else they'll simply remind people these champions exist (and aren't as bad as people think).

The change to Darius' ultimate addresses a common abuse case. Getting killed by his ultimate once essentially set off a chain of inevitable executions. Riot's changes should do exactly as they've stated, removing this unfun situation without impacting Darius' teamfighting.

The Garen nerfs represent another case of proactive balance. He frequently got a little too tanky with too little effort, so a minor nerf to his durability is useful. However, I also didn't think him more than decent, so he is another "whack-a-mole" case from my perspective.

Hecarim is getting nerfed. The fact that Spirit of Dread has higher healing at low ranks is a red herring, the loss of 10% healing at maximum rank as well as the increased cooldown at lower ranks makes the ability much weaker. The slight buff to Rampage doesn't make up for this. Perhaps he needed it, but Hecarim was only a fixture of the NA meta (EU largely ignored him), and so I call into question the necessity of the changes.

Kayle also received nerfs, despite Riot's dancing around that word. In her case it was likely necessary, as she was not only a first pick/ban in tournaments but a powerful choice in any tier of play. That said, removing the damage amplification from her Reckoning and replacing it with a single stack of her passive makes it the most underwhelming debuff application I can think of.

Meanwhile, Nidalee is losing all her bonus Armor and Magic Resist. This essentially kills Bruiser and Tank Nidalee. Given Nidalee's recent popularity as an AP champion this may be warranted, but it does kill off a once-popular build.

Taric received some notable buffs. While he needs 250 Armor to give an equivalent armor buff to his team as before, Taric's laning phase was always less about his Armor aura and more about his stun -> ult+Shatter combo. That now does more damage and costs less mana, meaning Taric is actually scarier than before.

Tryndamere's once overpowered sustain from Ability Power is being significantly nerfed. As even I was able to play him top without issue, it's probably a necessary nerf.

Vi and Xin Zhao, NA's most popular junglers, are both receiving nerfs. Vi was simply able to clear too quickly and deal too much damage, whereas Xin Zhao had too much sticking power and damage even when building tanky. They'll still be strong, just slightly less so.

Zed's changes don't really change anything. A slight damage boost on later ranks of his shuriken doesn't remotely make it as good as his AoE. You can still use the latter twice as often, making it much more important for both wave clear, damage, and stacking with his ultimate.

Overall the patch changes worry me. Aside from a few token buffs, it's all nerfs. While it's good to try to avoid power creep by favoring nerfs more than buffs, this patch was very, very heavy on the latter. I'd rather they err a little more toward buffing weak champions, or letting the players find counters to popular champions.

There are also some item changes to consider this patch.

Warmog's Armor dropped to 1% maximum Health regenerated every 5 seconds. This is a very significant nerf, though Warmog's position as the largest, most cost efficient Health item remains.

The Bilgewater Cutlass changes convince me that no champion should bother getting Hextech Gunblade any more. Unless you can make very good use of Cutlass (which is significantly less inspiring than before), it's not a very fruitful build path. As a step toward Blade of the Ruined King, however, Cutlass is a worthy item.

Blade of the Ruined King is currently overpowered and is definitely going to get nerfed. What made Madred's Bloodrazor so bad was its heft cost (3800 gold) and inefficiency (magic damage on a physical damage champion is awkward). Blade of the Ruined King is almost 1000 gold cheaper, has a Deathfire Grasp-esque active ability, and does physical damage. You're going to see a lot of this item before it's hotfixed.

That's all for this patch. Hopefully we'll see Quinn before long.

Season 3: Blade of the Ruined King

Today we have an item which isn't new per se, but was never seen on Summoner's Rift before Season 3: Blade of the Ruined King

Blade of the Ruined King: (2900g)
40 Attack Damage
10% Life Steal
Passive: UNIQUE - Your attacks deal 4% of your target's current health in physical damage and heal you for half the amount (120 versus versus minions).
Active: UNIQUE - Drains target champion, dealing 150 (+50% of Attack Damage) physical damage and healing you for the same amount. Additionally you steal 30% of their Movement Speed for 2 seconds. 60 second cooldown. 500 range.

Blade of the Ruined King (BotRK) is an interesting item because it seems to overlap significantly with Bloodthirster. Both give Attack Damage and Life Steal, but BotRK trades a significant chunk of both for passive and active effects of difficult to ascertain value. Why have both on Summoner's Rift?

The answer is survival. The Movement Speed changes in Season 3 dramatically favor situational actives. Even Furor, the Tier 3 Enchant, requires single target attacks for its 12%, decaying boost. BotRK possesses one of these situational actives, useful both for chasing someone in close range or escaping. I'm highlighting it today due to a problem commonly facing AD Carries.

While the current Black Cleaver-laden meta will fade the moment its inevitable nerfs land, several aspects of Season 3, and the game in general, have become plain. Teams that can simply dive your most vulnerable players are powerful even in the face of teams with significant crowd control. One player diving can be stopped, but three or four players who coordinate and avoid unnecessary clustering will demolish your principal damage dealers before they can contribute. Against many teams the glass cannon builds of the past are simply a quick ticket to the afterlife.

BotRK is one tool to help combat this. It's no Flash, Heal, or Exhaust, but still provides a tool for surviving, escaping, and kiting a bruiser or assassin who's jumped you. A full build won't help you if you can't distance yourself from the foes clamoring for your head.

Runaan's Hurricane makes an excellent companion to this item. The additional attacks also proc the full damage of the passive, tripling the potential healing. Combined with Bloodthirster you can very quickly heal any incidental damage from a team fight, or even tank to an extent.

If AD Carry is your forte but the big scary bruisers have been crimping your style lately, BotRK may be the item for you. It's no substitute for good positioning, but it can still make all the difference.