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Of patch 4.5 There were a few huge changes, here’s a quick rundown, I’m also including the Kassadin rework of patch 4.4.
- Index:
Reworks:
- Kassadin
- Rengar
- Gragas
Nerfs:
- Khazix
- Wukong
- Lee Sin
- Lulu
- Renekton
Buffs:
- Miss Fortune
- Dragon
Item Changes:
- New Items:
- Feral Flare
- Aether Wisp
- Forbidden Idol
Item Balancing:
- Boots
Rune Changes
Summoner Spell Changes:
Reworks:
Kassadin received nerfs to his base damage all around. In exchange his damage output is now reliant on his mana pool and he gets a free shield whenever he casts Q-Null Sphere. What this means is that his laning phase is buffed slightly but his midgame is nerfed. Kassadin now has to play for lategame, which is when he’ll have the most amount of mana. He’s forced to buy Seraphs embrace and Rod of Ages which are both late game items. His lane phase is stronger due to the fact that he can get a free shield during exchanges and a quick burst auto attack from his W-Nether blade which now only buffs one auto attack. I haven’t seen him picked or banned for a while now.
Rengar received some large changes to his playstyle. His E-Bola strike is now a skill shot, and overall his base damage, tankiness, and utility was buffed while his sccalings were nerfed. Riot also added a mark that appears above your head if a rengar is near you while he in ult stealth. Essentially, Rengar is now better played as a hard tank carry as opposed to the old insta-kill assasin. From my personal experience he is now very, very difficult to kill, but lost his assasination potential. In my opinion he received a pretty heavy nerf to his late game power since the only two things that matter late game are high damage and hard CC, he now only has an empowered 1.75 second skill-shot root.
Gragas was also reworked, turned from a tanky mage burster into a tanky cc champion. His playstyle has basically completely changed. In exchange for his old damage output (He lost .4 AP scaling and base damage nerfs), Gragas has gained a slow from his Q-barrel roll, a stun/knockback from his E-body slam, and a single auto attack buff from his W-drunken rage which now lets him walk around. Not to mention he now gets magic resist per level and gains 4% of his max health instantly per spell cast every 8 seconds. In my opinion he’s in the same boat as Leona, a hard CC tanky mage with low ap scalings. This is a hard hit to old Gragas players, his place in a team has changed completely.
Nerfs
Not anything too large but there were slight nerfs to champions who’ve been considered a little overpowered these last few weeks:
Khazix: Cooldown time between Ult casts and no longer reduces turret damage
Wukong: R-Cyclone ad ratio nerfed and Armor shred from Q- Crushing Blow reduced
Lee Sin: W-Safeguard has an increased 14 second cooldown if used onto a ward, but a 7 second cooldown if used on an ally/himself.
Lulu: E- Help, Pix! Base damage nerfed
Renekton: R-Dominus health gain and aoe magic damage nerfed early game and buffed late game
Buffs:
Miss fortune: Overall damage increased, Q-Double up cooldown reduced to 3 seconds at max level
Dragon Pit: Dragon is now tankier and deals more damage
Item Changes:
New Items:
Feral Flare: A new jungle item that builds off of Wriggle’s Lantern, it gives you a ward that has a increased casting range, and extra damage per auto attack which scales off of the number of assists/kills/jungle camps you kill. This is a jungle item for auto attack heavy champions, do not pick this up if you rely on spell casts to kill.
Aether Wisp: An intermediate item for Lichbane and Twin shadows, it gives Ability power and movespeed
Forbidden Idol: An intermediate item for Morellonomicon and Talisman of Ascension, it gives mana regen and cooldown reduction
Item Balancing: Boots
Nerfs:
Homeguard: Restores more health/mana per second instead of max health/mana
Buffs:
Alacrity: 5 more movespeed
Captain: 2% more movespeed for allies
Furor: Cheaper (475 now)
Distortion: Increases movespeed after using teleport/flash/ghost, CDR reduction reduced to 20%
Rune Changes
Nerfs:
Flat Armor Seals and Lifesteal Quints
Buffs:
Hp/Regen/Armor/Cooldown Runes all buffed
In my opinion you don’t really need to change your page unless you’re confident with your early game. If you have confidence that you won’t lose lane phase to a physical dps carry then I’d suggest using per level health/armor seals