What’s up guys it’s me Jeremy!
You know Patch 6.24 had quite a lot of big changes, but there were actually a lot of
champions that Riot had mentioned might be getting some buffs in 6.24 that never showed
up.
Either way we’ve got confirmation that these champion buffs are scheduled for the future,
so today we’re looking at all the champions that Riot have confirmed are in line for some
awesome buffs!
And if you enjoy the video definitely hit that like button because if this video hits,
let’s say ratings, then I’m gonna .
The first champion on our list is a name a lot of players won’t have heard in a long
time - Aatrox!
Riot Axes confirmed on the League boards that Riot are indeed looking to ship some changes
for Aatrox in the future.
As with a bunch of the other champions on our list, the aim was to get changes out for
6.24, but they haven’t landed yet which could imply that either the buffs weren’t
quite suitable, or maybe there are more changes due than just a few simple improvements.
It looks like buffs to Aatrox are likely to be in the form of a mini-rework rather than
buffs, but either way they are more likely going to be updating him early next year.
There was a lot of discussion around updating Aatrox as part of the Diver Class Update,
so it’s quite surprising Riot are going to change him directly.
That’s probably good evidence that the Diver Update is being delayed in favor of the Tank
update, so they want to make Aatrox a bit more viable for the time being since Riot
now he’s almost never played at all.
Phreak actually weighed in with his thoughts on Aatrox on the League of Legends subreddit,
saying that the problem with Aatrox is really that he’s a bit of a stat stick.
There’s not a lot of nuance to Aatrox because his kit is pretty simple, so if Aatrox is
ever the best champion in top lane, it’s kinda going to suck for everyone.
That highlights a pretty fundamental flaw with Aatrox - he can’t be good because of
his kit, so he can only be good if his numbers are good, and that would make him oppressive
and boring to play against.
The only real solution there is to take him back to the drawing board, so hopefully Riot
come up with some fair improvements while they figure out what to actually do with the
Darkin.
Next up on the list is Kalista, another champion that Riot are super careful about buffing
because of the same issue they have with Azir - it’s almost impossible to balance them
for pro play while also keeping them fair for general play.
Riot Axes confirmed that they were planning small changes for Azir, Kalista and Shen,
with a target of patch 6.24, and Kalista is the only one who hasn’t received her buffs.
Kalista and Azir have both had a super hard time in normal play because Riot have gone
so far in stopping them being overpowered when in the hands of professional players
who can really abuse their kits, but Axes confirmed that they’ve probably gone a bit
too far and need to give at least a bit of power back so that regular players can still
use them without being destroyed.
The changes to Azir do give us a bit of an idea of the direction Riot will take Kalista,
since his changes were focused on mechanics that are unlikely to have an impact on the
pro scene.
Improvements to his towers doesn’t really punish pro players who are fighting against
him because they are super unlikely to get caught out by them, whereas in the less coordinate
ranked queues the changes could actually make Azir feel way better.
The same could be done for Kalista changes - they can’t buff her damage output, kiting
or Ultimate because all of those mechanics are just so easy to abuse at the higher levels,
so we’d expect to see changes that will make things easier for more casual players
without breaking her for pros.
Meddler mentioned a couple of changes they are testing for Kalista - such as mana refund
on a single E kill rather than needing to kill two minions for the refund, and maybe
have her Rend allow her to stack spears even when Rend is on cooldown after using the active.
These changes were apparently delayed for Patch 7.1 though, since Riot had just update
Blade of the Ruined King and Fervor of Battle, and it’s important that they see how those
changes impact Kalista before they go handing her more improvements.
Nidalee is up next, who had buffs planned for Patch 7.1.
Riot actually decided a few days back that they shouldn’t really wait that long to
give her a helping hand after watching her struggle to clear in 6.23, so they gave her
a little base AD buff to set her up for healthier clears.
It’s a safe change to push out in short notice since it helps Nidalee out no matter
how you enjoy playing her, but it’s not likely to be the last change Nidalee receives
in the future - Riot reckons that her performance will improve as players figure out the best
way to play her in the new jungle, but it’s likely she’ll still be too weak, especially
because of the removal of Strength of the Ages.
There’s a big divide between new Nidalee players and experienced ones though, so Riot
want to hold on and give people time to adjust to the new jungle before they decide exactly
what part of her kit they need to add power to.
She’s a lot more simple to play since Riot removed the dependence on her attack resets,
but she’s kind of an oddball in how she approaches clears so it’s super important
that Riot are patient with changes, because there could still be some obscure strategies
lying around that would make her a bit too good after their planned buffs.
Like with Kalista, Lucian is another underperforming marksman that Riot want to take a look at
in Patch 7.1, since they just recently buffed a core part of a marksman’s power - the
Fervor of Battle mastery.
Riot’s new approach to balancing might kind of sucks for champions mains, since it can
result in champions being way too weak for a long time, but it’s better in general
for the game because it means champions won’t go from being super weak to overpowered in
a single patch.
It’s a more patient approach, so even though Riot are aware that Lucian should be stronger
than he currently is, they really want to see how things change with their buffs to
items and the marksman mastery before they target him directly.
It’s actually kind of unlikely any buffs will be made to Lucian in 7.1 itself, since
Riot needs to spend time observing and assessing his power, but that could set him up to either
get some good rebalancing in 7.2, or maybe some emergency buffs in 7.1 like they have
done for Nidalee if Lucian is in serious trouble and really struggling to find his place in
the game.
As a spell slinging ADC, Lucian brings some really interesting gameplay to the bot lane,
but Riot needs to be sure they put power into the right place so they don’t end up making
him a 100% pick or ban again like he has been in the past - especially in normal competitive
play where players don’t have as much of an understanding of how to counter him like
the professional players do.
The last champion due for a buff isn’t actually one single champion - it’s a whole group
of them that were all nerfed pretty hard by the nerf to Rylai’s Crystal Scepter.
Riot Meddler gave a whole list of champions that they will be watching closely, but it’ll
be interesting to see what changes because a lot of these champions used Rylai’s quite
differently.
Picks like Mordekaiser and Aurelion Sol used Rylai’s to stay in range, since it can be
hard for them to keep up with more mobile champions.
Other picks, such as Vladimir, Azir and Kennen were gaining a lot of benefits from the fat
health and ability power bonuses that Rylai’s offered, so they would need to be buffed in
quite different ways to retain at least a little bit of the power they wanted from Rylai’s.
There’s also damage over time mages such as Singed, Brand and Cassiopeia who will could
abuse the procs for insane slowing power from the effect.
Overall Rylai’s was just way too powerful of an item, and there was no reason not to
run it on most Utility mages - either because you want huge amounts of AP, more CC with
the slow effect, or a nice health boost to keep you alive for longer in fights.
The champions Riot Meddler mentioned directly that they’ll be keeping an eye on are as
follows: Vladimir, Karthus, Aurelion Sol, Mordekaiser, Taliyah, Cassiopeia, Singed,
Brand, Zyra, Azir, Elise, Rumble, Heimer and Kennen - pretty much anyone that would buy
Rylai’s 100% of the time.
There are probably other champions too that enjoyed abusing Rylai’s, like Orianna for
example, but the core users of the item will be first in line for improvements if they
take too much of a hit from the Rylai’s nerf.
It’s possible that the changes will actually put a lot of these champions into a balanced
state without making it pointless to buy Rylai’s in the future, which would be pretty ideal
- but it’s really likely that at least one of these champions will received some buffs
early on in Season 7 to make sure they stay healthy and fun to play.
Anyway that just about wraps up things on what champions are definitely due for some
buffs in the next few patches, of course this isn’t an exclusive list so other changes
are super likely as usual, but these are the picks that Riot have confirmed they are looking
to add some power to, so it’ll be interesting to keep an eye on their performance and see
what changes Riot decides to make to them.
Make sure you leave us some comments with your thoughts on these champions and let us
know what you would do to make them a bit more viable, or just let us know another champion
that you think Riot should definitely consider buffing!
And it looks like that’s gonna be it from me, if you enjoyed the video drop a like,
subscribe if you want, thanks for watching, and I’ll see you guys next time!