'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The official start of League of Legends Season 11 is only a few weeks away.
On January 6th, patch 11.1 will bring in a slew of item changes and multiple champion adjustments. The meta will revolve around these changes, as it always does, but not in a way that will be instantly discernible.
The largest changes are to the new items, with only a few champions seeing hard nerfs or buffs. Champions relevant in the new meta will shift based on the item changes.
Significant item changes and meta implications in League of Legends patch 11.1
The balance team at Riot Games has realized the power of the unique actives and passives of its shiny new items. This has led to quite a few changes being made in the form of stat distributions and component items.
For all of the changes currently on the League of Legends 11.1 PBE, players can click here. The changes below are the ones that will have the most considerable impact on the meta.
#1 - Runaan's Hurricane
- Recipe changed: Dagger + Dagger + Zeal + 850g
- Total cost lowered from 3400 to 2500
- No longer gives AD
- Wind's Fury passive AD ratio on bolt lowered from 40-70% to 40%
These changes to Runaan's Hurricane will bring ADCs like Varus, Kog'maw, Twitch, and Kalista back into relevance. This will be an easy secondary item after completing whatever the mythic item of choice is for any of these ADCs.
The discounted Runaan's Hurricane in League of Legends means these late-game ADCs can get to their third item much faster. This will help them outpace the ADCs who are rushing lethality and spiking on two items.
#2 - Manamune/Muramana
- Manamune recipe changed to Tear of the Goddess + Caulfield's Warhammer + Long Sword + 1500g
- Total cost increased from 2600 to 2900
- Awe passive bonus AD increased from 2% max mana to 2.5%
- Muramana shock passive one-hit damage decreased from 4% max mana as physical damage to 2.5% max mana
These changes mean that AD casters could see themselves finding a home in the League of Legends 11.1 meta. AD casters like Corki, Ezreal, and Varus with a low cooldown, long-range poke will thrive with Muramana.
Muramana deals its shock bonus damage when dealing damage with a ranged physical damage ability. This passive synergizes perfectly with Varus Q, Corki R, and Ezreal Q/R.
The mana growth from Tear of the Goddess also fits in perfectly with these three ADCs.
#3 - All of the healing reduction items
Some champions just seem plain unkillable with all of the healing on the current League of Legends patch. Between Goredrinker and Omnivamp buffing champions abilities to self-heal through the roof, Riot had to respond.
The response was a mass buff to anti healing items that saw the grievous wounds debuff duration increased to three seconds from two. While this may seem like too little, it gives the user a longer window to proc the advanced form of the passive.
Currently, grievous wounds reduces healing on any target dealt magic/physical damage by the item's holder by 40%. The upgraded effect is increased to 60% after certain conditions are met.
The increased duration by one whole second gives users that much longer of a window to activate the condition needed to increase the effect to 60%.
League of Legends Champions who currently thrive with self-healing like Aatrox, Urgot, and Kayn will find themselves struggling to survive through long team fights depending on healing alone. With healing reduction coming from a vast array of AD and AP items, it is easy to integrate into any builds to counter healing-based champions.
#4 - Moonstone Renewer and ability haste
Moonstone Renewer sees it's healing passive increased to 70-100 from 60-90. While a meager ten healing may seem negligible, it is on a two-second cooldown, and its effect is increased by up to 50% after four seconds in combat. This means that in a 10-second fight, which feels like an eternity in League of Legends, players can heal allies to roughly 1300 health points, up from around 1000.
The buff to this item is a significant help to enchanters like Lulu, Soraka, and Nami. The disengage and sustain these champions off has long been missed in the meta and will resurface for patch 11.1.
In addition to the buff Moonstone Renewer is receiving, Ionian Boots of Lucidity are having their ability haste increased from 15 to 20. Ability haste is an uncapped form of cooldown reduction, which enchanters utilize to often heal and shield allies.
Combine this buff with the Moonstone Renewer mythic passive, which gives five ability haste to all other legendary items, and gamers have the optimal build path for League of Legends enchanters.
The healing from Moonster Renewer will be difficult for enemies to counter because it targets the lowest health ally by default. This means that unless the enemy team is applying grievous wounds to an entire team, there is a good chance an enchanter will get the full value heal every two seconds.
#5 - Burst actives/on hit passives shifted to stats
The following items have had damage taken away from their actives and on hit passive and placed in their AD/AP/HP stats:
- Duskblade of Draktharr
- Prowler's Claw
- Hextech Rockbelt
- Night Harvester
- Trinity Force
- Goredrinker
- Stridebreaker
The shifting of burst stats usually means that assassins will be less common in any given League of Legends meta. In this situation, since the stats are being stripped from the items and not the champions, the meta will revolve around these items will remain unaffected.
All these changes will do is take the impact away from the items early game damage. This means that a champion walking back into the lane after completing one of these items will have less power to 100-0 an enemy.
Instead, the power will be shifted to base stats, which get stronger as the game progresses, and champions earn more points put into their abilities, which scale off their total AD/AP. League of Legends developer, Riot Games, made the right call targeting items and not champions.
Champion to watch in the new 11.1 League of Legends meta
The prominence of the tank meta has been resurgent since introducing the newest items in League of Legends. The counter to these "mega" tanks will likely be found in Gnar on patch 11.1.
Gnar is slated to see some significant buffs, primarily to his Mega form, but will receive a buff in his Mini form as well. The former will have the damage and slow of his Q increased from 5-165 to 25-205 and 15-35% to 30-50%, respectively.
The range on his Mega E dash range will also be increased from 600 to 675, and his Mini form E attack speed duration increased from 4 to 6 seconds.
These changes increase Gnar's ability to harass short-range enemies in lane with more damage, engage from a farther range in team fights, and chase enemies down more easily. Players can expect to see a lot more Gnar in the meta starting on January 6th when League of Legends patch 11.1 drops.
