10.15 patch is finally upon us. With the new champion, Lillia, being released this patch, there were many champions that were met with underlying changes that may push some champions in and out of the meta. While many of the nerfs to these champions are nothing major to completely kneecap a champion, a lot of the buffs that champions got in this patch, despite how seemingly minor they may seem, are not to be overlooked.

For those that don’t know who I am, my name is Quest, and prior to my tenure with Inven Global as a journalist, I was the former head coach for a professional League of Legends team in Korea called bbq Olivers. As a part of an ongoing series, I’ll be providing my thoughts on the most major bits to each patch in League of Legends. Here are my thoughts on the 10.15 patch.

(NEW) Lillia: Perhaps because of Riot announcing the release of Yasuo’s older half-brother, Yone, the hype around Lillia hasn’t been all that huge. Her early clear in the jungle seems average at best, because while AP champions in the jungles traditionally struggled to full clear their jungle in the early game, she does have a unique skill set that provides her with extra movespeed.

While I do believe that she’ll be able to gank very well after lvl 6 with her ultimate, her lack of CC pre-6 will make it hard for her to pull ganks. There definitely are many other junglers that can skirmish better than Lillia, but her true potential is unlocked in the late-game. Her ability to do max health damage in her passive, the ton of extra movespeed that she gets, and the ability to CC everyone in a teamfight makes her an incredible threat from mid-late game.

(Nerf) Aphelios: Continues to get nerfed over a long period of time. There are ways of playing around Aphelios, so it’s sad to see such a uniquely designed champion get continuously chopped up.

(Buff) Caitlyn: Nice to see that Riot hasn’t forgotten about Cait. However, with picks like Ashe 

(Nerf) Fiddlesticks: JG Fiddle’s still fine. This nerf won’t affect the highest elo players.

(Biggest buff of the patch) Gragas: 0.2 AP ratio buff may not sound like much on paper, but he was never in a weak spot to begin with. Should see him come back more, especially when there’s an AD top & mid. Not only can Gragas be flexed into (potentially) three roles, The Gragas/Yasuo combo (which is picked more predominantly in competitive play) is now deadlier than ever.

(Buff) Irelia: Changes might not seem that much, but seasoned Irelia players will be very happy with these buffs.

(Buff) Shen: Extra shield means more trade potential, but apart from Lehends, I don’t think Shen will be picked in competitive.

(Changes) Swain: He’s a champion that’s been seen a lot more in the support role in the Korean/Chinese solo queue. The range buff on his W, Vision of Empire, will mean a lot in the vision game, especially when scouting out the enemy if they’re doing dragon/baron. 

(Biggest nerf of the patch) Twisted Fate: As TF’s W traditionally gets maxed out at lvl 13, this will hurt him in his early-mid game transition.

(Buff) Skarner: Skarner mains will rejoice at these changes. However, these changes will not skyrocket him into the meta, because I feel that Riot missed the mark on what Skarner needs.

Skins Review: Spirit Blossom Teemo. Duh.

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