League of Legends Champions Receiving Nerfs in Patch 7.8
Tomorrow, Patch 7.8 for League of Legends will bring nerfs to some of the game’s strongest champions, as stated in the official patch notes.
These nerfs specifically target champions that have been dominating in professional and coordinated play for too long. The goal is to provide more balance in the professional meta, just in time for the Mid-Season Invitational. Ivern, Malzahar, and Nautilus are all on the list for nerfs in this patch.
Malzahar – The Prophet of the Void
Malzahar, while not as dominant in the mid lane as intended, has become a powerful support champion in competitive play. In this patch, the nerf to Malzahar focuses on his voidlings:
Void Swarm (W): The health of Malzahar’s voidlings is reduced from three hitpoints to two, significantly decreasing his ability to harass enemy champions. Some fans are concerned about the impact it may have on his mid lane performance, which is already considered subpar.
Ivern – The Green Father
Ivern’s nerf may seem small, but it has had a major impact on highly-coordinated games, such as high elo solo queue and professional play. The nerf is focused on his ability, Brushmaker:
Brushmaker (W): The bushes created by Ivern’s W used to hide epic monsters like Dragon and Baron when placed directly on top of them. This gave Ivern’s team an unfair advantage in securing these objectives. In this patch, Riot completely removes this functionality.
Nautilus – Titan of the Depths
Nautilus, a vanguard tank, is not in a terrible state but has been harassing too often due to his high mana regeneration. This patch aims to address that:
Base Stats: Nautilus’ mana regeneration growth per level is reduced from 0.7 to 0.5, making his harassment less frequent.
Riptide (E): Riptide is Nautilus’ versatile ability, providing him wave-clear, harass damage, and crowd control. In this patch, Riot increases its mana cost at all ranks to make it less spammable.
Shen – Eye of Twilight
Shen is the only champion in this patch to appear on both the buffs and nerfs list. He is strong in coordinated, professional games but weak in other settings, mainly due to his ultimate, Stand United:
Stand United (R): Shen’s ultimate cooldown is increased at all ranks, starting at a whopping 200 seconds. The shield size is also reduced, but it can scale based on the target ally’s health. However, the maximum shield size is still 840, which is slightly lower than the previous maximum before this patch.
These are the nerfs in Patch 7.8. If you want to learn about the significant buffs in this patch, check out our article.