League of Legends Patch 8.6: Minions Getting a Makeover
In the upcoming League of Legends Patch 8.6, minions are set to undergo some significant changes, as revealed by Riot Games on the official game forums. These changes include increased health, making them tougher to kill, and a faster health scaling rate as the game progresses.
The base health of caster, melee, and cannon minions will all receive a boost, along with an increase in max health gained every three waves. This means that minions will be more difficult to take down immediately and become even tougher to kill as the game goes on. Additionally, the value of minions in terms of gold will also be adjusted, with caster minions being worth less and cannon minions being worth more.
One of the immediate effects of these changes will be a shift in the way players farm when pushed back. With increased health, minions will require more hits from towers, resulting in a longer time to kill them.
Beyond these direct effects, the changes to minions will have a wider impact on the game. The increased value of cannon minions will place pressure on players to stay in their lanes longer to secure them. It will also incentivize contesting the enemy’s cannons to prevent them from gaining significant gold advantages. As a result, one-on-one fights will become more common, and players will be encouraged to stay in their lanes rather than roam.
The meta is expected to favor control mages over roamers and assassins due to their ability to control minion waves and zone enemies away from their own minions.
Slower waveclear will be another consequence of the tankier minions, particularly in the mid-game when pushing waves to roam is common. The increased time it takes for minions to die will lead to fewer opportunities for helping out other lanes, further emphasizing one-on-one fights within the players’ respective lanes.
It is likely that these changes will not initially be well-received, especially by solo laners who may feel limited in making plays in other lanes. However, it will place greater importance on the skill of laning against opponents. Consequently, the role of junglers may also rise in significance, potentially bringing back the hyper-carry damage jungle meta.
The timing of these changes is also a point of concern. If they are implemented in Patch 8.6, they will come into effect after the regular season of pro play but before the playoffs begin. This could force professional teams to revamp their strategies and team compositions, leading to significant disruptions. Ideally, these changes should be delayed from impacting pro play until after the playoffs in each region.
On the other hand, bot laners are likely to benefit from the changes. With fewer disruptive plays from top and mid laners, they can focus on the two-on-two fights in the bottom lane. This will shift the meta from a top-jungle relationship back to a bot-jungle relationship. Tanky supports using the Relic Shield will also enjoy the increased gold value of cannon minions.
Overall, these changes are expected to improve the long-term health of the game by shifting the focus back to one-on-one and two-on-two battles. This will increase the pace of the game and reintroduce the importance of laning power in League of Legends.
League of Legends, Patch 8.6, minions, changes, health, scaling, gold value, meta, laning power