League of Legends' latest champion durability update (patch 12.10) has changed the way the game is played. This update is meta defining and it has altered everything including teamfights, early game, laning, and champion priority.
Hence, in the following article, a discussion has been made on how this update has put an impact on every role within the game. It is important to remember that when speaking of roles, the discussion will be focused towards lanes (top, mid, bot, jungle and support).
This will include discussions on the meta in each lane within League of Legends, the champions that are viable right now and whether the change makes it easier for players to play that role or not.
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Lane-wise discussion on the impact of champion durabiliy update in League of Legends
Before any discussion is done, it is vital to mention that all of this is simply based on the initial impression. The patch has only been out for a day and League of Legends players are experimenting with what works and what doesn't.
Thus, things mentioned here can change and gamers can find more unique picks in the meta. It has been a while since a patch has completely altered the course of the game. Therefore, it is sort of unfair to expect any form of accurate analysis right away.
1) Top
When it comes to the top-lane, there are some serious changes as shielding and healing have been significantly nerfed. This has impacted certain champions such as Tryndamere, Sion, Shen, Mordekaiser and Renekton.
In fact, Tryndamere especially feels terrible right now amongst these as he had already been nerfed before and this update further damaged his kit. The sustainability that he provided is gone, which in turn hampers his lane presence.
However, this also means champions like Ornn will now feel even better as the changes to durability make him even more tanky early in the game. Not just Ornn, but champions like Gwen, Irelia and Camille, who rely a lot on good early games but often struggle due to excess ganks from enemy mid and jungle, will now be able to lane much more safely.
While the passive healing of Gwen and Irelia and the shield from Camille's has been nerfed as well, if these champions get to have a good early game, they can scale well and get better towards the end-game.
2) Jungle
The jungle role is probably the one that feels the least affected amongst all the other lanes. The increase in champion durability means Lee Sin, Viego, Nocturne and others will now have a much easier time clearing the camps.
Obviously, champions like Viego and Fiddlestick got their passive healing reduced, but it will not have much impact on early game farming. The change that jungle champions will need to get used to is ganking.
Since the latest update makes champions tanky, junglers will have a much more difficult time diving towers. Apart from that, tower damage has been increased as well, which means junglers will need to be decisive on when to gank and whom to dive on.
The chances of finding enemies at low health are minimal now, and therefore junglers will now have to focus more towards developing for teamfights and gathering objectives in order to escalate their lanes.
Champions such as Wukong will feel even better now as his passive along with the durability changes will make him a teamfighting monster.
3) Mid
When it comes to midlane, the changes have been quite brutal. This latest update has practically killed assassins and burst champions. Popular picks like LeBlanc and Vex are now useless in the early game as their burst damage has been completely negated.
Players who love to play Katarina in Challenger ranks now have to change their mains as well. While she was already weak, this update completely destroyed the champion.
Thus, this leads to the question on what it means in relation to the midlane meta. Obviously, assassins are out of the question. Thus, scaling champions such as Azir, Viktor, and Yasuo will find their way back into the meta once again.
Ahri will still be relevant, though her damage output is going to be reduced quite a lot. Gamers can also expect to see more Swain and Galio on mid on account of their durability.
4) Bottom- ADC
This is the role that has probably benefitted the most from the champion durability update in League of Legends. This is because, up until this point, ADC's had often been touted as the weakest role on account of surviability issues.
No matter how much an ADC farmed, they would always get one-shot by a LeBlanc or a Vex. Apart from that, ADC's always ran at the threat of getting dove by junglers who would ultimately farm them and make life miserable.
However, after patch 12.10, ADC's can now farm much more safely and their impact in the game is much higher. Considering burst assassins are kind of dead at this point, it means that botlane players have a much higher scope for skill expression.
Champions such as Vayne, Kai'Sa, Samira, Jinx and others will be able to have a lot of impact in the game from now onwards.
5) Support
Finally, coming to the support role, there are both positives and negatives that players should be aware of. Firstly, reduced healing does impact supports such as Lulu and Soraka. It will make their presence a bit weaker, though still effective in end-game scenarios (on account of scaling).
However, the durability changes mean that enchanter supports will now feel much safer and will be able to go aggressive against engaging supports such as Leona or Nautilus.
Therefore, players should feel more confident if they pick something like Lux and try to go more aggressive instead of standing under the towers.
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