Patch Chat with Playtest - Patch 6.3

Hello!

We are Riot’s Playtest Team, a group of high ranking League players whose job it is to play the hell out of things (lane tests, competitive testing, etc) and give actionable, objective feedback to designers. Between us, we have experience as pro players, casters, coaches, analysts, and esports journalists. But above all, we are enthusiastic players of League of Legends, with an average of 3673 hours of gameplay each, and that’s just on our mains. If League of Legends were a 8-5 job, we’d be starting our 16th month on the job!

Every two weeks, we’re going to be hosting a discussion here on the state of balance on the current patch. Take this opportunity to ask us any questions about the state of the game because, as we said, it’s our job to analyze it from all angles.

This week, we’re going to discuss sleeper picks on 6.3, whether they’re the result of direct changes or a shifting landscape, or are simply champions that have remained underplayed despite strength in recent patches.

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Let’s start with someone who’s been strong the last few patches but hasn’t seen much play. Feel like sometimes your team just holds you down? Try Nautilus; he’s used to carrying a heavy weight and making it look easy!

CJ’s Untara has been rocking Nautilus in the top lane; check out CJ Entus’ Week 4 games vs Longzhu Gaming for more!

Nautilus Top - Mattias “Gentleman Gustaf” Lehman Grasp of the Undying means it’s a good time to be big and beefy up top. Trundle, Dr. Mundo, and Tahm Kench all had their time in the spotlight before the nerf hammer brought them down to size. Who will rise to take their place? Malphite has remained rock steady as the second-highest win rate top laner (behind the explosive Graves), and the second-highest play rate top laner (behind Fiora).

But what about a top laner nobody has noticed lurking beneath the waves? Nautilus smashes both Malphite and Fiora, while taking on old favorites like Dr. Mundo, Gangplank, Gnar, Jax, and Riven. He enables ganks with a ridiculous four CC abilities, and scales well into teamfights thanks to his initiation potential and heavy peel. He still loses pretty hard to Graves, but let’s be real, we’re all banning him anyway.

On the itemization front, a perfect storm has been brewing. Sunfire Cape got an armor buff in 6.1 and a buff to minion damage in 6.3, giving Naut an easy first buy choice. Additionally, the Iceborn Gauntlet preseason changes allowed him to itemize for damage, tankiness, and heavy CDR all at the same time. Add Boots of Swiftness and your opponents will be left with nothing but a sinking feeling as they try to escape.

If you do happen to run into a Nautilus top lane, don’t try to out-CC him. Instead, pick a champion who will outscale him in 1v1 fights, and force him to lose split-push duels against you. Garen, Darius, Trundle, and Nasus should all do the trick with their sustain and relentless damage.

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Runic Echoes Runic Echoes gave a number of junglers a hearty bump, but other than Elise and Nidalee - the usual suspects - and a surprise visit from AP Udyr, most AP junglers remain underpicked.

Diana Jungle - Trevor “ThEntropist” Thernes Despite a nearly 5% win rate increase with the release of Runic Echoes, Diana’s play rate still hovers at about 4%. The additional Movement Speed and burst damage from the Runic Echoes proc gives her huge snowball potential, and once Diana gets ahead, she eclipses the competition. With her fast and healthy clear she is able to get level 6 quickly and safely, at which point she has incredible ganks and dueling potential.

The thing that ~~shyvana ~~Diana does best in the jungle is farm. She is able to almost keep up with solo laners farm due to her near instant camp clearing. When you’re not ganking, you should be speed clearing your camps because this will give you a level edge versus the other jungler, and allow you to seek them out and duel them.

With this large farm advantage and her great dueling potential she has the potential to carry games unlike most other junglers. On the other hand, if she doesn't

Jungle Fiddlesticks - Mattias “Gentleman Gustaf” Lehman For me, League of Legends is all about outsmarting my opponent, whether it’s baiting somebody into a duel I know they can’t win, arriving just in time to turn a gank into a countergank, or dying to a four-man gank bot lane while my team sneaks baron. If you want to play mind games, nothing beats the feeling of surprising your opponent by flying over a wall and turning a bad teamfight into a perfect crowstorm. Fiddlesticks is the type of jungler that can put the game on his shoulders or throw the whole game for his team. But with great responsibility comes great power.

With exception of the Runeglaive days, Fiddlesticks has consistently maintained a high jungle win rate. Despite the Runic Echoes change, Fiddlesticks’ pick rate remains low, but his win rate is back to terrifying levels.

Watch out for knockbacks! Nothing feels worse than setting the perfect trap only to have it denied by a pesky Alistar.

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Duskblade of Draktharr Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t touch on AD Assassins, who are getting a brand new item: Duskblade of Draktharr, giving them access to new burst and tank-busting ability.

Dusk has some serious pain points and counters, however. QSS and Zhonya’s both mitigate high amounts of damage against Dusk, just as they do vs Zed’s Death Mark, and assassins who itemize into Dusk should find their scaling falling off as they progress into the late game and find more and more of their damage mitigated by Zhonya’s, QSS, and growing shields coming from supports.

All AD assassins use Duskblade reasonably well, but the two biggest threats are Zed and Talon

Zed - Blake “Ex Shepherd” Soberanis I play Zed because killing other players is fun. Ult in, drop my damage, dash out, and walk away while my target dies to Death Mark like the badass ninja that I am. Zed is the end of the alphabet, and I am the end of your time on Summoner’s Rift. So watch out for Duskblade because now Death Mark comes twice.

Sure, Zed nerfs hit live at the same time Dusk does, but 5% less Death Mark damage isn’t going to stop me from killing you.

Zed benefits heavily from the Duskblade proc thanks to the damage amp on Death Mark. Either the Dusk proc will be amplified by Death Mark, or Death Mark will be amplified by Dusk proc. Either way, he ends up gaining more damage from the Duskblade proc than any other champions. Minor nerfs will be following him onto live as a result, but players who time their use of Duskblade well should be able to account for this.

Talon - Ben "Cezium" Burkhardt Don’t forget about Talon, though. With a 53%+ win rate over the last 3 patches, the release of Duskblade is almost secondary to his consistency, but nobody ever complained about too many good things.

His laning phase is weak, but Corrupting Flask allows him to sustain through the early game and pick up the items he needs to pick off squishy carries and supports.

Honorable Mention Jungle Gragas - Scott "Sickoscott" Hong Gragas' early clear was a big reason as to why he hasn't been picked lately. With the 6.3 buffs he may make it back into viability and find a place in both solo and competitive.

What do you think? Who are your sleepers for 6.3? Tell us below in the comments and feel free to ask any questions you have for Playtest Team at Riot, whether they be about balance or what exactly our job is! We will be around for the next few hours and will try to answer as many questions as possible.

Ben “Cezium” Burkhardt Adam "Afic" Cohen Isaac “Azael” Cummings-Bentley Shawn “I Am The IRS” Currie Miles “Daydreamin” Hoard Scott “Sickoscott” Hong Mattias “Gentleman Gustaf” Lehman Nicholas “Drecker” Shapiro Nicholas “Nickwu” Smith Blake “Ex Shepherd” Soberanis Trevor “ThEntropist” Thernes