My take on pathc 7.6

I’m sure someone does it, but the more the merrier right?

Anyway, this is only my take. I don’t mind if you disagree or think I’m flat wrong. All I ask is that you voice your thoughts respectfully. There’s no need for insults, flaming, demeaning, ect. I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong, and I’m always open to alternate opinions.

So, without further ado, here is my take on patch 7.6

Galio:

Poor guy got bleached, but his gameplay has definitely been redone. I’ll need to try him out to see if he can still succeed as a damage dealer or off tank, though I can definitely see him viable as a tank now. His wave clear may have taken a hit because now it’s just one ranged attack, but the vortex at the end of his new Q combined with his new passive may, and I’ll even dare to say will, even it out. His engage is definitely increased because of his new E and Ult. That ult is going to be missed A LOT over the next couple weeks, and any time a player hasn’t spent time playing with him (I.E. new purchase).

So let’s break this one down a little more.

Passive: AOE hit on his melee attack (even if it is every so often). That’ll help him regain some wave clear, and make his melee attacks a little more useful. I mean being a mage, you don’t usually rely on them anyway, but still, he always felt dangerous auto-attacking at all. This will help that some.

Q Trickier to land all the damage, but the tornado is nice. I need to see the numbers and see it action before I can evaluate it’s use, although I am going to miss the slow on it. Was half the use of landing it (you know, besides the damage). That said, build a Rylai’s, and you’ll regain much of that slow. Pair it with Liandry's, and you’ll have a fair amount of damage in that vortex. So I wonder if his mid lane build will start looking like Arulion Sol’s. Depends on if he’s still mana hungry I guess.

W They moved his old ult here, and gave it some extras. The shield isn’t going to be much good against AD opponents, though I guess something is better than nothing. The taunt can be more of a zoning tool now as you can walk forward daring the enemy to not move. A good flash can turn it into the team-taunt of old, and it does come with damage reduction, so that’s not terrible. Still, the move speed reduction and the fact that you have to hold the key down is going to lead to a lot of early taunts that land nothing until people get the hang of it.

E One could say this replaces the engage tool his old E used to have, but only for him for the most part. If you land it, it dose provide a knock up though, so there’s CC to be had there. Again, I’m curious how the damage rates as his old E did enough to be respected if building pure AP.

R Apparently Galio has been taking lessons from Pantheon. This one is going to be messed up SO many times as people WILL forget that he lands where the allied champion was when he activated it. Which will not be always be the Galio player’s fault mind you. If you go to save an ally who suddenly turns and fights when they shouldn’t, you could land where they were when they decided to go Leroy Jenkins instead of landing in the middle of the chasing enemy team. Was a great idea, until your buddy had a really bad one.

Over all, he’s going to have a steep learning curve. However, I think he’s also going to become viable in more lanes, including support perhaps for those who can really tame him. I am going to miss parts of his old kit, but maybe this new one won’t be so bad.

Attrox:

Yup, here comes another band-aid. Personally I have to wonder if they’d be better off focusing their resources on finalizing the rework, but at least they’re trying. Hard to fault them for that.

So when you revive, at least you don’t lose out on, well, everything that makes the new changes viable. Keeping a full blood well is going to help you stay alive when you come back from not-dying. Or at the very least, take someone with you. Not much else to say here. Other than like most, I’m hoping the full rework comes in the midseason. You can only band-aid so much.

Cho’Gath

Not much to see here really. You can get one more stack from minions, and you get more HP per stack late game. Certainly nice buffs, but overall, nothing significant.

Fiddlesticks

Mostly quality of life changes I would say. Nothing more annoying for a Fiddle than to drain a minion for HP only to have your buddy kill it early. Being able to get that left-over duration back in any capacity is going to make it felt a little less frustrating. The range increase on his Q is helpful as well, letting him mess with people from a slightly safer range. Again, nothing significant, but nice to have all the same.

Gnar

This will help his laning phase. Mega Gnar lasts so little I’m not sure that extra HP regen is going to be missed. Well, not a lot anyway. Meanwhile the extra regen in mini is going to help him stay healthy when laning, or when setting up for that transformation to start a teamfight. Gonna call net buff here, and a useful one at that.

Miss Fortune

Definite case of “whoops, went too far the other way last time. Let’s fix that.”. This will make experts of her Q feel better, and the speed of casting changes are going to be nice too. Will decrease her vulnerability when firing abilities. Not bad without being over the top I’d say.

Orianna

Eh, not much here. It’s a fumble now when an ally dies. Might almost be a buff as if they die in the middle of the enemy team, that shockwave is still in a good place.

Quinn

Uhm, am I the only one that feels like the ult damage was already rather low? Maybe it’s just been my experience, but either way, this one is a bit painful. The attack speed buff is nice though, so I guess there’s something. Though I do like that when you revive you come back already paired with Valor. That’ll save some time as you won’t have to use your ult after you revive anymore.

Varus

I like this. Not too over the top, but still rewarding Varus players that use their basic attacks well. So many just fire and forget, not realizing the power to be had in hitting a target with even 1 blight on it (to say nothing of a full 3). Now that skill is better rewarded, while still limiting the pure artillery Varus style.

Side note: I wonder if the refund stacks. If you hit two champs with blights on them with your Q, do you get 8 seconds back, or just 4?

Warlord’s Bloodlust

Saw this one coming. 50% lifesteal late game? Yeah, bit much. We can defiantly call this one a nerf, but when you consider late game crits can crest 1000 damage, I’m willing to go in the camp that a nerf was needed. And don’t forget, that heal can crit too now. Not saying it’s equal, but it’s not as terrible as the numbers might say. Attack speed crit builds will still benefit from this mastery.

Red Brambleback

A buff for any and all AP junglers. The MR reduction will help their clear speed/safety, especially early as they build their damage. Not game breaking, but certainly nice to have.

Well that’s it. Feel free to offer counter comments. Till next patch, see you on the rift!