Copy pasta from my comment on the 8.4 Patch Notes comment section:
Zoe nerfs are step in the right direction, particularly the W & E changes. However gutting her Q damage does not solve the core issues with her, she should be able to deal a decent amount of damage with her Q (this is coming from someone who hates playing against live Zoe, and frequently bans her). The ability to deal a decent amount of damage should come with a greater risk instead. The best solution to this would be to change her Ultimate functionality; treat her blink to position duration as a soft-channel, allowing hard CC, silence & certain abilities (Kassadin's Q for instance) to interrupt the blink back, but unlike other channels, Zoe casting other spells would not interrupt the channel. This allows for much more clear counter-play to Zoe's play style, without having to gut her damage.
Tristana nerfs are appreciated, yet misplaced. The most frustrating part of her kit is her W. It allows her to be as mobile as a Kha'Zix with evolved E. This mobility combined with her overall safety and stat-check gameplay, makes her incredibly frustrating to play against. The best way to balance her would be to make her W lose one of the following: Range, Multiple Reset Mechanics, Animation Buffer. Additionally, her Q should be changed away from "Push this button to make your attack speed better for X seconds".
Xin Zhao nerfs seem a bit heavy handed, loss of 35% total AD scaling in exchange for 60 base damage with one particular rune. While he has been strong for a while now, these changes will force him into taking press the attack to make up for the nerfs, whereas previously he had the option to go Phase Rush or Electrocute. It would make more sense to make less drastic number changes, for example: a damage adjustment from 20/40/60/80% total AD to 15/30/45/60% total AD is still a sizable nerf, resulting in a net 20% total AD scaling reduction end game, compared to 35% with this patch.
I'm also rather surprised Lee Sin is not receiving any (slight) compensation buffs with the removal of Tracker's Knife, a 100% essential item on him.
I'm rather excited by these AP item changes, build diversity is always a plus. While I was hoping for changes to bruiser/fighter/diver/whatever you want to call them itemization, the issues with those champions are much deeper than lack of build diversity that we were experiencing with AP carries/mages.
Lastly, I'm rather wary of Riot's continuous decisions to make the game more snowbally. It seems Riot wants to make the game more snowbally in an effort to make LCS/Competitive play quicker, more fast paced and filled with exciting risks; yet doing so seems to do the opposite in Competitive play, with greater risks, players will adjust to even more conservative play styles, to lessen the risk of misplays. However these changes do succeed in making Solo Queue/Ranked Ladder play more risky and fast paced; however most players (myself included) seem to dislike games being decided so quickly / snowbally. Hopefully Riot will realize this and make an actual effort to change this.
, and changes the midlane AP items too (although I can't help but think that "Orb of Oblivion" works and sounds better than "Oblivion Orb" on the tongue).
buffs to make her viable and no longer a troll pick/auto-loss.
