This is going to be a long one since I'll talk about the others that were changed too, even if they weren't part of the major patch but changed fairly recently to it and/or were affected by the item changes. Largely their items were nerfed by having less ability power, removed mana regeneration & spell vampirism; which effects them all differently which I won't detail as that would double or triple the length, not doing that lol.
Malzahar's definitely one of the strangest changes; getting a better banshee's veil than the actual item, not to mention manually summoning minions and his ultimate combining his old void zone but at lower damage. So he ends up feeling more like he has to choose between being a hybrid burst or a sluggish dps mage, relying on getting a bunch of voidlings which do physical damage or trying to chunk with his visions and silence. Not really a fan of his shielding passive mostly, it feels like it belongs on a completely different champion.
Swain plays even clunkier than before; not having as much control over his bird's slow, his root being even less rewarding early game, and the forced longer cooldowns on his ultimate (both the raw and the raven interaction) while having less mana restoration. Sure if he gets fed he'll bulldoze multiple enemies, but most champions will do that since all the snowballing buffs; if he's behind he's noticeably worse than he used to be. While I don't mind the change to his slowing bird, as it can be used more for zoning; I dislike the nerf to his root & his ultimate, yeah he can waveclear better, but his teamfight is weaker due to not being able to sustain as much.
Vladimir another one that I've got half a mind on; the change to his transfusion is wierd and frustrating, the replacement of his blood nova feels punishing to use, and his ult is mediocre. The rush on his lifestealing transfusion has too low of a movement bonus to be meaningful, and it's base damage without it is pathetic. His nova chunks him for 10% max health to cast for full damage, but it's not a true aoe like galio's ultimate, it's a multi projectile ability that's evenly spaced in a circumference, meaning it's too easy to miss on-top of slowing him. While I like the healing return on his ultimate, the reduced amplification is uncalled for given his costs have risen. He plays too sluggishly to accomplish much, unless your enemy does something repeatedly foolish.
Brand I'd say is probably one of the few to be entirely improved from the changes, although he relies significantly more on comboing. His passive and ultimate where the only noticeable changes, his passive adding on a delayed aoe blast on whoever he combos making him a menace in teamfights. The ultimate's aiming ai was improved a bit, and slows anyone that's on fire. Despite not being a fan of him before due to his mana issues, he's a bit more fun to play now simply because he still has his old playstyle but with more potential.
Cassiopia is an odd case; her movement speed entirely depends on her level, her miasma is now a large arc but at a fixed range, and her fang strike now heals her a little. The movement speed is nice in that it allows for a 6th item, but is one of the most snowball dependent things I've seen; if she falls behind then it's significantly harder to catch up, as enemies who have bought boots will catch her easier and she's powerless to do anything about it; flipside if she gets ahead then she's surprisingly mobile. I like the grounding crowd control on her miasma, something I'd like to see several abilities have implemented or exchanged; but the fixed range gives her the same problem aurelionsol has, anyone that gets in close or outranges her will bully her hard.
Zyra is another that seems like that was half thought out; her old passive has been replaced for a similar effect illaoi has but spreading seeds randomly around her, her spines were changed to have less damage but a notably wider area. Though her other abilities were largely unchanged, she can have plenty of plants on the field, some accidental as her passive is automated yet randomized, but she can still manually set seeds with W. Like brand I'd say it was an improvement even though her plants don't last quite as long as they used to as limitation for having more plants.
Syndra is more of a disappointment than anything; the damage on her Q has been nerfed, her force of will now grabs more but doesn't do anything extra despite the obviously extra collateral damage, and her ultimate has a hard cap on how much damage it can do. The force of will still functions the same, but now grabs a few extra orbs based on rank, however it's crash zone and damage are unchanged regardless if she grabs one or several orbs; leaving it clearly just for show than anything. Her ultimate now can't throw more than 7 orbs at her target, but still has the minimum of 3, sure it's unlikely to get more than 4 orbs on the field but that's not the point. She feels kneecapped compared to how she used to be. Same as brand she has problems with low mana despite being just as combo reliant too, so yeah I'm not a fan of her changes.
Veigar was changed beforehand; replacing his passive with a smaller stacking ability power, adding an obvious delay on his circular stun, and turning his ultimate into a ranged clone of garen's. So he's significantly more vulnerable to ganks or any of the hyper mobile champions due to being unable to immediately defend himself, but his nuking power scales up much faster if he's willing to trade. I'd say he requires more skill since he has to plan out his moves more carefully, but is deceptively dangerous as a squirrel with a flamethrower. I don't mind playing him, but he doesn't feel like anything special.
Ziggs was pretty much unchanged, except that his satchel charge can now execute towers at 1/3 health, as if they weren't taken fast enough these days. Still enjoy playing him, but this is clearly an early game buff, because it becomes increasingly useless as the game goes on.
Velkoz didn't have much changed either, his ultimate does a lower damage but his passive makes it do true damage now. So he's less of an artillery and more of a burst mage. I played him in-between the two roles so I don't really notice a difference.
Sona for being the support wielding auras, she feels weak unless she pulls ahead; having to piggyback allies if she wants to buff them, her speedup tune being a placebo on herself, and her heal being even lower than before. Painful to play when behind in short. I've said elsewhere (but don't remember), soraka got the buffs sona should've gotten.
Victor is another one of those who's mediocre in normal games, but repeatedly nerfed because some 'pro' got lucky with him. While he's supposed to be a zone & poke mage, the changes to his hexcore ability buffs lowered the power of his primary poke against anyone with mobility. And his ultimate has had it's speed reduced twice, so it's slower than anyone with basic shoes, meaning he has to use it in a combo like annie if he wants to burst anyone. He used to be one of my favorite mages to play, but same as syndra he's lost impact unless he gets lucky.
Ryze . . . reworked again for something like the 5th consecutive year. Keeping his shielding passive on combos this time, but removing his ultimate for an even shorter but bigger capacity tahm ultimate, which was just a slight buff of twisted fate's destiny to begin with. Ryze still scales better with mana, and has built in cooldown reduction, however like xerath's rework his special effects look uninspired and weak. Again ryze had the issue of spamming too much, while being ineffective if he can't, go figure a redundant problem.
Mordekaiser was also changed before the mage update same as veigar, but he was supposed to be a magic bruiser, darius being the physical counterpoint. And mordekaiser's rework was only a half-hearted failure, adding in physical ratios while nerfing all of his magic ones; on-top of gutting most of his base stats without compensation. And no the dragon ghost is a gimmick, if he doesn't survive when the dragon is killed, he doesn't benefit; however unlike annie, his pet ceases to exist when he dies, so he's denied even being able to get revenge from the grave. Though he can crush his opposition if he can snowball same as swain, he will feel painfully weak if he doesn't.
about the same before the update, since i don't enjoy playing brand much. even the games i do play him i feel im forcing myself into it, zyra feels different but most of her update felt like a direct buff though i wish her passive was controllable and not luck based. Ive had games where i cant get any usable seeds and some that i pick up kills only because my passive planed seeds in the right spot after the fight started.
