Does anyone know if the Leona change is a buff or a nerf?

Weensw·Aug 4, 2018·1 votes·1,799 views

I just read surrender at 20 article, and found the Leona change, I am not quite sure if she got buffed or nerfed, I am more leaning towards a Leona nerf, but I'm not sure, can someone tell me if she got buffed or nerfed?

Here's the change:

Leona

Eclipse (W) Damage changed from [60/100/140/180/220] to [60/90/120/150/180] Cooldown changed from [14 at all ranks] to [18/16/14/12/10] Armor changed from [25/35/45/55/65 (+20%)] to [15/20/25/30/35 (+40%)] Magic Resist changed from [20/30/40/50/60 (+20%)] to [15/20/25/30/35 (+40%)]

Zenith Blade (E) Damage increased from [60/100/140/180/220] to [60/110/160/210/260]

5 Comments

PyrosanAug 4, 20182 votes

That's a buff for mid game to late imo Slightly weaker earlier on but nothing too noticable

Final Spark LuxAug 4, 20182 votes

Disclaimer: I'm not taking dmg into account because I couldn't care less about that aspect of it. Survivability is what matters to an immobile melee champion.

I disagree with the slightly weaker early on / not noticeable part. I did the math, and it's only a buff once you have more than 150 armor / magic resist. Anything less, and you're losing defensive stats. After the change, you'll need a minimum of 75 bonus armor / magic resist to even equal what it's flat values are giving you on live without taking bonuses into account. That's a big chunk of defensive stats gone without anything in return. It won't make a difference how long its up-time is if it isn't granting you enough defense to actually keep you alive.

TL;DR: It's a nerf unless you get far enough into the game to have 150 bonus armor / MR.

PyrosanAug 5, 20181 votes

The standard Leona build is something like:

Eye of aspect: Locket Randurins Gargoyle Knight's vow

That's 170 Armor (210 TF) and 100 MR (140 TF) But that's 170 armor + 100 MR So 34 armor from Eclipse and 20 MR 35 Armor as base stats 35 MR as base stats

So when Eclipse is activated you're given 69 + 55 MR, which off the bat is weaker than late game leona with additional damage but then you have to take into account that Leona takes aftershock also and with Garg she becomes an abomination of a champion who harasses an ADC until someone kills them lol

But of course I haven't looked into her too much and this build is situational, just from first apperance it looks like she stays the same amount of tanky with additional damage which is always welcome

Final Spark LuxAug 5, 20181 votes

The problem is that's full build. Its easy to imagine Leona having a full build in the best case scenario, but getting to that point is a something else entirely. There are tons of variables that will effect how fast you can get items. It's much easier said than done.

If reality, if you're in a stomp game, you either won't need defensive stats, or you do, but because it's a stomp, you're easily able to afford your items anyways.

It's when you're in uneven matchups / at a disadvantage that defensive stats become a necessity / very important. In a meta where support income is low and damage is high, this is a pretty dramatic nerf, given her early / mid game is so important to her success. It might be a buff much later on, but it won't matter unless you can get past that 150 armor / MR threshold; and keep in mind this is bonus, not total.

Even taking the aftershock rune into account, it's still a nerf until you get to a certain point. Now you're relying on aftershock to make up for a giant chunk of defense instead of adding on to what you already had.

IllabetheAug 5, 20181 votes

Nah. buff to early game presence, because CDR dramatically makes W more spammable.

Late game, Resist/Armor means next to nothing, so access to it really doesn't help. She'll be back to being tanky as heck early but sucking late game.

I might put her back in my jungler rotation just because I can get to the lower CDRS faster that way, and they're buffing E's damage, so she's getting some of her clear speed back.

But it's a lane trap. Once adcs/melees are back on crit build with item 3031 , she's gonna get shredded.

(I know the RESCALING of W favors late game, but it's only really going to help late game if the other team built a horrible team who has no real armor pen/lethality/mag pen).

E already scales CDR, and Q has a low cooldown, so she's basically going to become a CDR spammer rather than getting "as tanky as possible early"

Ie, you might see more item 3025 item 3110 builds rather than item 3193 item 3742 item 3190 early.

I'd say this is a nerf for basic .... support Leonas who never build outside a meta. It's probably a very strong buff for roaming off meta Leonas who think offensively. Ie...... it's not doing the job it was "supposed" to do.