So... Mercurial Scimitar and Perfect Timing just got nerfed. For no reason.

Mercurial Scimitar Total and combine cost decreased. Attack damage decreased.

There should be clear tradeoffs in itemization; in the case of Mercurial Scimitar, the extra safety from its active does not hold an appropriate tradeoff in damage dealt. TOTAL COST 3700 gold ⇒ 3500 gold COMBINE COST 525 gold ⇒ 325 gold ATTACK DAMAGE 65 ⇒ 50

Not only are Riot rigging the numbers by saying it cost 3700 gold (it cost 3600), it's apparently getting a nerf despite being an item that's almost never purchased.

Apparently, a 100 (200 in Riot's eyes) gold decrease is enough to warrant a 15 AD nerf (Keep in mind, a single Long Sword, for 350 gold, grants 10 AD).

This is absurd. 3500 gold for 50 AD, 35 Magic Resistance, 10% Lifesteal and a single QSS? I could get 30 more AD, 5% more Lifesteal that also applies to spells, 10% cooldown reduction and 30% damage reduction for the same price by buying a Death's Dance.

Good luck getting anyone to purchase it now.

That's not all though. Perfect Timing is getting a nerf as well.

Perfect Timing Time of activation pushed to later in the game.

In patch 8.4, we pushed the activation time of Stopwatch to 10 minutes because its prevalence in professional play was delaying or inhibiting early action. In 8.10 we tried a lower value (8 minutes), but we've begun observing the same impact on pro play, so we're reverting those changes. ACTIVATION TIME 8 minutes ⇒ 10 minutes

Not only is this definitive proof that Riot balances the game around pro play and Esports, this is YET ANOTHER indirect buff to early game snowball champions (I.E, Assassins).

Both of these are nerfs to defensive items. Riot is basically forcing people to build damage by making defensive options more and more useless.

Honestly, this makes me beyond furious.

What do you bois think about this?

Source: https://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/patch-815-notes