Major League Patch 10.11 ADC buffs target Zeal items & base stats
Riot GamesADC mains get ready — the bot lane is getting buffed in League of Legends. While the changes have been pushed back to Patch 10.11, the wait will be worth it.
Bot laners might be making a renaissance in League of Legends. The role has been on Riot’s checklist for buffs for some time, and sweeping changes are coming to make the role a bit easier to play.
Mark ‘Scruffy’ Yetter, lead gameplay designer for League of Legends, iterated these “offense and defense” changes to bot lane are only a draft. However, we should expect something along these lines to ship with Patch 10.11 in three week’s time.
Riot GamesIncreased attack speed on Zeal items
Attack speed items were gutted for ADCs at the turn of Season 10. While critical strike was increased, the loss of reliable DPS hit the role hard. Marksman like Xayah and Kai’Sa fell off, while others like Miss Fortune, Senna, and Varus — who weren’t so reliant on attack speed items — shot up.
Now, they’ll be given a leg up. Zeal is getting an extra 3% attack speed, bringing it up to its Season 9 levels. Rapidfire Cannon, Phantom Dancer, Statikkm Shiv, and Runaan’s Hurricane, which build out of Zeal, will all be getting an extra 5%.
These Zeal changes will have to tread carefully though. Buffing other stats on the 1,400-gold item might lead to some unintended consequences regarding crit stacking on champs like Jhin and Yasuo. Riot are monitoring the changes.
Testing our first iteration of bot changes with both offense and defense. We're not going the direct XP route to keep the power focused on the carry instead of both carry and sup.
-Zeal +3% Attack speed
-RFC, PD, Shiv, Hurricane +5% Attack speed
-ADC Base Health +30; per lvl +5— Mark Yetter (@MarkYetter) May 6, 2020
Health buffs make ADCs more tanky
ADCs have been one-shot by assassins too much, Riot have concluded. On top of the Zeal changes, all marksmen will be getting a 30 health increase at level 1, and an extra 5 health per level.
League statistician ‘Shakarez’ crunched the numbers, and the changes are a considerable boost. For a lot of AD carries, they can expect at least a 110 health increase at level 18. Given how little resistances are on offer for these squishy carries, it’s a considerable amount.
It could lead to the rise of ADCs in solo lanes too. Champions like Lucian, Tristana, and more recently Kalista have been picked up in both top and mid. Boosts to their health can help them survive trades, and add to their bullying power in lane.
A reminder that stats don't scale linearly in League, here's an example on what the proposed buff would look on Kalista and Tristana.
Remember all of this is tentative though https://t.co/qWuhjMkgaQ pic.twitter.com/uEOqi0DnBn
— Renato Perdigão (@Shakarez) May 6, 2020
These changes are tentatively locked in for Patch 10.11, which is still a few weeks away. While originally touted for Patch 10.10, Riot wanted to do a “tuning pass” before sending the changes live.
What you can expect from League’s next update, which drops on May 13, is some nerfs to mid laners like Katarina and Diana, and buffs to underappreciated champions Annie and Udyr.
League Patch 10.11 is set for May 28.