New update new Summoner's Rift. Yes, the League of Legends Patch 10.8 is kicking up some dust in the meta of the popular MOBA. Good for some champions, bad for others (looking at you Senna). Here are the latest top picks from Top to Bot Lane.
- READ MORE: League of Legends Patch 10.8 Notes
Riot Games has a mission: League of Legends must remain exciting. How boring would it be if only the same champions were chosen all the time? Especially in the higher ranks of the game, you will always see the same faces: Oh, another Elise in the Jungle? What a surprise... The idea is actually laudable but doesn't always work.
Sometimes we just don't even understand what the LoL developers had in mind with patch 10.8. But we don't want to anticipate anything: Here are our opinions about the update and its effects on all Lanes and the Jungle. Note: Since the patch is still quite fresh, we refer to our own assessments and previous (even frustrating) gaming experiences. So this tier list for patch 10.8 is not something set in stone - the gap is constantly changing with the meta. Let's begin, shall we?
Patch 10.8: Top Lane changes
Thanks, LoL, thanks Riot Games! Sett was nerfed: his basic damage to the W-Spell dropped from 90/120/150/180/210 to 80/105/130/155/180. It will be much harder for him to dominate the top lane now - but he is still strong. Nevertheless, we would downgrade him from S to A in our tier list.
But be careful, Urgot was buffed - a small buff, but it makes a big difference with this mechanical champion. The cooldown of his Ulti has been reduced from 120/95/70 to 100/85/70 seconds. Urgot is hard to balance, and we doubt that Riot Games made a wise decision here - let's wait and see...
Our top pick tip in patch 10.8: Maokai. Maokai is very easy to play as long as you have a feeling for when fights are worthwhile and which are not. Damage, movement... Everything is great. He's also a tree. Low-Elo players should try Nasus because, in the lower ranks, games tend to last over 25 minutes - and Nasus dominates almost every late game.
Top Lane - Top Tier List
- OP: Darius Fiora, Wukong
- S-tier: Jax, Maokai, Garen, Shen, Mordekaiser, Kled
Patch 10.8: Mid Lane changes
Ryze got buffed, that's good. Health, armor, and attack damage have been slightly increased, as has the additional movement speed of Overload - from 20/25/30/35/40% to 28/32/36/40/44%. But please don't do this anymore Riot Games as he'll be back to being OP again...
A solid pick, but not as exciting is Oriana: Oriana's shield scaling (E) has been increased from 0.4 to 0.5 ability power. The accelerations/slowdowns due to "dissonance" also got a buff. So Oriana finally got some attention from Riot, although not enough as we think. A safe pick for the mid-lane.
Our Mid Pick tip in patch 10.8: Pantheon and Gallio have good cross-map pressure and counter the S-Tier heroes from the following list:
Mid Lane - Top Tier List
- OP: Fizz, Diana and Talon
- S-Tier: Kassadin, Vladimir, Zed, Yasuo, Qiyana, Katarina, Echo
Patch 10.8: Bot Lane/ADC changes
Senna has been hit hard but she continues to stay in the S-tier for us. Aphelios and Varus have also been hit very hard. We are not surprised at the first one, Riot nerfs and nerfs him further and still, he doesn't get balanced correctly. The latter might get into trouble a bit because his Ulti cooldown has been increased.
But the real danger is Kalista. She's the new victim of mobbing in the LoL playground: Her armor has been lowered from 23 to 21, as has the slowing of her E ability. This move has brought her back down to earth from the end of Summoner's Rift to the bottom lane once again.
Our ADC pick tip in patch 10.8: Tristana. Tristana is clearly the bigger winner in this 10.8 update. And yet, she is still underestimated by many players - this can be exploited very well in-game we think.
Bot Lane/ADC - Top Tier List
- OP: Miss Fortune-- as it has been for so long...
- S-tier: Senna, Ezrael, Vayne, Lucian, Caitlyn, Jinx, Draven
Patch 10.8: Bot Lane/Support changes
Soraka was buffed, maybe not enough for S-Tier, but the first steps in the right direction were taken with patch 10.8: Her mana base increased from 375 to 425, while the cost of her Q has dropped from 60/65/70/75/80 to 45/50/55/60/65.
Our support pick tip in patch 10.8: As has been shown over the last LoL patches, Zilean is going through a change. Our advice is to just give the old guy a try.
Bot Lane/Support - Top Tier List
- OP: Blitzcrank, Leona
- S-tier: Tresh, Nautilus, Nami, Pyke, Morgana, Lulu, Bard
Patch 10.8: Jungle changes
The Jungle has been hit particularly hard in this LoL update. The healing buff of the various jungle items could make this position interesting for heroes who otherwise never get lost in the jungle. In general, solo kills became more worthwhile in patch 10.8, so that common ganking is not expected in-game as often - at least we hope so... The items at least make it difficult to gank the opposing jungler. And above all, it's not worth it in the EarlyGame.
If someone dies with a jungle item in the first five minutes of the game, his/her speed is increased for 5 seconds afterward. The XP for camps has also been increased by 10% from level 9. So Riot Games wants to leave the jungle items where they belong: in its jungle.
Master Yi has been changed: the additional attack speed of his Ulti is dropped from 30/55/80% to 15/45/65%. It would have been more important not to buff Evelyn but here we are (basic damage increased from 25/30/35/40/45 to 20/35/40/45/50). We are sure that the good young lady will soon be brought down to earth again as that just seems far too strong.
Our Jungle Pick tip in Patch 10.8: Fiddlesticks. Many LoL players underestimate him and therein lies his chance - whoever controls him has the element of surprise on their side. Besides that, how about Shyvanna? She is an Ap-variation of Master Yi. With the now buffed Jungle items she could create a lot of chaos in this position.
Jungle - Top Tier List
- OP: Elise, Warwick, Zac, Wukong - yes, he is OP in the jungle as well as on top lane
- S-Tier: Shaco, Trundle, Nunu & Willump, Echo, Graves, Olaf, Lee Sin, Rek'Sai
The full 10.8 LoL Patch Notes and other League of Legends news are available here at EarlyGame as always. What do you think of the new changes?
