The new League of Legends update is going to be nerfing a ton of champions in the 10.3 patch to bring a bit more balance to the Rift, especially with new and reworked champions.
From pro play to solo queue, there’s been some growing trends in Riot’s MOBA that they might want to tune down, like the reemergence of a mage-centric Sona as a carry or Rumble dominating in the mid lane.
New champs have also been causing some chaos with the support champion Senna being a strong late-game option for ADC, Aphelios’s Calabrum sniping people from infinite range, or Sett just being a menace wherever he goes.
Riot is lowering the volume on Sona’s tune
Sona has always been a favorite for poke comps, since her E, Song of Celerity, can give her a healthy self-movement speed to let her throw out a Q and quickly retreat.
That’s going to get slightly nerfed with the self-movement speed applied lowering to 20% and +0.03 per 100 ability power from 25% and 0.04.
Nerfs set for Sett
Meanwhile, Riot’s noticed that Sett has been “breaking some faces with ease” so they’re decreasing his base health regen from 9.25 to a flat 8.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
His deadly Haymaker W is getting bigger cooldowns, with rank one increased from 16 seconds to 18, and at rank five from 8 seconds up to 12.
That ability’s base damage is also going to scale a lot slower with a max level W going from 230 base damage to 210.
Senna Marksman adjustments
Since Senna has been making waves in the bot lane, Riot thinks she’s in a good place but some fine-tuning will make it a bit less frustrating to play against her.
Her passive got retooled a bit while increasing the Mist Wraith drop chance from 20% on minions Senna doesn’t kill, 100% on cannon minions that she kills to @5% on minions she doesn’t kill and only 1.67% on cannon minions she kills.
Her E, Curse of the Black Mist, got a bug fix that now reveals ally champions under its effect after Senna has died.
There’s so much to unpack in the massive 10.3 update for the game, so make sure to check out the patch notes below courtesy of Riot Games.
AKALI
Q cost increased. W shroud movement speed increased and now decays. R now targets champions, not direction.
Q – FIVE POINT STRIKE
W – TWILIGHT SHROUD
R – PERFECT EXECUTION
APHELIOS
Q marked enemy attack range no longer infinite.
Q – CALIBRUM, THE SNIPER RIFLE
AZIR
Base mana increased. R number of soldiers increased.
BASE STATS
R – EMPEROR’S DIVIDE
CORKI
W damage per second ratio increased; burn duration increased; now slows.
W – SPECIAL DELIVERY
DIANA
Base mana decreased. W damage per orb decreased.
BASE STATS
W – PALE CASCADE
EKKO
Passive monster stack damage decreased.
PASSIVE – Z-DRIVE RESONANCE
EZREAL
Base mana growth and AS growth increased.
BASE STATS
GALIO
Q tornado duration and damage ticks increased.
Q – WINDS OF WAR
LEONA
W and E damage decreased.
W – ECLIPSE
E – ZENITH BLADE
MISS FORTUNE
Base attack speed growth decreased.
BASE STATS
RUMBLE
Base stats rounded. W bonus movement speed and shield decreased.
BASE STATS
W – SCRAP SHIELD
SEJUANI
Now has bonus AS at level 1. Frost Armor now removed when damaged from all monsters and champions.
BASE STATS
PASSIVE – FURY OF THE NORTH
SENNA
Mist Wraith drop chance adjusted. Spoils of War now counts as kills, reducing drop Mist Wraith drop chance. E bugfix.
PASSIVE – ABSOLUTION
E – CURSE OF THE BLACK MIST
SETT
Base health regen decreased. W cooldown increased; base damage decreased later.
BASE STATS
W – HAYMAKER
SONA
E self movement speed decreased.
E – SONG OF CELERITY
YUUMI
Q empowered damage decreased and now considers target’s health; cost now flat. W no longer goes on cooldown from Silences. E base heal decreased, but ratio increased.
Q – PROWLING PROJECTILE
W – YOU AND ME!
E – ZOOMIES
After the 2019 preseason jungle changes, we nerfed junglers through their EXP gain (they’re gaining around 40 EXP less per minute). As a result, we’re giving back around half the EXP we took out and pushing that into the jungler’s item specifically, so laners can’t co-opt it. Additionally, we’re making sure Krugs feel more worthwhile to kill, while still requiring the intended time for the reward trade-off. Finally, we are looking to address “the funnel strategy” by tightening the minion gold restriction further.
UNIQUE – Monster Hunter
Krugs
Red Brambleback and Blue Sentinel
Monster EXP Level Scaling
ANNIE
- BASIC ATTACK New missiles and hits
- PASSIVE – PYROMANIA Cleaned up indicator and added a hit overlay on those stunned by Annie
- Q – DISINTEGRATE New missiles and hits; now has a small cast effect
- W – INCINERATE Updated cone AoE and made it match the actual hitbox; added a hit effect; made a new UI QuickCast indicator
- E – MOLTEN SHIELD Added and modernized the ripple effect often used in damage reduction shields
- R – SUMMON: TIBBERS New cast effect with better hitbox representation; new idle effects on Tibbers; now has a fire effect all around Tibbers to indicate AoE damage range
- IDLE EFFECTS Modernized idle fire effect
- ALL SKINS Cleaned up and matched for base changes
- GOTH ANNIE Recolored from base
- ANNIE IN WONDERLAND Added additional VFXs to her kit, dance, and recall
- FROSTFIRE ANNIE Recolored from base
- FRANKENTIBBERS Added recolored VFXs to match the skin
- PANDA ANNIE Cleaned up and matched for base changes
- HEXTECH ANNIE W hitbox adjusted; cleaned up and matched for base changes
- SUPER GALAXY ANNIE Cleaned up and matched for base changes
- ANNIE-VERSARY Matched for base changes
MALPHITE
- BASIC ATTACK Added heft and size to swings and hits
- PASSIVE GRANITE SHIELD Added activate and deactivate sound effects
- Q – SEISMIC SHARD Cleaned up and added a sound for when his haste run activates
- W – THUNDERCLAP Updated with hooks for cast, loop, and new empowered W hit and auto attack hits
- E – GROUND SLAM Cleaned up
- R – UNSTOPPABLE FORCE Updated with new hooks for cast, miss, and hit
- ALL SKINS Cleaned up and matched for base changes
- GLACIAL MALPHITE New W cast, W loop, and R miss
- MECHA MALPHITE Custom Passive active; new W loop and R miss
- IRONSIDE MALPHITE Custom Passive activate; new W loop
- ODYSSEY MALPHITE Custom Passive activate; updated W hits
NAUTILUS
- BASIC ATTACK Now has trails and new impacts
- PASSIVE – STAGGERING BLOW New root and hit effect
- Q – DREDGE LINE New missile that represents the actual hitbox; slightly tweaked UI QuickCast arrow to better match the length and width of the new missile
- W – TITAN’S WRATH Cleaned up with a new shield effect; removed floating anchor from DoT in favor of a more subtle dark ray of light; cleaned up the eyes effect while it’s active; added a new AoE hit effect that reflects its actual size
- E – RIPTIDE Minorly cleaned up
- R – DEPTH CHARGE Adjusted sizes of explosions to better match the hitboxes and added a new indicator on the target (also reflective of actual hitbox)
- ALL SKINS Cleaned up and matched for base changes
- SUBTERRANEAN NAUTILUS Recolored VFXs
- ABYSSAL NAUTILUS Recolored VFXs
- ASTRONAUTILUS Cleaned up and matched for base; added new VFXs across the whole kit. More asteroids, stars, and space stuff!
10.3 Nerfs
10.3 Buffs
- Minimized Nightbringer Lee Sin Prestige Edition’s model’s neck stretching during several animations (Idle1, Idle2, and Run)
- Ornn’s upgraded Might of the Ruined King’s passive no longer stacks with Blade of the Ruined King’s passive
- Jayce’s R – Mercury Cannon/Mercury Hammer‘s cooldown now properly reduces by 10% when he has the Cloud Drake buff
- Infernal Soul’s VFX and SFX are no longer seen through Fog of War by the enemy team
- Braum’s Passive – Concussive Blows‘s stun duration now properly reduces by Tenacity
- If Sett has no points in W – Haymaker, Illaoi’s E – Test of Spirit will now properly extrude his vessel
- PROJECT: Jinx’s SFX are no longer louder than her other skins’ SFX
- Sett’s R – The Show Stopper is no longer able to suppress Mordekaiser as he casts R – Realm of Death
- Guardian of the Sands Rengar’s Passive – Unseen Predator and R – The Thrill of the Hunt‘s range indicators no longer pulsate in a way that makes their sizes change intermittently
- Yuumi no longer gets stuck in her ally Mordekaiser’s R – Realm of Death when she casts W – You and Me! towards him as he is reviving via Zilean’s R – Chronoshift
- Lux’s E – Lucent Singularity is no longer able to reveal areas outside of its area of influence
- Champions may no longer proc Grasp of Undying from Prototype: Omnistone several times in one rotation
- Katarina’s Passive – Sinister Steel daggers no longer gain 2 stacks of Conqueror per target hit; now properly gains 2 stacks per cast
- Katarina no longer attempts to basic attack her last target after E – Shunpo, unless they’re already in attack range
- Garen’s Q – Decisive Strike no longer cancels mid-attack when the target teleports far away
- A blind spot close to the northern wall near the entrance to red side’s bottom jungle has been resolved so that traps, pets, champions, etc. are visible to players in the river
- Champions’ on-hit abilities now properly build up energy stacks from items and Runes with the UNIQUE Passive – Energized ability
- Champions with double attacks now properly gain the amount of UNIQUE: Passive – Energized stacks they should be receiving for two attacks
- Dead champions will no longer draw turret aggression
- Champions blinded by Teemo’s Q – Blinding Dart now properly cannot apply critical or empowered damage to their opponents
- Mordekaiser’s Passive – Darkness Rise now properly deals damage to enemies only when the ability is active
- Baron Nashor no longer damages or grants visions around himself for players behind his pit that do not originally have vision on him
- Destroying a turret or turret plate with Rift Herald now grants players the right amount of gold even when they’re farther away from the turret