Hello, Librarian Husky here! 14.14 is a pretty pro-focus patch as we have nerfs to Corki and Tristana. Warmogs is becoming weaker for supports, while Zed is actually receiving a pretty nice buff. Of course, Aurora will be released sometime this patch, but as always with any new champion, we’ll be holding off on giving her a rating until our mid-patch tier list update, as it’s really hard to pinpoint the exact strength of a new champion before we see them on live servers. Keep an eye out for our Aurora guide, which will be going live this week.ы

Item and Runes Changes

Starting things off by covering all the Item and runes changes, there isn’t a whole lot going on. Absorb Life is being targeted with a nerf to its early game sustain, but it’s going to be buffed from level 13 onwards. We expect that many champs will go back to running either Triumph or Presence of Mind moving forward, as reducing the effectiveness of Absorb Life in the early game in exchange for a stronger late game should be a net nerf on the majority of champs.

Warmog’s Rush Nerf

We’ve been covering how OP the Warmogs rush has been for a while now, even before it really became super popular. Riot finally has a nerf planned for 14.14. Warmog’s Rush is going to become much weaker on supports for this patch, as the health required to activate its passive is going from 1,300 to 1,500. This now means you need at least a Kindle Gem in order to activate the passive, which costs 800 gold and provides 200 health.

Warmog’s Changes and Impact

If you do still rush Warmogs, your big power spike is going to come a little bit later on. Warmogs as the second pickup is completely unaffected, as you’re going to have enough bonus health from your first item to activate its passive. For a non-support like Mundo, who has been liking Warmogs, he likely just prioritizes the Heartsteel rush first and then goes into Warmogs second. Now, supports are without question weaker with Warmogs, but it’s tough to say that this change will be enough to completely remove the item from the meta.

Top Lane Adjustments

Moving on to the direct Champion changes, we’ve got seven different top laners being adjusted for this patch. Cho’Gath is going to receive a really nice boost in damage to his E, as it’s being increased from 82 to 100 at max rank. Keep in mind this is per auto attack, so if you’re able to get all three autos off with Cho’s E, it’s 54 added damage for an ability on a 4-second cooldown at max rank that can be spammed in skirmishes. This buff will definitely add up.

Cho’Gath Buff Details

Q damage is also going up at max rank, but since you don’t max the ability out until second or third, this change isn’t as impactful as the E buff. Overall, these changes should put Cho’Gath in a really good spot for 14.14. He’ll settle out in either an A or S tier position, but we’re leaning more towards S for now, which is where he’ll be placed on the tier list.

Jayce Buff Details

Riot is going to be adding a tiny bit of damage to Jayce‘s Q for the next patch, as the base value is going up by five at all ranks while the bonus AD ratio is up from 120% to 125%. Not anywhere near enough in our eyes to significantly shift Jayce‘s solo queue strength, so he’s going to remain in the top lane B tier.

Top Lane Buffs

Top lane tanks are going to get a buff for this patch, as Sion will have his W damage increased. The target’s max health damage is going up from 10% scaling to 14%, to just a flat 14% at all ranks. This is likely not as impactful as the Cho’Gath buffs, and with how much Sion has struggled in recent patches, we don’t see this being enough to alter his tier list placement. If Riot were to have increased the max health damage at max rank, then we’d probably have a different story, but the fact it stays the same and is only stronger early on in the game makes it less appealing.

Teemo Buff

Teemo is going to be entering stealth a bit faster now. Riot has stated that it will be around 0.125 seconds faster than before, so it’s nothing crazy. We don’t expect it to help move the needle in regards to Teemo’s tier list placement.

Jax Nerf

Jax has been excelling in the higher elos recently, so a nerf is headed his way. E cooldown is going up from 15 scaling to 9 seconds to 17 scaling to 9 seconds, so a bit of an early game nerf to Jax. This means the enemy will now have a slightly larger window in which they can look to punish you in lane, or just a longer window in which you will have to play more reserved. Jax has been on the fence between A and S tier in recent patches, so as a result of this nerf, we’re going to be leaving him in the A tier.

Rumble Nerf

Rumble’s Q damage is getting absolutely torched for this patch. The base damage on Q is dropping from 125 all the way down to 80 at rank one. This means that for the first couple of levels in lane, Rumble will be significantly weaker.

Rumble’s Nerf Impact

The bully strength of Rumble becomes significantly weaker. The damage is only down by five once you have the spell fully maxed out, but losing 45 damage at rank one is such a massive blow. We really don’t see how Rumble doesn’t lose a significant amount of power as a result of this nerf, so we’re going to be moving him down into the top lane C tier.

Irelia Adjustments

Next up, we’ve got a couple of adjustments to Irelia. Passive attack speed is now going to scale linearly with each level instead of giving a boost at levels 7 and 13. AD per level is dropping from 4 to 3.5. With each point you put into Irelia’s R, you gain cooldown reduction for your Q, and that is being nerfed this patch at rank two and rank three of Irelia’s R. The passive change should end up being a buff at all stages of the game if our math is correct. However, the AD per level and R changes are obviously nerfs. It’s tough to say exactly how much power Irelia will gain or lose for next patch, so we’re not going to be shifting her on the tier list for 14.14 as she’ll remain in the B tier.

Top Lane Tier List Overview

If we have a look at the complete top lane tier list, the upper echelon of the role really isn’t affected this patch. A lot of the direct Champion changes are pretty light, as it’s really only the Cho’Gath buffs and the Rumble nerf that we think are overly impactful. Sett and Volibear will continue to be rated as two of the most powerful solo queue carries.

Mundo and Warmog’s Rush

Even though Mundo won’t be as strong in this patch at the Warmog’s rush, he’s actually been performing better in solo queue by going Heartsteel first into Warmog’s second. So because it’s only the Warmog’s rush that is weaker, we don’t really see Mundo losing very much power, especially if players just transition to rushing Heartsteel.

Singed’s Warmog’s Strategy

Singed is another top laner who’s been liking Warmog’s as of recent, but he’s been slotting it in differently in his build.

Jungle Nerfs in Patch 14.14

The item is second or third, so he’s not negatively affected by the nerf at all. Not a single jungle buff for this patch, as all junglers are being targeted with nerfs. First up is Bel’Veth; her attack range is dropping from 175 to 150, while her bonus attack range is going up from 50 to 75. We don’t see a lot of attack range nerfs like these, so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly how much power Bel’Veth will be losing. For now, we’re going to keep her placed in the jungle A tier.

Kindred Nerf

Despite Kindred being a pretty mediocre champ for the majority of ranks, they’ve been excelling a ton in high ELO, which is why Riot’s nerfing them. Q attack speed will be dropping from 35% to 30%, and Q AD ratio is going down as well from 0.75 to 0.65. Kindred is going to be in and around that B to A tier level moving forward for the majority of ranks, and we’ll be placing them in B tier for 14.14.

Lillia Nerf

Lillia has been the most OP jungler across most ELO brackets in 14.13, so a nerf is finally headed her way. Healing is what’s being targeted, as multi-champion healing is going down from 33% to 15%. Definitely significant, but likely not enough to completely remove Lillia from the meta, so we’ll only be dropping her from OP and into S for now.

Nidalee Nerf

Much like Kindred, Nidalee is another one of those high ELO skew junglers who’s going to be nerfed for 14.14. Cougar form W and E damage are both going to be nerfed, as W damage is dropping from 60 scaling to 210 to 55 scaling to 190. There will now be a 50% AD ratio on W damage though. E damage is being reduced by 10 at all ranks, while the AD ratio is going up from 40% to 70%. Nidalee’s E is a bonus AD ratio, so we are going to assume that this AD ratio being added to W is also a bonus AD ratio.

AD Ratios Impact

If this is the case, then it means that unless you’re actually building AD, the addition of these AD ratios doesn’t really matter that much. In other words, if you’re playing the standard AP Nidalee, she’s definitely getting weaker for this patch. We will be dropping her from A into B tier for diamond and above. Nidalee could still remain a pretty solid pick, but since our tier lists are more catered towards what’s best for the majority of ranks, she is placed lower down.

Zyra Jungle Nerf

Zyra jungle has become quite popular over the past few patches, eclipsing around a 4% play rate in 14.13. However, that likely falls off quite hard for 14.14. Plant damage is being reduced from 16 scaling to 84 to 15 scaling to 75. Monster bonus damage is dropping as well from 60 scaling to 100 to 50 scaling to 100. Even with Zyra becoming more popular recently, she hasn’t been performing all that well in solo queue. With these nerfs being issued, we don’t think the champ will be worth playing over the majority of junglers, and we’ll be moving Zyra into the C tier to reflect that.

Hecarim Changes

We’ve got a bit of a power shift going on with Hecarim for this patch, as Riot has a bunch of minor changes planned. Health growth is being increased from 99 to 106. W duration is dropping from 5 to 4 seconds, healing from W is up from 20 to 25%, while W cooldown is being lowered from 16 scaling to 14 seconds to a flat 14 seconds at all ranks. There’s a change to E as well, with the cooldown going from 18 seconds flat to now 20 scaling to 16 seconds. These look like pretty neutral changes on paper, so we’re not going to be shifting Hecarim’s tier placement, as he’ll remain in the B tier.

New Jungle Tier Changes

With Lillia dropping out of the OP tier for the first time in a while, we now have a new look as Nocturne will be moving up and taking her place. Nocturne has been on the rise ever since the patch 14.10 jungle XP changes and is currently one of the best junglers for diamond and below. Udyr is another champ who really benefited from the 14.10 changes and is being moved up into the S tier for 14.14. These farming junglers like Nocturne, Udyr, Shyvana, and Fiddlesticks are all extremely powerful right now and are overshadowing a lot of the early game ganking junglers.

Jungler Power Spikes

If you’re in the lower ranks right now, these kinds of junglers being in really strong spots is great as they are pretty easy to pilot but have very defined power spikes to play off of. With Fiddlesticks, Shyvana, and Nocturne, it’s all about playing off cooldowns, so there’s just less overthinking that goes into playing them.

High ELO Junglers

On the flip side, with a more high ELO skew jungler like Nidalee, you don’t really have that well-defined power spike to play off of, and there’s so many ways in which you can approach fights. This higher variance is great for the very top-ranked players with incredible macro knowledge, but for the average player, less is often more.

Zed Buff

Zed has been in a bit of a weaker state for a while now, so he’s going to receive a pretty meaningful buff this patch. Q damage is going up by 10 at all ranks, which is massive. E cooldown refund is going up as well from 2 to 3 seconds. Zed’s Q is only on a 6-second cooldown, so adding 10 bonus damage to a spell that you can reliably spam out in lane will make a big difference. We think these changes are enough to finally push Zed out of the mid lane B tier, as he’s been there all season and will be moving up into A tier for 14.14.

Zed’s Ban Rate

Despite Zed being on the weaker side this season, his ban rate has still been upwards of 20%, so it will be interesting to see how much higher that ban rate spikes this patch.

Corki Nerf

Zed is the only mid buffed for this patch, as we’ve got nerfs from here on out, and Corki is first in line. Base health of Corki is going to be dropping from 640 to 610, so his already underwhelming early game becomes even weaker. Despite Corki being a prominent pick in pro play as of late, that same kind of success just hasn’t translated into solo queue, as we’ve had him down in the mid lane C tier, and he’s most certainly going to stay there with this nerf being issued.

Tristana Nerf

The second mid lane champ who’s been very problematic in pro play as of late is Tristana, and she’s being nerfed as well. Base mana is going up from 250 to 350, but Q will now have a mana cost, as it’s going up from 0 to 50. W mana cost is being lowered from 60 to 50. So these are definitely net nerfs to Tristana.

Tristana Nerf Impact

You won’t be able to spam out Q super freely in lane anymore, especially for solo queue. Tristana mid is a champ that you want to be playing super aggressively with early on, and this nerf will really limit that moving forward. So we’re going to be moving Tristana down the mid lane tier list, pushing her from S into A tier. There is a world where the nerf hits even harder and she falls into B tier, but we see A as the fit for now.

Brand Nerf

Brand is being tagged with another round of nerfs, as the nerfs in 14.13 were not enough to lower Brand’s power as much as Riot had hoped. This time it’s Brand’s E losing strength, as the damage is dropping from 60 scaling to 160 to 55 scaling to 155, while the cooldown of Brand’s E is going up by 1 second at all ranks. For a spell that is point and click and one that you can spam out off cooldown in lane, especially in melee matchups, we do see this change being somewhat impactful. Brand should not completely disappear from the meta, but his time as a top-tier mid will be coming to an end, as we’re dropping him into the mid lane A tier.

Aurelion Sol Adjustments

Aurelion Sol is going to be adjusted for this patch with some power being shifted around in his kit. Base AD will be going up from 55 to 58. Q initial mana cost is going to be increased; however, the mana you will expend over the course of a fully channeled Q will be the same as before. The reason Riot is making this change is to try and eliminate the strength of just tapping Sol’s Q for the slow while not punishing players that actually use the full duration of it. W range is going up quite significantly from 1000 units to now 1500 scaling to 1900 units. E mana cost will be lowered from 80 scaling to 100 to 80 flat. The AP ratio of R, Falling Star, is also being adjusted.

Aurelion Sol Changes

Damage is going up from 65% to 75%. The shock wave multiplier is going down from 100% to 90% of Falling Star damage. All in all, we don’t see these changes drastically shifting Aurelion Sol’s solo queue strength. With the tap Q being nerfed, it may affect Sol a little more in the higher elos where players take advantage of this more often, while for the lower ranks he’s likely not affected as much. We won’t be moving Aurelion Sol anywhere on the tier list, as he will remain in the A tier for 14.14.

Mid Lane Tier List

For the mid lane tier list this patch, we have no adjustments to the OP tier, as Vex and Neeko will continue to be two of the most optimal mids. With Tristana losing priority for this patch, we likely see LeBlanc overtake her as the most popular solo queue mid. With Electrocute recently buffed in the early game, it’s given good LeBlanc players even more snowball power in lane, and the champ is super strong if piloted well.

Corki Nerf Impact

We definitely recommend staying away from Corki for solo queue this patch, as he was already sitting around a 47% win rate in 14.13, and that’s going to drop even lower as a result of his nerf. It’s pretty likely that Zed is going to see a big surge in popularity this patch. So if you don’t want to ban him, who can you use as a counter? Sylas is always a great choice and is actually a really solid S tier pick in the meta right now. There’s a lot of value in having Sylas in your champion pool.

Zed Counters

Vladimir is a very good option as well, as his W does a great job at shutting down the burst power of Zed when he tries to use his R. It’s a very light patch down in the bot lane, as we have a few champs receiving buffs.

Aphelios Buff

First up is Aphelios. Aphelios will be receiving a damage boost to a bunch of his guns for this patch, as the AD ratio on Q is going up for his purple, white, and red guns, while the base damage is being increased for his purple and white guns. With how poor of a solo queue performer Aphelios has been recently, these changes are much needed.

Bot Lane Changes

We don’t see these changes being enough to push him back into the meta, so he’s going to remain down in the C tier. Smolder is next in line for a buff, as his Q damage will be increased by five at all ranks. Like Aphelios’ changes, we don’t see this one significantly altering Smolder’s solo queue strength, so B tier is where he will remain on the tier list.

Bot Lane Meta

The bot lane meta is going to look very similar to where it was last patch, as Jinx and Kai’Sa will continue to be the highest priority ADCs. Even though the Tristana and Corki changes are more specifically aimed towards reducing their strength as mid laners, the changes do hurt both champs in the bot lane as well. Tristana is being moved from A into B tier, while Corki has been in the C tier already, so there isn’t anywhere further for him to drop.

High Priority ADCs

Other than Jinx and Kai’Sa, Miss Fortune is another pick that you should be putting a lot more priority on now. With how easy the champ is to play and how strong she has become due to her recent buffs, everyone in Diamond and below should be playing MF if they want to climb. The new heavy AD crit build of Bloodthirster, Essence Reaver, and Infinity Edge hits like a truck and is so simple to play due to all the upfront damage it provides.

Support Changes

There’s just one support champion that Riot will be changing for this patch, and it’s Milio. They’re issuing a couple of changes aimed towards rewarding you more for expressing your skill on Milio. Passive damage is going down, more significantly in the early game, as instead of dealing damage equal to 15% of your ally’s AD, it will now be 7% at level one. Q is getting buffed, though, as the cooldown drops from 12 to 10 seconds, while the range is going up from 1000 to 1220 units.

Milio Changes

You’re also going to receive a 50% mana refund on Q when you hit an enemy champion with it. W is buffed with its recast range going up from 700 to 3000 units. Lastly, E shield will be nerfed with the base value dropping by 15 at all ranks, while the AP ratio is going up from 30% to 45%. Riot is taking away a lot of the guaranteed power from Milio’s kit with the passive and E nerfs while giving him more strength on the skill expressive side of his kit with his Q. We think that for the average player these likely land as net negative changes, but we’ll have to see how they pan out on live servers. For now, we won’t be moving Milio anywhere on the support tier list, as he will be placed in the A tier.

Support Meta Changes

The Warmog’s nerf is the only change that really affects the Support meta for this patch, and we will be making a few changes as a result. The OP tier is going to look a bit different as we’ve moved both Braum and Leona down into the S tier while moving Poppy up into the OP tier.

Poppy’s Position

Poppy is someone who likes to build Warmog’s right now, but a lot of players rush Dead Man’s and don’t build Warmog’s until second, so the nerfs to Warmog’s don’t really affect this build at all.

Braum and Leona Adjustments

Braum and Leona, on the other hand, have been extremely powerful rushing Warmog’s, so with the item being weaker as a rush, we expect them to lose a decent amount of strength.

Warmog’s Changes for Supports

It’s not like Warmog’s is going to be completely useless on supports now. You’re just going to need more gold in order to activate its passive, so you won’t have as quick of a midgame spike. If we go back to before Warmog’s was even in the meta, Leona and Braum were both still really good solo queue champs. The item just took a lot of melee supports to a more egregious level. Pretty much every melee support in the game has been running Warmog’s anyway, so if anything, it’s just all melee supports as a whole that will lose the same amount of power, which should give rise to an enchanter like Nami, who has already been a great pickup in recent patches.

Thank you for diving into our guide! Discover our exceptional League of Legends boosting services and elevate your gaming experience with our top-tier boosts.