Jax
Currently, Jax is considered a perfect melee carry right from level 1 star with a high attack speed from very early on. Furthermore, with a base health of 1000 and armor from the Armored tribe, a 1-star Jax can withstand long enough to deal significant damage before being taken down. If players can activate systems like Warrior and Knight to increase Jax’s shield and durability, this character will be even tougher.
However, in the upcoming 11.18 patch, Jax’s strength, particularly at levels 1 and 2 stars, will be heavily nerfed. First, the attack speed gained after using his skill will be nerfed to 10/5% at levels 1/2 stars, significantly reducing Jax’s damage output. Next, Jax’s base health will drop to only 950, making this unit more susceptible to being taken down. These changes will delay the power spikes of compositions revolving around Jax compared to the current state.
Ivern
It seems that Riot Games has learned from previous patches by no longer nerfing the God-Warrior tribe. Instead, they are directly nerfing the God-Warrior champions, with the first victim being Ivern. In fact, the units summoned by Ivern will receive a slight increase in health and damage to better endure and contribute to the team’s damage. Nevertheless, reducing the stun duration of this unit to only 0.5 seconds at levels 1 and 2 stars is a severe nerf for Ivern.
Currently, Ivern’s annoyance comes from the relatively long stun duration, which disrupts the skill casting rhythm and damage output of the opponent’s key units. The ability of this unit to control valuable pieces like Jax, Rell, or Yasuo… helps your team avoid losing health too quickly and have a chance of victory. With the stun duration at levels 1 and 2 stars reduced to just 0.5 seconds, Ivern’s crowd control value will diminish significantly starting in patch 11.18.
Volibear
To put it bluntly, the nerf to Volibear in patch 11.18 is the most significant power reduction in Teamfight Tactics since the beginning of season 5.5. Specifically, Riot Games will remove the shield-breaking feature of the skill God-Warrior’s Descent. Instead, this skill will deal double damage to units with shields. However, the damage dealt by God-Warrior’s Descent at levels 1 and 2 stars will also be nerfed in the upcoming patch 11.18.
Essentially, Volibear is used to provide crowd control and counter strong shield-generating champions and tribes. Therefore, removing Volibear’s shield-breaking effect essentially strips this unit of half its value. Moreover, Volibear is typically placed in the front lines and requires tank items, making the effect of dealing double damage to shielded units rather trivial. It can be asserted that Volibear’s value will significantly decrease with the aforementioned nerfs from Riot.
