There are two main issues with the current meta that Riot Games has yet to address: first, several marksman champions are incredibly overpowered, making professional matches extremely dull. The second issue is in solo queue, where top lane carries, specifically Sett, are proving to be too strong; not only is he tanky, but he also boasts terrifying damage, making the decision to nerf this champion in patch 10.8 understandable.
Just hours ago, the lead gameplay designer – Riot Mark Yetter, posted on his personal Twitter the update list for patch 10.8. Alongside the aforementioned issues, Riot also aims to bring back some older faces to diversify the meta. Specific information:
First up, we have nerfs for six champions: Sett, Master Yi, Aphelios, Senna, Varus, and Kalista. This group is distinctly divided into four marksmen and two others. With Sett, players have discovered his incredible split-pushing power with the Galeforce + Duskblade combo, making him dominant in solo queue. Master Yi is also a strong user of the Duskblade; with this item being buffed, he becomes significantly stronger.
The four marksmen share a common trait of being prioritized by professional teams during matches, alongside Miss Fortune. Aphelios and Senna might still have some bugs, showing that they can do far too much as marksmen, while Varus is also very strong right now with good laning and combat abilities, not to mention his passive W that counters tanks very effectively. The nerf aimed at Kalista comes a bit late as she has already dominated the top lane for a while.
On the buff side, two notable names are Urgot and Evelynn. One is a tanky champion with decent area damage, while the other is a true assassin in solo queue. It seems Riot is gradually realizing their mistake in buffing items that led to too many powerful champions, which they couldn’t balance; hence this time they are focusing mainly on champion buffs.
Three marksmen that seem a bit overshadowed are Xayah, Tristana, and Ashe, who also received some love from Riot with their buffs. Hopefully, this update will make the marksman position, especially in professional tournaments, more diverse. Two traditional mages, Ryze and Orianna, have also been buffed again, perhaps because Riot is tired of seeing tanks and fighters flooding the mid lane, so they want some old names in this position to return.
