After a series of direct and indirect buffs, the Blademaster comp with its various iterations has secured a solid position in the Teamfight Tactics meta 10.8. With the introduction of two new Galaxies, it’s entirely possible to stop at level 7 and still have a strong lineup featuring Yasuo, Master Yi… who are ‘decked out’ to slice through other compositions.
The most dominant aspect of Blademasters right now is Yasuo’s ability to “one shot” the enemy carry, which is nearly impossible to stop. No matter how many items an opponent builds on a carry champion, just one “hasagi” from Yasuo is usually enough to take them down, not to mention the highly annoying mixed damage from the entire comp, including physical damage from the whole team, magical damage from Kayle, and true damage from Master Yi.
The somewhat excessive popularity of Blademasters has led Riot Games to consider nerfing them, and this has already been implemented on the PBE server, with the main target being ‘God’ Yasuo. Here are the specific details:
Chrono
Attack speed increased from 15% to 20%.
The delay between attack speed boosts at 2/4/6 champions increased from 6/2/1s to 8/4/2s.
Gunner
Energy restoration per hit increased from 20 to 40.
Graves
The duration of the Smoke Bomb skill that causes opponents to miss their attacks changes from 4s to 3/4/5s based on champion level.
Fiora
The stun duration changes from 1.5s to 1.5/1.5/3s based on champion level.
Sona
Healing from the skill increased from 100/150/200 to 150/200/300.
Kha’Zix
Base damage increased from 175/250/400 to 200/275/500. Bonus damage to isolated enemies increased from 600/825/1350 to 600/825/1500.
Malphite
Shield amount from the skill increased from 40/45/50% to 40/45/60% of max health.
Twisted Fate
Skill damage increased from 200/300/500 to 200/300/550.
Leona
Damage reduction from the skill increased from 40/80/120 to 40/80/200.
Yasuo
The skill now has a range of only 3 tiles.
Overall, this update doesn’t have much attention aside from the fact that Riot is looking for ways to balance the new Chrono trait so that it’s strong enough at level 6 champions but not too strong for lower levels to be used by other compositions. Next, we have a massive buff for Aurelion Sol as he is the only champion in the Gunner trait; could it be that Riot wants Rebellion to make a comeback?
The most notable aspect of this update is Yasuo being limited in skill range; previously, no matter how far away the opponent stood, as long as they had enough items, they could still be “jumped” by the ‘God’. This nerf will mean that Yasuo will no longer have the ability to “oneshot” any carry opponent at any time, and instead, you’ll need to find a way to take down the front line of your opponent as quickly as possible if you don’t want them to stall for the backline to unleash fire on your Blademasters.
