Kalista – Aatrox
Just from the name, we can already tell the impact that Aatrox has on this composition. Essentially, Aatrox serves as the primary tank, sometimes even acting as the main damage dealer if you don’t have enough items for Kalista. The power of Aatrox lies in the fact that this unit can equip all tank items but still heal and deal decent damage thanks to the attack speed and skill damage stats from the Legion and Celestial traits.
However, since patch 11.17b, Aatrox’s power has decreased significantly as the maximum energy that this unit possesses will be raised to 100. This greatly reduces the frequency of Aatrox’s abilities and his ability to endure fights, making this unit no longer a strong tank. Therefore, the damage output of the Kalista – Aatrox composition will be greatly reduced since patch 11.17b. You might need to be exceptionally lucky and level Kalista and Aatrox up to 3 stars early to make this composition work.
Vayne – Reaver
In a meta where beefy frontline units with heavy armor are becoming increasingly common, Vayne’s ability to deal true damage is extremely valuable. This makes Vayne a hot carry in patch 11.17, leading to a resurgence of the Reaver trait. However, this will have to change in the update 11.17b of Teamfight Tactics as the amount of true damage Vayne deals will be significantly reduced at 3-star level (20 points).
Not only has Vayne herself been nerfed, but this is seen as a significant power reduction for the Reaver composition in the current meta. In season 5.5, the new Reaver trait accumulates damage stats based on rounds won, making it heavily reliant on the ability to snowball the game. With the aforementioned changes, the snowball potential of the Reaver trait has decreased significantly in the early game. It wouldn’t be surprising if the Reaver trait gradually disappears from the meta after this nerf.
Assassins
As the primary physical damage dealer, any changes related to Nocturne greatly impact the strength of the Assassin team. In patch 11.17b, Nocturne’s basic AD has been nerfed from 80 to 75. This seemingly small change actually has a significant impact on Nocturne’s power in the early game, before you can level this unit up to 2 or 3 stars. At that point, Nocturne’s damage and healing are quite limited, and players can easily find themselves losing a lot of health.
One of the challenges in building an Assassin team is that you have to activate the Demon effect to ensure that Nocturne has more opportunities to deal damage. However, the Demon units (aside from Nocturne) all cost 4 gold or more and have a very low appearance rate before level 8. This challenge becomes even greater in patch 11.17 when Nocturne’s damage is reduced. Therefore, unless you have enough “luck,” it’s best not to use this composition.
