Patch 5.3 Analysis

     In this post, I'll be going over most of the changes in patch 5.3 and explaining the impact of each of the changes.

Champions

1) Ahri

\Q :

Nerf to Q overall. Penalizes Ahri for misplaying with Q usage (e.g. missing the Q/spamming Q). Denying blue buff becomes even more critical from a jungler perspective.

W : 

So from what I understand, Fox-Fire's damage will be dealt faster now. That being said, her damage output from her W is taking a significant hit (so you can't just instantly decimate someone) and the range that the W hits from is being reduced. Woo Ahri nerfs.

R : 

Same with the W, the range on the energy bolts shot from her ultimate has been reduced. 

Overall, this should make Ahri a little bit more reliant on her skill shots which is a great change.

2) Azir

General : Base AD is increased. Should help his csing a little bit early game. Though, this is mainly to compensate for the nerfs (e.g. the soldier stab range and the early game q damage nerf).

Q : Q damage gets gutted early-mid-late game. Azir was actually a little silly with his damage output, especially late game where, if the Azir played it properly, it was impossible to win any teamfight.

W : Soldier stab range reduced. Range nerfs are always a little sketchy so this might be a little bad for Azir. As of right now, his win-rate has already dropped around 10%. The W also is used to chunk towers and that damage was reduced significantly as well because Azir could decimate a tower REALLY quickly.

Overall, good nerfs to Azir. He was a pretty powerful pick and could singlehandedly carry games almost all the time if played effectively.

3) Diana

Passive : Her passive stack debuff, as stated, shows up as a buff. It's a great quality life change.

W : Rotating means that the spheres pop faster AKA, it does more damage. While not a GREAT buff, it's something and should help Diana's burst a little bit.

This shouldn't make Diana a meta pick per se but it should help her out significantly. I've tried her out in the jungle with the changes and it helps her clear with **faster** damage. Nothing too big though.

4) Fiddlesticks

W : Drain tether range dropped by 50.

Like I said before, range nerfs are killer. While this won't completely decimate Fiddlesticks play, it's still a pretty significant nerf and will hurt him. I don't expect a 10-15% drop in win-rate in any way though, don't take what I'm saying that way. I'm just saying that I hate range nerfs.

5) Gnar

Passive : Tired debuff duration increased by 2 seconds. Mega Gnar lasts 15 seconds instead of 19 seconds.

While this is definitely a nerf in the long run, one can also argue that being able to stay in Mini Gnar to deal effective W damage and bully people longer is a buff. That being said, the window for engaging in Mega Gnar drops down significantly with this patch in teamfights. I feel like it's a buff to laning and a nerf to teamfights.

6) Gragas

Q : Base slow increased by 5%/10% at all ranks and maximum slow increased significantly.

In no way, shape, or form is this buff strong enough to compensate for the nerf to Gragas' wave clear in top lane (massive reduction in minion/monster damage). However, it's a free buff and helps him. I don't think this will necessarily make the champion meta though. There are still better picks in top and mid lane.

7) Kassadin

Q : 10 dmg nerf at all ranks.

This is a warranted nerf. Kassadin has always been a toxic champion and a toxic late game champion shouldn't be able to bully people out of lane with a low mana, spammable ability (COUGH COUGH RYZE). It's not a massive nerf and Kassadin will still be playable though.

8) Kennen

W : So Kennen's W now hits everyone in his ultimate, neat. 

R : But then they bugfix him -cough- nerf him. 

Overall, it should be a buff with the change to his W. Not a Kennen main so can't tell you the exact details and whether or not he'll be meta now. It doesn't sound like it'll make him top tier to be honest.

9) Nidalee

General : "no power change" rite. ok gai. No. Nidalee's CDs would reset everytime she applied the hunted mark. This resulted in very effective clears with Nidalee jungle. This is actually a pretty massive nerf to Nidalee and her clears have suffered. It also makes her feel significantly more clunky.

Passive : Yeah. Nidalee can root things now. ^_^ Well, has been able to since 5.2.

Overall, Nidalee was hit pretty hard. She's still a top tier jungler, just a little bit more tedious to play.

10) Twisted Fate

E : So his E stacked damage bonus stacks up off of towers and you can then use the bonus damage on champions/minions after stacking it up. That's kind of neat.

R : Yay, clarity!

Some decent love for a relatively underplayed champion. Probably still not in meta right now since there's a lot of lockdown right now (e.g. Lissandra/Jarvan comps) but maybe soon.

11) Varus

R : Width buff.

Nothing MASSIVE here. It's nice to see some Varus love though. More and more buffs and he might be meta again. ^_^

12) Zyra

Q : Range indicator.

E : Range indicator.

Clarity. This helps Zyra a lot because it gives her plants range indicators.

Item Changes

1) Oracles Lens

Oracles price reduced meaning it's worth investing into it earlier into the game. Vision control can begin even earlier and this means that you can take control of a game and negate vision. It's an incredibly powerful change and junglers/supports should look into getting it ASAP now. The meta revolves more around vision than before.

2) Farsight Orb

More incentive to purchase the Farsight Orb. Still not sure if anyone but an AD will purchase this though. Will have to experiment with it. The ward it places can be killed instantly by the enemy team AND can't be tp'd to.

3) Greater Stealth Totem

Greater Stealth Totem was ALREADY an amazing purchase in 5.2. This only makes it even better. It CHARGES wards. So now that top laners will have a mini sightstone, there **should** be even more wards on the map. Again, the meta is shifting into a more vision centric one than before.

4) Spectre's Cowl

This change is pretty obviously aimed at the excessive double AP compositions that are being played like woah right now. It's a pretty neat buff to an MR item. It's not going to necessarily shift the meta on it's own but it's a start.

Random Summoner's Rift Stuff

1) Baron Nashor

Reading it the first time, it doesn't sound like the biggest change but it can make baron pit teamfights a little bit more rough and interesting. We'll see how it impacts things as this patch goes on.

2) Inhibitors

God bless. AP champions can take inhibitors again! Woo! Awesome bugfixes are awesome. Thanks based Rito!

3) Ignite

So I didn't actually know Ignite didn't interrupt recalls. Neat change.

Alright guys, thanks for reading my analysis of patch 5.3. I'll be posting a tier list in the next week or so and I'll be posting self match analysis on the 17th. See you guys soon!