5 Changes We Don't Want to See in League of Legends Patch 10.8

With League of Legends Patch 10.8 hitting the Public Beta Environment on April 1, here are the five changes we don't want to see in League of Legends Patch 10.8.

5 Changes We Don't Want to See in League of Legends Patch 10.8

1. Changes to Champion Kill Experience for Junglers

League of Legends Season 10 has been an incredibly early game and gank focused meta for junglers. Champions that have strong three camp clears and early game oriented kits, like Elise, Rek'Sai, and Lee Sin, have been some of the most contested picks in competitive play. This means that solo laners have been feeling more jungle pressure than ever before at early levels and the experience can be frustrating for some players.

But, changing or reducing the amount of experience a jungler gets for a successful gank isn't going to eliminate or significantly effect the gank oriented meta. Ganking is a popular choice and strategy because the amount of gold and experience a jungler loses out on if a gank fails is minimal compared to the potential payout of a successful gank. Changing early level jungle experience and gold will make failed ganks hit harder and punish junglers who make poor early game decisions about what lanes and camps to prioritize.

2. Another Round of Akali Buffs

Akali has always been a difficult champion to balance since her rework, causing her to enjoy spans of play where she's the best champion in the game and spans where she's the worst champion in the game. That's because Akali is a skill intensive champion that relies on significant levels of skill expression to get the most out of her kit.

If the numbers in her kit are good enough for players in lower elos to play her well, then those numbers in a competitive game would make her a pick or ban champion. Even though Akali's win rate is still well under 50 percent, another round of buffs would only serve to make the champion pick or ban at higher levels of play and ruin the experience for players stuck against her.

3. Another Round of Bard Nerfs

Unlike Akali, Bard has rarely had the chance to shine in the meta and is finally enjoying a stint of play that has seen him post one of the highest win rates in the support role. Bard was already hit once due to nerfs to both Omnistone and his kit earlier in Season 10, but another round of nerfs would only serve to gut a champion that hasn't seen this level of play in some time.

Every champion has their own set of strengths and weaknesses, and it just so happens that Bard's strengths are the weaknesses of commonly played supports like Leona, Nautilus, and Tahm Kench. Keeping him viable is a great way to increase champion diversity and encourage players to recognize the weaknesses of current supports in the meta.

4. Changes to Dodge Penalties

Having to sit in queue for 10 minutes is never a fun experience, but increasing the amount of LP lost from dodging a game isn't the right answer to the problem. In champion select, players can often hold others hostage, demanding that they get their preferred role or they'll run it down with Disco Nunu.

Players who dodge in these cases shouldn't be punished with the LP equivalent of a loss because they didn't want to waste 20 minutes in a game with someone who was looking to grief their teammates. A better alternative would be to create a champion select report system that would deter players from holding champion select hostage in the first place, then perhaps looking at queue dodging in the future.

5. Changes to Jungle Item Sustain

As mentioned earlier, every champion in League of Legends has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. Some junglers have strong early game sustain and clearing power, like Warwick and Nunu, and other junglers have strong early game gank potential, like Elise and Lee Sin.

Champions that have weak sustain in the jungle, like Karthus, are rewarded in a late game power spike once they have two to three items. But, by increasing their sustain, it allows those champions to hit their late game power spikes earlier and further maximize their gold generation in the jungle.