Welp, forgot to do this for 5.4. Just a reminder, this is my thoughts on Patch 5.5 in respect to laning bottom with the newest changes. Speaking of which, 5.5 is bringing some of the biggest and, I feel, some really positive changes as of late.
First and foremost is the release of Bard, who is now available in live. There isn’t much to talk about him that hasn’t already been said. But for those that haven’t heard anything, is, in design, a roaming support that offers nice utility with his stuns, high mobility, and healing.
If you want more, you can watch the champion spotlight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tNDoXIYptk
Karma’s shield mantra seemed to have been bugged where the damage the shield provides on mantra use was not taking effect. This fix will make Karma a stronger pick and create incentive to mantra her shield instead of her Q, but she is still beaten in utility by more popular supports like Janna.
While not interacting with bot directly, jungler presence is definitely something to consider in laning. Patch 5.5 saw to it that many junglers saw many buffs that means that they are bound to see more use in game and, inevitable, in lane.
First is Nautilus, who is seeing increased power in his shield- both in the size of it and the damage that it provides him. While the damage on his AoE is dampered, it’s lowered cooldown means that if he dives, he’s going to be able to do a lot more to your team. Especially at early levels where he is in his prime.
And don’t forget about Skarner. A bit weak earlier due to his inability to clear the early jungler without mana problem, this has been compensated for by an increase in his damage and giving him incentive to put more points into his E with the damage increase. He also has high dive potential with his R and his shield, so he would be more prepared with pulling an ADC out from turret’s safety.
Back to bot lane, Sona is getting a little quality of life now that she does not burn her Power Chord on special wards like Blue Trinket or things like Kalista’s Sentinel where they have hit-based healths. She is also seeing mana decrease in her ult, making it 100 mana at all ranks, allowing her to spam more later into the game.
Tristana is seeing an added mechanic to her attack speed buff, reducing its cooldown when she attacks an enemy marked with her bomb. Admittedly, this probably wasn’t needed with Tristana’s damage now, but this will definitely make laning against a Tristana much harder now that she can pop her bomb easily.
Admittedly still weak, Urgot is seeing buffs with an added mana scaling on his shield and decreased mana costs on his R. Overall, he’s probably still going to be weak bot lane where he would be bullied out by a Sivir or Graves, so this shield changes means he is a stronger pick for top.
Vi’s ganks are significantly less deadly to deal with now as she is seeing reduced movement speed and decreased damage on her R. While this is also weakening her ganking, this also means other junglers are going to be able to fight back. This also means that ADCs have less to worry about when she homes in on them.
Xin’s heal is getting increased to help him with his early clears, so he’s more likely to gank after farming rather than having to back as was seen in his jungling habits earlier this season.
That’s about all for champions relevant to bot lane. Yes, there are other jungler getting buffed, but nothing important in their changes that would be different from their lane present currently. Time for items!
As an advocate of full AP supports, Luden’s Echo looks promising if you get fed in lane but don’t want to invest in a Mejai’s. For champions like Sona or Annie who can be carry supports and see more use in investing damage instead of utility, Luden’s allows them to keep up their poke in fights and to keep up with their scaling to let their kits become relevant late.
Admittedly, Luden’s is a scary prospect on low cooldown mages where they may be able to proc it frequently, but the damage on the passive seems pretty low for the time being. So I’ll be keeping an eye on it and seeing how it’s utility compares to others.
Now, Bami’s Cinder. For 1k gold, this seems like it would be a great buy on tanky supports that want to push lane. With a Leona or Alistar, you could run into the wave and watch the health slowly push.
But Bami’s is also helping junglers. The Juggernaut enchant now builds out of it and grants a lot more health while giving the same damaging passive. This means that tanky junglers are going to be harder to deal with on ganks and may actually be more inclined to dive with the spike in health it gives.
Zz’rot’s Portal is seeing all around buffs. I personally like this item on tanky supports since it helps push lanes when damage isn’t available and it scales so well with defensive stats. But with the buffs to tanky junglers, I expect to see this being built more often. But not in laning phase.
This is about it for this patch. The only important note is the changes to jungle, which makes clearing much easier for more junglers. But it does mean that junglers are more likely to gank and apply pressure in lanes, so warding in bot lane becomes much more important since focus will be back on early ganks instead of trying to clear the jungler early.
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