4.1 Patch note review with UberGiantsBro
Talking with me today about the 4.1 patch notes (first patch of Season 4) is David 'UberGiantsBro' Ugbergang. He shares his thoughts with the new changes Riot has implemented.
Firstly, I would like to just touch on the tower changes (as this has been what has people a little riled up). With the newest patch out, do you see new strats coming out to tackle the change to 2v1 lanes?
So the extra armour on top and mid turrets makes fast pushing a bit harder now to the point where it's hardly worth it but I still think fast pushing is viable if you get the right lane set ups. In terms of changes to competitive play, I see early roaming becoming more popular but that's about it.
Now as far as prominent items are concerned, at the end of Season 3, we saw Spirit Visage and Sunfire Cape become the ‘must have’ items for toplane bruisers. Now with the roll out of patch 4.1, Spirit Visage received a nerf to the passive cooldown, while Sunfire Cape had its flat damage amount reduced (with the addition of scaling damage that doesn’t become as effective till ~level 15). Do you think we’ll see a change to the current toplane bruiser meta? Will people constitute these items for something else? Or do you think they are small enough changes that people can still rush Spirit Visage, but hold off on Sunfire Cape till later levels?
I think Visage is a bit more situational as opposed to being a must have for every champion against a team with some magic damage. You'll still build it on those champs like Mundo where the increased self healing is useful. The change to Sunfire might mean top laners will go for Tiamat more often if they need pushing power but I think people will still build it because the components are so good for lane, same with visage (at least with spectres cowl).
Do you think that the changes have brought in some sort of hidden buff to another item that people don’t really use yet?
I mentioned Tiamat before because it's a good earlier alternative to Sunfire if you need pushing power in top, you could argue banshees veil for magic resist as well.
How do you feel the changes to jungle items will affect junglers (heavy gankers vs heavy farmers)? Do you think this will affect their sustain in the jungle and that the farmers will come out ahead?
The biggest change I've noticed with the increased sustain in the jungle items is that champions who had mana problems are now a lot more viable again. Amumu, Sejauni, Nautilus all come to mind. The changes to sustain do benefit the heavy farmers more but I don't think the changes are enough to make any one style particularly overpowered.
There have been a couple of changes to champions as well, what are your thoughts with the adjustment to Annie stun timer? Do you feel like her over-powering edge has been diminished somewhat and do you think we might see her phased out for other mage-supports?
So Annie's nerf will make her a little less popular but I think she will still be good. She is probably still one of the best mage supports even if another fotm pops up like Brand support.
Do you think we could also see a return of Janna with the Monsoon (R) buffs as well?
Possibly, I think she's still a bit overshadowed by other supports at the moment though.
Riven also received an adjustment to her AD scaling (bonus AD changed to total AD scaling), do you think this will affect her overall game play and team fight potential? Do you think this will change her classification from primary fighter to primary assassin, considering the nerf to her shield?
Riven is basically the same, just a bit less forgiving for Riven players who waste their shield.
Also because of the changes, do you think that we might see her played now predominately in the mid lane where burst damage is more relevant, rather than the overall sustain damage we usually see from toplane bruisers?
I don't the change will directly effect where she is played. I think it's more up to the champion matchups (and of course the player's skill) that will determine whether she is picked and what lane she goes in.
Last but not least! Who do you feel is a champion that is being left in the dark and would benefit greatly from a re-work? For instance, Urgot has been rated the lowest played champion of 2013 (according to lolking.net).
Graves! I miss playing him a fair bit as he's been overshadowed. Not so much a rework but I saw a change that was suggested about making his buckshot do more damage the closer he is to a target and making it scale against armour. I think this would be cool because it'll make tanks think twice about getting in your grill and would bring him back to popularity.
A big thank you for your time David!
UberGiantsBro plays as Marksman for Frenetic-Aray (Fray) Umart.
You may follow him @
https://twitter.com/UberGiantsBro
https://www.facebook.com/UberGiantsBro?ref=stream
http://www.twitch.tv/ubergiantsbro