Varus and Sett have fallen hard in solo queue with patch 10.16

The recent League of Legends patch 10.16 has had a big impact on the game’s meta, resulting in some former top-tier picks falling drmatically in priority. 

The meta has shifted the most in the bottom lane, where several new marksmen and even utility mages are now posting the highest solo queue win rates. We are seeing both Caitlyn and Ashe having a big impact in the bot lane, while the deadly duo of Sona and Lux is making the late game a nightmare for opponents. 

These changes come alongside some champions falling in priority. We will be looking at two of the champoins most affected in both solo queue and professional play. 

Varus no longer viable in the bot lane in 10.16

Varus was a champion that everyone feared just a couple of months back, and with good reason. He was strong during the laning phase, which enabled him to obtain an early lead and snowball that into the mid game. The favored build for Varus was a poke lethality build that could shred any squishy carry from long range with just one Piercing Arrow (Q).

The strength of Varus resulted in some impressive win rates in both solo queue and professional play. In the Chinese LPL, Varus was permanently banned for several weeks because no team wanted to deal with him. His power was too much for the game, which ultimately resulted in nerfs. 

Varus took his first real hit in patch 10.12 when Riot reduced his scaling on Piercing Arrow. This took away some of his poke power, but he was still a solid pick. In patch 10.14, Varus got a few more nerfs that were once again focused on his damage output. The Varus nerfs and buffs to other marksmen were enough to take Varus out of the meta, placing him at low win rates in solo queue.  

Varus is currently sitting on the lowest win rate in the game, only winning 43.90% of his games in platinum elo and up. He is getting outclassed by most other marksmen including Caitlyn, Ashe, Jhin, and even Xayah. 

Sett sees damage nerf in patch 10.16

Sett is one of the newest additions to League of Legends and has seen a lot of playtime since his release. Sett is a simple champion that can be flexed between multiple roles. We have seen Sett succeed in every role on the map except as a bot lane carry. 

In patch 10.16, Sett got a much-needed nerf that toned down the damage on both his Haymaker (W) and Facebreaker (E). The changes were done to better control his damage and to make him a more balanced bruiser. 

Sett has been most successful as a mid laner in solo queue, and he still is in patch 10.16. During the last patch, Sett had an impressive 52.88% win rate in the mid lane, which has now decreased to a more balanced 50.81% win rate. 

Sett is known to be a good CC machine that can set up his team during team fights, and that is still the case. The nerfs have taken away Sett’s skirmish power, which seems to have been the right thing to do. Sett is no longer able to duel anyone on the map, but instead has to think carefully about which duels he takes.