Riot wants to squash Sett in patch 10.18, Twitch gets buffs

We are getting close to the 2020 World Championship, which means that Riot Games will be tweaking a few of the strongest and weakest champions in the game for patch 10.18. 

Lead gameplay designer for League of Legends Mark “Scuffy” Yetter recently released a detailed preview of the patch, where a few awaited nerfs are showing up. Riot will also likely be buffing some champions that have fallen far out of the meta, but this might change. 

Sett and Ashe to receive needed nerfs on patch 10.18

Sett

• P – Pit Grit, Second attack bonus damage 5-90 (+15% tAD) >> 5-90 (+50% bAD)
• Q – Knuckle Down, Damage 10-50 (+1-5% max HP)(+1% per 100 tAD) >> 10-50 (+2-3.6% per 100 tAD)

Sett has been a dominating champion for several patches now, especially in professional play. His kit is strong and simple, giving him the possibility to be flexed into several different roles. This is a problem in professional play because the champion is too versatile. Sett already received a nerf to his Haymaker (W) and Facebreaker (E) in patch 10.16, but this has not been enough to appropriately balance him. 

The nerfs will mainly target the damage on his passive and Q ability. Scuffy also mentioned that Riot wants to shift power away from him being a tank into more AD build in the long term, to make him less flexible in professional play. 

Ashe 

• Base attack damage 61 >> 59

Ashe has been a top-tier pick for the bot laners since she was put back into the meta. Ashe has seen some high win rates in solo queue and has also been a contested pick in professional play. Riot is looking to tone her impact down by decreasing her base attack damage, making her easier to deal with in the laning phase. 

It’s clear that Riot still wants Ashe to be a viable pick while not being too overtuned. 

Rumble and Twitch will be buffed on patch 10.18

Two interesting buffs are coming in for Rumble and Twitch, two champions that we only see in very specific situations. The champions are known to have a big impact on team fights, but can become useless if they fall too far behind.

Rumble

• Q – Flamespitter, Total damage 175-315 >> 180-340

Riot will be buffing the damage of Rumble through his Q ability. The buff will hopefully give Rumble a stronger laning phase, making him able to trade better against champions that will usually outrange and poke him down. 

Twitch

• E – Contaminate, Ability power ratio per stack 20% >> 33.3%
• R – Spray and Pray, Damage falloff per unit hit -10% to a minimum of 40% damage >> -5% to a minimum of 70% damage

Twitch gets an interesting buff to his ultimate, where the damage falloff will now be reduced. This will make Twitch more impactful in team fights, but the toxic rat will still have to be careful with his positioning.