As Riot continues to crack down on burst damage and overtuned AP/AD ratios, patch 14.3 will seek to curb proc item damage and scaling. Mana items, such as Rod of Ages and Seraph’s Embrace will get a buff to correct for burst and AP getting nerfed as a whole.
On Jan. 30 League of Legends lead gameplay designer Matt “Riot Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison gave players a preview of patch 14.3 on X (formerly Twitter). Under “Systemic Proc Nerfs,” Phroxzon announced that Riot would be pursuing buffs for mana items such as Rod of Ages, Seraphs/Archangel’s Embrace, Malignance and Luden’s Companion, adding that these changes come as a direct result of burst damage and AP getting nerfed. These changes will be accompanied by additional nerfs to proc damage items: Alternator, Rocketbelt, Helias, Shiv, Stormrazor, Profane, Lich Bane, and Titanic Hydra.
Proc damage in general will be seeing a significant nerf due to its overtuned scaling with AD/AP ratios. Phroxzon said that Riot believes proc damage should scale with said ratios only if that’s core to the item’s relevance throughout the match, but that it otherwise could produce unwanted effects and make certain champions “giga-snowball,” as he described it. Lastly, Phroxzon said that Stridebreaker would be turned into a Tiamat item following the item’s dropoff in popularity. The change also comes as a way to make it unique and unpurchasable alongside Titanic/Ravenous Hydra, as pairing them could “cause it to be excessively bursty.” Here we see a continuation of the anti-burst philosophy that has driven nearly the entirety of patch 14.3.
Patch 14.3 is gearing up to be one of the more significant systematic changes in League of Legends season 14. Most of the patch is reserved for nerfs, from lethality to AP to champions which have remained dominant for a long time. Patch 14.3 releases on Feb. 7 and will be the third of 24 patches planned for LoL season 14.
