League of Legends: Wild Rift has just been updated to Patch 4.4c, bringing with it exciting changes. In addition to various balance adjustments for existing champions, players can look forward to the imminent release of a highly anticipated new champion in the coming weeks.
If you want to have an easier time understanding what this patch brings, and how they might influence the game, I’m here to help you out with that.
Patch 4.4c Breakdown
New Content
- Zyra – She’s a new mage champion scheduled to be released in December 22 at 00:01 UTC. Her kit revolved around a plant-human hybrid design.
- If accurate from PC, she’ll have decent damage output, crowd control like roots and knock-ups, as well as a unique mechanic to summon enraged plants.
Nerfed Champions
- Fizz – Basically, he has been nerfed for Jungle (Passive DPS). Expect his clear to be significantly slower, though lane numbers are left untouched.
- Sivir – Bounce damage, as well as cooldown reduction & movement speed bonus from Ult has been reduced. With these changes, you can expect her DPS to slightly go down.
- However, these changes don’t really affect her that much, and she’s still a threat with her exceptional waveclear and huge AOE damage in teamfights.
Adjusted Champions
- Yone – Buffed for lane; he’s now tankier (with more armor & shield from 2nd ability) and deals a bit more damage as well. These changes will make him have more survivability and trading power with other Baron laners.
- However, he’s been nerfed for Jungle; his 1st skill deals 20% less damage to monsters which will be detrimental to his early game clear, which goes up until late game since it’s percentage.
Reworked Champion – Sona
Sona – To sum her rework up: She still has the same playstyle – but simpler (at least for her passive), but besides her being squishier with less Health per level, here’s a few notes:
- Basic abilities work the same, but numbers are changed; 1st Ability deals more damage, while 2nd ability heals less – 3rd ability is left untouched.
- The auras from the first two abilities have become weaker.
- But all 3 basic ability auras are now empowered by her ultimate’s passive for 20 seconds after activation.
- Her passive works different now; instead of 3 different effects, it only mini-stuns now (0.5), which can be more effective when mixed with her other abilities (although she no longer has the mini-Exhaust from old passive).
- Moreover, she still has the “casting a basic ability placed other basic abilities on a 0.-54 cooldown” effect, which lets her stun an enemy twice in a row by:
- First stacking your passive (3) -> Attack target for stun -> Use 3 basic abilities quickly for passive again (3).
- Moreover, she still has the “casting a basic ability placed other basic abilities on a 0.-54 cooldown” effect, which lets her stun an enemy twice in a row by:
- Not only that, but the previous passive from her ultimate (Basic ability cooldown reduction) has been moved to her innate passive as well, which scales per level.
- This will make her scaling more impactful per level, compared the previous one which only gets more powerful every time you get a level on your ult (Level 5, 9 & 13).
- As for her ultimate, it works uniquely now – she throws a sphere which travels in an AOE; units that are first hit get stunned for 1 second, meanwhile following instances are slows.
- Combined with her innate passive ability, she can stun target(s) 3 times in a row.
Buffed Champions & Solari Chargeblade
- Ashe – DPS & attack speed from 1st Ability is increased which encourages attack-speed centric & on-hit builds.
- Gwen – Her 1st Ability’s damage has been increased by quite a lot which is good for both Jungle and Lane. In full stacks, the increase is a total of 8% bonus damage, which is even more significant in the later stages of the game.
- Master Yi – Base damage and scaling has been increased for his 3rd Ability which is one of his most important sources of damage; expect overall DPS to increase.
- Nautilus – His 2nd ability gives more shield based on HP, and reduced cooldown when maxed; this will help him have more survivability in general.
- Varus – Huge buffs; damage of both his 1st Ability and 2nd Ability (detonation) has been increased.
- Xin Zhao – AD per level increased; scaling of both instances of 2nd ability has been increased as well, which is a total of 20%. Lastly, the attack speed bonus of his 3rd ability has been increased. Overall, he’ll deal more DPS.
- Solari Chargeblade – it deals more damage and has become cheaper by 100 gold.
Patch 4.4c Meta Guide & Analysis
Now, if you’ve been wondering how the meta is in Patch 4.4c, I’d say that this patch hasn’t quite changed the meta that much – at least for Ranked Games.
As for champions, ADC + Enchanter combo is still the best way to climb for premade matchmaking, you can never go wrong with it.
For Mid lane, mages are getting more popular because of Crown of the Shattered Queen – despite the nerfs, it’s still a quite powerful defensive item.
Even with the existence of the crown, Assassin junglers are still reigning supreme, as they have the flexibility to farm, make impactful ganks and take control of the game/s from snowballing.
When it comes to objectives, the Dragons truly become pivotal only when a team successfully secures the soul. This is why it’s alright to concede dragons if your team already possesses one or two (as the enemy team won’t be able to get the soul) even if your team falls behind in some aspects.
However, it’s also important that you make sure that enemy team doesn’t secure it if they have 2 dragons already.
As for Rift Herald, it’s always okay to prioritize/trade, as long as you make sure you capitalize the gold lead you get to push it even further, and so that you’ll be able to secure the following Dragons.
For Baron Nashor, it’s still the same game-deciding/game-changing buff, and most games are often won from whoever secures it the most. However, keep in mind that it can be easily taken down these recent patches considering how squishy it is.
As for the game state in general, it’s still as snowball-y as ever – where the most important phase/s of the game is early game and the 5:00 minute mark (first objective taking/teamfight).
Most games are decided from that point, although it’s still possible to come back if the team is able to get resources even from behind – through sidelanes, trading of turret by sieging/grouping, and of course, good teamfights.
However, the purpose of this “snowball” is just to lead to the taking of the Baron and Elder Buffs, which ultimately decides the game/s. The more ahead the team is = the easier it is to take game-deciding objectives.
ALSO READ: Wild Rift: Best Patch 4.4c Tier List