With Patch 9.17 and the introduction of Pantheon, Teamfight Tactics will reach a pool of 46 champions with the next update cycle. However, the patch will also bring heavy changes to items and champions — specifically aimed at healing mechanics.
Since Patch 9.17 is currently being tested on the PBE, all changes are incredibly subject to change. That being said, if these changes are shipped to the live servers, they could potentially turn the meta upside down, even if they don't end up being exactly the same.
Preventing Damage > Healing
It's hard to deny that the current meta is dominated by Nobles — with (6) Nobles including Kayle, of course — notably because of heavy sustain that allows them to counter Assassin and Brawler compositions. Nevertheless, while we have seen Nobles swarming the ladder, there is a good chance that Patch 9.17 changes the order of things. Due to drastic changes it could bring to healing mechanics, Patch 9.17 will certainly turn the meta upside down.
Certain champions, such as Katarina and Darius. can inflict this status on enemy champions thanks to their abilities — thus reducing the amount of healing the enemy receives. Alternatively, Morellonomicon and Red Buff allow a champion to apply the Grievous Wounds effect with their abilities or attacks respectively.
These two items are great counters for Noble compositions since they literally nullify all healing for 10 seconds. They also excel at countering Swain, Nidalee, or any champion carrying a Bloodthirster or Hextech Gunblade.
However, Patch 9.17 shakes this up, since Grievous Wounds will now only reduce healing by 80%. On the other hand, the length of the effect from Morellomonicon and Red Buff will be extended to 45 seconds. In other words, if one of your champions gets affected by Grievous Wounds, they will lose 80% of all healing for the entire round.
• Healing lowered from 33% of all damage dealt to 25% of all damage dealt
• Healing reduced from 50% AD to 40%
• Damage: 20% Max. HP within 10s. → 60% Max. HP within 45s.
• Grievous Wounds: Reduce all target healing by 100% → 80%
• Damage: 20% Max. HP within 10s. → 60% Max. HP within 45s.
• Grievous Wounds: Reduce all target healing by 100% → 80%
Champions that use Bloodthirster or Hextech Gunblade in order to survive — such as Draven, Jinx, or Rengar — will lose some sustain, leading to a reduction in the overall power of compositions that rely on hyper-carries.
Since the Noble buff is likely to be reduced from 35 HP to 25 HP per hit, Patch 9.17 should bring a complete overhaul of healing mechanics. If these changes are shipped to the live servers, Brawlers with AoE abilities such as Cho'Gath and Vi should shine because of their heavy health pool and the fact they can apply Grievous Wounds on the whole enemy team with one proc of their ability.
In short, the nerf to healing mechanics will make preventing damage more interesting than healing — meaning Guardians and Knights should also benefit from these changes.
Shapeshifters... are now monsters.
• Mana pool reduced from 100 to 85
• Mana pool reduced from 100 to 85
• Ability AD increased from 30/60/90 to 50/100/150
• Mana pool reduced from 125 to 100
Things are a bit different in Teamfight Tactics in comparison to League of Legends: when a champion has their mana pool reduced, it's not a nerf — it's a massive buff.
A champion will automatically cast their ability if their mana reaches breaking point — meaning the reduction of the mana pools for Nidalee, Shyvana, and Gnar actually makes them far stronger. This is especially true in late-game, since being the first to proc crowd control AoE abilities such as Gnar's transformation is often the key win condition.
While other Wild Shapeshifters have been buffed, the complete overhaul of healing mechanics also implies that Swain's healing has been nerfed. He's the only Shapeshifter not to benefit from Patch 9.17
• Health per tick reduced from 50/90/130 to 40/70/100
Is the Ranger meta back?
• Chance to gain double attack speed increased from 25/65% to 35/70%
Because of the Statikk Shiv nerf, Ranger compositions have clearly fell down our Tier List after being an S-tier composition for several weeks. However, with the massive incoming buff to the Ranger trait... the meta might just revert to a previous state — if and only if the new damage output of Rangers is enough to compensate their inherent lack of AoE.
Immortal Yordles are back.
Toss a coin. Check the result. Do it again. Do it ten times. On average, you should have a 50% chance to get either heads or tails.
Now, if you had a 60% chance of getting tails, some might say that the coin is rigged. That's basic probability, but... you know what RNG feels like.
• Dodge chance increased from 30/55% to 35/60%
Some might say that's irrelevant, but we're predicting a big return for Yordle compositions — especially since both Knights and Sorcerers benefit from the changes to healing mechanics.
Brace yourselves, Magical Yordles are back!
Pantheon-sama
As we said earlier in this article, Guardians are going to benefit indirectly from the Noble trait nerf. Since Braum was massively nerfed with the last patch, the fact that Pantheon joins the Convergence as a Guardian delights us — especially because he offers a serious offensive alternative in the late game. Since he's also a Dragon, Pantheon will also synergize with either Shyvana or Aurelion Sol, making Guardian/Shapeshifter or Guardian/Sorcerer compositions viable.
The only downside to the addition of another 5-Gold Champion to the game is the fact that Legendary champions will be consequently harder to level up to Tier 2. Because the pool is increasing, the chances of getting a specific champion will also decrease — meaning it will be harder to find that Karthus or Kayle missing from your composition...
Written by Jérémie "Djey" Mathis & Thomas "Calo" Sauzin. Translated from French by Thomas "Calo" Sauzin
Get ready for the new patch of League of Legends: Patch 9.17! Elderwood and Infernal families are back, Kayle and Aurelion once again balanced — read on!
