Patch 11.8: Top 7 changes you need to know about

Looking at patch 11.8, we've been gifted a good amount of changes, including a brand new champ and a Rammus rework. Here's our rundown of the seven biggest changes.

The first and most exciting part of this patch is a new Champion is arriving on summoners rift named Gwen. Riot has introduced her as a bruiser who is more than likely to be played in top and mid. She will more than likely be played into melee match-up as she is weaker to longer-range and control mages.

Gwen's kit is relatively simple to play but has a good skill ceiling, so if you master her, she can output a lot of damage. Hopefully, with Gwen, it will not be crazy overpowered, so everyone buys her. I always love hearing how this new champ will be everyone's new main. Whether or not it is op or not, we can expect to see it being played first time in our ranked games. It is always hard to predict how good new champs will be, but I expect her to do well.

It has been a long time, but Riot has finally changed Rammus for patch 11.8. These two changes will significantly increase Rammus play rate and hopefully win rate. Riot is adding a new passive to his W. His Basic Attack will now extend his W's duration by 0.4 up to an additional 4 seconds. This buff is a reasonably large buff alone. This will allow Rammus to have a faster and healthier clear in his jungle. The extended duration of his W, will enable Rammus to almost have W active the entire time he is doing a camp.

The most exciting part about the Rammus rework is his ultimate. He will no longer have the boring tiny earthquake that pulses around him. Rammus will now fling himself through the air and land, making a pretty decent size shockwave where he lands. This will give him an effective way to engage.

There are a couple of exciting mechanics you can do with this ultimate. If you are in your Power-ball, you will now knock up and deal the Powerball damage instantly to the targets in his ultimate. If you are in the center of where Rammus uses his R you will take 150% increased damage from the pulses. The distance of Rammus new ultimate depends on how fast you are going.

With these changes, I expect Rammus to be played a decent bit. I mean of course, anytime there is a major change to a champion kit, you have a good amount of people just wanting to test it out. Rammus' clear speed will increase and his pick potential with his new ultimate is to increase his win rate. I expect Rammus to be moved into the A tier Jungler, possibly the S tier.

I am most excited about the Rumble buffs in patch 11.8. I did not expect Riot to buff Rumble as much as they are doing. He has received a buff to his passive to get 50% attack speed and deal 6% of the target's maximum health per auto. With the percent health buff to Rumble's passive, there is a high chance he will now be played in the top lane. He is slightly weaker in the mid lane since the nerfed his Magic Resist. With this change alone, I expect Rumble to skyrocket to S tier, possibly even the God tier list. 

The following change is his E is getting a massive buff now applying magic resist debuff by 10% to the target. The crazy part about this is that this effect can stack.

Some odd buffs that are coming out from Riot, is that they are buffing off-meta jungle clear. Morgana W will now deal 200% increase damage instead of 150% to jungle creeps. Diana passive to non-epic monsters is going from 150% to 300%. Also, the bonus attack speed she gets from her passive is going from 10-40% will now be 20-40%. And the last biggest change is Mordekaiser passive will now deal 180 at all ranks instead of just scaling starting at 28 damage. Expect to see these champs in the jungle with pretty good win rates next patch. 

Lee Sin is finally getting a buff in patch 11.8, and rightfully so. Riot is reducing his E cd by 2 seconds. This buff may not sound like a big deal, but I expect this to increase his play by a good bit. Lee Sin has been struggling to keep up with the clear speed of more current Junglers. I believe we will see an increase in the win rate and play.

Mundo is getting a couple of exciting buffs and nerfs. I think we will start seeing Mundo in the top lane again since his sustain is getting massive buffs. Firstly they are buffing his passive from 1.5% health every 5 seconds to 2.5%. This is minor compared to what they are doing to his Q. His Q will now give 100% of the health back to him as long as you hit a target or a minion.

Riot is nerfing Mundo's Q damage to monsters. I don't expect this to be that big of an impact since Mundo's max E first in the jungle. I think he will be healthier in the jungle now since he gets more health back from cleavers. As for the last change, it will be a nerf to how much and he will get from his E. Mundo will deal less damage, but his overall survivability will greatly increase.

Moonstone Renewer has a massive change this patch that could alter which supports are in meta. When you are in combat, the item will now increase the healing and shielding power of your abilities by 4%, stacking up to 20%. I expect to see supports with heals and shields to be played a lot more. With the rise of mage supports again, expect to see more Blitzcranks. 

Shurelya's Battlesong- Is getting its passive changed. It will give 25% move speed for 1.5 seconds if you heal or shield a target. 

Those are the seven biggest changes of Patch 11.8, be sure to take advantage of them in your pubs in the coming weeks. You can read the full list of changes here.