LoL: Why The 14.4 Lethal Tempo Nerfs Are So Important
Lethal Tempo has been really strong ever since its rework. Some champions have some very unhealthy interactions with the rune so the 14.4 changes are actually quite a bit more impactful than you might think.
Lethal Tempo is a rune that can stack up to 6 times, giving you more attack speed. At 6 stacks, it also increases your auto attack range. While ADC's primarily choose this rune to help with kiting and range issues, there is another set of champions that really loves this rune.
The Shimada Brothers, wait, wrong game. The wind brothers are incredibly unbalanced with this rune, making Yone one of the best top laners for the last few months. But the changes are coming in Patch 14.4 so let us see what is really going to change.
LoL: Some Champions Use Lethal Tempo A Little Too Well
You all know the scenario. It's either a Yone or a Yasuo top lane, yes, it's always one of those. They scale incredibly well with crit chance, so they should be quite weak without any of it at the start, right? Well, here is where you are wrong. Lethal Tempo.
Okay, let me get you up to speed. Yone and Yasuo Q cooldown decreases with the amount of attack speed they have. Lethal Tempo increases their attack speed. So basically whenever you get into a trade early with Yasuo or Yone, and they get to keep auto attacking you, they will also have a very short Q cooldown making it almost impossible to trade against them.
Trundle is also one of the champions that is just way too strong here. With his Q stealing your attack damage and the ult stealing your resistances, it is completely impossible to actually fight a Trundle at any situation in the game. As soon as he catches up you, you are going to get trollsmashed.
14.4 is bringing some nice changes to the Lethal Tempo Rune. They are reducing the attack speed that you get per stack from 9-13% to 5-16%. This only applies to melee classes, so ADC mains can rejoice.
What exactly will this mean? Well this means that the stacks will basically only give half of the attack speed as before for the first 8 levels and afterward it will be better than before. This also means that Yasuo and Yone will no longer be able to spam all of their abilities if they just autoattack you often enough because they will have less attack speed to scale with.
This is a huge nerf to Yasuo, Yone and Trundle, but even Kayle's early levels will be affected. These nerfs are directly targeted at Yone who has been the spotlight of community outrage for months and even Riot acknowledges that these nerfs are a little bit late.
Dzukill, the famous Yasuo Yone 2trick in Challenger Europe West, has stated that the nerfs will hit Yasuo a lot harder than his brother as he was already struggling in some tank matchups in the top lane. Yone will always be Yone though and with a kit as overloaded as this he might just be a little bit weaker in the early game but eventually fine.
One thing is for sure. These nerfs are a gut punch for Yasuo and Yone and Riot has even said that the Rune is so essential that they are considering compensation buffing the Wind Brothers if they fall too deep.
What is your opinion? Is Yasuo as bad as Yone?
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