In the realm of League of Legends, the latest patch, 14.7, brings forth significant alterations to support items, reshaping the landscape of competitive play.
These changes deal a critical blow to the prevalent double support strategy, leaving teams at a distinct disadvantage. Let’s delve into the implications of Riot Games’ adjustments and how they impact gameplay dynamics.
The Double Support Strategy
The advent of Season 14 introduced a plethora of new items, including specialized ones tailored for support champions. However, this resurgence inadvertently breathed life into an age-old strategy: the double support strategy.
Teams capitalized on the passive gold generation of support items, utilizing two champions equipped with these items to gain a financial advantage. Despite Riot’s efforts to weaken this strategy in previous patches, it persisted, prompting further intervention.
Patch 14.7 Changes: Nerfs to Support Items
With the release of Patch 14.7, Riot Games announced additional debilitations to the Mapamundi, the starting support item. These adjustments aim to curtail the dominance of the support role from the onset of the season. In this iteration, the penalty for farming is modified, reducing the number of minions that can be executed.
Design Team Insights
“In spite of observing a reduction in the double usage of support items across most regions, we still see some teams opting to purchase two or more support items,” detailed the design team in Patch 14.7 release notes.
Gameplay Impact
Following this update, the threshold for excessive minion takedowns per support item is divided by the quantity of items in this category possessed by the team within a 5-minute window. “This means that 10 minions can be executed every 5 minutes if two team members have Mapamundi, 7 minions every 5 minutes if three players have the item, etc.”
Conclusion
The changes introduced in Patch 14.7 of League of Legends signal a decisive shift in gameplay dynamics, particularly concerning support item strategies. With the demise of the double support strategy, teams must adapt to the evolving meta and devise innovative tactics to secure victory on the Rift.
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