Patch 7.7 jungle changes: Nerfs to Graves and Rengar, buffs to old favorites

The Season 7 Jungle changes continue this week with Patch 7.7, as Riot looks to bring the power of the most dominant champions down slightly, while starting some updates to some old jungle favorites that have been forgotten.

The top end champions receiving changes this patch are Graves and Rengar. Both have enjoyed top ten play percentages in solo queue and at least a 50% winrate throughout Patch 7.6 along with play in almost every professional match. The other top end jungler getting a few nerfs is Shaco. He isn’t exactly around much in professional games but is a terror in solo queue sitting at a 55% winrate — second for junglers on patch 7.6.

Graves

E - Quickdraw

[REMOVED] COWBOYS HATE MAGIC :: True Grit no longer grants 5/7.5/10/12.5/15 magic resist per stack (40/60/80/100/120 magic resist at max stacks)

Rengar

Q - Savagery

DAMAGE PER STRIKE :: 35/55/75/95/115 >>> 25/45/65/85/105 (empowered damage unchanged)

RATIO PER STRIKE :: 0.3/0.4/0.5/0.6/0.7 bonus attack damage >>> 0.2/0.3/0.4/0.5/0.6 bonus attack damage (empowered damage unchanged)

Shaco

Passive - Backstab

[NEW] ABILITY POWER RATIO :: 0.4 ability power

ATTACK DAMAGE RATIO :: 1.2-1.45 total attack damage (at levels 1-11) >>> 1.3 total attack damage at all levels

Q - Deceive

[REMOVED] BASE DAMAGE :: No longer has 20/35/50/65/80 base damage

[REMOVED] ABILITY POWER RATIO :: No longer has an 0.4 ability power ratio

COOLDOWN :: 14 seconds at all ranks >>> 16/15.5/15/14.5/14 seconds

Neither of these changes are likely to see the champions knocked all the way off their perch at the top of the jungle food chain, but with the in-coming buffs to champions that haven’t been played recently, it could lead to some significant changes in the meta in the next couple of weeks.

The list of champions on the low end receiving changes is a real who’s who of who’s that: Amumu, Jarvan IV, Nunu and Volibear. Not a single one of these champions has been popular in the last year or two and as of patch 7.6 they barely break 2.0% play rate. In fact, their play rates combined wouldn’t even put them in the top eight champions. It is worth noting, however, that these champions 7.6 winrate has hovered around 50% for the most of the cycle, so these buffs may help push them over the edge and back into the meta.

Amumu

[UPDATED] Passive - Cursed Touch

IS THIS LOVE :: Amumu's basic attacks ||| reduce enemy magic resist by 15/20/25 (at levels 1/7/13) >>> cause 15% of all magic damage dealt to the target to be dealt again as true damage

W - Despair

DAMAGE :: 8/12/16/16/20/24 per second >>> 10/15/20/25/30 per second

TICK RATE :: Once per second >>> Once per half-second (half damage per tick)

[NEW] AS SALTY AS THEY COME :: Despair refreshes Cursed Touch on all enemies hit

Jarvan IV

W - Golden Aegis

BASE SHIELD :: 50/80/110/140/170 >>> 65/90/115/140/165

BONUS SHIELD :: 20/40/60/80/100 per enemy champion hit >>> 2/2.5/3/3.5/4% of Jarvan IV's maximum health per enemy champion hit

Nunu

###Base stats

BASE HEALTH :: 598.28 >>> 575

BASE HEALTH REGEN :: 8.4 per 5 seconds >>> 7 per 5 seconds

[UPDATED] Passive - Visionary

[NEW] I CAN GO BEYOND :: Nunu's next ability is upgraded by 1 rank:

CONSUME :: +160 damage and +50 healing (<strong>Rank 6:</strong> 1140 damage and 300 healing)

BLOOD BOIL :: +1% movement speed and +5% attack speed (<strong>Rank 6:</strong> 13% movement speed and 50% attack speed)

ICE BLAST :: +40 damage and +5% movement speed slow (<strong>Rank 6:</strong> 280 damage and 65% movement speed slow)

ABSOLUTE ZERO :: +250 maximum damage (<strong>Rank 4:</strong> 1375 maximum damage)

Volibear

R - Thunder Claws

MAXIMUM BOUNCES :: 4 >>> 8

CONNECT THE DOTS :: There's now a small delay between bounces

LIGHTNING ROD :: Thunder Claws is better at searching for additional targets before ending the chain early

The final jungle change in Patch 7.7 is one to the jungle itself with some changes to the Raptor camp.

Raptors

BASE ATTACK DAMAGE :: 16 >>> 13.33

HEALTH :: 350-612.5 (at levels 1-10) >>> 400-680 (at levels 1-10)

This change should go along way in opening up the jungler champion pool. So far this season, in order to be successful a jungle had to be able to burst the Raptors thanks to the camps’ easily contestable position and high gold and XP rewards. Now taking the camp should be slowed down a bit, making it a little less punishing to pick champions who don’t have great burst damage.