League of Legends Patch 7.10: 7 things to know

Tweaks to the updated champions, Rammus and Heimerdinger updates, Surrender at 15, ping-muting and much, much more!

By Pete Volk@Pete_Volk May 16, 2017, 2:12pm EDT

The notes for League of Legends Patch 7.10 have arrived, with significant changes coming to the Rift this week. As always, with the patch notes out on Tuesday, expect the patch to go live early Wednesday.

This is the first patch since the big midseason update from two weeks ago, and there are a lot of tweaks to deal with the fallout of those big changes. The three champions that got reworks (Sejuani, Maokai and Zac) are all getting follow-up balance changes, and there are two new updates to go along with your normal list of balance changes and some exciting new features.

We’ll try not to bog you down with too many details, but here are the seven things you really need to know before stepping onto the rift on Patch 7.10. For a list of all the changes, click here.

1. Follow-up to Sejuani, Maokai, Zac updates

All stats are Platinum+ ranked, from Champion.gg.

These were the three tanks who got major updates in the midseason patch, and they’re all receiving follow-ups in 7.10.

Sejuani saw the biggest boost of all the 7.9 changes, going from a below-average jungler hovering at a 48 percent win rate to arguably the strongest champion on the patch. Her jungle win rate sky-rocketed to 52.56 percent, and she’s played enough in the top lane to have a 51.76 percent win rate there, too. She was also banned in 7.22 percent of games on 7.9, higher than any other champion on the patch.

This patch, Sejuani is getting a massive nerf to her passive in the early game, granting way less flat resistances at early levels. Her W has also been tweaked a bit for a slight increase in cooldown.

Maokai also saw significant gains from the midseason update -- but at support. His top and jungle win rates have hovered at about the 46 percent mark that they were at before the rework, but a staggering 54.68 percent of Maokai games this patch were played at support, with a 52.11 percent win rate.

A big reason for support Maokai’s success is the ridiculous amount of damage done by his new Sapling Toss, which does bonus damage when the Saplings come from a bush. The damage is being tuned down, but perhaps most importantly Empowered Saplings are now properly being treated as damage-over-time rather than three separate damage procs (previously, one Empowered Sapling would trigger Thunderlord’s Decree). To balance out the E nerfs for non-support Maokai, his Q has received some small buffs.

Zac received the short end of the stick in the tank updates, as his win rate plummeted from 50.99 percent before the changes to 42.91 percent after. Part of this is obviously due to people getting used to the intricacies of his new abilities, but Riot is adding bonus damage to his Q and making the knockup from his E increase depending on how long Zac charges up the ability.

2. Rammus and Heimerdinger mini-updates

Rammus was an early possible target for the midseason tank update, but instead is getting a smaller update a patch later. There are a few changes to know here:

Rammus’s passive now adds magic damage (based on his armor) to his basic attacks, rather than gaining 25 percent of his armor as attack damage.
His Q (Powerball) has a shorter cooldown, but lasts for one less second less. It is also getting a speed boost, especially at later levels, but does slightly less damage.
His W (Defensive Ball Curl) has a much shorter cooldown, but the bonus resistances now scale with Rammus’s total resistances. The ability now also slows him by 60 percent, but he can reactivate it to end it early. Defensive Ball Curl also amplifies his passive by 50 percent.
His E is now called Frenzying Taunt (rather than Puncturing Taunt). It no longer reduces the armor of the target, but it does increase his own attack speed.
Rammus’s R (Tremors) does less damage, but slows affected enemies and does double damage to structures.

Heimerdinger is one of the more difficult champions for Riot’s designers to balance, because of how much of his kit’s power lies in AI-controlled turrets. Here’s what you should know from his update:

A new passive takes away Heimerdinger’s previous health regeneration for nearby allies and turrets, and instead grants him 20 percent movement speed when close to allied turrets.
His Q (H-28G Evolution Turret) now allows him to build three turrets at level one, but the base damage is way down (while the ratio has doubled). The turret attacks charge more slowly, but are sped up by W and E hits on champions. To make this ability less punishing against melee champions, turrets no longer prioritize enemy champions, whether they are nearby or attacking the turrets.

3. Long-awaited nerfs

In the category of “champions that didn’t get midseason changes but need nerfs anyway,” there are three junglers and one pesky solo laner.

First, Fizz. Typically an AP-heavy mid laner and sometimes jungler, he’s recently seen a resurgence in the top lane with one of the off-tank builds we used to see on Ekko. Fizz has been building Trinity Force into full tank and absolutely obliterating enemy back lines, so the base damage of his W is getting decreased while the AP ratio is being increased.

Next are the junglers. Even though Riot took Graves’ patented AA->E->R animation cancel out of the game, he’s still dominating the jungle and is getting nerfs to his Q base damages and R cooldown. The ratios on his Q have been increased, however.

A bigger problem has been Ivern, who has boasted a win rate above 56 percent for the last five (!) patches. His movement speed has been taken down a peg and his passive, which he uses to clear camps, now has increased health and mana costs. That should help slow his aggressive early clear.

Finally, Lee Sin, who has been the top-played jungler for most of the season and has seen his win rate continue to rise over the last five patches, is getting nerfed. His base movement speed is also getting reduced, while his early game cooldown on his ultimate has been increased (20 seconds at level one).

4. Early Surrender is finally here!

For years, the only surrender option in League of Legends was getting four out of five (or three out of four, if someone left early) people to vote to surrender after the 20-minute mark. Recently, the option for a remake if someone left early was added, but there was still no option for games that are clearly over before the 20-minute mark, despite no one leaving.

The option for an early surrender had been thrown around in the past, and it’s arriving with this patch. With the release of Patch 7.10, you’ll be able to surrender starting at 15 minutes as long as it is unanimous. If even just one person votes no, you’ll have to wait for the 20-minute mark again.

5. Ping muting is also finally here!

Another long-awaited feature! You’ve been able to mute other players’ text chat for a while, but that didn’t remove the problem of angry and/or immature players spamming their pings just to annoy their teammates. There will be a new mute button with the release of Patch 7.10 that will allow you to mute someone’s pings (it will be next to the chat mute button on the in-game tab menu).

6. Your Shop is back

During previous League of Legends events, like The Harrowing or the holiday seasons, players would receive a personalized shop that included discounts on skins, often including rare and/or legendary ones. That had been temporarily suspended because the new client was not yet equipped to have Your Shop, but good news — it’s back!

Your Shop will be available in the new client from 5/18 through 6/6.

7. Pulsefire Ezreal update, Pulsefire Caitlyn arrival and new chromas!

The very first ultimate skin, Pulsefire Ezreal has become a little ... lacking over the years, especially as Riot’s recent ultimate skins have gotten more and more complex. This week, Pulsefire Caitlyn is joining Ezreal in the Pulsefire crew, and the Ezreal skin is getting: