League of Legends Update 12.9 is finally here, and it nerfs several champions like Ahri and Sion while buffing weaker champions like Renekton. One of the most gold efficient items is Hullbreaker which received small changes because of its insane pick rate.
Hullbreaker Changes
Hullbreaker is a great item that allows top laners to split-push and pressure the map for their team. Many players rush Hullbreaker as their first item to make it nearly impossible for the enemy to trade back in lane. In this update, Hullbreaker is nerfed in the early game to encourage players to pick it as their subsequent item.
Melee champions using Hullbreaker will only have 10 resistance from levels 1 through 11. After that, it scales to 20/35/43/51/59/67/75 (levels 12-18). Watch out for late-game split pushers because they will be even stronger this patch.
Finally, the Hullbreaker passive will only grant a 20% damage increase against towers when hit by a champion. Other sources of damage such as minions, canons, super minions, etc. will not affect this damage buff.
Champion Nerfs
Ahri
Ahri’s pick rate has been pretty high in solo queue and pro play ever since her mini rework. So, the developers made balancing adjustments for her. Ahri’s Charm cooldown is now 14 seconds from 12 seconds. That's two seconds enough to take her down quickly or get away from her fast.
Ahri’s Spirit Rush cooldown has increased to 140/115/90 seconds for levels 6/11/16 from 130/105/80 seconds. These changes should make Ahri more exploitable, but be careful around because, with excellent items, she can burst down almost every champion.
Sion
Sion is a really annoying champion to deal with because of his passive that reanimates him after death for a couple of seconds to possibly take someone with him. Sion's inting strategy is quite simple: farm waves and split push. To counter this, the developers nerfed that passive so Sion now does 60% reduced damage to structures in his reanimated form, which includes Demolish rune and Hullbreaker item.
Renekton Buff
Renekton has been an underwhelming champion since the fighter item changes introduced in Update 12.3. The developers are showing some love to the crocodile by buffing his base stats and abilities. His health growth has increased to 97 from 92, while his AD growth is up from 3.75 to 4.15. This should make him slightly stronger in the early to mid-game. His Ultimate has been buffed to 50/100/150 (+10% AP) from 40/80/120 (+10% AP), which should make it slightly annoying for champions to fight him under Dominus.
You can read more about the update here.
