FOTM Report: Vi Jungle

Just a Little Buff They Said...
In Patch 9.5, Riot threw Vi players a "bone" in the form of a Passive buff, a Q "nerf" that ends up really being a buff, a W buff, an E buff, and of course, an R "nerf" that really just again becomes another buff. In the end, this ended up pumping up her win rate and of course, skyrocketing her playrate.



Check out the full scope of changes below!

Just a Little Buff They Said...

In Patch 9.5, Riot threw Vi players a "bone" in the form of a Passive buff, a Q "nerf" that ends up really being a buff, a W buff, an E buff, and of course, an R "nerf" that really just again becomes another buff. In the end, this ended up pumping up her win rate and of course, skyrocketing her playrate.

Check out the full scope of changes below!

Passive - Blast Shield

COOLDOWN12-8 seconds (levels 1-9) ⇒ 16-12 seconds (levels 1-9) (see Denting Blows below)

SHIELD RATIO10% max health ⇒ 15% max health

Overall, this looks like a flat nerf to her passive. However, she received some synergy on her Denting Blows [W] that reduces her cooldown by three seconds every time she uses it. Essentially, she ends up with more shield faster once she picks up her Trinity Force (AKA some attack speed).

Vault Breaker [Q]

REMOVEDQUARTER POUNDERNo longer deals 25% reduced damage to non-champions

RATIO1.6 bonus attack damage ⇒ 1.4 bonus attack damage

This is a slight nerf to her damage on champions, but really ends up being a buff to her jungle clear speed.

Denting Blows [W]

ATTACK SPEED30/35/40/45/50% ⇒ 30/37.5/45/52.5/60%

NEWPASSIVE COOLDOWNBlast Shield's cooldown is now reduced by 3 seconds whenever Denting Blows procs

This double buff provides her increased attack speed and of course the passive we talked about earlier. Overall, it ends up being a fake nerf to her Blast Shield and an overall buff.

Excessive Force [E] 

CRITICAL CONESDamage cone can now critically strike

RATIO1.15 total attack damage, 0.7 ability power ⇒ 1.1 total attack damage, 0.9 ability power

This one is particularly interesting due to the possibilities it opens up. Vi doesn't normally build crit and most players haven't tried crit Vi yet, but this does give Vi the potential to do significantly more burst damage...in an AOE.

Assault and Battery [R] 

COOLDOWN110/85/60 seconds ⇒ 120/100/80 seconds

DAMAGE150/300/450 (+1.4 bonus attack damage) ⇒ 150/325/500 (+1.1 bonus attack damage)

REMOVEDQUARTER POUNDERNo longer deals 25% reduced damage to secondary targets

SECONDARY TARGET KNOCKBACKVi knocks back enemies she passes through by 250 range over 0.25 seconds ⇒ 350 range over 0.75 seconds

This again looks like a slight nerf, but what it really does is it gives Vi a TON more AOE damage, especially if enemy tanks and supports are covering their marksman appropriately. The cooldown doesn't hurt much since it's plenty of time to come back up for every team fight.

Conclusions

These changes to Vi included some fake nerfs that really end up being overall buffs. As a result, Vi's skyrocketed to become one of the best junglers on the Rift in her current state.

What do you think about Vi in Patch 9.5? Comment below!