Patch 7.6 was pretty light on actual balance changes, but 7.7 has rectified that with a slew of nerfs and buffs. A decent number of professional staples took a hit this week, while a couple of underrated champions received some small buffs. While the professional meta isn't likely to drastically change for playoffs, it will certainly be more interesting to watch going forwards.
Scissor-legs and Knifecat
While LeBlanc seems to have dropped out of professional play, her fellow members of the Big Three are still living large. Camille and Rengar have maintained their near pick-or-ban status throughout each round of nerfs and continue to dominate the scene. However, this week's changes may be what finally knocks them down from their lofty throne.
Camille's changes in particular show promise - her ult now has a scaling duration, while her W healing on minions has been removed entirely. She'll be easier to gank and have a harder time setting up ganks herself, which gives Camille a bit more counterplay in the toplane. While her damage and long-ranged initiation is still fully intact, Camille won't be quite as strong in-lane, which may cause her to drop a tier in the draft.
Rengar meanwhile lost base damage on his Q and had the ratio slashed, which reduces his early clear tempo and upfront damage. They weren't tremendous changes, but having to take more damage while clearing will make Rengar's early plays far more risky than they would be normally. Will it be enough to remove him from the meta though? Maybe - he still has a lot of strengths, especially thanks to Thrill of the Hunt's scouting. Time will tell if the Pridestalker keeps his stranglehold on the meta.
Top-tier nerfs
The Big Two weren't the only ones to receive nerfs. Graves, Rumble, and Katarina also took minor hits in 7.7 that reduced their power in small, but noticeable ways.
Of the three, Graves had the biggest change. No longer gaining magic resistance from True Grit stacks makes Graves susceptible to being burst by many of the common midlane mages like Syndra and Viktor, and weakens his early jungling against Elise. It's a situational weakness - and doesn't address his insane damage or healthy jungle clears - but it does at least give him a weakness to exploit.
Rumble and Katarina meanwhile got off a little better. Rumble's Electro-Harpoon having a slightly longer recharge time doesn't hurt him too much, but will make managing waves slightly more difficult to pull off. Katarina suffered the most between the two - her Shunpo gaining a longer cooldown greatly weakens her early laning, which will likely remove her from the meta entirely.
Cows and bells
Finally, a couple of underused supports got a few quality-of-life changes that help their LCS viability. Bard now gains damage with every chime tier he reaches, while Alistar got some buffs thrown at his passive and E. The meta still favors lane-shoving and poking supports like Karma and Zyra, but the added power that these two champions now have might be enough to move them back to niche pick status.
