Lethality has always been in a weird position in League of Legends. As the champions that utilize lethality always walk a thin line between life and death, balancing it has been especially hard. And now, Riot are here with new changes.
While assassins were strong, their Mythics felt lackluster. Many assassins were opting into Mythics like Goredrinker or Stridebreaker, and some rushed Legendaries like Youmuu's before their Mythic. Riot are not opposed to flexing into unique builds, but building a Lethality Mythic first was almost always the weaker option. In the preseason they are reducing the gap between Mythics and Youmuu's for melee Lethality users, while ranged Lethality users should be relatively unaffected.
Prowler's Claw, Duskblade of Draktharr and Eclipse are all getting a discount by 100 gold, and are now only 100 gold more expensive than Youmuu's Ghostblade, with it now worth 3000 gold.
Cooldown for melee champions reduced from 8 seconds to 6 seconds, on the Eclipse passive. The Prowler's Claw dash now deals 75 (+30% bonus AD) instead of 65 (+25% bonus AD) physical damage. And Duskblade will now have bonus AD on next basic attack against an enemy champion that deals 75 (+30% bonus AD) for melee / 55 (+25% bonus AD) for ranged, instead of 65 (+25% bonus AD).
Riot Games
With these changes, we can expect assassins to go back to being assassins, instead of being bruisers that still one-shot you. Hopefully, it won't make lethality overpowered, which it shouldn't as the changes are not too drastic.
