League of Legends Patch 6.6: Five things you need to know

Riot released patch notes for soon-to-hit Patch 6.6 for League of Legends today. Lots of small changes around, especially some notable nerfs to champions dominating the pro and amateur scenes. Also, there's a badass space dragon coming. Consider yourself warned.

You can read the full notes here, but here's the important stuff:

1. Jungle nerfs!

Last patch, we saw buffs to some rarely played junglers like Vi, Hecarim and Jarvan IV. This week, some solo queue and pro play terrors have been taken down a notch.

The big one for solo queue players is Shyvana, who occupied the top spot among junglers as far as win rate is concerned in Patch 6.5. The attack damage ratio on Twin Bite (her "Q" ability) has been reduced significantly in the early game, and Titanic Hydra, one of her core items, received an attack damage nerf.

On the professional side, Nidalee has been one of the top contested picks in recent weeks. This patch nerfed her a little bit as well, removing the root on monsters from her Hunt mechanic and removing the auto attack reset on Pounce (her "W"). Runic Echoes, a core item on Nidalee, also saw a damage reduction, so you're less likely to see that item on tanky junglers now.

2. Aurelion Sol is arriving

Yesssss! Read more about the new champion here, or just watch this video over and over again in anticipation (some NSFW language, so mute if you're not into that).

3. Kalista is more support-dependent

As Scarizard pointed out in the patch notes, Kalista was in a strange place as a marksman of being very strong in both 2 vs. 2 and 1 vs. 1 situations. With her passive and ult making her literally tied to another champion, it makes a bunch of sense to try and sway her more towards being a strong 2 vs. 2 champion.

As a result, there are some general nerfs to Kalista's kit (most notably her base attack speed). But now Kalista passively gains attack speed when her buddy is nearby.

4. Nerfs to top-tier supports

Alistar is seemingly always present in the pro scene and Janna's been on top of the support win rate chart for some time now. Now, they're each a little more focused on their specialties -- for Alistar, his peel and engage; for Janna, her disengage.

Alistar's Triumphant Roar (his "E") heals allies for significantly less now. Janna's Eye of the Storm (her "E") gives less bonus attack damage to shielded allies, while Monsoon (her ultimate) disables for less time.

5. Buffs to some old friends

Despite the proliferation of tanky top laners in Season 6, ultra tanky Maokai has been absent. His base magic resistance has been buffed and he now has scaling magic resistance (he was the last tank in the game without it, per the patch notes). His saplings also last longer.

Elsewhere, Cho'Gath now gets more health each time he Feasts, Kha'Zix has reduced cooldowns on Taste Their Fear ("Q") and Void Spike ("W") and Karma's Mantra'd Defiance is just a flat out stronger shield.

League of Legends Patch 6.5 should be live either later today or later this week.