my face when I don't see Syndra in the nerf list for the 3563th day in a row
Patch 26.21 Preview!
This is our first post World's patch and we're stabilizing the Ranked environment for end of season climbs, while giving a bit of breathing room to some of the champions that have had suppressed winrates due to Pro Play (Azir, Ori, Ryze, etc.)
Systems
- Gluttonous Greaves is proving a bit too strong, especially on Marksmen; and so we're tapping it down a bit
- Hubris is also being nerfed for Ranged and a buff to melee, as it is mostly strong on champs like Jhin and MF, but suppressed for those other champions
- Bastionbreaker's stats are a bit too strong in particular (the lethality) and so we're moving some of the power out of that and into the anti-structure/objective passive
- Broadly, the item is too good at both killing people and giving assassins wider game impact (we're happier with it if it's purchaseable because of the latter)
- Dawncore is just a weak item that doesn't get purchased, except in situations where the player is already giga winning; it's not fulfiling its spot as a desirable capstone item for enchanters at this tuning
Lee Sin/Qiyana Nerfs
- Lee and Qiyana have been 2 of the strongest junglers, especially in higher levels of play and especially in certain regions
- We're nerfing here, but also (especially in Qiyana's case) being mindful of not double nerfing too hard with the Bastionbreaker nerfs also in the patch
Yasuo/Yone
- Yasuo and Yone have been picking up Shieldbow first a lot more and it's been looking pretty strong on them
- Overall, we're pretty supportive of this as feeling like their passive can kick in early feels great for their fantasy
- Secondly, having access to early lifesteal in lane, (eg. with vamp scepter for bork) makes their lane play lower quality
- Finally, it's good to open up structural weaknesses for them before they complete first item, but allow them to be quite strong when they get there (and have power in durability vs straight up "kill you power")
Taric/TF QoL
- Taric is getting back the ability to have Q and R apply to untargetable allies
- TF ult now reveals untargeable units (eg. Yuumi W, Master Yi Q, Hexgate, etc.)
Overall Approach
- This patch, we're trying to strike a good balance between preserving strengths of champions, while redistributing power budget for champions into places that might be more appreciable power for them
- In some of these cases (like with Locke), trying to make things that are meant to be more costly (eg. mana costs) appropriately costly
- Or otherwise try to expose certain weaknesses for champions in order to allow their strengths to be holistically reasonable
More on how we're applying this tomorrow