- Many tanks will be receiving much-needed buffs
- Meanwhile, champions with more than a 52% win rate will be nerfed
- The new patch will be released next week
League of Legends’ preseason is a great time for Riot to readjust champions and items in preparation for the next competitive season.
Who Is Getting Buffed?
We are in the middle between two competitive League of Legends seasons, which is the perfect time for Riot to reflect on the state of the game and make necessary balancing changes. The meta during the preseason was dominated by bruisers, while their tanky top-lane counterparts have been left out.
Riot obviously noticed this and is preparing balancing changes for the game’s next patch. Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison, a lead designer from the League balancing team, recently posted a tweet saying many tanks are in line to receive buffs. These include Sion, Cho’Gath, Amumu, Maokai, Zac, Tahm Kench, and Malphite.
Another champion that is getting buffed is Zeri. Fans might wonder why the Spark of Zaun, which terrorized professional and casual play alike not long ago, is getting stronger. Riot realized she was overpowered long ago, so the company hit her with a ton of nerfs. However, it might have outdone itself as Zeri fell off the face of the earth after repeated nerfs. Hopefully, Riot will finally find the perfect balance for her with the changes coming to League’s next patch.
Who Is Getting Nerfed?
Phroxzon’s tweet also briefly outlined the champions which will be nerfed. As stated before, bruisers seem to be dominating the meta this preseason, but the list of champions to be nerfed contains a diverse cast. These include Yuumi, Syndra, Mordekaiser, Shyvana, Trundle, and Lillia. All of them, except Yuumi, are sitting at above a 52% win rate in Platinum and above, according to League stats site LoLalytics.
Kassadin and Dr. Mundo are also going to receive some adjustments. Dr. Mundo, in particular, has risen slightly in pick rate thanks to the return of Rod of Ages. A few items will also receive changes. Considering Ravenous Hydra’s performance this preseason, the item will be subject to a few nerfs. Its sister item, Titanic Hydra, already went through that process a while ago.
The jungle is also expected to undergo several changes, with these intended to work with Riot’s decision to have more “off-role” junglers in the future meta.
All of these changes will come out with League’s Patch 12.23, which will go live next week on December 7.
