Urgot is one of League of Legends’ most terrifying champions. Ever since his rework two years ago, he’s been a menace in the top lane, where he wears down opponents’ health bars from range while threatening to suck them in with his horrid ultimate.
But after a few nerfs this year, Urgot took a tumble down the tier lists for both solo queue and professional play. All of a sudden he didn’t feel so scary. But in Patch 9.6, Riot is making a few big changes to his abilities that will bring him back in a big way.
The first big change is to his W, Purge, but while it seems massive, it’s not as revolutionary as some might think. The new ability loses the shield—more on that later—but is cheaper, has a lower cooldown, and deals more on-hit damage. At max rank, its mana cost and cooldown drop to zero, making it a toggle ability that can turn Urgot permanently into a ghosted turret.
Permanent ghosting and 3x attack speed? That sounds absolutely busted! Add in the fact that his passive—those shotgun knees of his—got a buff so that the last enemy hit takes full damage, and he seems like an absolute menace when his W is fully leveled.
Related: Urgot’s kit undergoes big adjustments on the League PBE
But we don’t think that will be as big a problem as some might think. With this ability, the bark might actually be worse than the bite. The primary reason is that to survive lane, Urgot will still likely max Q first. And then after that, you’ll probably start wanting to put points into his new E because its really good.
The headline change to Urgot’s E, Disdain, is that it gets the shield from Urgot’s old W. This is a really smart change because E is both Urgot’s escape and engage tool. In both instances he wants that shield, so combining it to one ability makes a ton of sense.
But the real magic happens with the numbers. The shield now scales off a combination of bonus HP and bonus AD instead of just health alone. Yes, you should still definitely rush Black Cleaver. As long as you have BC, the shield will be stronger than it was before.
E also gets more flat damage at first but it falls off over time since the ratio is now based on bonus AD. This might push people to AD-heavy builds. Could we see Black Cleaver into Lethality Urgot that charges his enemies with Ghostblade speed, flips them, and dissolves them in a hail of bullets?
These changes could really shift how Urgot is played. It is a real question on whether he wants to take W or E second. The shield is that important in lane, and combined with an AD build, could turn him into a much more aggressive champion. He also has more starting mana, more mana per-level, and lower mana abilities, so he’ll be able to trade much more frequently than before.
Related: Urgot’s Purge damage buffed, Cats vs. Dogs loading screens appear in latest PBE update
And we haven’t even gotten to his ult. It gets a massive flat damage buff at the beginning while getting a huge increase in range to 2,500 units. That means if you’re low against the Urgot post-six, you’re going to have to run a long way to escape the chains of death.
Add it all together, and this is probably a buff, which Urgot needed. But it also makes him a more technical, skill-based champion that can snowball early and open up aggressive build paths. Righteous Glory in particular is not going to be nearly as useful going forward.
Urgot is supposed to be a scary champion, not someone that farms it up from range against the likes of Aatrox and Riven, and serves as an off-tank later on. These latest changes make sure that Urgot mains can fulfill the fantasy of being an unstoppable killing machine.
