League of Legends gameplay design director Mark “Scruffy” Yetter outlined the Patch 11.6 preview today, unveiling upcoming changes for 12 champions.
While Riot previewed the systemic healing tweaks and Xin Zhao mini-update last week, Scruffy gave the full list of adjustments we can expect going into next week’s patch. While Akali is getting some attention, junglers Hecarim and Karthus are being hit by the nerf hammer.
Akali has always given Riot trouble since she was reworked. Balance changes can make her underwhelming just as easy as they can make her overpowered. But with an abysmal 44.9-percent win rate in Platinum ranks and above in Patch 11.4, according to Champion.gg, she’s due for some love.
Though Scruffy will likely expand on Akali’s adjustments tomorrow, Riot appears to be testing them on League‘s PBE already, according to Surrender at 20. The Rogue Assassin’s base health will drop from 575 to 500 and the Assassin’s Mark passive, which restores energy, is removed. The energy on Five Point Strike (Q) has been adjusted to require more at early levels and less at max levels. And it no longer deals additional damage to minions and monsters at max rank.
Shuriken Flip (E) will do less on first cast and more on second cast. And the first cast of Perfect Execution (R) will be nerfed drastically early and deal more damage late, while also getting its damage type changed from physical to magic. It will also have 30 percent AP ratio, too.
Surrender at 20 mod Spideraxe later found another PBE change where Twilight Shroud (W) increases Akali’s max energy by 80 while active instead of simply restoring the amount. This will extend her potential combos by increasing the energy cap while shrouded.
Judging from the wide array of tentative adjustments, Riot likely wants to cautiously give power to Akali while protecting competitive integrity. The assassin will likely have less lane dominance but scale better into the late game.
Dominant junglers Hecarim and Karthus, who sport a 51.7-percent and 52.6-percent win rate respectively in Plat and above, are being taken down a peg to make room for other champions. Hecarim is a strong duelist, a great farmer, extremely mobile, and has some good crowd control. Slap on Trinity Force and the Shadow of War doesn’t have much counterplay. Riot may focus on limiting his early game, making him a worse farmer and early dueler.
As for Karthus, he farms incredibly well and is a late-game monster. But his early game is a clear counter since he needs time to scale and can be invaded fairly easily. Riot might further play on his weak early game, making his abilities do less to minions.
Urgot, Lillia, Renekton, and Gnar will also be nerfed, while LeBlanc, Sylas, Pyke, and Volibear jungle are due for some buffs.
With over a week until Patch 11.6, the previewed tweaks are liable to change before going live.
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