The 2024 season of League of Legends is well into its second month on the live servers, and following a few outliers in terms of game balance, Riot Games appears to be placing more focus on champions that could use a bit of help in their respective roles.
Riot Phroxzon, the lead gameplay designer for League, provided players today with a look at the patch preview for Patch 14.4, which is expected to be available for testing on the PBE within the next few days and then released officially on Feb. 22. Among these changes is a welcomed plethora of buffs to champions that have not appeared on a patch preview in some time, possibly increasing their viability at all levels of play.
The top lane meta will soon open to more options with the incoming buffs to Jayce, Renekton, and Volibear—with Volibear in particular receiving a massive overhaul to nearly all of his abilities. According to data already on the PBE, Volibear’s E and R cooldowns are being decreased, while his Q movement speed is being increased drastically, opening up more options for the champion not only in the top lane but back in the jungle as well.
Two members of K/DA, Ahri and Kai’Sa, join the buffs anticipated to release with Patch 14.4, both of whom experienced unexpected decreases in their win rates with the start of the new season. As of now, both Ahri and Kai’Sa sit around a 49-percent win rate according to OP.GG and U.GG, with no cemented build path located for either champion as players continue to experiment with what works well for them.
While the conversation regarding the power of the overhauled support role remains ongoing, three champions that haven’t fared particularly well with the item changes appear on this buff list: Thresh, Lulu, and Soraka. Though the extent of their buffs is not yet known, these champions have historically been very strong in nearly all levels of play—with an emphasis on professional play—when they were buffed in the past, making it unclear what exactly players should expect.
Further details regarding all of these buffs are expected to be revealed later this evening with extensive reasoning by the development team for most of them. They will then be available for testing on the PBE, where they will remain until the changes—possibly altered compared to the patch preview—reach the live servers with Patch 14.4. on Feb. 22.
