Riot attempts to curb OP K’Sante exploit with automatic rune change in LoL

Live-service games that receive constant updates are susceptible to bugs of different sizes—and League of Legends is no exception. While Riot Games often provides quick fixes to errors plaguing its game through patches and hotfixes, it appears a proper solution for one particular bug has not been found.

In the current iteration of League’s PBE, which contains some testing of changes likely to hit a handful of champions in Patch 13.23, K’Sante has once again been targeted—this time with an exceptional number of nerfs to the damage across nearly his entire kit. Interestingly, one of these nerfs is an automatic rune slot change for players who opt to bring Hexflash from the Inspiration tree on the Pride of Nazumah, switching it to Magical Footwear instead.

Multiple players have noted that this unexpected change may be in response to an unintended interaction that K’Sante has when paired with Hexflash, which was first documented several patches ago. Though K’Sante’s W normally has to be charged before he dashes, when pressing Hexflash immediately as the charge starts, the ability will cast instantly. As this is one of K’Sante’s premiere combo tools, it can be used before any opposing champion can effectively react, followed by using his ultimate to unlock even more damage. It can even be used as a way to quickly avoid any disruption or crowd control as the ability grants K’Sante the “unstoppable” status.

Only a handful of champions have their runes forcibly changed when loading onto Summoner’s Rift, with unique cases such as not using mana resulting in Manaflow Band not being allowed on that champion. These automatic changes are more prominent in ARAM where runes like Zombie Ward and Ghost Poro simply have no effect due to the map lacking the ability to place normal wards.

Regardless of this change, K’Sante continues to be a nightmare for casual and professional players as his durability, damage, and mobility—despite being designed as a tank—make him one of the most difficult champions in the game to counter. This prompted a quick hotfix implementation from Riot in Patch 13.21 to target-nerf his Q, but the champion remains one of the strongest across the entire roster—making his power clear even at the ongoing World Championship with a 56-percent presence rate, according to Leaguepedia.

It is unclear if Riot will ship this specific change with K’Sante’s other nerfs in the near future or if this bug will be addressed before then, nor has Riot confirmed that this automatic rune change is in direct response to the exploit. More information regarding League Patch 13.23, scheduled to be released on Nov. 21, is expected to be revealed over the course of the next week.