League of Legends lead gameplay designer Mark “Scruffy” Yetter broke down some tentative Patch 10.12 changes in today’s preview.
Senna ADC and Akali caught Riot’s attention and are being buffed in Patch 10.12, along with a couple of other underperformers. And some high flyers are being targeted, clipping their wings to balance out the meta.
Senna, who’s proven to be extremely difficult to balance since her debut, is getting a buff to her AD carry role. The Redeemer has seen plenty of play as a support, but a “fasting Senna” strat allowed her to make appearances as an ADC as well. It appears that Riot wants to give her true markswoman power, likely improving her ability to get stacks when killing minions.
And another hard-to-balance champ is getting some love. Patch 10.7 decreased the cooldown on Akali’s ultimate substantially in an effort to give her early-game power. But the Rogue Assassin is still struggling in the current patch, boasting a 44-percent win rate in Platinum ranks and above, according to Champion.gg.
Xayah, Brand mid, and Viktor are also on the buff list, with Volibear getting his claws sharpened in today’s micropatch.
But it appears Riot pumped too much power into Fiddlesticks. The Harbinger of Doom got buffs to its Terrify and Bountiful Harvest last patch, helping it climb the charts with a 53-percent win rate in Platinum and above. Next week’s patch should bring it back to normal.
Yasuo mains will be upset to see their beloved champ on the nerf list, along with Varus, Cassiopeia bot and top, and Trundle.
The Patch 10.12 preview is tentative and numbers are still liable to change before hitting the live servers.
