As we approach the start of the biggest League of Legends event of the year, Riot Games has finally revealed the detailed change list for Patch 11.19, which is the update the teams will be playing on at the 2021 World Championship.
In the notes, Riot’s lead gameplay designer Jeevun “Jag” Sidhu mentioned the champions being hit with nerfs this time around, including Ryze, Soraka, and Kennen, who are taking the brunt of the hammer down compared to Varus and Sona.
Ryze will be getting a five-percent decrease to his Overload ability, while also getting a 0.25-second increase on his Spell Flux ability’s cooldown. This damage nerf shouldn’t completely push the Rune Mage out of the meta—especially among the top mid laners attending Worlds 2021—but it will hurt his ability to trade and burst down enemy champions.
Soraka, on the other hand, will be getting a significant nerf to her ultimate, Wish. The heal on the ability is being reduced at all levels. The level one heal has been lowered from 150 to 130, which isn’t bad. But the max ranked ultimate heal has been lowered from 350 to 300. We haven’t really seen much Soraka played at the high levels of pro play, though.
In a similar way, Kennen hasn’t been a priority pick among pros in the top leagues. He is, however, getting a significant damage reduction to his Thundering Shuriken, with its base damage being dropped by 10 at each level and the bonus AP damage percent being dropped by five percent.
For anyone who has loved Varus’ dominance among pro AD carries, there’s no need to worry. The only thing being changed with his kit is a two-second nerf to his Q’s cooldown at max level. This shouldn’t be a world-ender for the Arrow of Retribution, though, and shouldn’t affect his play rate at the tournament.
Worlds 2021 begins next month on Tuesday, Oct. 5.
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