An iconic ADC item has taken over as next OP choice for LoL mid laners—but not for long

Ever since its return to League of Legends in May, Statikk Shiv has become one of the most powerful items in the game—but not necessarily in the role it was originally meant to star in. Instead of solely adding to an AD carry champion’s arsenal, multiple mid laners like LeBlanc, Azir, and Annie are all building the item first right now due to its unrivaled ability to clear waves like a hot knife through butter.

In its current form, Statikk Shiv generates energize stacks that are gained through movement and basic attacks. When fully charged, the player’s next basic attack will deal bonus magic damage, while also bouncing this effect to the closest target within 500 units, up to 12 targets at maximum rank. This effect is also increased by 125 percent against minions.

As a result, mid laners have been buying this item first to clear waves with a single spell and auto attack, allowing them to roam to their side lanes at their leisure. In the late game, mid laners can be huge backdoor threats since they can easily push out a lane with Statikk Shiv by zapping through entire waves with minimal effort, forcing enemies to defend their base.

Since Statikk Shiv’s passive scales through AP, mid laners are able to build this item without many consequences, while giving them some huge advantages in lane. Hybrid marksmen like Kai’Sa have also started to build Shiv as their first item since they can use both the AD and AP given while boosting their strong wave-clearing potential too.

Related: Here are the early LoL Patch 13.13 notes

For those worried about how Statikk Shiv will affect the flow of the game, fear not: Riot Games is planning some significant nerfs for the item in Patch 13.13, with the minion damage AP ratio getting reduced by 40 percent. This change should help prevent players from one-shotting a wave without having to expend more mana and abilities. Dash abilities are also getting targeted so they can’t stack energize charges as easily, which should help lower how frequently the item will activate for champs with plenty of mobility in their kit.

League Patch 13.13 is scheduled to drop on Wednesday, June 28.