Ahri, Ninja Tabi, and Caitlyn. These champions and boots have completely controlled League of Legends for months, and that’s why they’re all getting nerfed in the next patch, according to Riot’s post on the official League forums.
What does the fox say?
That meme isn’t too old, right? Anyway, who has two thumbs and the highest combined win-rate and play-rate of any mid laner? That’s right, it’s Ahri.
This isn’t a surprise, either. She didn’t receive a buff, her items haven’t changed, and she’s basically still just the same she’s been for the past year. Yet, somehow, her win-rate steadily climbs despite how often she’s played. She’s hovered between a 53 and 54 percent win-rate for the past five patches (at least), according to Champion.gg, a League stats website. After so much of that, it’s clear that something needs to be done—and Riot has finally admitted it.
The details of the nerfs haven’t been revealed yet, but the options being considered are to move damage away from her auto-target abilities (W and R) and move more damage into her skill-shots (probably her E) to make her more challenging to play. A good nerf would also be to increase the mana cost on her Q, making it less spammy in the early parts of the game.
After nerfs like that, Ahri wouldn’t necessarily be weaker, but she’d certainly be more difficult and less brain-dead to play.
Chewie, wait! That cupcake is a trap!
Caitlyn may be getting a shiny new Pulsefire skin during this patch, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to keep getting away with being the strongest ADC in the game by such a wide margin.
It’s not necessarily bad that Caitlyn is the strongest. After all, someone is always going to be stronger than the rest. It’s when they’re too strong that issues start to crop up. In Caitlyn’s case, it’s hard to counter or outplay her insane range, and her synergy with the item Runaan’s Hurricane gives her too much easily-obtained power for how naturally powerful she already is.
The Hurricane’s side bolts will no longer stack her Headshot passive multiple times, making her less of an oppressive threat in the middle stages of the game. This should also free her up for more itemization, like the Rapidfire Cannon or the Phantom Dancer for duels. There’s no other way to phrase it, this one’s a straight up nerf, and the Sheriff is going to be weaker because of it.
That’s not a boot. This is a boot.
That’s actually not a boot, that’s Rammus, but the point is that Ninja Tabi are too strong in League. When the lethality meta spiked up earlier this year, players began to realize how strong Ninja Tabi are against AD champions, because they negate a sizable portion of their basic attack damage. Now, it isn’t even rare to see an ADC run them, when they’ve traditionally only been for tanks.
That’s why the auto-attack damage negation is being lowered to 10 percent from 12 percent. Unlike Caitlyn, though, the Tabi aren’t just getting a flat nerf. Instead of just applying to a standard auto attack, the damage negation will now also apply to on-hit effects (RIP Jax), including the percent-health damage from Blade of the Ruined King, which will also indirectly be a nerf to it.
There were some monumental improvements to the game client made in today’s patch, and the patch before it focused on reforming the entire vanguard tank subclass. The next one looks like it will go back to focusing on balancing the game, starting with Ahri, Caitlyn, and the Ninja Tabi.
