Sivir, Jinx, and Ezreal have been watching from the stands as the ADC meta in League of Legends has widened to include almost every other marksman in the game, leaving them feeling like proper outcasts. Don’t worry, you three, because your time in the spotlight may soon be here.
Buffs to the trio have arrived on the PBE, and for the most part they’re significant enough to add some pick priority. They shouldn’t be nearly enough to bump the champs to OP status, however.
He actually sort of does belong in a museum
Ezreal had his time to shine during the beginning of season seven all the way until the midseason update in April.
He was one of the few ADCs that survived the tank meta, the lethality meta, and the Blade of the Ruined King (BotRK) meta. Surprisingly, he lasted the whole time using mostly the same item build. He was a long-range poking ADC that could keep up with Jhin and Varus during the lethality meta, and he could even deal consistent quick damage during the BotRK meta. Unfortunately, those days are behind him, and he’s feeling rather washed up.
He wasn’t nerfed or anything, but other ADCs and their items were buffed around him, while he and his build remained untouched. Therefore, when other previously weak ADCs like Draven, Twitch, Lucian, and even Kalista began to regain some traction in the meta, Ezreal began to slip.
To compensate, though, Riot can’t simply buff his abilities and their damage, because that would make him OP. The design team has actually decided that he’s mechanically broken all thanks to his W, which essentially fires confetti out of his hand that deals laughable damage and can slightly buff his allies. For a champion with very meaningful abilities through his Q, ultimate, and E, his W is shockingly uninteresting. That being said, the current goal is to completely replace the ability with something all around better.
Unfortunately, that requires a lot of work, and with the Worlds qualifying patch approaching, the design team has their hands full. It’s not likely that they’ll be able to get to this until after Worlds, according to their latest announcement. That’s a long ways off. In the meantime, a small buff to his Q’s cooldown has been added to the PBE as a sort of band-aid.
Not feeling so victorious anymore
Poor Sivir used to be the center of attention too, but that was a dark, dark age where tanks ruled the world. The only reason Sivir survived was because she could prolong the inevitable onslaught of crowd control with a spell shield. That’s two seasons behind us, though, and today, Sivir is barely ever played. This is mostly because she lacks the damaging abilities that give other ADCs the edge, and it leaves her noticeably weaker.
Well, her lane pressure is about to get quite a bit stronger, because her Boomerang Blade, which also happens to be her primary damaging ability, is getting a big buff by 30 damage at every rank. That means instead of 25 damage at level one, it will deal 55, being reduced by 15 percent for each hit after the first, just as the ability does now. That’s actually quite a massive buff, and it will hit especially hard in the early stages of the lane, which means we might actually see some more Sivir priority in the next patch.
It’s small, but it’s something
Aside from poor phrasing, saying it’s small pretty much sums up the buff coming for Jinx in the next patch. To be fair, though, Jinx isn’t in that poor of a place when compared to Ezreal and Sivir. Sure, she’s still a few steps behind the likes of Draven, Lucian, Vayne, and the rest, but that’s it—just a few steps.
Because of that, her buff is quite small. The cooldown on her Zap! is being lowered at all ranks, and at max rank, it will now have a four second cooldown rather than a six second one. This is actually sort of big, because it means she’ll be able to kite and chase much more easily in the later stages of the game. It doesn’t do much to help her laning phase, which is arguably her biggest pitfall, but hey, it’s something.
Jinx has always been a fan favorite due to her personality and chaotic playstyle, so this should make her fans feel a little bit better about picking her, even if it doesn’t throw her to the forefront of the meta.
