League’s most problematic mechanic will soon be changed by Riot

Healing remains one of the most volatile aspects of League of Legends, having almost completely dominated the various metas of the past year while remaining relatively untouched. In its current state, which is arguably worse than it has been all year, Riot Games has admitted that it needs to step in and tweak the issues before they worsen.

In a recent Reddit thread discussing various PBE changes slated for release in Patch 12.23b and Patch 13.1, Riot Axes revealed that he and his team are not content with the impact of healing in League, especially during the ongoing preseason. This also stems into grievous wounds, which is supposed to be the answer to arduous healing, which appears to be more difficult to balance efficiently.

“[Healing is] not in a good spot, [there’s] too much healing in the game,” Riot Axes admitted in a response to a question on the mechanic’s usefulness. “[We’re] currently working on grievous wounds items and likely to also take a swing at healing values.”

Champions such as Aatrox and Yuumi, who have innate healing to themselves and allies within their kits, have remained priority options among players for months. Most notably, they controlled much of the narrative at this year’s Worlds, where these two champions were in the top five picked across the entire tournament. Items such as Moonstone Renewer and Death’s Dance increase this healing potential further and also appeared as important parts of builds throughout the year.

Notably, Riot Axes explained that tuning items that inflict grievous wounds, such as Oblivion Orb and Executioner’s Calling, is a bit difficult and is something the team needs to balance carefully. The changes in mind for this mechanic include increasing the grievous wounds percentage on component items rather than tie that solely to the completed item while also increasing the stats provided by the completed items to make them more efficient buys.

Riot Axes did not provide any insight into how healing will be tackled directly, though he stated that it is something the team will look at soon, likely after the holiday break and start of the 2023 season.