New LoL champion Hwei gets hit with 11 nerfs on PBE days before live release

There might be only a week left until League of Legends‘ newest champion Hwei hits live servers, but Riot Games is still tinkering with his kit before release. And the developer must have thought he was too strong because more than a few nerfs came Hwei’s way on the PBE.

The Visionary is actually getting slapped with 11 different nerfs on the League PBE to ensure a balanced debut on Wednesday, Dec. 6, for Patch 13.24. Champion designer Myles “Emizery” Salholm told fans on the Hwei subreddit the nerfs were aimed to “[lower] Hwei’s burst potential to allow for greater casting cadence,” which should allow for more spell combos and more aggressive play in the mid-to-late game.

Hwei will be getting a late-game base damage nerf to his passive but will be getting a five-percent AP ratio increase to offset the reduction. Multiple abilities are getting full-on damage nerfs, including all three of his Subject: Disaster spells and all three of his Subject: Torment spells. His ultimate ability, Spiraling Despair, is also getting a significant nerf to its damage-over-time AP ratio.

There are, however, a couple of buffs to help his ability to supplement his team with some utility, including a buff to his WW, Pool of Reflection, which is increasing its base shielding by 10 at all levels. His E spellbook can also be accessed a lot more frequently since its cooldown is being reduced by two seconds at all levels.

Here are all of the changes heading to Hwei in the PBE:

P – Signature of the Visionary:

• Base damage reduced from 35-200 to 35-180.
• AP ratio increased from 25 percent to 30 percent.

QQ – Devastating Fire:

• Base damage reduced from 60/95/130/165/200 to 60/90/120/150/180.
• Max health damage reduced from 4/5/6/7/8 percent to 4/4.5/5/5.5/6 percent.
• AP ratio reduced from 70 percent to 60 percent.

QW – Severing Bolt:

• AP ratio reduced from 30 percent to 25 percent, with a 90 percent peak to an 87.5 percent peak.
• Missing health bonus increased from 200/225/250/275/300 percent to 200/237.5/275/312.5/350 percent.

QE – Molten Fissure:

• Damage per second AP ratio reduced from 30 percent to 25 percent.

WW – Pool of Reflection:

• Shield base amount increased from 80/100/120/140/160 to 90/110/130/150/170.

E – Subject: Torment:

• Cooldown reduced from 17/16/15/14/13 seconds to 15/14/13/12/11 seconds.

EQ – Grim Visage:

• AP Ratio reduced from 70 percent to 55 percent.

EW – Gaze of the Abyss:

• AP ratio reduced from 70 percent to 55 percent.
• Root duration reduced from 1.25/1.5/1.75/2/2.25 seconds to 1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8/2 seconds.

EE – Crushing Maw:

• AP ratio reduced from 70 percent to 55 percent.
• Now “bumps up” units in the center.

R – Spiraling Despair:

• Damage-over-time AP ratio reduced from 10 percent to five percent, with 30 percent total to 15 percent total.

All of these changes are also subject to change before Hwei’s release on Dec. 6, but even still, you might want to prepare your paint brushes and clear your canvas for one of the most complicated and artistic champions that you’ve ever seen.