Some major changes have gone into effect with the latest micropatch for Riot Games’ newest League of Legends mode, Teamfight Tactics. Pyke has been nerfed, Spear of Shojin has been fixed, and Yordles have been buffed.
Pyke has consistently been one of the strongest units in the game, considering his solo carry potential from his AoE stun. The Assassin synergy is already top tier, and Pyke’s presence only added insult to injury. He worked perfectly as a stand-alone unit, but combined with his Assassin comrades, he was almost unstoppable.
To combat him, Riot has reduced his stun duration from 2.5/3/3.5 to 2/2.5/3 3.5 seconds and has targeted his most powerful item, Spear of Shojin. The changes should position him in a more balanced standpoint and allow for other compositions to thrive in the Assassin meta. He’s still going to be a worthwhile unit, but now, Akali will be the strongest Assassin.
Spear of Shojin was originally nerfed to grant units 15 percent mana on-hit, rather than 20 percent, but a bug was causing the item to disfunction. It was ignoring its changes and granting its pre-nerfed mana instead. This has now been fixed, and the intended nerf has been fully implemented.
The nerf should help level out units that worked particularly well with the item, including Pyke, Aurelion Sol, and Lulu. Despite the nerf, though, it’ll still be a relevant item pick and should see playtime on ultimate-focused units.
Yordles have been one of the weakest Origins in the game. They have some strong stand-alone units, like Gnar, Lulu, and Tristana, but their buff has always been overwhelming. To help this somewhat, Riot has buffed them. They now have a 25/60 percent dodge chance, rather than 20/50 percent. This isn’t the most drastic of changes, but it should help bolster full Yordle compositions in the late game.Â
All of these changes are now in full effect and are available to test and play on the live servers.
