Riot is considering buffs to Syndra, Annie, Vel’Koz, Ahri, Cassiopeia, Viktor, and Orianna, according to the company’s post on the official game forums today.
The League of Legends bot lane has been the center of attention since Patch 8.11 brought widespread nerfs to marksman base stats and crit items, opening the door for bruisers, fighters, mages, and all other types of champions to claim the lane for their own. The mid lane, however, has its own problems.
Aside from top-level funneling strategies with Karthus, Master Yi, and Kai’Sa, the mid lane’s meta is very stale, and it’s mostly due to massive mana changes in Patch 8.9. If you’re not one of five or six champions, chances are you’re too weak to be considered a good pick, and Riot is planning to help other champions out at least a little bit.
Typically, when a group of champions as large as this are knocked out of the meta, larger, more systematic issues are to blame. But if buffs are coming to each champion individually, that hints at Riot believing they’re each weak on their own.
Riot’s forum post today didn’t explore what exactly is coming, all it said is that the balance team is considering buffs to begin with. As Riot digs into the situation deeper, there’s a possibility that more champions will be added to the list, and it’s also possible that some of those seven won’t make the cut, too.
Out of all of them, the most likely candidates for buffs are probably Syndra, Orianna, and Vel’Koz. All three of them are performing terribly compared to other mid laners, according to North American League stats site Champion.gg.
Whatever the buffs are, Riot has them slated for a Patch 8.14 release, which would be in about three weeks.
