Riot details Lucian changes that aim to ‘shift power’ from mid to bot in League’s Patch 11.17

Lucian is next in line for balance changes.

Gearing up for Worlds 2021, Riot is looking to “shift power” away from mid lane Lucian back to bot, according to League of Legends lead game designer Jeevun Sidhu. 

The upcoming changes, which are expected to hit the live servers in Patch 11.17 on Aug. 25, target the champion’s base stats, Lightslinger passive, Ardent Blaze (W), and The Culling (R).

Base stats

• Base AD: 64 to 62

Passive – Lightslinger

• [New] Ally buffs empower Lucian’s next two (stacks to four) basic attacks to deal an additional 14 (+10 percent tAD) magic damage

W – Ardent Blaze

• Mana cost: 70 to 60
• Allies proccing the mark also trigger Vigilance

R – The Culling

• Damage per shot: 20/40/60 (+25 percent AD) to 15/30/45 (+25 percent AD)
• Number of shoes: 22/28/34 to 22 (+25 percent critical strike chance)

The decision to make these changes was a result of Lucian’s power in the meta. “It’s hard to separate flex potential from power,” Sidhu said. “When a champion’s behavior can’t be predicted in draft because they can be moved to a different lane, they tend to be uniquely resilient to counterpicks and trend towards meta dominance.”

Lucian has been a staple of the mid lane in pro play for some time, despite being designed as a bot lane champion. In North America’s LCS this split, he was played in the mid lane 33 out of the 35 times he was picked, according to League stats site Oracle’s Elixir.

In Europe’s LEC, Lucian was similarly picked or banned 79 percent of the time and was played 27 times in the mid lane and twice in the top lane.

Riot will explain the changes in further detail later this week, Sidhu said.

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