Riot gameplay design director Mark “Scruffy” Yetter laid out all the tentative balance changes coming to League of Legends next week, detailing nerfs to some of the game’s strongest and most popular champions.
The devs are targeting Taliyah, Udyr, and Olaf, along with Rammus, Elise, and Ivern, in Patch 11.3, taking some power out of the jungle position.
While Taliyah is in a reasonable state in solo queue, she’s been one of the most contested picks in pro play early this year. The champion has seen an almost 100-percent pick and ban rate in North America, Europe, and South Korea so far due to her strength in the jungle.
To combat Taliyah’s overwhelming presence in competitive play, Riot is reducing the damage of Threaded Volley (Q) to monsters after the first hit from 100 percent to 80 percent. This change should reduce Taliyah’s jungle clear time by a significant amount, pushing her back into the mid position.
Udyr has been a standout champion since the start of the year, particularly amongst high Elo players, boasting a 54-percent win rate in the Platinum division and above, according to stats site champion.gg. The champion’s win rate increases to 59 percent in Master with a six percent play rate, above and beyond any champion in the game.
Riot is nerfing the damage of Udyr’s Phoenix Stance in the next patch, reducing it from 50 to 300 to 50 to 275 (over a four-second period). This is a minor change but it should go a long way in the latter stages of the game.
Olaf, as well as items commonly picked on the champion, are in line for nerfs in Patch 11.3 too. The champion has had a strong presence in pro play and solo queue this year, dominating the ladder.
Riot is nerfing Olaf’s base health from 597 to 575 and the attack speed of his passive ability from zero to 100 percent to zero to 70 percent based on missing health. The devs are also nerfing Goredrinker—Olaf’s go-to item—by reducing its active heal from 12 to eight percent missing health. These combined changes could be overkill for the champion, reducing Olaf to a shadow of his former self.
Patch 11.3 is expected to go live next week on Wednesday, Feb. 3.
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