Riot Games says more Tahm Kench nerfs might be on the way in Patch 9.12

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Sorry Tahm Kench fans, but more nerfs might be on the way to everyone’s favorite catfish in League of Legends‘ Patch 9.12. Riot Games’ lead designer David “Repertoir” Capurro revealed some changes to the River King that will “make him feel a bit less overbearing in top lane.”

First, Riot fixed a bug where players could cast Tahm Kench’s Tongue Lash at the same time as Devour against non-champions for no mana cost.

Another big change targets the supportive side of the champion. The range over his allied champion Devour spit has gone from 400 units to 250 units. Also, players cannot release themselves from Tahm Kench’s Devour early while affected by enemy crowd control like stuns, suppressions, and fears.

Devour’s damage is also taking a hit—the ability is going from 100/135/170/205/240 magic damage (+5/7/9/11/13 percent target max health) to 60/105/150/195/240 damage (+9/10/11/12/13 percent target max health). Another change the team made to Tahm Kench was the window where Devoured allies could exit the champion at will. Originally one second, the delay has now been shortened to 0.25 seconds.

It will be interesting to see how these changes will affect Tahm Kench’s playtime in the main leagues—he was just played by Jin Air Green Wings in the LCK’s opening day, even though they were still beaten by KT Rolster. Many other pro teams like using Tahm Kench with more immobile champions, as his ability to negate ganks and damage on valuable carries can change the course of a teamfight drastically.