Newnu and Willump have been out for a few weeks now, but they haven’t seen a lot of success in the hands of normal players. They’ve also been nonexistent on the pro stage. Due to their abysmal performance at every level, we aren’t surprised to learn that Riot is planning some buffs for them in Patch 8.19, according to the latest PBE update.
What we didn’t expect, however, is that those buffs would be for the duo’s AP build rather than their more popular tanky build. The AP build, which is most often combined with the Predator rune for some ridiculous snowballing damage (heh), is mostly used as a for-fun strategy and isn’t considered viable in the current meta. These buffs might make it a little more viable, but they don’t do much to help the core of Nunu’s players.
There are two buffs coming to his kit, and both involve raising his AP scalings on abilities. His Consume, which is a great tool for securing objectives and mid-fight sustain, is getting a 20 percent increase to its AP ratio, going up from 50 to 70 percent. Snowball Barrage, which isn’t used for damage so much as lining up crowd control, is getting a slightly higher AP ratio, too. It’s going up from five to six percent, although Riot was experimenting with an even higher eight percent earlier in the PBE cycle.
For most players, these buffs probably won’t make a difference, as they don’t improve his most powerful build. If you’re one of the players that likes zipping around and one-shotting carries at the expense of playing a reliably solid strategy, then you should be a fan. Both buffs arrive for Nunu and Willump next week.
