Sion, Malphite, and Mundo get a little love as Riot plans buffs for the tanky trio

Sion, Dr. Mundo, and Malphite are all being buffed to improve their performance in the top lane, according to the latest PBE update.

With big changes to the vanguard tanks in Patch 7.9 and two more reworks in Patch 7.10, it’s easy to forget that some champions in League of Legends still need a little work. Don’t worry, Riot hasn’t forgotten them.

Can Mundo really go where he pleases?

Mundo isn’t played much anymore, in top lane or in the jungle. With superstars like Fiora, Renekton, and Riven ruling top and the brand new tanks like Sejuani and Zac stomping the jungle, there isn’t much of a reason to pick the big guy anymore. He doesn’t deal much damage, and he just isn’t that fun to play. Luckily though, that’s about to change.

He won’t be any more enjoyable to play; he’s going to stay very boring, but his damage is getting hiked up. The damage on his W, Burning Agony, is being increased at all ranks, and his damage growth stat is being buffed by 0.5 points per level.

It’s not a huge buff, no, but it’s enough to give Mundo a little something extra for trading damage in lane and clearing jungle camps.

We’re going to need a bigger rock

And no, we don’t mean this rock. Malphite’s not very useful without his ultimate, especially in the later stages of the game where the damage on his basic abilities is laughable at best. To fix some of this, Riot is boosting the armor scaling on the big rock’s E, Ground Slam. The armor scaling is being boosted from 30 percent to 40 percent. 10 percent may not seem like a huge difference, but let’s look at the numbers.

Before this buff if Malphite had 200 armor, the armor portion of the ability alone would deal 60 damage. That’s not including the ability’s raw damage or AP scaling damage. After the buff, still at 200 armor, that armor scaling damage would be jacked up to 80. That’s 20 more damage for clearing minions, jungle camps, or harassing enemy champions. If you get lucky and you’re facing an all-AD team as Malphite, and you’ve cranked your armor all the way up to 300, that’s 120 bonus damage just from the armor scaling.

With Patch 7.9’s project to bump up the armor and lower the health on tank items, higher armor numbers are much easier to hit, and that means this buff will have a heavier impact than you’d originally think.

For a king-slayer, he’s a pretty weak top laner

Lately, Sion’s been a little less menacing than you’d think he should be. He might wear the crown of the former king of Demacia as his actual jaw, but he hasn’t been killing much of anyone in the top lane. He hasn’t been nerfed lately—it’s mostly just because there are other options in the top lane that are simply better than he is.

Compared to the likes of Sejuani, Galio, Gragas, and more, Sion just isn’t a great pick for a top lane tank when there are clearly better options, so Riot’s giving him a buff. The damage portion of his W, Soul Furnace, is being increased by a decent chunk at all ranks. It probably won’t be enough to suddenly throw him into the forefront of the meta, but it certainly makes him a bit more desirable.

If these PBE buffs do go live in Patch 7.11, it would certainly broaden the current pool of viable tanks in League. With powerhouses like Zac, Sejuani, and Galio running around though, it’s hard to think that they would change all that much.