Patch 8.16 arrives this week in League of Legends, and with it comes nerfs to three of the most irritating champions to come across in the game right now—Quinn, Wukong, and Zoe. Tryndamere’s getting a nerf, too, but it’s very, very small and likely won’t affect his performance at all.
These champions have mostly been a problem in solo queue, with the exception of Zoe, who has maintained a steady pick/ban priority over most pro games. Quinn and Wukong have surfaced a few times in pro play, but they’re definitely more common annoyances in the hands of typical players.
This week’s patch is jammed full of more balance changes than the last couple have been. It’s clear that Riot is focusing more on steadying the game a bit before Worlds rather than cleaning up the mess made by the mid-season updates, and that’s probably why nerfs to these three have surfaced.
Zoe’s nerfs are by far the most extreme, which should make a lot of people happy. The AP scalings on her passive and Spell Thief are being dropped by quite a significant amount, and the base damage on her passive is dropping, too. Wukong’s are nice as well, with nerfs to the base damage and scaling on his Q. On the other hand, Quinn’s might not be that noticeable. That’s not terrible, though, as nerfs are coming for Electrocute and her favorite items, too.
These nerfs, combined with the ones coming for burst damage, will make these champions overall weaker. They shouldn’t be knocked all the way out of the meta, though.
