Legends of Runeterra nerfs coming to Solitary Monk and Pilfered Goods in Patch 1.5

Legends of Runeterra’s upcoming balance changes in Patch 1.5 will be hitting two cards that have annoyed players to no end. 

While Patch 1.5 has less changes compared to Patch 1.4, two cards that have been appearing in multiple meta decks are getting nerfed: Solitary Monk and Pilfered Goods. Solitary Monk is going from four attack to three attack and Pilfered Goods is having its cost increase from two to three.

Solitary Monk has been appearing in Vi/Heimerdinger decks as a strong standalone unit on turn three and Elusive Aggro decks as a high-attack unit to put the opponent on a clock. Riot noted Solitary Monk’s status as a three mana 4/3 with Elusive that this is the strongest unit in the game with the highest stat total for its cost when combined with the most powerful keyword, Elusive.

While its summon effect that returns every other unit the player controls back to their hand is supposed to be detrimental due to massive tempo loss, players have easily circumvented this by playing it when they control nothing. Additionally, the effect lets players bounce cards like Imperial Demolitionist or Navori Bladescout, which had powerful effects re-activate when played from hand. This change to Solitary Monk retains her mass-bouncing identity to her effect, while making her less efficient in the raw damage that she can deal when dropped as soon as turn three.

Pilfered Goods has been a powerful card as a part of a Nab-centric shell which let players gain card advantage by stealing multiple cards from the opponent’s deck. In combination with Black Market Merchant, this lets players reduce the weakness of losing tempo that comes with drawing cards by reducing the cost of those cards. While Riot notes how fun and successful the Nab keyword is, the developer acknowledged how frustrated players are when constantly facing against it since it has a high inclusion rate due to its power level. Riot noted that while Pilfered Goods is getting changed, if future changes to the Nab mechanic are needed, it is willing to make future adjustments if changes are needed if these nerfs are not enough.

The changes to both Solitary Monk and Pilfered Goods are coming to LoR Patch 1.5, which drops tomorrow, July 8.