Image via Riot Games

LoR holiday B-patch nerfs yordle, pirate, and Kennen decks

Safe and solid balance changes may revive a healthy meta.

A surprise Legends of Runeterra Magic Misadventures B-patch will take place today, according to Riot Games. 

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The release of Magic Misadventures opened the LoR meta back up at first, but then it quickly became flooded with an assortment of Poppy yordle and Kennen recall decks. Riot revealed on Twitter that a total of five major nerfs are scheduled to take place today, providing healthy balance changes through the winter holiday break. 

Poppy fell from dominance with the release of LoR Patch 2.21, offset slightly by the addition of Yordle Explorer. Kennen took Poppy’s place, often exploited by the summoning ability of Kinkou Wayfinder and God-Willow Seedling. And through it all, Gangplank remained one of the strongest LoR champions within the meta. 

Players can now breathe a sigh of relief while cranking those deckbuilding neurons back up thanks to the LoR 2.21 B-patch that’s nerfed Poppy, Gangplank, Yordle Explorer, God-Willow Seedling, and Kinkou Wayfinder.

  • Poppy: Basic stats nerfed from 3/3 to 23, and her level up stats were also reduced from 4/4 to 3/4
  • Yordle Explorer: Yordle buff ability was nerfed from granting +1/+1 to granting +1/+0
  • Kinkou Wayfinder: No longer summons two one-cost units, but two different one-cost units instead
  • God-Willow Seedling: Countdown increased from two to three
  • Gangplank: Basic stats reduced from 5/5 to 5/4 and his level up stats were nerfed from 6/6 to 6/5

The Kinkou Wayfinder nerf may not be enough, but it will slightly reduce the overflow of Kennens on the board over the course of the winter holidays. It’s a safe approach, giving the meta time to adjust before potentially nerfing the Kennen builds into the ground. 

Changes to Poppy and Yordle Explorer will hurt Yordle Aggro decks but should keep them somewhat playable. And the nerf to Gangplank could provide better countermeasures against the LoR Bilgewater pirate. 

All balance changes for the Lor 2.21 B-patch will go live on Dec. 14. The next balance patch is scheduled to take place on Jan. 5 via Patch 3.0.


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Danny Forster
Lead Magic: The Gathering/Teamfight Tactics scribe and staff writer for Dot Esports. Danny is a gamer beach bum residing in Spacecoast Florida and has been a journalist for seven years, of which five have been at Dot Esports. Prior media outllets Danny wrote for were Screen Rant and TheGamer. You can typically catch Danny playing TCGs and a variety of strategic games. He also hangs out on Twitter @Dannyspacecoast.