TFT 11.6 Patch Rundown showcases tweaks that may widen meta

A number of Teamfight Tactics balance tweaks are expected to ship with Patch 11.6, establishing the meta for the Set 4.5 Fates: Festival of Beasts World Championship. 

Principal TFT lead game designer Stephen “Mortdog” Mortimer and Riot Kent broke down the nerfs and buffs today via the 11.6 Patch Rundown, revealing two surprising buffs to Talon and another minor nerf to Olaf. 

The competitive meta heading into the Fates Worlds remains mostly balanced, leading to a small number of tweaks in 11.6 to iron out any outliers. Two bug fixes were also applied to Darius, potentially improving him as a carry.

Olaf continued to stand out in the Regional Finals this weekend, resulting in a slight nerf to his attack damage while the slightly underperforming Talon was given a buff to his attack damage and True Strike base spell damage. Keeper builds were still having a strong showing within the NA Regional Finals, resulting in a “slight nudge” to Kennen at two-star.  And the Warlord and Fortune traits might see improvements via a Katarina one and two-star buff. 

Related: European TFT Fates Regional Finals: Standings, scores, and schedule

Here’s a preview of every champion nerf and buff expected to ship in TFT Patch 11.6:

• Diana: Attack speed increased from 0.65 to 0.7.
• Garen: Judgement damage increased at three-star to 1250.
• Lulu: No longer targets the same unit twice with Wild Growth.
• Nautilus: Mana adjusted from 75/150 to 85/150.
• Vi: Denting Blow armor shred reduced from 40/60/80 to 40/50/70 percent. Denting Blow damage increased from 250/400/800 to 250/425/850.
• Zed: AD steal increased from 20/25/30 to 30/30/30 percent.
• Irelia: Bladestorm damage increased at three-star to 700.
• Katarina: Death Lotus damage increased at one and two-star to 350/1000/1500.
• Kennen: Maelstrom damage reduced at two-star to 500.
• Olaf: Attack damage reduced from 90 to 85.
• Talon: Attack damage increased from 90 to 95. True Strike base damage also increased from 85/135/400 to 100/150/400.
• Yone: Armor and magic resist shred reduced at three-star to 70 percent.

Eternal Winter was once again nerfed following its continued dominance as Ornn’s best Artifact. Last Whisper was also nerfed in its armor shred but had it’s shred duration buffed. Changes to Sunfire Cape may bring it back as the number-one slam item during the early game. The adjustments won’t change the item’s power level, according to Riot Kent, but it’s definitely meme-worthy. 

Here are the item adjustments taking place via Patch 11.6:

• Ornn’s Eternal Winter: Attack speed slow reduced from 50 to 35 percent.
• Last Whisper: Armor shred reduced from 80 to 70 percent. Shred duration increased from three to five seconds.
• Locket of the Iron Solari: Shield reduced from 300/375/500 to 300/350/450.
• Sunfire Cape: No longer a Unique item. Each Sunfire Cape will search for a target to burn every two seconds. 

Related: TFT Oceania Regional Finals: Standings, score, and schedule

All buffs and nerfs are subject to change prior to the release of the TFT 11.6 patch on March 17. Players can test out the new changes via the PBE server prior to launch. There’s also a chance that 11.6 will have a B-patch due to TFT Worlds. Set Five Reckoning will go live via PBE on April 14.