One of the more unexpected playstyles added to League of Legends in the last year, which gave a bulky engage champion new tools, may no longer exist in coming weeks.
As of the current iteration of League’s PBE testing realm, Rell will have a much harder time thriving in the jungle than she has over the past year. All of the jungle damage modifiers on Rell’s abilities have been entirely removed, with an explanation from Riot Games yet to be given—while the tanky champ has been granted compensatory buffs to her magic resistances—leaving the League community curious as to what exactly led to this decision.
Rell’s made her first trek into the jungle in League Patch 13.11 alongside her midscope update, where she gained several large damage multipliers towards monsters on nearly all of her abilities—an attempt from Riot to broaden her identity from being stuck in support. Upon release, Rell became a frequent name in patch notes. For almost five patches straight, Rell was the recipient of jungle-focused buffs as Riot continued to try and make her viable.
Since then, the champion experienced ebbs and flows in both roles, with her jungle presence being primarily in coordinated, professional play due to her powerful gank potential.
Yet while Rell jungle has proven successful in professional play, she rarely appears in this role in solo queue. As of Patch 14.6, she sits at a 48 percent win rate and less than one percent pick rate in this role, according to League stat tracking sites like OP.GG and U.GG; trends that have remained the same since the end of last season. Therefore, it seems the removal of this playstyle comes from Riot not being satisfied with where Rell jungle has landed, with it likely being a continued balancing frustration within the team.
Initial reactions from the League community across social media are almost all negative, with many wondering exactly what prompted these changes—and relating it to other times that Riot has removed a support champion from the jungle after giving them jungle-centric buffs. However, many have come to the conclusion that these stem entirely from her pro play presence, as Rell is almost never seen outside of the support role in solo queue.
Should these Rell changes be part of the upcoming changes with Patch 14.7, she will appear on the patch preview that is expected to be posted later this evening—followed by more specific changes and an explanation of them tomorrow.
