The Hexflash rune will be disabled for use in the first week of the 2021 LEC Summer Split, LEC commissioner Maximilian Schmitt announced today.
The decision comes after a bug with the rune was revealed in the best-of-three between Edward Gaming and Bilibili Gaming in the LPL on June 8. The bug, spotted in a bot lane tower dive by EDG against BLG top laner BiuBiu, was proven to be unfixable and thus the game in question was chronobroken. In the clip, top laner BiuBiu used his ultimate on EDG support Meiko, who was then left unable to flash out of the range of tower aggro despite having Hexflash available, according to the spectator overlay.
As demonstrated in a YouTube video by content creator Vandiril, the bug comes from an interaction between Hexflash and Sett. If a Sett uses his Showstopper (R) on an enemy champion with the Hexflash rune, they become unable to use either their Hexflash or their regular flash. The community had been aware of the bug before it was noticed in the LPL, but it’s uncertain as to what the specifics of the interaction are that cause the bug. It’s also unconfirmed as to whether it’s specific to Sett’s Showstopper or if it can be caused by other displacement spells.
It was previously thought that the bug would only activate if Sett used Showstopper on a champion who was channeling Hexflash. But in the LPL clip, it doesn’t look as though Meiko was using Hexflash when BiuBiu used his ultimate.
The temporary removal of Hexflash is a highly impactful change in the current support meta, in which engage tanks like Leona and Alistar are seeing a high level of priority. Hexflash is one of their primary engage tools, and without it, we may potentially see the support pool move more toward enchanter-style champs like Karma, Lulu, and Seraphine, all of whom have recently received buffs.
Week one of the 2021 LEC Summer Split will begin on June 11 at 12pm CT.
Update June 11 12:40pm CT: The Hexflash rune was selected by support Promisq in the matchup between Astralis and Vitality on the opening day of the LEC super weekend. Promisq was informed after using Hexflash once in Astralis’ base that he wouldn’t be able to use it for the entirety of the game, according to the LEC commissioner Maximilian Schmidt. It’s unclear yet whether Astralis or Promisq himself will incur any further penalty for using the banned rune.
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