Riot Games is showing some love to a few champions that are struggling in League solo queue. The list includes several big names who fell below the curve heading into Patch 14.16.
The main objective of the champion buffs in League of Legends Patch 14.16 is to help out those that are “strictly weak for solo queue,” in the words of LoL game designer David “Phreak” Turley. Here’s the complete list of champions being buffed in Patch 14.16:
- Azir
- Orianna
- Syndra
- Sylas
- Katarina
- Vi
- Skarner
- Wukong
Riot has always struggled to get Skarner’s balance right, and the developer has made multiple balance changes to try and get the Scorpion in a better place. According to League of Graphs, Skarner’s popularity percentage is just 0.4%, the lowest of any top laner. Skarner doesn’t fare so well in the jungle either, at 0.8%. Although Skarner featured heavily in the competitive scene this year, there are no signs of a revival so far after his VGU updates.
Riot Phreak says the buffs are strictly aimed at improving champions that are underperforming in solo queue, but he doesn’t have a problem if they show up in pro play and “create diversity.” All the champions listed above have below 50 percent win rate in solo queue, and some are among the very least popular. For this reason, they’re receiving damage buffs to give them a helping hand.
League Patch 14.16 is gearing up to go public on live servers on August 14, it’s a stacked update for LoL. Aurora just received another micropatch after falling off a cliff, death timers have been adjusted, and finally, Senna is being pushed back into her support role.
