Since his release at the end of 2013, Yasuo has been one of the League of Legends’ most controversial champions. He’s very fun to play, with his ability to dash through entire minion waves, but also has an extremely high skill cap. There are so many wannabe Yasuo one-tricks wandering around solo queue that it’s spawned an internet meme.
So when Riot Games designer Mark Yetter announced yesterday that Yasuo buffs were incoming for Patch 9.17, a lot of League fans groaned in righteous dismay. And after stewing over the feedback for a day, Yetter did the right thing and revealed that those buffs are being removed:
Yasuo certainly didn’t need the buffs that Riot was proposing. Sure, his win rate has hovered around 48 percent for the last few patches, but his play rate has always been solid. In fact, that’s probably the perfect place for him: a for-fun champion that isn’t too oppressive. Add in the fact that he’s borderline viable in professional play, and Riot definitely did the right thing by removing any sort of buff before playoffs and Worlds.
Most of the other champion changes are fine. It’s good to see Zyra get some attention, as well as Kalista. Qiyana, Aatrox, and Akali are receiving nerfs to reduce their near-constancy at the professional level. Among those three, Aatrox and Akali nerfs will probably hit a little harder.
Now if we can just get nerfs to Kai’Sa and Xayah, the professional meta might trend to a better spot for Worlds.
