It seems Fizz’s Patch 11.18 changes made him feel like a fish out of water.
League of Legends lead game designer Jeevun “Jag” Sidhu outlined the full Patch 11.19 preview today, detailing the final balance changes for the 2021 Worlds Championship. And while mid laner Fizz got some hefty tweaks to make him better in higher ranks with Patch 11.18, Riot will be reverting those changes in the upcoming update.
A lot of Fizz’s power comes from his Chum the Waters ultimate, which is “inconsistent in skilled play,” according to the Patch 11.18 notes. Since high-rank players can dodge the ability easier than lower-rank players, Fizz’s dominance seemingly decreases as you climb the ladder. In an attempt to fix that, Riot took away damage from the Tidal Trickster’s ultimate, increasing his Seastone Trident’s (W) on-hit damage and upping his passive damage reduction versus basic attacks.
The balance changes were expected to improve the assassin’s early game and improve his survivability in lane. And Riot assumed Fizz’s overall win rate would decrease, but his MMR skew would “even out” in the process, according to Sidhu. The MMR skew was “aggravated” instead, causing the devs to roll back the Patch 11.18 changes completely.
Playful Trickster (E) is receiving a slight buff at higher levels, however. The ability’s cooldown is changing from 16 to 10 seconds to 16 to eight seconds.
Worlds 2021 kicks off later this fall on Oct. 5. Teams will be playing on Patch 11.19, giving them a couple of weeks to get practice with the balance changes.
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