Legends of Runeterra’s newest expansion Call of the Mountain is receiving its first balance change in tomorrow’s Patch 1.10. Overall, nine different cards are receiving adjustments. But a few of those changes are being made to two champions: Ezreal and Lee Sin.
The change to Ezreal is a nerf that makes his level up condition more difficult, requiring players to target 10 different enemy units as opposed to eight. With a more strict level up condition, Ezreal decks will need to put in more effort before being able to combo down enemies with a leveled up Ezreal.
Ezreal was mainly used in Karma/Ezreal decks in set one and two—and recently appeared in Ezreal/Twisted Fate decks. The Ionian-based deck was an undisputed tier-one list, if not the best deck in the game, before getting nerfed. In the Bilgewater-focused deck, it was a strong and viable meta option, especially in the later months of the Rising Tides set.
If Ezreal survives these nerfs, it may push players using him toward partnering with Twisted Fate. Bilgewater has a ton of multi-targeting effects that provide multiple opportunities to level him up, like Make it Rain and Riptide Rex.
The Lee Sin adjustment buffs his cost (from six mana to four) while reducing his stats (from six health to four) and increasing his level up requirement by one to compensate for the buff. In addition to this change, Lee Sin’s Champion Spell is being changed from Dragon’s Rage to Sonic Wave. This is the first time Riot has changed a champion’s spell in the game, but it thematically assists a cheaper Lee Sin.
Riot has brought these changes to Lee Sin since he was the least played champion during his release in the second set, Rising Tides. In the newest Call of the Mountain set, Lee Sin has found a strong partner in Taric who helps multicast spells and provides tremendous combo turns that can finish off opponents once he’s leveled. These adjustments to Lee Sin help push that strategy closer and forward to more consistency. Since Lee Sin now costs four, he can appear on the board sooner to help contest early enemy units. In the following turn, Lee Sin can challenge and gain barriers to cull down weaker enemy units.
While the slight nerf to Lee Sin’s level up requirement hurts, Taric as a duo champion still provides multiple opportunities for Lee Sin to reach eight different spell casts more easily.
The changes to both Ezreal and Lee Sin are coming to LoR Patch 1.10, which drops tomorrow, Sept. 16.
