Less than a week after having to hotfix in a nerf for Syndra, Riot Games once again had to intervene in the increasingly homogeneous Teamfight Tactics meta last night.
After receiving an incredible outpouring of frustration about his strength, Riot decided that Jarvan IV is the latest champion that needs immediate attention.
The change to the champion is a relatively small one that targets his mana pool. Jarvan IV’s maximum mana has been increased from 80 to 100 and his starting mana has also been increased from 40 to 60. This keeps the mana for his first cast at 40 but will slightly reduce the frequency of subsequent casts.
As a result, it’ll likely be more difficult for Jarvan IV and most Protector compositions to stack their shields in a way that previously made them almost unkillable.
“We nerfed Jarvan’s ability to continually cast his spell during fights by increasing his maximum mana,” Riot’s product lead for the game, “GreenTeej,” said about the hotfix. “This should reduce how tanky he is as less casting equals fewer shields, making him mortal like the rest of us.”
Jarvan IV has ruled the meta so far during TFT Patch 10.14. Alongside his fellow Dark Stars and Protectors, there’s been little room for creativity or unique styles of play.
Anyone who’s played a game of TFT lately would have noticed that the Dark Star-Protector unit Jarvan IV was featured on almost every player’s board during the early game. This is due to his excellent synergy pairing, his cheap cost, and his recently-buffed spell’s ability that grants bonus attack speed to all nearby allies.
And perhaps the most frustrating thing about the champ in TFT is when he’s equipped with the Warmog’s Armor item that grants an additional 1,000 health to the attached unit, Jarvan IV’s Protector shield that scales with the maximum health of the unit is massively amplified. This basically means that the champ who’s intended as an early-game unit can act as an entire frontline by himself for the majority of a game.
This hotfix could be just the first of many changes to the champion, though. On the Patch 10.15 PBE cycle, Jarvan is receiving another nerf, this time targeting his ability’s attack speed. It’s been reduced by 15 percent at all-star levels, down from 75/85/95 percent to 60/70/80 percent.
The Jarvan hotfix is now live. The next big TFT update, Patch 10.15, is set to be released on July 22.
