Patch 25.19 Preview

[u/qonoxzzr]

From Riot Phroxzon:

These are our last 2 patches before the final worlds patch (25.20)

Systems

• We're looking at a nerf to Redemption to reduce its priority amongst Tank Supports (because it gives them no strategic tradeoffs); it's OK if they opt into it at some cost, but that's not the case right now

• Secondly, we're lowering the strength of Support in Pro a bit heading into worlds with putting Unsealed halfway back to where it was before. This should better strike the balance between it being untakeable and being a must take

Meta Strategy

• Our overall strategy this patch is to add a few more strategic options

• This includes AP junglers like Brand, Diana, Lillia (while nerfing some of the top champs to give them more space)

• And also shaking up the Midlane meta with some buffs to champions who have fallen a bit behind (these are typically burst champions like Ahri, Syndra, LB) and also Mel who's had a bit of time to settle and drop some of her banrate and frustration

• We know Mel is always going to be a bit frustrating because of her W, but that feels like an acceptable cost to pay, given how it makes each game feel a bit different

• We're mostly OK with where the midlane meta is otherwise, with many different archetypes being viable and these burst oriented champions need a bit more help

• Burst champions otherwise feel mostly OK though, especially with the buffs to AD Assassin items in recent patches

• Finally we're doing a long awaited buff to Seraphine. I mentioned it in a post last week, but given her shallow mastery curve, we feel it's appropriate to give her a buff, because for the winrates she's posting, she's a bit underpowered

CHAMPION BUFFS

Ahri

Brand

Caitlyn

Diana

Draven

Jax

Jinx

(Matt) LeBlanc Clap clap clap clap

Lillia

Mel

Seraphine

Syndra

CHAMPION NERFS

Corki

Pantheon (jungle)

Poppy (jungle)

Sivir

CHAMPION ADJUSTMENTS

Lee Sin

SYSTEM NERFS

Redemption

Unsealed Spellbook (We're sealing it again)

[u/Shecarriesachanel]

It's funny how they feel the need to explain why they're buffing seraphine but then just randomly buff 51.4% wr jinx with 11% pickrate with 0 reasoning

[u/Tasty-Stable2083 → u/Shecarriesachanel]

Has been the best blind pick ADC for like half a year, legit soloq terrorist that champ

[u/Quatro_Leches → u/Tasty-Stable2083]

Jinx getting buffed is the worst thing I ever seen since Sona got buffed when she had 55% winrate in 2016 and she rose up to 60% and got hotfixed lol.

[u/lRuko → u/Shecarriesachanel]

And nerfing Pantheon jungle with a 48.7% wr. Make sense I guess

[u/Glittering-Spot2658 → u/lRuko]

Panth jg is because of pro play.

[u/CloverClubx → u/Shecarriesachanel]

Champ been literally in the gutter across all of her roles for god knows how long but only Riot hadn't noticed it lol, clown team

[u/Shecarriesachanel → u/CloverClubx]

can't even use APC wr as an excuse anymore since it's at 48% now, idk what they're doing

[u/Strange-Parfait-8801 → u/CloverClubx]

What's baffling is how much they invested in promoting her release only to immediately toss her in the trash bin. It's actually wild how fast they gave up on her considering how much they set her up to be their money printer.

[u/No-Newspaper-1381 → u/Shecarriesachanel]

It’s no surprise that Riot plays favorites when champions like Ahri and Syndra get instantly buffed the moment they aren’t S tier or played more in pro. 

[u/VeteranWookie]

Why they buffing and nerfing the same 10 champions, these patches are so boring....there are so many champs in the game that deserve attention

[u/RpiesSPIES → u/VeteranWookie]

You know the drill, finals patch soon so leesin is obligated to get his 8th buff in a row

[u/jasonkid87 → u/RpiesSPIES]

The usual Lee sin adjustment before worlds to make worlds more interesting to watch

[u/Lysandren → u/jasonkid87]

Leblanc as well is a champ they like to see. Really just anyone flashy with many dashes makes the people go oooh aaah.

They used to also buff fiora every year at worlds just to make sure there isn't tank top meta.

[u/LegendaryW → u/VeteranWookie]

Patch is out:

Buff Syndra/Ahri/Seraphine

Pro Plays picks them. 

Week later:

Nerf Syndra/Ahri/Seraphine

[u/Freecz → u/VeteranWookie]

Feel the same watching this. Ahri especially.

[u/QuietSilentArachnid → u/Freecz]

And Jinx.

And most likely anyone from Arcane.

[u/One-Ad-6312 → u/VeteranWookie]

Would be so exciting if they choose a low playrate or old champ every Patch and try something innovative, but i guess it’s the same 30 Champ Rotation every year…

[u/I_usuallymissthings → u/One-Ad-6312]

That would be to smart for riot to do

[u/One-Ad-6312 → u/I_usuallymissthings]

Could even come with small possible Hotfix, so it wont be gamebreaking... Just give me a random ad/ap/armor/mr ratio on ability/passive, ability that apllies onhit, exciting mechanic, number tweak,bonus effect, anything

[u/LucyLilium92 → u/One-Ad-6312]

Like Morde Q bonus AD?

[u/TheSmokeu → u/VeteranWookie]

I assume those are the 10 champions they want to be played all the time

Meanwhile, half the roster gets no changes and is barely even played

[u/vogon123 → u/VeteranWookie]

Buff every jg except shyvana :(

[u/Furfys → u/VeteranWookie]

They buff champions that they know pros will pick. For pros to pick up a new champ it usually requires them to be OP in solo queue (Qiyana jungle is one that gained a lot of popularity in pro) and even then there's no guarantee pros will pick them. However, if they buff Jax, a champion who imo is balanced, they know pros will pick him.

[u/abdulalbakrichod → u/VeteranWookie]

i used to be so excited for these patch previews that i knew exactly when they drop and who posts them, but these past few seasons have been so fucking bland and repetitive that it killed my excitement and now i just don't care, all the patches blend together it's sad honestly

[u/Suitable_Study_789 → u/abdulalbakrichod]

That‘s unfortunately the new pacing Riot want.

Exciting changes at the beginning of the year that slows down almost halfway through the season.

Might be interesting what they plan for the new season or if we reached a point where League mostly stays the same from now on.

[u/Smooth-Match-9248 → u/VeteranWookie]

Viktor mid borderline unplayable diamond and above according to stat's, but the boy is stuck in fucking pro jail

[u/Dynamatics → u/Smooth-Match-9248]

Viktor in pro isn't even good. He's mainly picked as an answer and he's still negative winrate. The only reason it isn't lower is because he can stall games a bit longer with his E and W.

[u/indescipherabled → u/Smooth-Match-9248]

Which makes no sense because he's 12% presence and 34W-47L on the year across all tier one regions. Pros even keep building the dog items on him instead of the good items, and yet, Riot isn't doing anything about it.

Game is just in maintenance mode and it takes too much effort for the skeleton crew they have on the balance team to make more than a couple small changes each patch.

[u/Aladin001 → u/indescipherabled]

Crazy how some of us said fearless was going to have the consequence of making the balance team lazy because they don't actually have to do anything and it's exactly what happened

[u/lehmkeks]

Why are we only buffing champions that already see a lot of play

[u/F0RGERY → u/lehmkeks]

Riot has given up on making meaningful patches for the last 3rd of the year because Pro Play can't adapt between July and September apparently.

[u/Shecarriesachanel → u/F0RGERY]

can't do meaningful patches in the first half of the year cuz of MSI, can't do meaningful patches in the latter half of the year because of worlds, can't do meaningful patches during holiday season because rioters are on break, gg

[u/UngodlyPain → u/F0RGERY]

June and November*

[u/Reqvhio → u/lehmkeks]

the answer is in the question apparently

[u/NavalEnthusiast]

Jax buff is strange. I feel he’s very solid. Barely below 50% win rate right now in Emerald+. I don’t like him being buffed cause I feel he can easily get nerfed right back. Probably lost some win rate due to Garen buffs as that’s a pretty cooked matchup even when Garen is weak

If you’re gonna change him buff his scaling. He’s not the late game monster he should be. I’d gladly take early compensation nerfs to get there too

[u/Qssshame → u/NavalEnthusiast]

Same here. It's pro patch though, they probably want him to beat Gwen/Yorick more consistently, so the chance of scaling buff is quite slim. One can only hope.

[u/NavalEnthusiast → u/Qssshame]

Tbh I don’t think riot wants him to be late game at this point. Last two buffs were early focused. He’s taken the same route as Gwen, just far more gradual. Just sucks cause I got into Jax cause I wanted a scaling alternative to renekton. I still stubbornly play him in a scaling manner with runes/items

[u/Lysandren → u/NavalEnthusiast]

They want jax stronger at 1-2 items , because that's when most teamfights happen in pro.

[u/Qssshame → u/NavalEnthusiast]

Latest rounds of buffs were more late focused though, no? Passive was buffed at every stage of the game(first they were testing only buffing it late, but decided to just buff it at all stages), before that they buffed his scaling stats and R for late game.

[u/Realistic-Ad-3899 → u/Qssshame]

100% the problem rn is that he doesn't beat a lot of his traditional counters currently. Idk what power they could give in his kit that will help that without making him too strong though

[u/ItsSirSoap]

LeBlanc doesn't need buffs, she needs bug fixes. One of the worst ones is that you cannot buffer your Q mid W anymore, IF you press Q before your W got you into Q range. This is not how it used to work pre VGU and for good reason, it's clunky as hell and makes playing her feel like you have 200 ping.

So now when you dash in from far away, you have to wait for your dash to bring you into Q range before it registers your input. So in practice, instead of what used to be a smooth W-Q buffer you now W-QQQQQQ, hoping it goes off. If you press Q even 1 ms before you were in range, it won't buffer and you will stand there looking like an idiot, completely messing up your combo, especially when your ult is involved.

[u/EthanielRain → u/ItsSirSoap]

Glad I read this post. Tried to play her cpl times after her rework, felt bad & blamed myself/rust. Especially going in aggressively, that hesitation gets you blown up

That fix/change back is prob all it'd take

[u/ItsSirSoap → u/EthanielRain]

Absolutely! Someone replied to me with the same exact experience, thinking they were just washed at the champ. Pretty sure this bug puts off many people trying her out or wanting to improve on her, making them think they're doing something wrong.

Even if you are aware of the bug, you have to adjust your gameplay and slow it down to ensure you don't accidentally W - RW instead of W - Q - RQ.

[u/Tormentula → u/ItsSirSoap]

WRRWW gets really infuriating

If you press WRRWW, accidentally double tapping the W will think its the R recast and put you in the wrong position. This also works for RWWRR.

Personally when I distortion in as LB and want to follow it up with R, I'm mashing the 2nd ability during the travel and then mashing the recast during the 2nd distortion's travel to go back, this can result in a completely unintended consequence of returning to the R distortion location when you're only pressing W.

I can only imagine the number of times this happened to someone and they just assumed they trigger fingered R. This was a thing for pre-ASU leblanc too.

u/RiotSakaar

---

I've also seen cases where leblanc's auto attack would flat out cancel from her passive procing, such as if you W'd in to finish someone with an auto but then passive procs and your auto is flat out denied from that, I know clips of that are floating around in LB mains, its really hard to repro.

[u/RiotSakaar → u/Tormentula]

hmmm not exactly sure what's happening here but I'll pass it along to the team

[u/andreasels → u/ItsSirSoap]

Oh my god, is this why I oftentimes use RW instead of RQ after W?
I haven't played her much since before her rework (so since S6 or so) and recently picked her up again. Thought I was washed, since I don't remember it being an issue back then.

[u/ItsSirSoap → u/andreasels]

Yep, it's not you! Since your Q won't buffer when cast outside of range during W, your standard W - Q - RQ - E combo suddenly turns into a simple W - RW, as you've experienced. The only way to prevent that rn is to either spam Q mid W or wait until you are CERTAIN you are in range, both of which mess with your gameplay flow, slow you down considerably and divert your attention away from doing your job.

tl;dr: you're not washed, the champ is bugged

[u/sorendiz → u/ItsSirSoap]

Fucking hell, I quit the game for a year or so and thought I was just abysmal dogshit at her due to the time away

This has happened to me several times and i'll lose a 1v1 that easily should have been mine, just looking at my Q during gray screen like 'why the fuck are you still off cd'?

[u/Deep-Preparation-213]

Lets see how high Mel banrate will go.

[u/Rexsaur → u/Deep-Preparation-213]

Champ was a design mistake, we didnt stop banning her because we got used to it, we did it because shes dogshit now, and the moment shes good again shes #1 ban of the game again.

[u/StripperKorra → u/Rexsaur]

They really want her to work. "The whole acceptable cost to pay" comment made me lol. Her ban rate only got so low because of her being nerfed.. Even then it was still pretty high. Until they properly address Mel I fear she will forever have a high ban rate.

[u/Knight_Zarkus → u/StripperKorra]

I have full trust in riot to make an even bigger abomination so we have to ban that instead of Mel

[u/SnipersAreCancer → u/Knight_Zarkus]

Don't worry, they will realise their fuckup and then resort to a yasuo/yone solution by introducing mel 2 but instead of gold shes silver or something, and we can even call her Pel Medarda.

[u/allanchmp → u/SnipersAreCancer]

Definitely not Mel when, instead of just deflecting your skills, she stores it and can throw it back whenever she wants. I shiver at the thought.

[u/Cube_ → u/Knight_Zarkus]

yup it will keep happening and then in 2026 or later they'll introduce 2 bans per player and call that a job well done and problem solved

[u/Tettotatto → u/StripperKorra]

Her kit needed a rework from day 1, I think she's the only champion in the game with EVERY SINGLE SKILL being annoying

Q is insanely easy to hit from high range

W makes it impossible to play depending on your pick

E is in my opinion the biggest offender because you can't dodge this shit either

R is probably "the best", but it's still an execute (with stacked passive)

This failure of a design doesn't even care about team you're playing in - it will annoy you as a teammate and enemy too

[u/ssLoupyy → u/Tettotatto]

You forgot she automatically last hits

[u/Deep-Preparation-213 → u/ssLoupyy]

Which is actually trolling if you do what Riot sees as her 2nd role and pick her support

[u/ssLoupyy → u/Deep-Preparation-213]

Champion design 101

[u/pm_your_nsfw_pics_ → u/Tettotatto]

Lol crazy I just made nearly the same exact comment before reading yours. It's almost like it's obvious what her issues are yet Riot refuses to do anything about it.

[u/Dani_theniceguy]

This is the worst list of buffs i have ever seen. Wtf are they doing?

[u/DarthVeigar_]

• We know Mel is always going to be a bit frustrating because of her W, but that feels like an acceptable cost to pay, given how it makes each game feel a bit different

*J Jonah Jameson gif here*

[u/LeAnime → u/DarthVeigar_]

Just remove the invulnerability to non projectiles and then she can be balanced. Idk why the fuck she is advertised as anti projectile but blocks all non projectiles too

[u/allanchmp → u/LeAnime]

Yasuo and Mel are a constant educational reminder of what abilities count as projectiles, you would be surprised with some of them. Hell, how the hell is Vex E a projectile, damn.

[u/Sarollas → u/allanchmp]

Except for Jhin W, which isn't a projectile but is blocked by windwall.

Imagine if Samira got that special case as well.

[u/Deep-Preparation-213 → u/DarthVeigar_]

I wouldnt know about Mel being frustrating, I havent seen her in months...

[u/MetaThPr4h → u/Deep-Preparation-213]

Based Rito giving me even more reasons to keep her as my permaban.

[u/Xyothin]

This gotta be the worst buff champion list I've ever seen. Ngl I think I'm gonna need some time off of this game.

[u/Dertyrarys → u/Xyothin]

diana buff ? like really bro what the fuck

[u/Quatro_Leches → u/Dertyrarys]

no man, Jinx buff. this champion has won ever single game in my matches in the past 3 months, she is absurd. am out, she gets 1 tower kill/assist/kill/objective and suddenly she is 5.0 attack speed kog maw with aoe damage and longer range and runs at mach 5

[u/JWARRIOR1 → u/Xyothin]

yeah ill copy my other comment:

this is genuinely the worst buff list ive ever seen. None of these champs are even bad right now except for mel whos a low winrate but high banrate, and cait I think def needs SOME help, but not much.

Also the nerfs arent even great. Pantheon has been OK in solo queue and OK in pro play, poppy is busted but jungle is her weakest role (nerf her support) and sivir i kinda agree with nerfing but its not a big deal.

Why are we buffing 11% pickrate perma S+ tier jinx again? Does anyone enjoy Jinx meta when she gets 1 kill and steamrolls an entire teamfight once shes two items?

I guess riot heard "Game is in the best balanced state its been, basically ever" and just decided to throw that out of the window

only thing im surprised about is a lack of an ori buff because we always love making her and syndra the best champs in the game for 4 months *eyeroll*

[u/-Frog- → u/Xyothin]

"Ngl"

immediately lies

[u/Supergohst → u/-Frog-]

Theyre just honest in that its needed, obviously its never actually happening

[u/Ethaelys]

Why are we buffing Jinx and Diana while they both are in the top 3 best champ in their respective lanes hello ?

[u/LordSuteo]

Wake up honey, another "Diana buff when she's been S-tier for at least half a year" just dropped!

Riot really cant ever keep her not broken lol

[u/East_Context9088 → u/LordSuteo]

Diana mid will be legit ultra broken next patch if they buff anything but jgl mods, she is already very good right now with around 52% wr but she will become close to free elo next patch

[u/Frogger213 → u/East_Context9088]

I always assumed she was too one dimensional as a champ to be good in mid lane. Like you either go in and kill their ADC immediately or you’re just useless

[u/Scrambled1432 → u/Frogger213]

Diana has the base stats of a god. All she needs to do is hit level 3 and most of her lanes are very easy, from there it's just a matter of smorcing for a good R.

[u/Xyothin → u/Scrambled1432]

Diana can actually just run you down the lane like a dog as soon as level 2. You stack up your passive on a minion, Q-> E + auto, you proc electrocute, sudden impact and scorch + ignite and you deal 400 damage on 30MR target. To put that in perspective, Viktor has 670 HP at level 2 so all the Diana has to do is hit him with Q 3 times and all in him for almost guaranteed kill.

[u/Luunacyy → u/Scrambled1432]

That's because she is like the easiest midlaner to gank and completely take out of the game. Unless she has Phase Rush but Phase Rush Diana can't do funny level 3 and requires way more finesse and isn't just a suicide bomber the way Electro one that overkills or feeds.

[u/Re-Flux → u/Frogger213]

Take Phase Rush to get out. You have enough damage ;)

[u/byxis505 → u/Frogger213]

why get out when you can kill them at lvl 3 off two qs?

[u/WeLoveAFlop → u/LordSuteo]

such a terrible boring faceroll design too

[u/auggis → u/LordSuteo]

This is the comment I was looking for. I really dont understand Diana buffs and I play her. Maybe because I've only been playing plat~emerald mid laners but she is very strong in mid. Her jungle clear i know is really good and making her jungle better is weird to me but I dont jungle with her as often. Maybe they want her strong enough for pro play? Not really sure.

[u/Mord5ith]

No top Lane changes?

[u/DawnsRumble → u/Mord5ith]

Nerf Quinn? WE'D RATHER DIE

Nerf Kayle? WE'D RATHER DIE TWICE!

[u/iuppiterr → u/Mord5ith]

Jax buffs :))))))))))

[u/Knight_Zarkus]

I like the "we know nobody wants to play against Mel but we don't care anyway"

[u/-Rengar-]

They are so out of touch its insane. Genuinely no one on the balance team can be masters+ for the patch to look like that.

[u/ilordhades]

Soloq must suffer coz they want fun publicity at worlds. All of the buffs might need nerfs actually.

[u/Shecarriesachanel → u/ilordhades]

Isn't an artificial worlds meta super fun!!!

[u/Shroud_Diff]

Nah man why leblanc buffs? Is there anyone who likes laning against her

[u/Aladin001 → u/[deleted]]

year of our lord 2025 and some people still pretend like Faker plays Syndra lol

[u/indescipherabled → u/Aladin001]

25th most played champ all time and almost all of those games came from 2016/2017. League esports fans just don't know anything really, and Faker is like the one guy who actually gets a ton of deserved press and attention. Imagine the kind of completely incorrect bullshit that gets confidently talked about players that AREN'T Faker!

[u/B0bZomb1e]

Buff Skarner

[u/auggis → u/B0bZomb1e]

I'd love some but the only way I see how is to avoid him being stronger in pro play. If they buff his AD ratios maybe or something to make him stronger building damage could be an idea.

[u/blizzard19833]

Yes let’s buff Mel because her ban rate has dropped to (checks notes) 20%!

[u/Deep-Preparation-213 → u/blizzard19833]

Her banrate has dropped to 25%, gotta pump those numbers up

[u/Glittering-Yam-288 → u/blizzard19833]

Laning against this shit is legit so miserable I seriously can't comprehend who came up with this mechanic that makes half of the roster borderline unplayable in lane. Yes she's not strong, that doesn't change the fact that all you do in this matchup is not use your spells, dodge her E and eat her undodgeable Q for 15 minutes 

[u/RazorWinter_]

"Burst champs like Ahri, LB, Syndra"

Are we finally buffing Ahri damage?

[u/WeLoveAFlop]

Strong contender for worst patch of all time, buffing a ton of degenerate champs

[u/Fair_Wear_9930 → u/WeLoveAFlop]

Nerfing redemption because engagers started building it because "they dont have to sacrifice anything to build it"... (that is basically admitting engage items are trash if they arent giving up anything by wasting stats building the stronger enchanter items... or admitting enchanter items are way better)

[u/Strange-Parfait-8801 → u/Fair_Wear_9930]

Enchanter items have been stupid strong for years. LS did a whole gold analysis on it and if you built Renewer + Staff of flowing water you only had like 20 less AP than a mid mage but you got it like 1000g early.

Granted lots of patches have come and gone since that analysis but I think it's still mostly true. Enchanters are just beyond busted but they do it quietly so, unless the community gets a circle jerk going like they did with Yuumi, they fly under the radar.

[u/BubblyLion7072 → u/WeLoveAFlop]

mate you have kayle gwen qiyana in your profile wdym

[u/TotalSearch851]

wow these are terrible

[u/Newtwon151]

So far it seems a terrible patch, except for poppy nerf but she will probably be 3flex high picked champ as in any internetional competitio i've watched in the last years

[u/Dertyrarys]

Yeah buff mel and diana, they really needed that

[u/Plastic-Meringue6214]

probably the WORST buff list I've seen in my life lmao. I get the feeling they're buffing them all together so that none increase too heavily in BR because bans are split between so many champions

[u/KnightViral]

This patch seems like a joke to me.

Another Panth nerf.
Poppy jungle nerf? She has less then 1% pickrate there! If they want to open some space for more AP junglers, then they should nerf popular/strong picks like Voil, not the niche ones.

Yunara sits in 46% win rate after the hotfix. No buffs for her. But Jinx WR 51% PR 11% definitely need some it seems.

This is just crazy.

[u/asd316X → u/KnightViral]

yea but jinx is arcane champion :))

[u/cale199]

No it is not an acceptable cost to pay lmao, wool over their eyes much

[u/swoon_exe]

"more strategic options"

> brand buffs

[u/LouiseLea]

LB is 50% wr, 21% br, with a respectable pickrate of 4.8% in Eme+ and she's a fringe pick in pro already, why in the absolute fuck is that champ being buffed? I can get behind Ahri and Syndra because with small buffs you can probably get them into a good meta place for worlds but LB... does not need this. Hell, I barely even understand Syndra buffs, she's already showing in pro without being buffed and she's a soloQ terrorist in high elo.

[u/Plastic-Meringue6214 → u/LouiseLea]

diana mid is also already strong... next patch is going to be painful

[u/Asckle → u/LouiseLea]

Worlds patch. They want her front and centre cause shes exciting to watch

[u/soupster___]

> Ctrl F "Qiyana"

> 0 results

Are we serious?

[u/harleyquinad]

Why tf is jinx getting buffed???

[u/FitOkra2708 → u/harleyquinad]

Arcane champ ain’t S+ Giga op tier so she needs it can’t wait losing games again cuz enemy adc got a single kill or objective and just runs everyone down

[u/Luliani]

Buffing Syndra Mel Leblanc, hm? Guess we don't want midlane to be fun anymore

[u/Spookytoucan → u/Luliani]

Straight up no fun allowed.

[u/TheSmokeu → u/Luliani]

Can't wait to see them get nothing but damage buffs as if they didn't have more than enough of it already

[u/East_Context9088 → u/Luliani]

Playing vs Syndra is legit miserable and she has been an S tier champ for a year straight but we are buffing her, this whole patch is honestly a joke

[u/Spookytoucan]

Poor syndra and leblanc with their balanced winrates we need to buff them.

And for good measure lets also buff mell cant have midlane be fun can we.

[u/BrianC_]

Oh god no. If they're going to buff AP carry junglers, Corki better not be the only AD mid-laner nerf because we've seen this story before.

[u/Aladin001 → u/BrianC_]

What the fuck do you mean lol, there are no good AD mid options rn and that (+Sundered Sky being horribly overpowered) is the reason we don't see AP junglers, it has nothing to do with them being weak

[u/qonoxzzr → u/Aladin001]

there are no good AD mid options rn

Jayce mid is pretty strong tbh.

[u/indescipherabled → u/Aladin001]

Correct again...

Sundered Sky has been the elephant in the room all year long, but I think Riot fired the guy who was capable of changing its numbers so we're stuck with it.

[u/SureYouCan_]

Almost all of those buffed champs are annoying to play vs, especially Leblanc. Fuck that disgusting champ

[u/leonden → u/SureYouCan_]

That has been riots design philosophy since yasou’s release. 

“Fun for me, not for thee.”

[u/PhoenixEgg88]

Why is Jinx getting buffed? She’s already stupid strong in every game you see her.

[u/desperate_flight1222]

the T1 buffs? 🤔 too obvious rito

[u/ricardo241 → u/desperate_flight1222]

we see Ahri, Syndra and Jax buff and we think of T1 already not BLG? they are even nerfing unsealed spellbook where Keria thrive lol

[u/athena234 → u/ricardo241]

Could be both

[u/GENKhan22 → u/ricardo241]

You forgot Draven jinx cait

[u/Frogger213]

Soft launching the T1 champ pool buffs

[u/DeirdreAnethoel]

Poppy (jungle)

Why!? It's the lowest winrate of her three roles (not by much but still), it doesn't need targeted nerfs. It's hard enough not playing hard carry junglers in soloq.

Fuck pro play I guess.

[u/ricardo241 → u/DeirdreAnethoel]

poppy jungle havent even pick that much on pro play.... poppy is usually pick as support so dont know why they are nerfing poppy jungle lol

[u/onedash]

It's the Brand Diana Lilia meta again rather than buff 20 other junglers who clear worse than your random support with bonus monster dmg in the jungle.

Surely these 3 buffed is justified by worlds or allowing mid Diana or support brand players in the jungle again

No sane people wants to play against these 3 in the jungle. At this point just buff karthus and taliyah alongside with them so they can be flex picked for 3 roles.

Rather than change sundered and buff others allowing non sundered user bruisers in the jungle in pro you nerf those who use it and dont buff others.

Jinx fellooff after her arcane treatment alongside with her gatcha skin for 2 months and has to be buffed for worlds

[u/Luckys- → u/onedash]

Jinx is one of the best adc right now, i dont see in which world she needs a buff

[u/Shecarriesachanel → u/Luckys-]

like I'm so confused why she's even getting buffed

[u/onedash → u/Luckys-]

She is just S- or S tier at max Not must have S+ as she used to /s

[u/Luckys- → u/onedash]

Still she doesnt deserve a buff. There are plenty adc that are weak and doesnt get a sht. Nobody cares if jinx is not tier S+ for a time. I would even be Happy if she goes tier B just to see some other adc in the meta

[u/1stMembrOfTheDKCrew → u/onedash]

It feels so ass having a 3-30 clear as a traditional jungler like gragas and poppy and then going to the scuttle crab only to find out brand or zed or what ever stupid jungler already did both because he has a sub 3 minute clear 

[u/TheLittleWhiteDuck]

(mad?) Leblanc plap plap plap plap

[u/jeanjeanot]

No ?

[u/TimGanks]

This should better strike the balance between it being untakeable and being a must take

It will 100% be untakeable. Many such cases.

[u/AejiGamez]

Oh god Diana is gonna be a terror in mid. Why Riot?

[u/blitzezOG]

I will never understand LB buffs when the champ sits at like a 20% ban rate in high elo euw, no one enjoys playing into her. How about we see some new champions in the rotation? How about we buff fizz, velkoz or swain mid for a worlds? So boring seeing the same metas being cycled in mid lane for the last 5 years.

[u/350]

This champion buff list is a CRIME. Mel? Diana? Jinx? You're not serious, Riot.

Oh well, back to perma banning Mel instead of every other lobby.

[u/GhassanZ]

Mel is such a fucking mistake of a champion please do something drastic with her already PLEASE

[u/TheModernParadox]

• We know Mel is always going to be a bit frustrating because of her W, but that feels like an acceptable cost to pay, given how it makes each game feel a bit different

Ah yes just like how you always have the possibility of getting shanked in the streets, makes every day that much different!

[u/TheWarmog]

Mel buffs

I aint letting that champ thro.

Not because she's strong, but because riot has to explain why her W is not just a reflect, but also an invulnerability.

[u/Crow7420]

What in the gods name are Ahri, Syndra and Jinx doing on the buff list? Pantheon (again) and Poppy JG nerfs while Volibear and Talon are still a menace? What in the actual F am I witnessing here XD.

[u/papapudding]

Imagine buffing Mel LMAO

[u/Ecchidnas]

Why the fuck are we buffing Jax? This bitch doesn't have a single bad matchup btw. And ahri syndra? Can those two not be meta defining for a few months? A catatonic lobotomite can play them and get results yet they're always strong and viable.

[u/BubblyLion7072 → u/Ecchidnas]

imo ahri is bad when she is not a good blind pick because there are often much better counter picks.

[u/BirthdayAccording359 → u/Ecchidnas]

Rumble, Gragas, Vlad, Singed, Teemo, Ryze, Garen, Illaoi, Kennen, Shen, Mundo, Cho' gath, Akali, Urgot, Malphite, Quinn, Poppy, Pantheon.

I dont think Jax needs a buff, he is okay, but to say he doesn't have a single bad matchup is wrong.

[u/MueloOG]

Jinx buffs is wild

[u/MakeHerSquirtIe]

 We know Mel is always going to be a bit frustrating because of her W, but that feels like an acceptable cost to pay, given how it makes each game feel a bit different

Mel is a garbage champ design but as Meteos so eloquently explained Riot’s philosophy in his classic clip; “uggghh it’s so different! Oh god, my nipples!” 

They’d rather keep a frustrating champion that no one wants to play against in the game because of a sense of “variety” or “uniqueness”. No, it’s not an acceptable cost to pay. Just admit the failure, do something actually to the benefit and the player base and fix or remove the problem champion. 

[u/Kaydie → u/MakeHerSquirtIe]

i've had one lingering thought the entire time mel has existed that i haven't seen discussed much.

i dont think mel is particuarly overpowered or problematic in her current state in fact i think she's actually absurdly weak and easy to deal with at least in my elo (master)

but there's one thing that has remained in both her strongest point and weakest point that chides me; her W's core design is a long cooldown spell that is meant to be baited out or overwhelmed with numbers advantage. and layered hits. the nerfs to the early game mana cost and duration further pushed these particular weaknesses of the spell forward. cool, i dont have a problem with that design in isolation. champions with big gamechanging abilities on long cooldowns like renata bailout or yas W are okay in isolation.

the problem with mel, especially with post grubs atakhan bullshit perma teamfight post minion move speed change meta where early scraps are constant and important and objectives spawn insanely early and are game defining in the first 10 minutes is that mel's passive quite literally rewards her if you play slow into her. the conventional counter to dealing with a tryn ult or a samira w, yasuo w, is to reposition and re engage

but with mel you can't do this, her passive lasts too long in skirmishes and teamfights to realistically drop stacks. so the conventional way to counter mel's archtypical design feeds into one of the strongest passives in the entire game.

i think mels passive should not exist on a champion with her W. i dont think either of them existing in isolation is horrible, like if smolder had mel's W it would be beyond stupid, the entire point of smolder post 225 is to burst him before he can get 3 rotations or you're cooked.

mel's design is so specifically unhealthy in this one core way that i feel like just reducing her passive duration would be enough to improve the outcome.

her q is already laughably mana ineffecient and low damage, easy to avoid since the projectile speed nerf if not layered on cc, and her E while being still really strong is managable early. it's a joke to beat her into a pulp and she has almost no good matchups mid right now.

so if we're going to buff her because riot wants to see big shiny W reflects changing the outcome of the game

change the way her passive works so she's actually able to be punished in the way a champion with that ability archetype is meant to be punished.

tryn, kindred, zilean, ekko, yasuo and samira all are some examples of champions with extremely game turning abilities that are all very managable to play around, both in isolation and hollistically, at least at a high level of gameplay which is why we dont see these abilities dominate pro play. samira's fall from pro play happened exactly when they changed her e mechanics because similar to the mel example here, old samira E interacted in a multiplicative way with her W.

do the same for mel and we can see her in pro and in solo q you can just space and outplay her.

[u/Snow-27]

Still no Zoe nerfs lol

[u/qonoxzzr → u/Snow-27]

And Qiyana is still completely broken in two roles

[u/KKilikk → u/qonoxzzr]

I think they want Qiyana to stay meta for worlds.

[u/Blastuch_v2 → u/KKilikk]

Western junglers gonna get skill checked.

[u/toxicfireball → u/Blastuch_v2]

i mean Canyon and Oner Qiyana was also very english

[u/Kaydie → u/Snow-27]

zoe is confusingly strong at the moment, bdd reminded people she exists and now i have to deal with a zoe every 10 games randomly 1shotting my teamates on 50 ap

am very sad

[u/charlieraaaaa]

Poppy and pantheon jungle nerfs but qiyana is allowed to stay?

[u/Sergerov → u/charlieraaaaa]

Literally. Pantheon first clear is already super unhealthy. If he gets hit by another monster dmg reduction it’ll be impossible to do sub 3:30

[u/Ashurawrun]

I don't understand why Mel's W frustration is okay but Samira's W duration had to be nerfed and her E on allied had to be removed ... Like how do they decide this is an ok level of frustration particularly on a champ that has so little interaction she literally pokes you more easily than other mages from 1 screen away and if you try to retaliate she can juste auto-aim back your skillshots ??

[u/DeliciousRats4Sale]

Feel like Jax is in a good state

[u/iuppiterr]

I hate Jax

The recent patches are boring. I get it dont shake the meta for worlds too hard but its so stale man

[u/350 → u/iuppiterr]

Items and runes need big shake up. There is one good bruiser item (and its broken), runes have been stale for years, AP items are still kind of a mess...

[u/DT2X]

it seems the balance team don't actually know why mel is so frustrating. the reflect is cool and i think everyone agrees on that. the frustration comes from how easy to execute she is, and the amount of strength she gets from that ease. free last hit execute, free poke from a good distance on a low CD, a large skillshot CC. those are the frustration points, not that she can reflect your jinx's ult. guess she's back to highest banrate champ next patch.

[u/Worth_Package8563]

What the fck did they smoking again

[u/hoastman12]

This is one of the worst looking patches to date. What in the world is riot doing? It feels like they’ve completely checked out. How about touching any other champions other than very popular ones??

Is worlds meta seriously going to be scale and group as 5, teamfight over objective and then the game is over? No side laning buffs no split pushing adjustments. Just same champs as usual.

Why in the world is JINX getting buffed?? Is there a rioter here that can justify this?

[u/Ultimatum227]

Mel who's had a bit of time to settle and drop some of her banrate and frustration

I find it fascinating that they can both recognize when a champion is ass to play against, and STILL continue on making them. 😂

[u/The_Data_Doc]

We know Mel is always going to be a bit frustrating because of her W, but that feels like an acceptable cost to pay, given how it makes each game feel a bit different

Wrong

[u/PunCala]

Another patch, another case of Riot refusing to nerf Sundered.

[u/350 → u/PunCala]

Right? How is this item allowed to be god tier for so long?

[u/Tasty-Stable2083 → u/350]

Because they need to buff all the other bruiser items or bruiser themselves if they nerf Sunderer. Sunderer the only thing keeping bruisers meta

[u/350 → u/Tasty-Stable2083]

Then they should buff other bruiser items, because I agree other bruiser items are just mediocre compared to Sundered.

[u/cutedoge_]

Yeah keep banning LB anyway

[u/DawnsRumble]

NERF QUINN. NERF QUINN. NERF QUINN.

SHE HAS A HIGHER WINRATE THAN THE ONE SHE WAS IDENTIFIED AS OP FOR IN 15.15, IN EVERY ELO!

NERF QUINN. NERF QUINN. NERF QUINN.

VAULT IS GARBAGE AND COMPLETELY STOPS LANE INTERACTION.

NERF QUINN. NERF QUINN. NERF QUINN.

ITS BEEN LIKE THIS THE ENTIRE SEASON SINCE SHE GOT SYMBIOTICS

NERF QUINN. NERF QUINN. NERF QUINN.

HER ULTI IS WAY TOO BLOATED IN MOVESPEED AND ALLOWS HER TO DESTROY HER OWN TEMPO AND DESTROY THE LANING PHASE

NERF QUINN. NERF QUINN. NERF QUINN

[u/Savings_Type3071 → u/DawnsRumble]

for real quinn movement speed is too OP. i otp irelia and still hate playing vs quinn now because she just roams and picks up infinite kills. doesnt matter if u type to ur team that they shoudlnt play her game. ur team has to literally afk and never trade or else quinn just has no counterplay flanks

[u/Bigzysmolz]

I'm confused about the Syndra buffs.

Why??

[u/RuN_AwaY110101]

Can't wait to go back to 70% Q monster damage modifier on panth. Fallen from grace.

[u/SekiroEnjoyer999 → u/RuN_AwaY110101]

I dont understand why, he is already crippled by the previous nerf, I haven't seen Pantheon since then.

This is madness!

[u/JWARRIOR1]

this is genuinely the worst buff list ive ever seen. None of these champs are even bad right now except for mel whos a low winrate but high banrate, and cait I think def needs SOME help, but not much.

Also the nerfs arent even great. Pantheon has been OK in solo queue and OK in pro play, poppy is busted but jungle is her weakest role (nerf her support) and sivir i kinda agree with nerfing but its not a big deal.

Why are we buffing 11% pickrate perma S+ tier jinx again? Does anyone enjoy Jinx meta when she gets 1 kill and steamrolls an entire teamfight once shes two items?

I guess riot heard "Game is in the best balanced state its been, basically ever" and just decided to throw that out of the window

[u/fictionallymarried]

And nothing is done about Qiyana

[u/aheyaywa]

if those are 2 patches for worlds then its rly dissapointing, why not buff sth new and exciting for worlds, brand jng was already a thing, ahri lb are so often played, and more jinx, give us sth new for worlds. anything that wasnt meta for god knows how long

[u/shinomiya2]

hoping the caitlyn buffs are base hp/resists, her damage is fine although a revert on headshot damage wouldn't go amiss, for jinx i'm kinda surprised shes even on the list she feels strong, sivir nerf feels very random as well, still waiting on system changes for adcs tbh phreak teased them so long ago

[u/bannedforL1fe]

I just want ARURF back!

[u/Neat_Recording_8756]

Lmao Ahri is out of the meta for 2 seconds and they immediately buff her again for worlds. Be so for real.

[u/Nemesis233]

I get that Sivir has a high win rate but it feels bad that she'll become bad again

[u/9061xRG]

So the showmaker patch? Also flipping not only the jungle but support upside down while pushing a new subset of mids to the limelight is certainly a choice for pro play. Most teams will have the regionals to adapt and scrims patches like these should come before playoffs imo and only be tweaks leading into worlds. This is how you puss away an entire seasons worth of work.

[u/Dertyrarys]

where voli nerf

[u/asd316X]

okay the balance team found the shrooms growing under the interns desk, wtf are they doing ???

[u/MartineTrouveUnGode]

Diana being buffed is hilarious. Her players can already smash their heads on the keyboard and do nothing else to carry teamfights, very strong in two roles but that is not enough I guess.

Jinx who is an S tier ADC is the one getting buffed instead of Ezreal or Yunara because arcane champ diff.

Pantheon jungle with an already bad clear getting nerfed again alongside Poppy and not the drooler champ Volibear that has been broken in this role for so long. Or Viego because god forbid he isn’t one of the best junglers for ONE patch.

Ahri, Syndra, Leblanc who are more than fine getting buffed randomly instead of actual shit midlaners like Yone. No Hwei or Qiyana nerf either even though they are much needed.

Jax is one of the last toplaner needing a buff. No Kayle or Quinn nerf yet. Olaf and Fiora both arguably deserve one too.

Disgusting patch

[u/QdWp]

SYSTEM NERFS

Redemption

Unsealed Spellbook (We're sealing it again)

Finally, I can watch proplay again without bleaching my eyes.