New Aphelios changes coming soon to League

League of Legends boasts one of the largest rosters in the gaming world. The developers at Riot Games have worked hard to create champions with diverse playstyles.

One of the most popular roles in the MOBA is the AD carry, a position primarily focused on kiting and dealing damage from a distance through auto-attacks. The role requires a balance between dealing damage through auto attacks and abilities, which can vary based on the effectiveness of different items.

Currently, Aphelios is heavily focused on using abilities. However, the developers want to change this and have plans to significantly revamp the champion in an upcoming patch. In the patch 14.14 preview, Riot Phreak explained their vision for the champion.

“We actually aren’t huge fans of the fact that Aphelios is kind of a caster right now. His primary build is E max second, and rush Collector. We’d really rather he be more of an auto-attacker and less of a 5000 range burst mage.”

Aphelios has been a controversial champion since his release, particularly due to his ability to deal massive on-hit damage with his white Chakram gun. Since then, the developers have significantly nerfed Aphelios, leaving him less impactful compared to other champions.

Riot Phreak mentioned that he has some ideas for Aphelios. He suggested that it’s possible they might implement some patchwork changes in updates 14.15 or 14.16. These changes would aim to make Aphelios more of a traditional auto-attack carry and less focused on what can feel like overly powerful gun combos.

According to the League of Legends patch schedule, Patch 14.15 is set to be released on July 31, with Patch 14.16 following two weeks later on August 14. This means we may soon see many of these changes implemented.

The root of the problem was found to be a problematic exploit centered around Skarner’s iconic kidnap skill. The rework, which was finally released at the beginning of 2024, transformed the Crystal Scorpion into a formidable presence on Summoner’s Rift.

The champion is now capable of slamming players into walls and dragging enemies around with his ultimate. However, top lane players discovered ways to exploit this ability, leading Phreak to address the issue and discuss the overall success of the champion’s rework.

Phreak, who is in charge of League’s live balance team and led Skarner’s rework, recently admitted in a YouTube video previewing Patch 14.14 that he wished he had done a better job with the champion.

In the video, Phreak went over all the balance changes for Skarner and warned that the champion would be experiencing a lot of changes in this update. The most anticipated change is the removal of the ability to cast his E backwards.

This exploit allowed the scorpion to grab opponents from behind and slam them into walls. With the new changes, Skarner will have to face his enemies directly if he wants to grapple with them, which was how the ability was originally intended to be used.

Until the changes are implemented, players can still chain Skarner’s ultimate and his E to drag enemies into turret range, effectively guaranteeing a free kill in lane. The problematic mechanic had caused his win rates (and ban rates) to spike significantly in the past few months.

With the removal of the playmaking Skarner mechanic, Phreak hopes that players will begin to appreciate the rework of the scorpion and reduce the frequency of banning him in high-level play. Phreak also briefly mentioned that the team is considering other changes to Skarner’s kit but did not provide any specific details.

In light of the LPL’s feedback, Phreak has teased a series of modifications and enhancements for the camp, aiming to elevate its significance particularly in higher rank of gameplay.

Originally introduced in Season 14, the Voidgrub camp served as a miniature objective, predominantly impacting the top lane dynamics. These camps spawned in groups of three, offering players not only gold but also the coveted Touch of the Void buff upon their death.

This buff, known for its ability to grant bonus true damage upon turrets for the entire team, initially positioned Voidgrubs as valuable assets during the early stages of the game.

However, recent observations from the LPL have underscored a perceived lack of efficacy in the Voidgrub’s influence, with many teams opting to bypass the camp entirely in favor of pursuing dragons. Acknowledging this trend, Phreak has acknowledged that the camp currently suffers from being under-tuned, which has contributed to its diminished relevance as an objective.

In response to these concerns, Phreak has revealed plans to buff the camp’s impact by augmenting the potency of the Touch of the Void buff, particularly in its interaction with turret damage. This strategic adjustment aims to imbue the camp with renewed significance, potentially entailing adjustments to Voidmite spawns or the criteria for triggering their appearance.

Additionally, Phreak has hinted at altering the respawn timer for Voidgrubs, thereby mitigating the need for players to prioritize between competing objectives.

These adjustments, slated to be integrated into Patch 14.8, signify an effort by Riot Games to revitalize the role of the Voidgrub camp within the League of Legends meta, fostering greater diversity and strategic depth in gameplay dynamics.

In terms of balance, Riot has had several issues with their new champions in 2023. K’Sante and Naafiri have been major balancing issues thus far.

Most players have heard of the pride of Nazumah by this time. His kit has been difficult to deal with since he becomes overly tanky and deals a lot of damage. While his stats in solo queue aren’t very impressive, he is pretty popular in pro play.

Riot has recently chosen not to make any adjustments to K’Sante. People were perplexed as to why this was the case. So Riot Phreak chimed in and discussed the champion’s future.

Riot Games on changes to K’Sante

On August 22, Riot Phreak stated in a Reddit post discussing Patch Changes that K’Sante will be adjusted after Worlds 2023.

According to Riot Phreak, K’Sante’s pro play presence has been decreasing. Players have begun to drift away from the champion as the game has evolved. This is due to both him being nerfed and other top lane champions being buffed in recent patches.

So, making modifications to K’Sante isn’t a top priority for Riot. Riot, on the other hand, wishes to continue working on him beyond Worlds 2023.

While he did not go into specifics about the adjustments, we will have to wait and watch what Riot has in store.

“Players don’t read” – according to Riot Phreak

On August 23, when previewing Patch 13.17 and remarking on what Riot Games is attempting to achieve with the updates, David “Riot Phreak” Turley disclosed an intriguing fact: most League players do not read.

Phreak used Zeri and Patch 13.12 as an example in the YouTube video, which completely deleted her connection with Sheen and Spellblade. However, more than half of the players were still playing Trinity Force on this champion on the day the patch was released.

“We saw from Zeri that on day 1 more than half of Zeri players build Trinity Force as first item. So, we know players don’t read. A lot of them do—the behavior shifted over time,”

On August 23, the players instantly replied, stating that champions like as Zeri might change substantially from patch to patch, making it difficult to adjust so rapidly.

Riot August entered the conversation, stating that while developing a champion, they must constantly keep in mind that many players do not read tooltips.

“If a champ has a mechanic that can only be learned by reading a tooltip, it is likely that a good chunk of players will not know it exists,”

The general consensus is that half of the community delves into patch notes, while the other half glosses over or ignores them entirely.

Some players simply read patch notes in part, only looking at the changes that affect them and their role—a dangerous practise, especially since you need every edge you can get in League of Legends.

Jungle might be stronger than other LoL role

Since the start of Season 13, the jungle has experienced a variety of changes, including changes to camp timers, the addition of pets, and even a push towards farming over ganking. These improvements were designed to minimise snowballing and the jungle’s dominance over the game, but they may not be enough to lower the jungle’s overall power.

So, according to Riot Games designer Phreak, junglers are “about 20% stronger than other roles” in season 13 and may require significant nerfs.

“If we nerfed [its] power by about 15 percent, that would probably be about appropriate and fair,”

Riot has pushed numerous jungler changes to the League PBE already, including epic monster damage decreases, reduced damage against pets, shorter slow durations, and Gustwalker nerfs. Jungle champs like Kindred, Evelynn, Kayn, and Kha’Zix were all nerfed.

Instead, several players suggested that junglers should be retained at about the same power levels because it is the more difficult role to learn in LoL.

Nonetheless, according to Phreak, no nerfs are on the way for now.

Riot Phreak slammed pro players over Kai’sa nerfs

The nerfs have received a great deal of criticism. David “Phreak” Turley, a former Caster and prominent LoL Game Designer, has expressed his displeasure with pro-players, accusing them of being “bad at reading patch notes and understanding them.”

Following the release of the proposed nerfs for AP Kai’Sa, there was a flood of comments and complaints, with many players, pro-players included, voicing their displeasure with the nerfs on Reddit and other social platforms.

Kai’Sa nerfs:

• Q AP ratio reduced from 30% to 20%
• W cooldown refund reduced form 77% to 75%
• (Extra): Base health reduced from 670 to 640

These changes may appear small when seen numerically, but Riot Phreak blasted everyone for misinterpreting the patch notes. Phreak discussed the reasoning behind the nerfs and their actual consequences in the League of Legends subreddit comments.

The Q adjustments, he claims, are intended to distinguish the builds such that the AP build has a weaker Q, “it makes the build have a meaningfully weaker button.” Along with the W modification and the lowered chance of exploding 5 additional plasma stacks, the AP build’s damage will be reduced even further.

“Neither change is massive. In truth Kai’Sa only really needs about 1-1.5% wr nerf.

But players are really bad at reading patch notes and understanding them. Pros included. We will likely ship another nerf because perception is reality.”

Kai’Sa, in Phreak’s opinion, does not require a significant modification or nerf. His message contains some jabs at the community and even pro players. According to Phreak, players struggle to read and comprehend patch notes. He also hinted that further nerfs for Kai’Sa will be on the way.

It will be fascinating to watch how the community and others respond to Phreak’s remark, as well as what future Kai’Sa nerfs could mean. For the time being, we must wait and see how the initial round of nerfs affect Kai’Sa win rate.

Statikk Shiv was reintroduced in League of Legends Patch 13.10, when Riot opted to revamp the whole item system for the bot lane, as well as other lanes. Players are now creating this crit item with ridiculous AP scaling on mages, and it’s gone out of control.

In the next weeks, Riot will nerf this item exclusively for mages. Former LCS commentator Phreak has previously specified what the team intends to do about the item.

Statikk Shiv nerfs in Patch 13.13 toward mages

According to Riot Phreak, the Minion AP Ratio damage will be reduced while the interaction with dashes will be removed. This will significantly worsen the item for LeBlanc and other mages. The Minion AP Ratio drop will damage most mages, however the dash interaction is more of a targeted strike on mage assassins.

Statikk Shiv is currently far too powerful. Riot has buffed it a few times since it was reintroduced, but it’s now much too strong on mages like LeBlanc, and Riot will have to backtrack it.

This might be a direct response to how pro players are using the item. During the first LEC week, Fnatic mid laner Marek “Humanoid” Brázda built the item on LeBlanc, dealing 6875 damage with the zap alone, accounting for an insane 32% of his overall damage.

Riot is hurrying to make changes to the item since it is so powerful and effective against both mages and marksmen. Veigar has also seen an uptick in use of the item, so we’ll have to wait and see what Riot does.

We don’t know the full details of the adjustments yet, but Riot should make them public shortly. So buckle up, because Riot is delivering some serious fire to Patch 13.13.

A League player humorously requested for the release date of Yuumi’s rework on a recent Reddit thread, which was already got added to the game on March 7, and complained about still seeing her being picked too much in pro play.

In a reply, Riot Games’ David “Phreak” Turley backed the developer by sharing statistics proving her fix was efficient. He asserted that her presence in professional play declined by 6 to 14 percent, depending on the league.

According to Reav3, the statistic dropped from a stunning 50% in Patch 12.18 matches (relating to the 2022 World Championship) to 36 to 44% in Patch 13.11 games.

“Maybe some pros should get better at drafting.”

“Did we fail with the Yuumi rework? No, the pro players must be wrong,” 

Players overwhelmingly downvoted Phreak’s comments, with others pointing out her pro win rate. While she only has a 40% win rate in the LEC and LCK Summer Splits, she has a 70% win rate in the LPL after her rework, which is the highest among supports, according to Oracle’s Elixir. On the other hand, she’s merely the sixth most visible support selection.

Yuumi has been a nightmare to balance ever since she was selected for the pro play meta. Mostly because of her one-of-a-kind ability to connect herself to an ally and become untargetable. Her dominance in some tournaments, along with her unpleasant attach ability, has made her one of the game’s most despised champions.

Her midscope change, fortunately, arrived just in time for her to be deactivated during MSI. Nonetheless, the mid-scope update kept the core cause of disagreement in the form of her ability to bond with teammates and become untargetable, which is why players hate Yuumi so much.

The Magical Cat has already undergone 6 nerfs this year as a result of her overhaul, including the one that will be implemented with Patch 13.12 next week. There’s no question she’ll see more changes this season.

Game creator and Surrender@20 mod Spideraxe noticed the modifications on February 22 on PBE servers. Azir is about to be changed in the game after ten various tweaks appear to have been made to all of his skills, in addition to his ultimate. But players have been questioning these adjustments up and down.

Azir huge changes in Patch 13.5

• Base stats
  • Base health reduced from 622 to 550
  • Base mana reduced from 380 to 320
  • Mana growth increased from 36 to 40
  • Base attack speed increased from 0.625 to 0.694
  • Attack speed ratio increased from 0.625 to 0.694
  • Attack speed growth increased from 3% to 4%
• Passive
  • Tower cooldown reduced from 180 seconds to 90
  • Tower AP ratio increased from 15% to 50%
• Q
  • Base damage reduced from 70 – 150 to 60 – 120
  • AP ratio increased from 30% to 45%
  • Mana cost increased from 55 flat to 60 – 80
• W
  • Attack speed removed
  • Soldier base damage reduced from 50 – 150 by level to 50 – 90 per rank
  • Soldier AP ratio increased from 55% to 60%
  • Mana cost reduced from 40 to 30
• E
  • Mana cost reduced from 60 to 45

Riot Phreak claims that the primary motivation behind the adjustments is to lessen Azir’s influence on pro play while strengthening him for casual players. Additionally, this was the original concept behind the small adjustments added in Patch 13.4.

Since one aspect of half of the updated skills would be enhanced while the other was weakened, it is difficult to categorically identify these changes as buffs or nerfs.

Data was released by Phreak to back up these objectives. He disclosed that many top players essentially ignore Azir’s other abilities in the early game and overuse his Q ability. As a consequence, the adjustments should be the focus of high-rank players with the direct reduction to Azir’s Q and the buffs to other abilities.

However, on the Azirmains subreddit, players have been complaining about the changes, saying that Riot could make him even worse than he already is. Overall, many players stress that Azir’s character will be “completely redefined” as a result of these adjustments.

These adjustments ought to be made as soon as the next PBE servers are launched, with League Patch 13.4 being released just days ago.