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.

Patch 14.12 sees ADC change reverted

In the patch notes for 14.12, Riot Games unveiled major adjustments for multiple ADC champions, indicating potential balance changes for the game. This update included a comprehensive review of stats for the ADC role, where champions saw an increase in defensive scaling but a decrease in AD and attack speed growth. These changes affected almost all ADCs, including less conventional ones.

However, just a few hours after announcing these changes, the developers decided to retract them from the patch. This quick reversal suggests that the developers need more time to refine these significant updates before they can be properly implemented.

Previously, in Patch 14.10, ADCs received substantial changes that affected how they build items, significantly boosting their overall power and damage output. This resulted in many ADCs becoming much stronger, necessitating nerfs for some that were overperforming.

Despite these enhancements, Riot seems interested in steering the ADC class in a new direction. By reducing the AD and attack speed, they aim to lower the overall damage output of ADCs while simultaneously enhancing their survivability during team fights.

Historically, ADCs have struggled with survivability, as even perfect play could lead to being quickly eliminated by CC abilities. This balance change would require players to strike a delicate balance between dealing damage and staying safe in team fights, making the ADC role one of the most challenging yet rewarding positions in the game.

The decision to pull these changes from Patch 14.12 indicates that Riot is not yet ready to make such drastic alterations. However, it does suggest that they are considering more extensive changes for the ADC class in the future.

Smolder was supposed to bring back the traditional ADC style of gameplay, with a simple kit and strong late-game power. However, players have been using him more like a spellcaster than a typical ADC. Instead of building critical strike items, they’ve been favoring Essence Reaver and Spear of Shojin to boost his abilities and reduce cooldowns.

Now, Riot has announced significant changes to him, particularly focusing on his scaling and late-game execute ability.

Is Riot Games overbuffing Smolder?

However, not all players are convinced that these changes are the right move. Some argue that the main problem with him isn’t being addressed. They point out that Smolder has an unusually high ban rate globally, especially in regions like Korea, where he’s banned in over 50% of matches.

One player expressed frustration on Reddit, stating that the upcoming changes don’t address the core issues with the champion. They find it unfair that Smolder can achieve his execute ability relatively early in the game, sometimes as soon as 18-19 minutes into high-ranked matches.

They believe that having such a powerful execute ability, especially one that’s easy to use, is problematic and makes the champion unbalanced.

However, not everyone shares this viewpoint. Some players argue that the recent changes also tie the strength of the execute ability to the number of stacks he accumulates. This means that while he may have the ability to execute enemies, the actual damage output might not be as strong as it seems.

“The recent changes also tie the damage on the number of stacks. Which means that he gets the execute but it’s piss weak anyway.”

In essence, the League of Legends community is divided on the upcoming changes to Smolder. Some believe that the changes don’t address the core issues with the champion, while others think that they might balance out his power more effectively. Only time will tell how these changes will impact Smolder’s place in the game’s meta.

The Runaan’s Hurricane item in League of Legends has always been a bit unusual because it was only meant for ranged champions. It’s special because it lets champions shoot multiple targets with their basic attacks, which is great for marksmen.

However, it caused some problems in the past. For example, Caitlyn’s attacks became too powerful with Runaan’s, and champions like Zeri were too strong with certain item combinations.

Now, Riot decided to let melee champions use it’s effect too. Some players were surprised by this change.

One player on Reddit talked about some issues this might cause. They said it’s not necessarily bad to let melee champions use Runaan’s, but it could lead to problems with certain abilities.

For example, champions like Yi and Shyvana have abilities that interact with items like Rageblade. Changing this might affect how these abilities work. Also, champions like Kat might need adjustments because of their abilities that apply on-hit effects.

Other players think that letting melee champions use this new effect might confuse new players. They worry that players might not understand how to use the item with certain abilities and other items in the game. They call it a “noob-trap” because it might be tempting for inexperienced players but not actually helpful.

In simpler terms, Runaan’s Hurricane is a special item in League of Legends. It used to be only for champions who attack from a distance, but now melee champions can use it too. Some players think this change might cause problems with certain champion abilities, while others worry it might be too complicated for new players to use effectively.

Riot has made significant adjustments in each preseason to liven up League of Legends. Members of League’s development team, Riot Axes and Riot Phroxzon, said in a new blog post that the team has been looking into ways to balance the state of the game. While the team considers how adjustments to Mythic items may be a solution to the classes’ difficulties, Axes and Phroxzon also said that “differentiating the minions in each lane” may be a solution.

Riot to change minions in League of Legends

Riot mentioned modifying minions as a potential future change in the Quick Gameplay Thoughts blog. It is unknown how Riot intends to make the minions in each lane distinct, whether by modifying the structure of the existing waves or by introducing totally new classes of them.

Because this appears to be at the concept stage, it is unclear whether it will be adopted in League in the future. This was done in response to the game’s difficulty in balancing the various champion roles and classes.

Riot considered the concept of segregating minions in each lane in order to tweak roles at a more fundamental level. It sounds risky at first, but Riot Phroxzon believes it may be vital. He adds that the existing set of tools for balancing may be too restrictive, and that reversing prior adjustments would not solve the problems, but will instead create new ones.

Riot is currently considering alternative possibilities, such as changing minions. This will undoubtedly be an intriguing run for them as they attempt to balance the game in various ways. It will be interesting to see whether Riot is able to pull this off.

The jungle “tanks” are slowly returning to the Rift after the release of League Patch 11.4. The jungle meta was originally shaped by champion-item interactions, such as Olaf and Goredrinker. Udyr was also unexpectedly making his way to the top of the S rank junglers, along with Nidalee and Graves. However, the whole meta is changing as Riot had made many adjustments for the jungle camps.

The developers said that the junglers had too much impact on the game “because of the amount of money in the early stages that can be converted into early damage is too much”. To fix the problem, Riot reduced some monster camps experience and gold in League Patch 11.4 before deciding to buff or nerf certain champions later.

Gromp

EXPERIENCE 135/138.375/145.125/155.25/168.75/182.25 (levels 1/3/4/5/7/9) ⇒ 125/128.125/134.375/143.75/156.25/168.75 (levels 1/3/4/5/7/9)

GOLD 105 ⇒ 85

Large Krug

EXPERIENCE 37/37.925/39.775/42.55/46.25/49.95 (levels 1/3/4/5/7/9) ⇒ 27/27.675/29.025/31.05/33.75/36.45 (levels 1/3/4/5/7/9)

GOLD 42 ⇒ 32

Small Krug

EXPERIENCE 18/18.45/19.35/20.7/22.5/24.3 (levels 1/3/4/5/7/9) ⇒ 16/16.4/17.2/18.4/20/21.6 (levels 1/3/4/5/7/9)

Crimson Raptor

EXPERIENCE 45/46.125/48.375/51.75/56.25/60.75 (levels 1/3/4/5/7/9) ⇒ 35/35.875/37.625/40.25/43.75/47.25 (levels 1/3/4/5/7/9)

GOLD 45 ⇒ 35

Gromp, Krugs and Raptors camps have been reduced by 10 experience at all level compared to previous versions. Not only that, but the amount of gold from them also dropped sharply, causing the more “active” junglers to reach their power threshold a lot slower.

According to former LCK commentator, who is currently also a streamer for team T1, Nick “LS” De Cesare, the above changes will bring utility champions, tank-oriented champions without expensive items requirement back into the meta. Therefore, Skarner, Zac, Sejuani, Rammus, Amumu,… are slowly making their way back. The LEC tournament is currently using Patch 11.3 but has soon brought the above champion to the tournament to focus on ganking and controlling the targets.

However, champions with fast camp clearing such as Udyr and Karthus will still be popular in League Patch 11.4 because their camp clear speed will compensate for the gold and experience reduction. In the next versions, it is expected that the aggressive junglers will completely disappear and thus, replaced by the tankier champions. This is an advantage for the laner, especially the positions that need damage to carry towards the end of the game.