Akshan’s revive has divided the League of Legends community since the Rogue Sentinel’s launch. Now, Riot are finally taking some of its power away in LoL patch 11.17, but to compensate the marksman will receive buffs elsewhere.
When Akshan swung into action on League of Legends patch 11.15, players couldn’t keep their eyes off one thing: His revive.
With just one kill, the Rogue Sentinel could revive his entire team — if he hunted down the right Scoundrel, that is. No penalties or nothing, if they died to him, his allies got revived.
Now, the controversial mechanic is finally being nerfed on League of Legends patch 11.17. However, it might not be enough for most players.
Riot are changing up the Rogue Sentinel so that he can no longer revive allies from the grave. If Akshan gets a kill on a Scoundrel after he dies, his team will no longer be revived. It forces the marksman to stay on his own two feet and get the kill before going down to reap the rewards.
It also changes how Akshan is played. Now the Rogue Sentinel can find value out of Stopwatch and Guardian Angel, giving him a second chance to get that big revive to swing a team fight.
However, in most situations it’s a direct nerf to the champion, who is hovering near 50% win rate at all ranks.
After buffs brought him up to 50% win rate, Akshan is being adjusted in #LeagueOfLegends patch 11.17.
The biggest change is he can no longer revive allies if he dies before killing a Scoundrel. pic.twitter.com/k5YQSOelQp
— Dexerto League (@DexertoLeague) August 19, 2021
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Not all bad news for Akshan mains
Akshan isn’t just getting the revive nerf though. Riot are giving him some compensation bug fixes and buffs to help the Rogue Sentinel survive the change.
Lead designer Jeevun ‘Jag’ Sidhu confirmed as much on August 17. Akshan’s passive will now consistently change its targeting if the initial target dies on the first shot. His ultimate execute on minions will now be more reliable too.
Balance-wise, Akshan is losing some base damage on his Heroic Swing, but it’s receiving a significant 7.5% bonus AD buff that helps him scale a bit better into the late game.
Sidhu did admit the changes tend towards being “slightly negative but it’s pretty hard to tell.”
Akshan, Amumu, Gangplank pic.twitter.com/ZW7FheFP7X
— Jeevun Sidhu (@JeevunSidhu) August 17, 2021
You can find the full list of Akshan changes for LoL patch 11.17. The update is expected to ship on August 25.
Upcoming Akshan LoL changes
Passive: Dirty Fighting
- Bugfix: Second attack will more consistently complete on targets when the first attack was executed at max range
- Bugfix: Improvements in predicting if the first attack will kill the target, including shields on the target, and on-hit effects on Akshan like Wit’s End and Kraken Slayer
W: Going Rogue
- Akshan can no longer claim Scoundrels when he is dead
E: Heroic Swing
- Damage: 30-130 + 10% bonus AD >>> 30-110 + 17.5% bonus AD
- Bugfix: Heroic Swing will no longer end early on towers
R: Comeuppance
- Cooldown when cancelled by crowd control: 15 seconds >>> 5 seconds
- Bugfix: Minions will be consistently executed, regardless of armor bonuses