League of Legends patch 11.18 threw the meta for a loop right before Worlds, but Riot aren’t done yet. While most of the changes landed well, a select few champions — Fizz, Renekton, Singed, Soraka, and Varus — are on Riot’s watchlist for more changes.
League’s most recent update was the biggest in quite some time. Patch 11.18 set out on the goal of bringing more champions into the pro meta while toning down some favorites ahead of Worlds 2021 in October.
Most of the changes, like those made to Draven, Taliyah, and Yone, ended up landing “pretty cleanly,” lead gameplay designer Jeevun ‘Jag’ Sidhu said on September 10.
However, there’s a select few champions Riot have one last chance to touch up on in League of Legends patch 11.19 — the infamous Worlds patch the pros will play on.
Fizz, Renekton set for compensation buffs
The changes to Fizz and Renekton ended up being a bit too negative. Fizz’s ultimate damage nerf outweighed his massive passive buff, with Jag admitting the team “misjudged the magnitude of the adjustments.”
Fizz will be receiving a compensation buff in patch 11.19 as a result, and so will Renekton after his stun-lock change ended up affecting everyone drastically, not just pros.
“I can understand the difficulties that solo queue Renekton mains are having here — it can be really rough to have your champion nerfed for reasons that you will not experience.
“That being said, we have to be cautious compensating him as he has been pretty meta dominant in pro. We’ll look for safe buffs for 11.19.”
That being said, we have to be cautious compensating him as he has been pretty meta dominant in pro. We'll look for safe buffs for 11.19.
(5/7)
— Jeevun Sidhu (@JeevunSidhu) September 10, 2021
Qiyana was also highlighted as having been negatively impacted in the recent update, but Riot has no plans on buffing her. Jag believes the changes to her E-Q combo “will be healthier in the long term” but will work with players to make sure the transition is smooth.
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Soraka, Varus in line for more nerfs
On the other side of the equation, three champions could be getting reigned back in.
Soraka and Varus might have faced two different fates in patch 11.18 — the former was buffed dramatically to add a Grievous Wounds cleanse to her ultimate, while the latter was nerfed.
“We may need to pull back [on Soraka], probably on the R healing, but we’re unlikely to revert the change; we think it was right for her (for now, at least),” Jag said.
“The [Varus] nerf did not seem effective. We may have to hit him again in 11.19.”
Singed is on the borderline for Riot. While they’re happy with the big buff, it could end up being too much once more data comes in.
5) Singed: this was a big buff. We’re okay with this for now, but we’d like to see more games with him to confirm.
6) Varus: the nerf did not seem effective. We may have to hit him again in 11.19. Waiting for more data. (7/7)
— Jeevun Sidhu (@JeevunSidhu) September 10, 2021
None of the six aforementioned champions currently have any changes in testing on the League of Legends patch 11.19 PBE.
The “Worlds update” is set to drop on September 22.