A new set of Yuumi changes on the League of Legends PBE could nerf the magical cat in the bot lane big time, with huge hits to her overall damage and survivability turning her back into a pure support character.
Yuumi has been a staple bot lane pick since her release in League of Legends. While she started out on Summoner’s Rift with an abysmal 29% win rate, she soon climbed to be one of the game’s most overpowered champions.
She had a 35% presence at Worlds 2019, making her one of the most picked or banned supports at the tournament. While Riot has looked to tone down her kit in previous patches by removing some of her utility, the changelist for Patch 9.24 looks to be her biggest nerf yet.
The changes, as listed by Surrender@20, have targeted Yuumi’s damage and survivability. Starting from the top, her passive will now restore mana again, and will give a larger shield. While this is buffing it back up to its pre-Patch 9.14 power, it’s compensating for nerfs to the rest of her kit.
Her Q, Prowling Projectile, has been the strongest part of her kit, but that might no longer be the case after this nerf. Its mana cost has gone up by 10 at all ranks, while its AP ratios have been cut by 15% for a regular Q, and 25% for an empowered Q.
This means that full AP Yuumi will be losing a lot of its damage, and opting into a supportive build and only using Q for utility is a must.
Her W, You and Me!, has taken a hit too. While it will grant Yuumi and her attached ally more adaptive force, it will become harder for Yuumi to attach. She won’t follow an ally who uses teleport, it now has a 0.2 second cast time, and if she gets immobilized, she won’t be able to cast You and Me! for five seconds.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
This is a big hit to Yuumi’s survivability, as her ability to duck and weave through crowd control made her an excellent enchanter in teamfights. Now, if she gets knocked off, it’s game over for her and her team.
Finally, her E, Zoomies, is getting a mini rework. She will no longer store charges, but in compensation its cooldown is getting reduced. Its mana cost has also gone up significantly however, reaching 160 mana at rank five. But, it will grant more healing, and give an attack speed steroid as well.
This angles Yuumi back into being a pure support, rather than just attaching onto a bulky bot laner like Garen and calling the shots. She can help make her team stronger in fights, but she’s now becoming the high-risk champion that she was designed to be.
Her full AP build path of rushing Luden’s Echo and Rabadon’s Deathcap will be much less effective, but items like Ardent Censor will synergize really well with her new E. Yuumi players will also need to be more careful with how they dash around teamfights, as one misstep could lose them the game.
These nerfs are currently active on the PBE, but there could be more changes made before they actually hit live servers. Patch 9.24 is expected to drop on December 3.