Taliyah has been out of the League of Legends meta for some time. The once-popular jungler and mid laner is now one of the least played champions. So, Riot are considering some “large-scale” Taliyah changes to fix her Season 11 struggles.
Since releasing in 2016, Taliyah has been on the fringe of the League of Legends meta. The Stoneweaver has always had a small but dedicated fan base, but numerous changes have slowly dwindled that.
She’s jumped from role-to-role, starting out as a mid laner before finding prevalence in the jungle — and even some viability as a bot lane or support pick — but her identity hasn’t really resonated with players.
Taliyah’s win rate is solid — hovering at just below 50% — however her pick rate is abysmal. In jungle, her primary role, Taliyah has a 0.59% pick rate, the lowest-picked of all.
Riot realizes that this is a problem, but their hands are tied even after buffs as recently as LoL patch 11.3, because of her win rate.
“Taliyah’s win rate is already in a spot where there is not a lot we can do with her to give her satisfaction without giving her power,” developer ‘GalaxySmash’ told players on Reddit.
“We did the closest we could in opening her back up to being a jungler earlier this year, whereas before, she was only a mid laner and even more unpopular than she is now.
“Opening her up to jungler gave her a boost in playrate, and it seems Taliyah players overall enjoy her more in the jungle for a variety of reasons.”
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However, with the champ being “just genuinely unpopular” and small changes not really impacting much, Riot have one ace left up their sleeve — a bigger mini-rework.
Taliyah has had a rocky Season 11, but Riot are considering big changes to make her viable.
@realGalaxySmash: "She would require some large-scale work which is difficult to find time for, but not out of the question."
The Stoneweaver has a 1.06% play rate. pic.twitter.com/8vJOTKvmZB
— Dexerto League (@DexertoLeague) August 22, 2021
Akin to changes shipped in Season 11 for the likes of Irelia, Tahm Kench, Lucian, and Gangplank, Riot could play around with her Worked Ground mechanic, as well as the rest of her kit, to try and carve out a new niche for the Stonewalker.
However, there’s one big hurdle: Time.
“I think at this point it’s clear to get a big increase in pick rate she would require some large-scale work which is difficult to find time for, but not out of the question,” GalaxySmash said.
“We have tried small changes to solve it but couldn’t get anything to stick.”
No changes are planned for Taliyah in the upcoming LoL patch 11.17 update, but as preseason 12 nears, mains of the Stoneweaver might be in luck.