League of Legends nerfs Yone in first patch since his arrival
It was a good run while it lasted, but now, Riot Games has added a Yone nerf for the first time since his arrival in the multiplayer online battle arena game. Despite Yone's freshman status League of Legends (LoL), he's already facing a revamp and has had some of his superstar powers stripped back.
Don't worry though, there are also some much-needed buffs for other Champions who've been pushed out of the game's meta - namely forgotten marksmen. There were frustrations that Champions were overbuffed in Patch 10.16, meaning devs have backtracked on some of these.
Lead gameplay designer Mark “Scruffy” Yetter shared details on Patch 10.17 and confirmed it's “a bit smaller than normal”. The patch will be live from today (August 19) and nerf Yone alongside Caitlyn, Sona, and Lux.
Next time you play, you can expect Yone's Q base damage to have been decreased, while his ultimate has also been changed so it won't lifesteal. Elsewhere, Lux is facing a W shield decrease, W mana cost increase, and a bug fix for her W giving her extra shield.
Discussing the nerfs, Yetter explained, "When we overshoot a buff in a patch we always first think about reverting partially (like cait and hecarim this patch) When we sometimes go with a different nerf it’s because we think the buffs are worth keeping and we want to shift a champions gameplay in that direction".
Click to enlargeExpanding on Caitlyn and Hecarim's substantial buffs the past few patches, the next one is bringing them both down a peg or two. After Patch 10.15 increased Cait's base movement speed and attack damage were increased, she became one of the strongest Champions in LoL. Although she gets to keep her base attack damage upgrade, her movement speed has been pulled back to 325.
Hecarim's Devastating Charge got a huge buff in Patch 10.16, and while the increase has been reduced, it's not quite back to his original state. Finally, Varus, Xayah, and Kai’Sa will get small (but important buffs) that could made all the difference in Summoner's Rift.
Even if this patch is a little smaller than usual thanks to developers taking their annual summer holiday ahead of Worlds, it's still enough to show League of Legends is trying to even things out among Yone and all the rest.
Images via Riot Games
