Gnar has not received any kind of nerfs since Season 7

Ali Ahmed Akib
By Ali Ahmed Akib
4 Min Read

Gnar has not received any kind of nerfs since Season 7 patch 7.18, making him one of the longest-reigning champions to not get nerfs in League of Legends at this moment.

After getting released on patch 4.14, Gnar was not having a great time, which resulted in him receiving buffs in two back to back patches. He also received a mini rework type buff on patch 4.20.

Because of all these buffs, Gnar had his prime time on Season 5, where he was picked more than 500 times in pro games. But, after Season 5, Gnar’s presence in the pro games dropped significantly even without receiving any kind of big nerfs. Although he made a come back in Season 8, as Chinese and Korean players kinda abused him with Summon Aery.

Due to his massive team play potential with Mega Gnar and his unique kit which is quite hard to master, Gnar has always been more prioritized in Pro plays than in ranked.

Gnar went through a bunch of changes as well while most of them were buffs, but on September 15th, 2017, Patch 7.18, Riot decided to give him nerf by reducing 30HP. And apparently, that was the last time Gnar received any kind of nerfs until now. This also makes him one of the longest-reigning champions to not get nerfs in League of Legends at this moment. Previously the record was held by Bard who didn’t get any kind of nerfs since Season 5 until patch 10.5.

  • Read More: Vladimir is the only champion who has not received any kind buffs, nerfs, or bugfixes since season 8
The Current State of Gnar in Season 10
Image Via Riot Games

The Current State of Gnar in Season 10

Gnar was doing great in Season 8, but what made his pro games presence went from 573 to 93 in Season 9 and just 20 in Season 10 even without any kind of nerf after 7.18 and getting 10 consecutive buffs?

The first thing to blame can be his patch 8.4 changes, where Riot changed his Boomerang Throw on-catch. And on top of that, they also decreased Ranged slow on Frozen mallet by 10% on the same patch which is one of his core items.

The second thing would be matchups. With Ornn and Sett release, Mordekaiser and Aatrox’s rework, Akali and Irelia’s dominance, Gnar just simply couldn’t get out of their shadows. Whenever he is matched against them, if they build Doran’s shield and take Second wind, Gnar just can not deal with them anymore in one vs one.

The final thing is his kit. Gnar heavily relies on Mega Gnar in order to do be relevant in the team fights, which most of the time solo queue players fail to do so. On the current patch 10.12, Gnar only has a 49% win rate with just a 2.9% pick rate which clearly shows how unpopular he is in the ranked games.

In order to make Gnar relevant once again, Riot Games is already planning to give him buffs on the upcoming patch 10.13, increasing his E(hop) attack speed. With the 10.13 buff, Gnar has now been buffed for the 10 consecutive patches. And with all the buffs, there’s a high chance that Gnar will make his comeback once again.

ali ahmed akib
By Ali Ahmed Akib Editor-in-chief
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Ali Ahmed Akib is the Co-Founder and Editor-in-chief of GameRiv. Akib grew up playing MOBA titles, especially League of Legends and is currently managing the editorial team of GameRiv.