Champions like Pyke, Karthus, Swain, Skarner, and Tahm Kench are finally getting changes in the upcoming few patches in Season 10.
League of Legends’ lead gameplay designer Mark “Scruffy” Yetter tweeted that their team is currently working on improving some champions mechanics. He revealed their upcoming balance goal for Pyke, Karthus, Swain, Skarner, and Tahm Kench. And all the changes will be shipped into the PBE for testing in the upcoming few patches.
Balance Goals:
Ever since his release in patch 8.11, Pyke was one of the most impactful support champions in League of Legends. But soon became a solo lane monster dominating both the mid lane and top lane. This resulted in him getting a bunch of changes in season 9, effecting his support as well. As he didn’t get any buff in season 10, his win rate in the support role is below 50% for quite some time now. But now, according to Riot Scruffy, they are planning to buff Pyke support in a way that he will be impactful in the support role but will not become overpowered again in the solo lane.
Unlike Pyke, Riot wants to bring Karthus back to the mid lane with the upcoming changes. “Bring mid Karthus back into a more viable position and give us the levers to tune both mid and jungle more easily in the future,” Riot Scruffy said.
Swain is out of the meta for quite some time now. He is also hovering around a 2% pick rate for the entire season 10, he also didn’t get any kind buff in season 10 as well. But now, Riot wants to change him so that he can become OP in the lower Elo and also become a viable champion in higher Elo. They want to change his kit so that, he can become a ”battlemage who must be in close range” to deal enough damage.
The goal for Skarner is to make him a strong damage threat against fighters/tanks. Being one of the lowest pick rate champions, the new changes might help him to be somewhat relevant in the current meta.
Tahm Kench is another champion who is hardly seen in the ranked beside the pro games. Like Skarner, he also has below 1% pick rate for most of the season 10. “Significantly shift power from pro-level play so that he can be a reasonable soloq pick in support,” Riot Scruffy said about Tahm Kench‘s goals.
Riot Scruffy also mentioned that they will cover detailed Tahm Kench balance change in tomorrow’s quick gameplay dev post.
