As part of the new LeBlanc changes coming soon, Riot has said that Statikk Shiv will not get scaling changes.
Riot has already started working on future patches and rounding out the Worlds Patch. Patch 13.19 is set to balance out the game so that Worlds 2023 has an enjoyable and balanced meta for fans to watch and players to flourish in. Overall, things have looked good so far, in Riot’s words.
Just to keep everything in line, Riot is already putting in LeBlanc changes late into the patch due to an obnoxious build coming to the fray. AD LeBlanc will suffer quite a bit of damage, it seems. They are also removing certain pings for allies and the bait ping in Patch 13.19.
With all that said, the nerfs to LeBlanc and the roadmap towards that has certainly raised a number of eyebrows. This led many players to ask about Statikk Shiv and how the item is balanced as currently constituted. So, players started asking questions as to whether Statikk Shiv will get some scaling changes.
To this, Riot Phreak has answered in the Reddit thread, and here is what he had to say.
Read More: Riot Provides LeBlanc Changes Roadmap
Statikk Shiv Scaling Will Not Change
Riot Phreak starts his comment by saying that Statikk Shiv does not need to scale with AD or Critical Chance/Strike as it already scales with level.
Overall, his thoughts about Statikk Shiv are twofold. LeBlanc is the only mage using the item, so giving it more AD or Critical scaling does not change anything. Players will still build AD LeBlanc and still be obnoxious in the top lane.
Then, giving more AD or Critical scaling simply makes it stronger for champions like Yone, Yasuo, Rengar, etc. Also, different Riot developers have talked about it, including Riot Phreak, that they want to change how items work.
Riot Phroxzon, the Lead on the Balance Team, said that they are looking to reduce item passives and not increase them. So, adding more to an item like Statikk Shiv, which is already one of the first built items, seems absurd.
The current version of Statikk Shiv is a far cry from what it previously was. While Riot might still do more tuning on it, it is not a huge problem now. However, with these comments, Riot is steadfast in its opinions on not making any changes for Statikk Shiv in terms of scaling.
This bodes well for the future of Statikk Shiv in the new item system, and we will have to see how it translates further down the line.
