League of Legends lead balance dev Riot Phroxzon has responded to the community after both Zeri and Yuumi dominated professional play once again.
Riot’s popular MOBA League of Legends is a pretty huge game. Being just under 14 years old, the title has seen numerous changes and iterations throughout its lifespan. With the introduction of new champions, mechanics, and items, the experience has exponentially grown in its complexity.
This makes it an insanely difficult game to balance, as juggling all the different variations of champions, items, and interactions means keeping a close eye on the state of all variables. Riot’s balance team is able to keep most champions and strategies in a reasonably playable state, allowing players to pick whatever they want and still win. However, there are certainly times when this isn’t the case, and a strategy or champion is considered easily the best.
At the moment, the balance for professional League of Legends is looking a bit off, with two champions, in particular, dominating all those before them. Both Yuumi and Zeri have had an overwhelming in pro play for quite some time now, and viewers have clearly had enough. With the outrage shown by viewers, lead balance dev Riot Phroxzon took to Twitter to respond.
Zeri, Yuumi are receiving significant nerfs in 13.12. We're not happy with their state in Pro and intend a meta shift away from enchanters (+Milio nerfs)Both champs benefited from 13.10, 11Zeri is too strong & tanky on Tri Force spike + Yuumi has strong synergy with Helias
— Matt Leung-Harrison (@RiotPhroxzon) June 13, 2023
Phroxzon reported back with why the champs are far too strong at the moment.
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“Zeri, Yuumi are receiving significant nerfs in 13.12. We’re not happy with their state in Pro and intend a meta shift away from enchanters (+Milio nerfs). Both champs benefited from (patches) 13.10, 11. Zeri is too strong & tanky on Tri Force spike + Yuumi has strong synergy with Helias.” the post states.
They continued on by talking about the future of the champions, considering their struggles to balance the two.
“Item changes have made both champs overtuned individually, which makes them especially overwhelming together. We’re optimistic about their future and mechanics, BUT think sub 50% WR is a better spot for them to sit long term & are open to more drastic changes if that doesn’t work.”
Hopefully the significant nerfs to both champions work as a band-aid fix for the time being. However, with the history of both these problematic characters in mind, only time will tell if Riot is able to get them into a more healthy state.
