“Overpowered” League of Legends mid lane champions like Katarina, Diana, and more are finally coming under Riot’s magnifying glass in Patch 10.11, as the devs look to lessen the impact of the central role in Season 10.
Mid lane has long been considered Summoner’s Rift’s most influential position. Professional stars like Faker, Perkz, and Bjergsen have forged their legacies in the central role, while solo queue heroes play mid to blaze up the ladder.
The versatile role has shone brightest in League for a few patches too long though. Starting from LoL Patch 10.11 — set to go live on May 28 — mid champions will be undergoing a raft of nerfs and changes.
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According to Riot’s lead gameplay designer Mark ‘Scruffy’ Yetter, the League devs had finally tweaked top lane enough over the past two seasons to see it land in “a good spot.” Now, he explained, the balance team could focus on mid, and bot.
“Our next focus is on mid and bot carry positions, which aren’t far off, but could see some slight adjustments,” the LoL dev said in Riot’s latest gameplay blog.
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“We think mid should be among the strongest positions in the game,” Yetter admitted,” but currently it is carrying a bit too much power. Slight nerfs should bring it in line, and we still intend for mid to be a highly influential role.”
Yetter added these nerfs would mainly be targeting the top-tier champions’ mechanics, as well as tuning their numbers. The devs would also be aiming to find a way to “effectively nerf mid, without indirectly hitting top” in the process.
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Which mid champs are on Riot’s chopping block?
Yetter didn’t specifically sentence any of the meta’s current top leaders to nerfs in his update, but there’s a few mid powerhouses that are likely to be targeted in the impending changes.
Burst mage Diana has thrived in Season 10. Her pick rate has been catapulted to 8.5% so far in 2020. This, coupled with her 53% win rate — despite nerfs to both damage and mana back in Patch 10.3 — puts her right in Riot’s firing line.
Katarina (53% win rate with a 7.7% pick rate), Ekko (52%, 5.5%), and Katarina (53%, 7.8%) are other candidates for changes. According to stats on Lolalytics, Zoe, Talon, and Syndra could also be in danger in League Patch 10.10 and beyond.
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While mid is set to drop in power, bot lane will finally be getting some much-needed boosts in the form of “small tweaks.” Riot is “exploring a few options,” Yetter added, but said the buffs probably wouldn’t target experience specifically.
Patch 10.11 is expected to arrive on Wednesday, May 28. So far, no balance changes for mid have landed on League’s testing realm, but we will make sure to update you on all upcoming buffs and nerfs as soon as they become available.
