Troublesome support Pyke is set for some big changes in League of Legends Patch 10.14. Riot are looking to put him back in the bot lane, after solo lane Pyke dominated the meta in Season 9.
Pyke was conceptualized as a support in League of Legends — with a twist. Instead of supporting with more traditional methods, Pyke’s manner of helping his allies was by killing enemies and sharing the gold.
However, his aggressive power saw him quickly rise to prominence as a solo laner. He could use his ultimate to get plenty of executes in a fight, and had a lot of wave clear with his Q, E, and a Tiamat.
While he’s been out of the meta for quite some time after some drastic nerfs, Pyke buffs are back on the table. Riot has highlighted the Bloodharbor Ripper as one of five champions on their Patch 10.14 hitlist.
“The team has a few different small champion mechanics projects being worked on. The hope is to ship them over the next few patches,” said lead gameplay designer Mark ‘Scruffy’ Yetter.
Their goals with the deadly support are to “buff support [power] without having solo lane Pyke pushed into OP territory.”
This has historically been a struggle, given how much of Pyke’s power in a solo lane is tied to his support identity as well. However, Riot has started finding the right balance, and is slowly shipping their changes to the PBE, according to Surrender@20.
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The League devs are targeting Pyke two-fold — increasing some of his damage, while reducing his tankiness. He is losing some late game resistances, with a considerable cut to his armor and magic resist per level.
The team has a few different small champion mechanics projects being worked on. The hope is to ship them over the next few patches. Anything you see on PBE is WIP but we appreciate the feedback.
Here are the current goals: pic.twitter.com/kEoRdqUDYQ
— Mark Yetter (@MarkYetter) June 25, 2020
He is regaining that lost power by a slight reduction in his mana costs on Bone Skewer, and an increase in damage. This won’t affect solo lane Pyke as a wave clear tool due to the changes to how tapping the Q works, while also making his engage more effective.
The changes should help bring Pyke back to the bot lane, although it might be with a few changes. Pyke typically takes Aftershock as support, and while the loss of resistances make having the extra through the Resolve keystone important, more aggressive Pyke’s might want to look into running the old faithful in Electrocute, or even Hail of Blades.
Swain, Skarner, Karthus, and Tahm Kench are also touted for changes in the coming patches. Karthus’ changes to bring him back to the mid lane were leaked briefly, however have since been reversed.
We will share more details about the other three champions expecting big changes when more information becomes available.
