LoL: How Phreak Wants To Save Support Seraphine
Seraphine is in this weird state where she is really good in the bot lane. Just not as a support. Her first intended role was actually mid lane but even Riot wants to support her in her weakest role now, Support.
Riot Phreak has recently switched from the esport side of Riot Games to the game balancing sector. Ever since joining them he has been making hour long videos on YouTube where he explains his thought process behind changes and just gives us his general thoughts on issues and problems of certain champions. These insights are very informative and help us to understand the different balance changes in all the patches.
Seraphine has been a huge pain point for Riot Games. Initially she was meant to be a mid lane mage, but she has found her place in the bot lane because that is where everybody wanted to play her. While she was primarily played as a support in the past, she is now being played as a bot lane mage.
She is actually one of the stronger farming bot laners even while building support items, but she is not that good as a support.
LoL: How To Change Seraphine As Riot Games
In the Patch 14.4 Preview Video, Phreak talked about what could be done to Seraphine to make her feel a little bit better. He has proposed multiple changes like touching her AP Ratios and in general make her more damage focused as a carry mage. It looks like they want players to actively invest into AP items instead of just buying support items even when being in a carry position.
Seraphine can carry team fights on her own due to her insane utility, but Riot would actually like it more if she was played a little bit less as a support and more mage-like. Damage should be the first function, providing utility the second. They want to downplay her supportive aspects when she is played in a carry role but admit that she is so good at the APC position that she might lose some of her utility when the changes arrive.
LoL: What Did They Actually Do To Seraphine?
Patch 14.4 has rolled out without any Seraphine changes, but we have already got a preview of what will be part of Patch 14.5. You can find the whole list of changes in this article about Patch 14.5.
The change list is… large. They are adjusting basically all of her AP scaling as well as changing cooldowns and mana costs. While the Q and E are getting buffs, it looks like the W will be more expensive and has more cooldown but for better shield values.
The biggest changes for her identity are the 5 Base AD that she is getting removed and the nerf to her passive minion damage from 300% to 100%. These changes mean that she will have a harder time last hitting which should skew her towards support.
The extra 5 move speed could also help in the current support meta as it is very common to rotate around the map. They have also changed her mana growth and mana regeneration to stop her from using spells to clear waves.
What role are you playing Seraphine in?
More League of Legends: