LoL Patch 14.4: Has Riot Killed Rek'Sai With The Changes?
Rek'Sai was pretty weak for most of Season 13 and even Season 14. Riot has tried to fix this in Patch 14.4 but accidentally made her even weaker.
Rek'Sai has fallen pretty far from the position she once held. She used to be the Void Queen of the Jungle, but since her nerfs and the release of better champions, specifically better Void Queens (Delete Bel'Veth), she has been pretty weak.
She didn't see a lot of play in Season 14, and her win rate was pretty low, so Riot decided it was time to buff Rek'Sai. So they did. In patch 14.4, she got a lot of changes, which you can read about in our 14.4 Patch Notes article.
LoL: Riot Balancing At It's Finest
Rek'Sai got some base stat buffs, and the changes to her passive and Q ability are pretty decent as well. It made her a lot healthier and gave her some better ganking power with the extra bit of movespeed, no complaints.
The changes to her Burrow ability are actually not that great. Sure, the extra vision is nice, but the champion usually levels W last, so this is actually kind of a nerf until level 13. The unborrow/multiple knock up mechanic that was added is nice, but also negatively affects her clear, and with the base damage going down she might actually be slower through the jungle and do a little less damage.
Riot Games also decided to change the E from true damage, which will make it feel much less rewarding, and they also nerfed the ultimate damage, which was meant to be an execution.
So what did all those changes do? They took the identity of Rek'Sai and just removed it. She has a weaker early game, less damage, and new niche features that are very situational.
They wanted to move Rek'Sai into a more bruiser-oriented build, but since her buried Q and W are now magic damage, she can no longer stack Black Cleaver unless she ults at the beginning of the fight, which means she can no longer use it to execute or dodge abilities.
Overall, the champion has been nerfed with these changes, she is a buggy mess and feels terrible to play. These changes were supposed to bring her back after she was severely nerfed seasons ago, but this just rubs salt in the wounds of all the Rek'Sai mains. All 3 of them.
But Riot Phreak, Lead of Balancing has already promised buffs for Patch 14.5.
I am sorry Rek'Sai mains, your champion will be dead for an entire patch.
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