LoL: Riot Balance Team Reveals Reasoning Behind ASol Changes & Thoughts On Other Champs In Patch 14.3
In Season 2024 we are getting regular check-ups from the Lead Gameplay Designer of LoL, Riot Phroxzon. He gives us regular reads to see what he and Riot is thinking about the meta and champions.
Riot Phroxzon is giving us basically bi-weekly updates on what he is thinking about current problems and balancing options in the meta. He comments on recent changes and hotfixes and gives us some more insights on Riot's decision-making. This time he talked about the 14.3 hotfix nerfs for Aurelion Sol and much, much more.
LoL: Lead Gameplay Designer On Patch 14.3
Riot Phroxzon apologizes for the accident with Aurelion Sol, the buffs were too much, and he was basically broken for a day or two. They hotfix-nerfed him and people were going crazy. They said that he is now even weaker than before the buffs. Phroxzon disagrees, and Riot believes that he is still stronger than pre-buff.
He claimed that they buffed Asol because the players were hoping to be rewarded for more proactivity, but the approach of buffing his W made him too much of a stat check. They are monitoring if Aurelion Sol players prefer the proactive play style or a more laid-back farming scaling style and go from that.
Illaoi is also still an issue, as she got some recent stat buffs that made her really strong without her tentacles. While she is really good Riot believes it is not yet time for hotfixes.
Maokai fits in the same boat. He is incredibly strong for multiple patches now, but also doesn't qualify for hotfixes. He will be getting hit soon though.
Wukong has gotten buffed as well, and they wanted to do that rather conservatively as range changes can instantly make something overpowered, but it wasn't hitting just right. They will look into more changes that don't overbuff jungle Wukong as well.
Overall, they are still not quite happy with the overall damage this season. The intention is to shift damage levels to squishy champions back to durability patch levels. They also want to move champions like Galio, Sylas into more health oriented builds. These champions build heavy AP items at the moment and deal a lot of damage.
I'm personally a big fan of these posts as they give a huge insight on what is going on at Riot and how they want to approach balancing.
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