Wild Rift Patch 3.1b: Darius, Fiora, Master Yi nerfed; Yuumi, Rakan buffed

The last balance changes for League of Legends: Wild Rift in 3.1 are already here, and we’re seeing significant changes to some of the strongest champions thus far.

With champs like Master Yi, Darius, and Fiora getting hit with nerfs while Yuumi, Lucian, and Kai’sa got boosted, we’re probably going to see a gradual meta shift before Patch 3.2.

Here are the champion changes for Patch 3.1b, and what you can expect from these tweaks.

Champion Buffs

Kai’sa

The Daughter of the Void is getting some love this patch because the devs wanted her win rate to increase for a bit.

Honestly, Kai’sa is S-tier on Solo Queue, so we think the buffs were meant to boost her priority in the upcoming 2022 Wild Rift Champions Southeast Asia (WCS) Finals.

Kai’sa's win rate in the WCS regionals is at a less than stellar 38.46%, and while the new item Stormrazor has helped her somewhat, Riot seems intent on boosting her abilities even more.

With the cooldown on Supercharge decreasing quite a bit, we can expect that she will be more mobile on the Rift, especially in the late game.

Supercharge:

Cooldown: 16/15/14/13s > 16/14/12/10s

Lucian

Lucian is one of the top picks in the bot lane in pro play, but his win rate in the WCS regionals was only at 46.43%.

He’s actually a pretty strong A-tier champion, but against S tier champions, and some very good Vayne mains, he still pales in comparison.

Expect his Piercing Light to be used more often, as its cooldown was decreased by a second, which can mean a lot against slower champions.

Piercing Light

Cooldown: 9/8/7/6s > 8/7/6/5s

Rakan

Rakan has one of the most underrated kits in Wild Rift, and we like seeing some changes on him.

He’s great when paired with Xayah, but his complex kit makes others hesitant to try him out, especially since he runs out of mana quite often.

A boost on Rakan's mana per level and mana at level 15 will greatly help him in the laning phase, so he’ll be able to shine more in the Rift.

We’re still hoping to see a bit more buffs next time so he can finally compete against the likes of Karma and Nami.

Base Stats

Mana per level: 41 > 57

Mana at level 15: 1009 > 1233

Yuumi

The cuddly cat is getting more chin scritches and treats from Riot with some significant buffs to her kit.

While we agree that she did struggle on the mobile Rift upon release, it’s a bit worrisome that she’s getting these buffs.

Yuumi tends to be annoying in the game's PC version. But in Wild Rift, her mana runs out too quickly.

If you’re a good Yuumi player, this shouldn’t be a problem, but for beginners, this takes a lot of getting used to.

Buffs on her first skill, Prowling Projectile, will help make her stronger in the laning phase, since she can use it more often, with less mana cost and a much lower cooldown. Which can be a problem, with her poke constantly whittling away enemy HP all while buffing the champion she’s with.

Bop ‘n’ Block

Shield: 60 + (22 × lvl) + 30% AP > 60 + (25 × lvl) + 35% AP

Mana restore: 20 + (5 × lvl) + 12% max mana > 20 + (5 × lvl) + 15% max mana

Prowling Projectile

Cooldown: 12/10.5/9/7.5/6s > 9/8/7/6/5s

Mana: 70 > 50

Champion Nerfs

Darius

The Hand of Noxus is getting a pretty significant nerf on his attack speed.

It's a well-deserved one, since the Hemorrhage stacks can be quite problematic, something he can usually get in just two seconds.

With Darius' attack speed per level decreasing significantly, he will reach the five bleed stacks much slower, allowing a window for counterplay.

Base Stats

Attack Speed per level: 2.2% > 1.2

Attack Speed at level 15: 41% > 27%

Fiora

The Grand Duelist is still overpowering everyone in the top lane and in teamfights despite her nerf in the first batch of udpates from Patch 3.1, so the nerf for 3.1b is much needed.

She gets a slight buff on her passive to help her in the early game, but the main pain point is the range her Lunge skill has, which allows her to “make safe trades”.

In 3.1b, the range on this skill has decreased, which means Fiora has to duel closer, which will allow for more counterplay.

We know Fiora mains are a bit sad about this, but we’re sure many others are rejoicing.

Duelist’s Dance

Vital base damage: 2.5% > 3%

AD Ratio: 4.5% per 100 bonus AD > 5.5% per 100 bonus AD

Lunge

Dash range: 4 > 3.5

Search range: 3.5 > 3

Jhin

All junglers know how much it hurts to get objectives stolen by Jhin, whose skill Fourth Shot got buffed so that it deals more damage than the all-important Smite Summoner Spell.

A cap on his damage to monsters is much needed to restore balance in the jungle.

Whisper

Fourth shot missing health damage to monsters: Un-capped > Maximum of 1000 damage

Master Yi

Looks like Master Yi in Wild Rift is also going a roller coaster ride like his PC counterpart. The Wuju Bladesman got another nerf on his Alpha Strike yet again.

Yi is meant to scale with attack speed, not damage, and Alpha Strike is not meant to be a skill that can be overpowered when combined with the invulnerability he gets from his ultimate.

Devs want players to also be strategic with scaling him and combining Alpha Strike with auto attacks, so a 40% decrease on his AD Ratio Attack damage is needed… even if this change makes me sad.

Alpha Strike

Base damage: 25/70/115/160 > 30/70/110/150

AD Ratio: 100% Attack Damage > 60% Attack Damage

Sett

Despite all the nerfs Sett has had since his arrival, he’s still a bit too strong in the early game.

He’s meant to be able to lane decently then scale and contribute more in teamfights — not dominate in every possible way like other top laners (I’m still waiting for that Garen buff).

Some nerfs on Pit Grit will address his sustain, while Knuckle Down’s damage was also decreased.

Pit Grit

Regeneration: 0.5/0.9/1.4/2 > 0.25/0.5/1/2

Knuckle Down

Base damage: 10/25/40/55 > 5/20/35/50

Champion Adjustments

Blitzcrank

Blitzcrank was meant to receive nerfs in the first batch of adjustments in 3.1, but devs overlooked these and the changes weren’t implemented.

After observing the Great Steam Golem, they decided that the nerfs weren’t necessary since the armour nerf didn’t have as much bearing as they thought it would.

Base Stats (maintained)

Armour: 50

Armour per level: 5.1

Total armor at level 15: 122

Olaf

Devs are correcting another misstep after nerfing Olaf’s Reckless Swing. According to them, “the cost is intended to be 30% of the damage” so this is being adjusted now.

Reckless Swing

Health cost: 21/39/57/75 + 15% AD > 18/36/54/72 + 15% AD

**As there is a 30% relationship between damage and cost**

We think there may be changes in champion priority both on solo queue and in pro play.

Hopefully, we'll see more priority and wins on Rakan and Yuumi, a bit more success on Kai’sa’s win rate in WCS, and perhaps finally decrease Master Yi’s and Fiora’s priority overall.

Time to learn some new champs perhaps? What do you think of these changes?

To read the full patch notes for Wild Rift patch 3.1b, check here.

Anna is a freelance writer and photographer. She is a gamer who loves RPGs and platformers, and is a League of Legends geek. She's also a food enthusiast who loves a good cup of black coffee.

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