Riot will nerf heavy hitters in Patch 11.3 including Olaf, Ivern

With LoL Patch 11.3 fast approaching, Riot has revealed nerfs to several champions who are currently seeing a lot of play in both professional and solo queue. 

For the third patch of Season 11, Riot will still be focusing heavily on balancing the new item system, but more and more champions are also being touched upon. With the professional season starting back up, Riot has realized that quite a few heavy hitters need adjustments, such as Olaf, Ivern, Seraphine, and others. On the other end of the stick, Riot will bring buffs to champions like Jinx and Singed, to maybe bring them back into meta. 

Riot looking to nerf Olaf, Ivern, and Seraphine in patch 11.3

Olaf

• Base health 597 >> 575
• P – Berserker Rage, attack speed 0-100 >> 0-70% based on missing health

Olaf is currently one of the best junglers in both solo queue and professional play. He is usually a menace in the jungle that gets uncontrollable after just a few kills. There is no doubt that Olaf is in an unbalanced spot, so seeing some nerfs to him on patch 11.3 will likely do good for the jungle role in general. 

By lowering Olaf’s base health and passive attack speed, he will be less scary in early skirmishes and will probably be easier to deal with. As of right now, no champion can really match him in the jungle. Pairing these nerfs with the nerfs to the Goredrinker Mythic item, Olaf looks to be less prioritized on the upcoming patch. 

Ivern

• Health per level 95 >> 85
• E – Triggerseed, shield 80-220 >> 80-200

Ivern has been an interesting pick in both solo queue and professional play during the past weeks. For solo queue, Ivern has been sitting at some high win rates in the jungle but in professional play, he has been prioritized in the top lane. 

Seeing Ivern in pro play is a rare sight in general, so it came as a shock when professional teams in the LEC picked him up for the top lane. Despite it being an unorthodox pick, Ivern is actually quite a strong laner. He can be a real bully in lane that scales up to be a supportive monster in the late game. With a strong hyper carry by his side, Ivern can be a real game-changer. 

For Patch 11.3, Riot wants to tone him down a bit. This will be done by lowering his health per level and shield amount on Triggerseed. These nerfs don’t seem big enough to completely ruin the Green Father, so he might still be picked up on some occasions. 

Popular Mythic item Goredrinker nerfed in Patch 11.3

• Active heal 12 >> 8% missing health

One of the most popular Mythic items so far has been the Goredrinker. The item is picked up on almost every bruiser in the game and makes it very hard for opponents to deal with the big heals coming from the Goredrinker active. 

The Goredrinker alone has made champions such as Renekton and Olaf close to unkillable when ahead, simply because the active heal is too big. Bruisers are usually having a hard time when getting kited, but the Goredrinker heal gives enough time to chase down enemies up until this point. By nerfing the heal, Riot will hopefully manage to get Goredrinker in a more balanced spot and open up for other Mythical items to be viable.  

Jinx and Singed buffed for LoL Patch 11.3

To compensate for all the champion nerfs, Riot will be looking to bring in new faces to the meta. Both Jinx and Singed have been out of meta for a while now, but upcoming buffs might change that. 

Jinx

• Q – Switcheroo!, range extension 75-175 >> 100-200

The Loose Cannon Jinx has been out of meta for a while and there is definitely a lot of players out there wishing for her return. For Patch 11.3 Riot will give it a shot by buffing her range on Switcheroo!. The extra range might be enough for Jinx to stay safe in the backline, without getting instantly jumped by bruisers or assassins. 

With the new Galeforce Mythic item, Jinx has an opportunity to buy some self peel, and with a buff on top, she might be able to challenge marksmen such as Kai’Sa and Aphelios for a spot on the priority list. Sadly for Jinx, none of her marksmen colleges are getting nerfed in this patch, which might delay her return.   

Singed

• Q – Poison Trail, ability power ratio 80-90% (over two seconds)

Singe has always been a difficult champion for Riot to balance, especially for professional play. A champion like Singed can be a pain in solo queue, but getting him viable in pro play takes a bit of effort. This usually means that Singed will only be viable in solo queue, otherwise, Riot would have to buff him too much. 

With that said, Riot is giving it another attempt in Patch 11.3 with the minimum hope of seeing Singed more in solo queue. The Mad Chemist will get a nice buff on his Poison Trail AP ratio, which could turn out scary with the right items. Singed will likely still be a bit of a situational pick in solo queue, but Singed players will still be able to enjoy this buff quite a lot. 

When will LoL Patch 11.3 go live?

LoL Patch 11.3 is scheduled to hit the live servers on February 3, according to Riot’s patch schedule. Before that happens, the patch will be available for testing on the Public Beta Environment (PBE). The patch will likely go live on the PBE within the next few days.