Renekton gets big nerf in LoL patch 11.6, Leblanc & Sylas buffed

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The detailed preview for the upcoming League of Legends patch 11.6 is out, with big nerfs to some of the game’s heavy hitters in both solo queue and professional play. 

Another big patch is underway for League of Legends, according to gameplay design director Mark “Scuffy” Yetter. The latest preview brings a lot of changes to both champions and items, some bigger than others. Some of the most notable nerfs are hitting champions that fans see every week on the professional scene, while the buffs will include an adjustment to Akali and the recently announced upgrade to Xin Zhao

Renekton gets his ultimate nerfed in LoL patch 11.6

  • R – Dominus, bonus health 250-750 >> 250-550

The most significant nerf of the patch will likely be hitting Renekton, who is currently a contested pick in professional play and has been for a while. Renekton is also a solid pick in solo queue, as he is always able to take over in the laning phase right from the first few levels. 

His strength has seemingly gotten to a point where Riot wants to tone him down, but mainly in the later stages of the game according to this nerf. By giving Renekton less bonus health while using Dominus, Renekton will lose a lot of his late-game strength. Renekton has always been known as a champion that falls off in the late game, but in season 11 that hasn’t always been the case. With the new item Goredrinker, Renekton is usually able to self-sustain in late-game fights, and that is scary. By removing some health from his ultimate, Renekton will be easier to burst down in the later stages of the game. 

The nerf seems pretty big for Renekton on paper, and it might make teams reconsider his priority.   

Renekton

Riot looks to bring Leblanc and Sylas back into meta

Leblanc

  • W – Distortion, mana cost 60-120 >> 60-100

Leblanc is a champion that wants to jump in and out of fights, juking the enemy until she gets some kills. This has been hard for Leblanc over the past few patches because she is simply not fitting into the meta. For patch 11.6, Riot will make an attempt to bring her back into the mid lane by lowering her late-game mana cost on Distortion, but it isn’t guaranteed to be enough. 

With that said, it will still put Leblanc in a better spot in the later stages of some games. Burning mana can be a problem for Leblanc, as she doesn’t want to opt into mana items. That would make her lose out on too much of her required damage, so the lowered mana cost on Distortion will certainly help Leblanc players bounce in and out of fights in the patches to come. 

Sylas

  • P – Petricite Burst, attack speed 80% >> 125%
  • W – Kingslayer, cooldown 13-7 >> 13-6 seconds

Just like Leblanc, Sylas has been struggling to find his place in the meta. In patch 11.6, Riot will be giving him a significant buff to his passive, which will give him way more attack speed. His Kingslayer will also have a bit shorter cooldown when maxed out, which will help Sylas dish out more damage while also getting sustain from the healing. 

It’s hard to tell if this will bring back Sylas as a priority pick in the mid lane, but it might make him viable in certain matchups as a strong counter pick. 

Akali gets a big kit adjustment in LoL patch 11.6

One of the biggest changes for the upcoming patch includes Akali. After spending years trying to balance Akali, Riot is giving it another attempt by making some fairly big adjustments to her kit all around. 

For Akali’s base stats, Riot will be lowering her overall health but increasing her health per level. This will likely give Akali some better scaling options, but will make her more vulnerable in the early levels. For her abilities, Riot is adding an increase to her max energy while she’s in Twilight Shroud (W). This seems like a big buff to Akali, as she will now be able to dish out even more damage while moving in and out of stealth. If Akali wasn’t obnoxious enough before, this will definitely seal the deal. 

Akali will also receive some adjustments to her scaling. Akali is known for scaling with both attack damage and ability power, and that won’t change. Instead, her ability power scaling will increase on Shuriken Flip (E). Riot will also add ability power scaling to her first dash of Perfect Execution, which so far has only been scaling on attack damage. This should make ability power an even better growth option for the stealthy assassin.

Akali

When is LoL patch 11.6 being released?

According to the official League of Legends patch schedule, patch 11.6 will hit the live servers on Wednesday, March 17. Before that, the changes will be available for testing on the Public Beta Environment (PBE) which might result in some adjustments to the official patch based on feedback from players. 

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