Yuumi rework abilities explained and release date revealed

Nicholas James Published 26/02/2023

The Yuumi rework has hit the Public Beta Environment, so here’s everything that has changed and what you should expect.

Yuumi is one of the most-hated champions in all of League of Legends in her current form. With the ability to hop onto an ally and become practically untouchable while she heals, peels, and speeds up her host, it’s hard not to hate losing to her. At the same time, her safety made her a constant threat to the state of professional play since her release.

For these reasons, Riot Games decided to try and give her a Midscope Update, a gameplay-only reimagining of outdated champions or those whose kits have made more problems than solutions. Late in the week on February 24, far after Riot Games’ usual schedule for PBE updates, the Yuumi rework suddenly appeared on the PBE. Here’s how it works.

Yuumi rework revealed

Passive – Feline Friendship

Whenever Yuumi hits an enemy, she can periodically heal herself. If she chooses to attach to an ally shortly after being healed, they are healed as well. If Yuumi is already attached to an ally, she heals both herself and that ally. While Yuumi is attached, the ally she is paired with gains stacks of Friendship for killing champions or minions. While Yuumi is tethered to the member of her team with the most stacks of Friendship, her abilities gain bonus effects.

Q – Prowling Projectile

Yuumi’s Q still works very similarly to her previous kit. She fires a missile that deals magic damage and slows the first enemy hit. If Yuumi is attached to an ally, she can briefly control the projectile before it locks in its trajectory and will both deal more damage and slow enemies more. Unlike previously, Yuumi now only controls the projectile’s path for part of the ability’s duration.

Best Friend Bonus: The slow is always enhanced, and hitting an enemy champion grants her Best Friend magic damage on-hit. The slow can be increased by up to 75%, scaling with her attached ally’s Critical Strike Chance.

W – You and Me!

Yuumi’s W is also very similar to the previous version. Passively, Yuumi gains shield and heal power based on her Best Friend’s level while attached to her Best Friend. They also gain a healing effect on hit. When activated, Yuumi can attach to an ally, becoming untargetable. Yuumi can unattach or jump to another ally by reactivating her W while attached to a champion. If Yuumi is ever immobilized, she cannot use You and Me! for 5 seconds.

E – Zoomies

Yuumi’s E is now a shield instead of the heal it once was. Yuumi shields herself and gains attack speed as well as movement that lasts as long as the shield persists. If Yuumi is attached, it affects her attached ally instead, granting them 20-40 mana as well as shielding them.

R – Final Chapter

Yuumi’s ultimate may look similar, but it functions very differently. Yuumi channels for 3.5 seconds, launching five (reduced from seven previously) waves that affect both teams. If Yuumi is attached to any champion, she can choose where each wave fires with her mouse. Enemies are slowed and dealt magic damage that increases with each wave hit, while allies are healed with overhealing becoming a shield. If Yuumi is attached to her Best Friend, the heal is increased and grants both Armor and Magic Resist to the Best Friend.

How does this change Yuumi?

So how do these new abilities alter the way Yuumi should be played? There are several changes that alter how the magical cat will be piloted. These changes are best tackled in order from her passive to her ultimate.

Much of Yuumi’s power is now gated behind her Best Friend synergies, which encourages her to stick near her Best Friend. Since Yuumi needs to be with a partner, and the bottom lane is the only duo lane in the game, that’s almost always going to be the AD carry. Part of Yuumi’s problem previously was her ability to attach to any fed member of the team, be they a jungler, mid laner, or top laner, and give them a huge power boost when they were already ahead. The Yuumi rework looks to fix this by making her much better attached to her Best Friend than anybody else.

https://youtu.be/vd5n0kdNtl0

Yuumi’s Q now grants on-hit healing to her Best Friend and slows more with her attached ally’s Critical Strike Chance. Thanks to this, Yuumi’s Q is far better when attached to a crit-based marksman than anywhere else. Yuumi also heals and shields more than usual while on her Best Friend, encouraging her to stick to that champion for the most value. Yuumi’s E has no Best Friend scaling, but switching from a heal to a shield means she’s only getting value if she’s blocking damage. Previously she’d be able to heal an ally to full between fights, this time she’ll only be able to prevent damage.

Yuumi rework release date

The Yuumi rework is on schedule to be released on the next patch, Patch 13.5, which should arrive on March 7, 2023. Yuumi’s new rework is meant to be much more of a new player-friendly champion perfect for duo laning with your less-experienced friend who’s just getting into League of Legends. Yuumi’s constant appearance as a pick-or-ban status support in professional play, along with the frustrating experiences she presented in solo queue, were the central reasons for her needing a facelift.

The Yuumi rework should spend just under two weeks on the Public Beta Environment before making its way to live servers. During this time, Riot Games will look to tweak her new design and prep her as best it can for tens of millions of players. This new version seems much more healthy, making her healing less frequent and encouraging her to stick with her AD carry rather than jump onto juggernauts.

If you want to try the Yuumi rework before it hits live servers, sign up for the PBE in order to try it out.

Nicholas James

About Nicholas James

Nicholas James is a gaming writer with a passion for all things geekdom, as well as live theater. Nicholas is best known for covering League of Legends and other top MOBA titles, but his expertise covers numerous games across multiple genres. When not watching the LCS or playing the latest new release, Nicholas can be found doing some tabletop gaming and painting his favorite miniatures. Nicholas has also published with Hotspawn, TheGamer, Dexerto, Esports.gg and other industry outlets.

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