How will Olaf and Taliyah change in their champion updates?

A Riot designer has announced that Taliyah and Olaf updates are in the works following the success of similar refreshes on other champions.

Taliyah and Olaf are the latest champions to be slated for mid-scale updates similar to what was done for Ahri and Janna previously. These updates were announced by Riot Games’ lead champion designer for League of Legends, Riot August. The updates for the Shuriman stone mage and Freljord’s angriest berserker are already in the works according to the League of Legends developer, meaning they could be arriving soon. But what will these champion updates bring for Taliyah and Olaf?

Taliyah and Olaf updates coming soon

Riot has been moving away from reserving quality-of-life updates for champions to just visual gameplay updates, also known as VGUs, and leaning more into smaller refreshes for champions who have begun to show their age. Taliyah and Olaf are both champions who have had issues with feast-or-famine win rates depending on how their stats are tuned.

Taliyah was released as a mid-lane mage before eventually transitioning into one of the game’s best junglers. After Riot heavily nerfed both options, Taliyah has fallen out of favor and now lacks her previous identity as the premier roaming mage. An update could potentially look to bring her back into that position.

We're beginning to ramp up work on "mid-scope updates". These are larger sets of changes for champions that can take a couple months to lock down. The recent Ahri and Janna adjustments are examples of work in this space.

Mid-scopes for Taliyah and Olaf are currently in flight. pic.twitter.com/X6PRyxuFA9

— August (@RiotAugust) March 29, 2022

Olaf is one of League of Legends’ oldest champions, with a binary and straightforward design that involves running down the opposition. All Olaf wants to do is toss axes as he sprints towards his target, relying on early game stats and strong skirmish potential to claim advantages. Both of these aspects have distinct identities than have fallen by the wayside as new champions with more complex mechanics are introduced. Changes to Olaf could add some additional complexity to the champion to make him feel fresher and more satisfying to play.

Riot August confirmed that more champions would be receiving the update treatment in the future, pointing to the success of updates made to Xin Zhao, Sona, and Lucian as positive examples of the process. Riot hasn’t clarified what exactly it has planned for Taliyah, but hopefully fans will get the chance to throw more rocks with her. Many of the recent updates have led to a new lease on life for the affected champions, and these updates look to continue that trend for Taliyah and Olaf.