Riot reveals buffs to both Akali and Gwen for Worlds 2021 patch

The League of Legends patch 11.19 patch preview has dropped and it has buffs to a few champions that are known to dominate professional play. 

In the most recent patch preview by lead game designer Jeevun Sidhu, it was revealed that Riot will be bringing another big round of buffs to League of Legends champions. This patch will act as the second and last patch prior to the 2021 World Championship. It is mainly aimed towards professional play. With that said, there will still be plenty of changes that could affect solo queue, such as the buffs being made to both Akali and Gwen. 

11.19 Full Patch Preview is here!

This is the second of two Worlds-focused patches. Given that we won't have any more opportunities to change the game, we aimed quite conservatively here. No huge swings anywhere.

Also, regarding Fizz…

(1/2) pic.twitter.com/nnKiNe3TJi

— Jeevun Sidhu (@JeevunSidhu) September 14, 2021

To avoid any major changes in the middle of Worlds 2021, Sidhu made it very clear that they “aimed quite conservatively” with these changes. This means that there won’t be major changes to champions, but instead smaller buffs and nerfs that will hopefully be enough to fine-tune the champions as intended. 

Akali and Gwen buffed in LoL patch 11.19

The most significant names on the buff list are Akali and Gwen, who will both see some small buffs applied. Both champions are impactful assassins that can take over games on the professional stage if given enough strength. This was something that concerned the community at large, and it seems like Riot is aware that buffing these champions for the World Championship will be like playing with fire. 

The buffs are fairly small this time around, even though they can still have an impact. For both Akali and Gwen, Riot will be buffing their base health regeneration, which could affect their laning phases. With patch 11.18 in mind and the meta going into Worlds, there’s a chance that fans will see some more assassins in play. 

If Akali and Gwen don’t end up fitting the meta, then Riot has made sure to give other similar champions some love. For this patch, Sylas will also be given a buff as his base mana and health regeneration gets a boost. Riot will be reverting the changes made to Fizz on patch 11.18 and will give him a lower cooldown on Playful / Trickster (E). 

There are a lot of changes to assassins that could define some of the Worlds 2021 meta. In previous years, certain assassins have been strong during the event and made the games highly entertaining for fans. 

It will still be some weeks before the professional players at Worlds hit patch 11.19, but for the live servers, this patch will already be available on Wednesday, September 22. It’s already available for testing on the Public Beta Environment (PBE).