Riot speaks on Tahm Kench and Sona reworks, item balance

William Davis Published 14/05/2021

The Summoner’s Rift balancing team has their work cut out for them in the upcoming months with several projects in the pipeline. 

In a recent tweet by gameplay design director Mark “Scuffy” Yetter, a rough priority timeline of projects was presented to the League of Legends players. This list includes several projects that have already been hinted at, including changes to systemic mobility that will likely be worked on throughout the year.  

The systemic mobility changes are looking to be targeting major mobility outliers that “go too far breaking intended weaknesses” as well as trimming small movement speed creep across both items and runes. One of the items that were highlighted is Stridebreaker, which is currently a go-to item for many top laners. The item itself helps immobile bruisers gain a burst of mobility, which often creates little to no counterplay for squishy targets. 

It seems that Riot has realized that some of the new items and runes have provided too many strengths to certain champions, but won’t be looking to make overall nerfs. Instead, Riot want’s a power shift away from too much mobility. If the shift doesn’t happen through reducing systemic mobility, Riot will be looking to target specific champions. 

This project is looking to get attention after Riot has completed the upcoming adjustments to tank legendary items. This project is currently at the top of the priority list and will be reducing the near mandatory status of Thornmail and hopefully bring in other options to tanks such as Frozen Heart and Warmog’s Armor. 

Fans should expect the tank item adjustments as the next big change in the game, after which Riot should focus harder on systemic mobility. 

Tahm Kench and Sona rework for LoL is still underway

Further down Scuffy’s priority list is the Tahm Kench and Sona reworks. Players have already gotten a lot of insight into the upcoming Tahm Kench rework, but it still seems like there will be a little longer before it hits the live servers.  

The upcoming Sona update seems to be a bit farther away and won’t get her new art done before the Tahm Kench update has been released. The changes to Sona have already been teased a few times, but it’s still unknown what the specifics are. According to lead game designer Jeevun Sidhu, the new design is locked and should arrive later in the summer.   

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