Riot Games announced that Dr. Mundo would be up next for a rework come Season 11. The beefy top laner has been in need of a rework for a while now, not seeing much play in either solo queue or in the competitive meta for some time.
The champion has become very item dependent, relying on statistics and a gold lead to win a game in lue of skill and the potential for outplaying his opponent. Even with the new item changes, Dr. Mundo is still easily counterable with healing resistance items and most forms of crowd control. Currently, the champion has a pick rate below 3.5% in solo queue in Season 11.
So with his rework status, what could Riot be planning to do to the champion to make him more fun to play and more viable for interested players on the rift?
Riot could give Dr. Mundo more mobility in rework
New champions and champion reworks normally follow along with the game’s power scaling towards more increased movement and mobility options for its champions. Dr. Mundo should be no different. The champion already has a movement speed increase ability in his current kit, but adding either a dash or a blink may make him more viable in an evolving meta.
This new ability should also maintain Dr. Mundo’s theme as a champion, a science experiment gone wrong with massive muscles and lots of health. The ability could be anything from hurling himself at enemies, similar to Zac, or creating a new mechanic like smashing through walls on the rift.
Mundo’s healing could play a big role
Healing as an ability has developed over time in League of Legends. It has gone from a passive idea and ability with no real skill involved in its execution, to the likes of Aatrox and Illaoi who have to think about spacing and skill shots when healing.
Dr. Mundo should be no different. His current ultimate and his passive could be revamped and changed to add counterplay opportunities and skill checks to his unique mechanics. Completely removing it from the game may be a step too far as the champion is themed in part around its healing ability, but adding more nuance to a previously straightforward mechanic is something that Riot has done before. For a recent example, look at how Fiddlesticks has had his kit overhauled to improve his healing and draining abilities for the more modern game.
While no concrete information has been given on Dr. Mundo’s rework, Riot has always adhered towards maintaining a champion’s existing theme and general idea while updating it to fit the company’s modern champion design plans. This rework should be no different.
