After the launch of TFT Season 12, some compositions have proven to be overwhelmingly strong compared to the rest of the game. Therefore, just a few hours ago, the TFT Project Director – Riot Mortdog, introduced some very important changes in the upcoming patch 14.16 to balance out the overpowered compositions. In particular, the 2-cost carries have been showing too much dominance since the official release of TFT Season 12.
Syndra – The Vanguard of TFT Season 12
At the time of testing on the PBE server, Syndra was not a unit that received much attention. However, when TFT Season 12 officially launched, players gradually discovered her extremely “ridiculous” power. Unlike typical 2-cost carries that require leveling to 3 stars, Syndra can even help players win even when at 2 stars. This unit only needs a sufficiently strong frontline to cast her spell multiple times to easily “blow away” opponents.
Therefore, in the upcoming patch 14.16, Riot Games has heavily nerfed Syndra’s damage output. Moreover, her spell casting time has been increased from 0.3 to 1 second, significantly slowing down her stacking speed. This change drastically reduces Syndra’s damage output in the mid and late game and requires players to be very lucky to upgrade this unit to 3 stars early. Otherwise, the Syndra – Vanguard composition will lose strength very quickly towards the end of the game, putting players at risk of being eliminated before reaching the top 4.
Kassadin – The Linker of TFT Season 12
Although not as “ridiculous” in strength as Syndra, Kassadin is still a very strong carry in the mid-game. The annoying aspect of this unit lies in its ability to create large shields continuously due to high attack speed and rapid energy regeneration. This allows Kassadin to survive exceptionally well and withstand significant damage during the mid-game. Meanwhile, this unit can also deal considerable damage.
To address this, Riot has significantly reduced both the basic shield amount and the bonus damage on attacks from Kassadin. This change means Kassadin will no longer have the superior durability in fights as before. It’s worth noting that in patch 14.16, Riot also buffed the damage stats of the Gunner, Warrior, and Mystic traits. Therefore, if Kassadin is not upgraded to 3 stars, he can easily become a target for opponents to “take down,” leading to a severe lack of damage for players.
Honey Bee – Kog’Maw
In TFT Season 12, Riot has introduced several “Hero Augments” to diversify the gameplay of “auto chess.” However, they have overly favored the Honey Bee trait with two units, Blitzcrank and Nunu, having “Hero Augments.” Combined with Kog’Maw’s ability to deal strong damage while buffing attack speed, the Honey Bee trait becomes hard to stop when the full composition is achieved. This has led to 3 out of 4 of the top compositions based on top 4 rates (according to Metatft.com) being variants of the Honey Bee composition.
In patch 14.16, Riot Games has heavily nerfed Kog’Maw’s skill damage stats. Consequently, this unit will lose 35% of its interaction stats with AD at 3 stars, significantly reducing its damage output. This change makes the typical Honey Bee reroll strategy with Kog’Maw noticeably weaker, forcing players to rely on “Hero Augments,” which appear at a very low rate and are not a stable way to climb the ranks.