As of now, Worlds 2023 is proving to be an extremely successful tournament in many aspects. The excitement of Worlds 2023 has greatly increased due to Riot implementing the Swiss format and the strong performance of T1. According to Riot Games CEO Dylan Jadeja, the peak concurrent viewership for Worlds 2023 reached 33 million, a 66% increase compared to last year’s Worlds.
In addition, another positive point of Worlds 2023 is that there have been very few prolonged pauses during matches, affecting the audience. Game bugs have also been rare and have not directly impacted match outcomes. However, the League of Legends community recently discovered a major bug with the champion Ornn that occurred during the semifinals of Worlds 2023 between Weibo Gaming (WBG) and Bilibili Gaming (BLG).
Specifically, when Ornn upgrades the Guinsoo’s Rageblade for his teammates, it causes the item to bug out and lose its passive ability, Fury Strike. This is a special passive of Guinsoo’s Rageblade that allows champions to apply attack effects twice, increasing damage output. When this passive is activated, a purple light appears around the champion.
However, when Ornn upgrades the Guinsoo’s Rageblade for his teammates, this effect completely disappears. If the item is sold and then bought back immediately, the stacking attack speed passive also encounters a similar issue. This is quite a severe bug for Ornn as it renders a key item for teammates somewhat “useless.” Fortunately for WBG, they had already secured a significant advantage in that game, so this bug did not cause the LPL representative to lose the match.
So why was this bug only discovered near the end of Worlds 2023? The reason likely stems from the fact that Ornn was not a hot pick in this tournament, being chosen only 5 times. Combined with the low number of champions utilizing Guinsoo’s Rageblade at Worlds 2023 (almost exclusively Kalista and attack-speed Varus), the bug had not had the chance to surface. It only occurred when WBG selected Ornn and Kalista.
It’s worth noting that at Worlds 2022 last year, Riot Games announced a ban on using Orianna due to a visual bug with her ultimate. This time, Ornn is facing a significant bug that directly impacts his teammates’ strength. Therefore, it would not be surprising if Riot Games decides to ban this champion from appearing in the finals of Worlds 2023 (if applicable).