At the TFT World Championship qualifiers: Destiny, the Sharpshooter – Spirit composition became extremely powerful and brought many victories to competitors. With hyper-roll Tristana, this composition can deal massive damage in the mid-game and easily secure win streaks. Moreover, Tristana can deal both magical and physical damage very effectively, making it difficult for opponents to build items and choose counter compositions.
This has led Riot Games to nerf Tristana in the recent 11.6 patch by reducing the additional attack speed from her ability. However, the Sharpshooter – Spirit composition still seemed too strong, forcing Riot to nerf Tristana once again in patch 11.6b. In addition to Tristana, Kayle and the Mage class were also weakened in this version. Specific information about patch 11.6b:
Tristana: Damage per hit when activating the ability changes from 30/60/90 to 40/60/80.
Neeko: Skill damage increases from 200/300/400 to 250/350/450.
Kayle: Damage of fire waves when Kayle levels up decreases from 100/150/400 to 100/140/350.
Mage: Additional skill damage decreases from 80/105/135% to 80/105/130%.
For Tristana, this change will significantly reduce her damage output at 3 stars. We need to remember that Riot has already reduced the additional attack speed from Tristana’s ability, so the direct nerf to damage is quite heavy. This will make 3-star Tristana no longer an “unstoppable” champion in the mid-game. It is highly likely that the Sharpshooter – Spirit team will be “killed off” with this change from Riot Games.
As for Kayle, the aforementioned nerf will prevent her from being able to “solo carry” in patch 11.6b. Teams centered around Kayle now need an additional carry to supplement the damage for the composition. Otherwise, players may easily find themselves lacking damage when facing tanky team comps like Protector, Brawler, or Vanguard – Legend. It will likely be much more difficult to reach the top 4 with a Kayle-centered composition in the upcoming patch 11.6b.
Riot’s buff to Neeko’s damage seems aimed at diversifying the meta for the upcoming TFT World Championship: Destiny. Neeko now possesses the ability to deal damage more effectively and helps the Vanguard – Legend team to be strong right from the mid-game. Regarding the Mage class, the 5% reduction in additional skill damage at the 7 champion mark does not significantly impact the strength of this composition.
