In a game that has entered its 12th season like League of Legends, it’s understandable that many champions become outdated and need reworks. Moreover, some champions have faced issues due to past mistakes in balancing, becoming weak or less appealing in the current meta. Taliyah is one such case, having been nerfed too many times, which has made her jungle and mid-lane capabilities unreliable. As a result, Taliyah has a very low pick rate.
Therefore, alongside Swain and Olaf, Taliyah is also on the list of champions receiving light reworks from Riot Games this season. Just hours ago, the lead champion designer for League of Legends – Riot August, officially announced a series of significant changes for Taliyah. The goal of this rework is to help Taliyah return to the mid-lane, slightly altering the functionality of her Unstable Ground effect. Additionally, the option for Taliyah to jungle is still retained to diversify her playstyle.
First, we need to discuss Taliyah’s passive. Instead of increasing with each level as before, the movement speed stat will be fixed at levels 1/9/12/15. This may seem minor, but it significantly slows Taliyah’s early gank potential compared to her current state. This could be a nerf aimed at her jungle role, as she can gank extremely effectively from level 3.
Next, we have a series of changes to her Q – Threaded Volley. In summary, the damage to single targets will decrease, but in return, it will have a wider impact area. Therefore, Taliyah’s “new” wave clear will be much stronger than before, aiding her return to the mid-lane. Additionally, when using Threaded Volley on transformed ground, it will deal double damage and have a larger area of effect.
Furthermore, after using Threaded Volley on transformed ground, that area will also disappear. This change likely indicates that Riot wants players to use her Q ability on transformed ground more often to maximize damage and wave clear. In fact, doubling the damage of each rock also enables Taliyah to deal significantly more burst damage.
For her W – Seismic Shove, removing its damage while significantly reducing its delay time and energy cost is seen as a major buff for this ability. This is one of Taliyah’s most dangerous crowd control abilities, so even without damage, it remains extremely powerful. The reduced delay time will make it easier for players to land this ability accurately and catch enemies more effectively.
Her E – Unstable Tether also receives a significant buff as the damage is dealt instantly rather than waiting for the rocks to explode after 4 seconds as before. Additionally, the stunning effect on enemies passing through from this skill helps Taliyah counter highly mobile champions. She can even “lock down” her nemesis in her lore, Yasuo, with this ability.