Wukong has had a rather challenging rework journey, as the first version of “The Great Sage” was released in October 2019, then underwent various adjustments and was passed through many different developers. It wasn’t until Riot August, a senior member of the champion design team at Riot Games, took over that Wukong’s rework process was accelerated, and in less than a month, players could finally get their hands on this champion in patch 10.6.
Despite some objections about why Wukong, being a monkey, cannot jump over walls, this rework is causing a huge sensation in the community due to its dominance. League of Legends players quickly realized that Wukong is no longer just a little monkey who only knows how to assassinate; “The Great Sage” now possesses the necessary toughness of a Fighter. While damage may not be as explosive, Wukong can now hold his lane, duel better, and exchange abilities far more effectively.
Oh god, Wukong is too broken, everyone should quickly climb ranks with him before he gets nerfed!
This champion is absolutely insane, guys. You have decent damage potential, strong sustained damage, and good crowd control. He will definitely be nerfed, 100%. Giving him real mobility is a huge move. He is too strong, that’s all I can say. I might drop Aatrox and use Wukong until he gets nerfed; there’s no reason to overlook such a strong champion.
So is he stronger in top or mid?
The new Wukong deals less damage than before, but he has so much more durability, so he is stronger in top lane. Previously, you had to use him as an assassin in mid lane.
The biggest weakness of the old Wukong was that he was too easy to read and could die quickly due to his assassin style. However, the biggest upgrade in the new version of Wukong is that he has directly increased durability. Removing the defensive stat increase effect based on the number of enemy champions was a correct move by Riot, as he is a solo laner, so benefiting from this passive is nearly non-existent.
Instead, they increased Wukong’s base armor and health regeneration based on his maximum health, which also scales over time as the champion exists and deals damage in fights (his Q – Crushing Blow does this too). This means that this monkey needs health items to be strong, enhancing his survivability rather than building entirely for lethality as before.
The clone from his W – Decoy has been significantly adjusted and it has completely changed Wukong’s champion identity. Essentially, “The Great Sage” is now very different; while damage may be lower, durability, team fight disruption, and survival have been elevated to a new level. It’s not surprising that just overnight, Wukong went from having insufficient data for statistics to being “reborn” in many ways.
The way to build Wukong after the rework will be completely different from the old version, with no more runes focused on burst damage; instead, durability and sustained damage are prioritized. Therefore, players, from casual to professional, are using the Conqueror rune for Wukong.
In terms of item builds, suitable items for Fighters like Black Cleaver or Trinity Force are well-suited for Wukong. However, with the trend of using Trinity Force, most players choose this item as the first item for Wukong, and surprisingly, the second item is the Death’s Dance.
It seems that adding defensive stats in patch 10.6, along with the newly adjusted Galeforce, makes this item synergize well with Wukong’s champion identity, as he needs both defensive capabilities but also has to deal damage to survive in combat.
In conclusion, the new Wukong has a completely different champion identity compared to before, so the lethality playstyle will almost disappear. Instead, a pure Fighter style with items that enhance both damage and defensive stats is prioritized. Perhaps Wukong in League of Legends isn’t as flashy as in other games, but his tenacity and strength are no less impressive.