With the evolution of League of Legends, many champions have fallen into the state of having gameplay that is no longer suitable or possess overly simple skill sets. While those characters may still have a win rate and decent power, their appeal to players is extremely poor. Thus, alongside the launch of new champions, Riot Games also pays great attention to reworking champions from minor skill adjustments to complete overhauls.
Recently, Ahri has been a prime example of how a light rework can significantly impact a champion’s appeal and dominance. As soon as Ahri received the feature to participate in takedowns, gaining an additional dash, this champion became extremely popular. In fact, in professional tournaments, Ahri has appeared much more frequently and is one of the hot picks in the current meta.
Just recently, Riot Games announced the next champions to receive similar reworks as Ahri for improved power and appeal. Specifically, according to the insights from the Lead Champion Designer of League of Legends – Riot August, Taliyah and Olaf will be the next champions to undergo a rework similar to Ahri.
For Taliyah, the two skills that most need upgrading or adjustments are Q – Threaded Volley and W – Seismic Shove. With the Q ability, the inability to deal area damage and slow wave clear has made it difficult for this champion to be played in the Mid Lane. Meanwhile, the W ability – Seismic Shove is too challenging to deal damage or impact opponents, so it also requires adjustments.
As for Olaf, we still can’t imagine what Riot will do with this character. They might integrate full lifesteal into Olaf’s passive and design a new skill for this champion. Who knows, Olaf could be given a new “W” skill that increases his movement speed to engage opponents.
According to Riot August, the rework of Taliyah and Olaf is still in the early research phase and there is no official release date yet. We may have to wait an additional 2-3 months to receive official information regarding this upgrade. Hopefully, it will help Taliyah and Olaf become more appealing in the eyes of players.