In patch 13.15, Riot Games made significant adjustments to the Noxus race. Simply put, they increased the bonus stats (health, magic damage, and physical damage) at the base level but reduced the stacking potential of these stats. As a result, Samira has emerged as one of the incredibly strong carries after this patch was released.
What puzzles players is why Samira has become so much stronger despite the Noxus race’s bonus stats not being significant. This question was even raised with the Project Lead for Teamfight Tactics – Riot Mortdog. The leader provided an answer regarding Samira’s issue and revealed that they will adjust this character.
“Many people do not understand why Samira is so strong at the moment. The issue is that her ability to reduce the opponent’s armor interacts with her skill damage stats. Just having 6 Noxus and an item like Infinity Edge or Giant Slayer gives Samira enough of these stats. At that point, Samira can reduce 40-50 armor from her opponents when using her ability. Perhaps we need to adjust this aspect of Samira,” Riot Mortdog shared.
Another strength of Samira is that the aforementioned armor reduction can stack. Therefore, her ability to take down tank champions is significantly stronger compared to other physical carries. Furthermore, this effect also helps Darius (another strong carry from the Noxus race) deal more damage and easily eliminate opponents.
The consequence is that Teamfight Tactics players have likely seen that, despite being labeled as nerfed, Noxus is still too strong in the current patch. According to statistics from Metatft.com, 2 out of the 3 compositions with the highest top 4 placement rates right now are variations of Noxus. Riot’s adjustments have inadvertently made this composition’s snowball potential stronger.
Therefore, it is understandable that Riot Mortdog mentioned they would look for ways to nerf Samira. It is very likely that the interaction rate with this unit’s skill damage stats will be significantly reduced in the future. Hopefully, Riot will find a reasonable way to adjust Samira to bring this character back to a balanced state.