The Mage composition in Teamfight Tactics season 3 is in a rather unreasonable state, as it is not entirely weak but relies completely on an “alien” tribe, the Pilot, to survive. The pure Mage – Star Guardian composition has completely vanished, and instead, players are forced to depend on whether they can assemble a Super Robot to stay alive.
Riot has recognized this and is looking to add a heavy-hitter for the Mage composition, which is Xerath on the PBE server. With his expensive cost of 5 gold, this unit promises to wipe out the enemy team with just one ability cast. However, things seem to be getting out of control for Riot Games as Xerath is too strong, and their decision will be to nerf the Mage to address this issue. Please note that the updates below are on the PBE server and may not be part of the official update for patch 10.8. Specifically:
Spy
The additional attack speed at the 6-unit threshold increases from 120% to 125%
Rebellion
The amount of shields and additional damage at the 9-unit threshold increases from 275 shields and 15% damage to 350 shields and 15% damage.
Mage
The magic damage bonus at the 4/6/8-unit thresholds decreases from 50/100/200% to 45/90/150%
Dark Star
The bonus AD and AP at the 9-unit threshold increases from 45 AD and AP to 50 AD and AP.
Syndra
The damage per orb increases from 80/120/200 to 80/120/250
Most of these changes occur at extremely difficult combo thresholds that require items from the Spatula, however, the reduction of power for the Mage at the 4/6-unit thresholds is particularly noteworthy. With the current meta heavily focused on quickly eliminating enemies, a 10% reduction in Mage damage in the late game is a significant hit.
With the extremely poor attack characteristics of the Mage, if the opponent has a few units survive after an ability cast, a comeback is entirely possible. If these changes are applied to the current state of the Mage, this is a fatal blow that could kill off this class. Is Xerath really so destructive on the PBE that it forces Riot to nerf the Mage?
