It’s not an exaggeration to say that Wukong has transformed from a small monkey into a true “Great Sage” after his slight skill rework a few patches ago. From being almost unplayed and deemed R.I.P on most statistics sites due to a lack of data, Wukong has emerged as one of the strongest champions in top lane, jungle, and sometimes even mid lane.
However, everything has its downsides. While Wukong’s transformation is good, he has become so “toxic” that he can survive being surrounded and hit multiple enemies with his ultimate repeatedly, which is hard to accept. Furthermore, he has a straightforward skill set that is incredibly easy to get used to, making Wukong a more mobile version of Garen and Darius. Therefore, in the upcoming patch 10.9, Riot Games has confirmed that this monkey will be “on the chopping block,” specifically:
Riot Mark Yetter, the lead gameplay designer for League of Legends, stated: “Patch Preview for 10.9, we are testing a few things to let everyone know where the strength level of that champion is and what needs to be adjusted. Please send feedback if you like it and want us to continue providing information like this. The buffs section will not be detailed as they are generally quite weak, not specific to a certain skill level.”
The first and most notable change is that Riot Games announced skill brackets based on ranked tiers to make appropriate adjustments for those skill levels. This helps players understand why champions need to be nerfed, with the skill brackets being:
Average: Iron – Gold.
Skilled: Platinum – Diamond 3.
Highly Skilled: Diamond 2 – Challenger.
Professional: Professional tournaments.
In terms of nerfs, including Wukong, there are 3 jungle champions being nerfed in the upcoming patch 10.9. Our monkey causes a lot of frustration with his tankiness and crowd control, while Karthus deals too much damage late game. Trundle is extremely dominant and is continuously picked in professional tournaments due to his strong counter against enemy tanks.
Two support champions, Bard and Nami, are also being touched in patch 10.9. Nami proves to be an extremely strong champion in lower ranks from Gold and below due to her comprehensive skill set that includes healing, crowd control, and damage amplification for allies. Meanwhile, Bard is incredibly annoying in the hands of a skilled player, as this mystical being can appear and disappear on the map, sometimes catching you off guard with his Magical Journey.
In the buff section, we are not surprised by these names as they are all champions that are severely out of the meta. Ironically, Kayn will continue to be buffed in the upcoming patch, even though this champion has never been nerfed since his release. It’s fair to say that Kayn is a peculiar case in League of Legends, being buffed repeatedly yet still weak; perhaps he will be the first champion to be reworked for this reason instead of being nerfed excessively like Ryze, Irelia, and others…
