Built from one of the classic legends of the world, Wukong was one of the most beloved champions at the time of his release. However, over time, continuous updates and the emergence of new champions have revealed Wukong’s boredom with a somewhat predictable and monotonous playstyle. This champion should possess the ability to transform, much like the famous character Sun Wukong.
Even when compared to other characters with the same name such as Monkey King from DOTA2, Smite, Heroes of Newerth (dead game btw), the “Great Sage” of League of Legends is no different from a small monkey. Therefore, players have urgently requested Riot Games to rework this champion, yet even with the third designer at Riot taking on the task, Wukong’s new version is still not complete.
According to recent comments from Riot August, Wukong’s passive and skill mechanics are undergoing significant reworks and adjustments, with the goal of creating a new, innovative, and more transformative playstyle for this champion. Specifically;
Riot August: “The following adjustments to Wukong have been implemented on the PBE server on Tuesday, and it is still in the testing phase. The goal is to have a ‘new’ Wukong ready for version 10.6. The general changes will be a better passive, adjusted damage, and more energy.”
Base Stats
Energy increased from 265 + 38 per level to 300 + 40 per level.
Passive
Old: Armor and healing are increased by 400% when there are 3 or more enemy champions nearby.
New: Armor and healing increase by 100% each time Wukong or his clone attacks an enemy or jungle monster within 5 seconds, stacking up to a maximum of 5 times.
Q – Crushing Strike
Damage adjusted from 30-110 (+0.7 AD) to 30-130 (+0.6 AD).
W – Decoy
Energy cost increased from 50 to 60.
Clone’s damage changed from 30-70% to 40-60%.
Cooldown reduced from 22-14 seconds to 20-14 seconds.
E – Cloud Walk
Damage reduced from 80-260 (+1.0 AP) to 80-240 (+0.8 AP).
Wukong will dash towards the target when they use a teleport or dash skill.
R – Whirlwind
The skill damage ratio interaction with AD and the target’s health changed from 1.2 total AD + 2.5-8.5% of the target’s max health to 1.1 total AD + 3-9% of the target’s max health.
Delay time between two uses increased from 7 seconds to 9 seconds.
The minimum time to re-trigger the skill (used to interrupt the skill) increased from 0.5 seconds to 1 second.
The biggest change in this update is undoubtedly in the passive; instead of simply increasing defensive stats like before, the new passive requires Wukong to continuously attack enemies. It sounds simple, but it is a significant improvement in the playstyle of this champion. Now you have to find ways to survive longer in fights to deal more damage, rather than looking for ways to “oneshot” an enemy and escape as currently done.
The new passive also interacts strongly with the new W – Decoy as Wukong’s clone now also auto-attacks and uses abilities like a champion. With the adjustment towards requiring Wukong to use skills intelligently and at the right time to maximize the effectiveness of both the champion and the clone, the Fighter playstyle will make a comeback while the Assassin style will fade away.
Perhaps players who are used to building Assassin items should enjoy the final days of Assassin Wukong as just a few more patches away, this playstyle will be “retired” to give birth to a new “Great Sage”, tougher, trickier, and much more annoying than before.
