With the adjustments to Support items, a slew of support-oriented champions have descended onto mid lane to funnel resources to the jungler. Previously, we saw the return of Taric in mid lane buffing Master Yi, and now Nunu suddenly appears frequently in this role, ganking and roaming from level 3. To enhance roaming ability, players even opt for the Ghost spell instead of the usual Flash.
Notably, Nunu was the most buffed champion in patch 10.13, with his Q ability’s damage increased (from 50% AP to 65% AP) and healing increased (from 70% AP to 90% AP), significantly enhancing Nunu’s roaming and jungle/creep clearing capabilities. Not to mention, his ultimate, Absolute Zero, now creates a shield based on additional health and 150% AP, turning Nunu into an incredibly sturdy “tower” in team fights. He can both tank and deal a lot of damage.
The gameplay of this style is quite simple; you use W – Ice Blast from base and roam to mid lane, clear the jungle minions, and use Q – Consume to take down the cannon minion. After that, you can roam to the side lanes or accompany the jungler to invade the enemy jungle, gaining an advantage in numbers during ganks helps your team fight early on quite effectively.
Currently, full AP Nunu in mid lane is extremely popular on the Korean server, and president Faker can’t ignore it. It’s no exaggeration to say that the adorable snowman has captured the president’s heart, to the point where he has even given him a special nickname: “the funny champion”.
As you can imagine, Faker has the ability to turn any champion into a mid-lane terror, and Nunu is no exception. Surely, Faker’s opponents have had some truly exhausting days facing a Nunu that is both tanky and regenerating health while possessing the “one-shot combo” skills. Just watch how Faker dominates the fights, throwing snowballs to eliminate enemies in the following video:
Many fans have even begun to worry that if Faker keeps dominating with Nunu like this, Riot might deliver a nerf before Faker gets a chance to showcase him in professional matches.
With a pretty good winning streak with Nunu, Faker is currently ranked 177 on the Korean ladder, achieving Challenger status with 766 points. In some matches where Nunu was banned, Faker has switched to Yasuo, Pyke, and Volibear. An interesting detail when looking at Faker’s match history is that when the Nexus is about to explode, the president has a habit of selling all items and buying similar items, looking quite juvenile like this:
In another development, during a recent stream, Gumayushi admitted to “reflecting” by kneeling for 3 minutes to apologize to fans for his inappropriate behavior in ranked play recently. Ellim also didn’t hold back, stating that “because it’s you, I didn’t manage myself well,” and immediately accepted punishment live, which amused and touched fans at the same time. Hopefully, after this incident, Gumayushi will learn from it and maintain a spirit of fair play in ranked games.
