Riot Games has rolled out a small follow-up update to League of Legends patch 12.2 to make some balance changes to the MOBA game’s newest champion. Zeri, the Spark of Zaun, joined the live game last week with the arrival of the patch, but it seems her interactions with a key item have proved a bit too powerful so far, so the studio’s nipped the issue in the bud.
“We just micro-patched out a nerf for Zeri’s hurricane interaction,” principal character designer August ‘RiotAugust’ Browning says on Twitter. “It was looking very strong.” This relates to the champ’s interaction with the legendary item Runaan’s Hurricane, which it seems was adding a significant boost to Zeri’s prowess on the Rift due to the way it worked alongside her ultimate, Lightning Crash. “R chain lightning is no longer an on-hit effect (which means hurricane bolts no longer apply it)”, the dev explains.
So, it appears her ultimate’s lightning attacks were capable of dealing some big damage to multiple foes by acting as on-hit effects when paired with the item in certain builds, which was giving Zeri just a little too much of an edge.
As Dot Esports notes, Zeri’s current win-rate is looking pretty sweet at the moment, with builds that hinge on the powerful on-hit attributes of Trinity Force and then Runaan’s Hurricane playing a key part. Perhaps we’ll see this drop to some degree, and player approaches to Zeri change, now this nerf has come to the live game.
We just micropatched out a nerf for Zeri’s hurricane interaction. It was looking very strong.
Change:
R chain lightning is no longer an on-hit effect (which means hurricane bolts no longer apply it) pic.twitter.com/e3adEYuRC9— August UwU (@RiotAugust) January 26, 2022
As for Zeri’s other powerful combos, such as her interaction with Black Cleaver, Browning replies to a fan on Twitter that the one shot it takes to fully stack the effect in that case “is intended”, adding, “BC stacks on instances of physical damage, not individual spells or attacks. (This is why it’s good on Darius and past versions of Lucian).”
If you’re keen to see what’s coming up next, be sure to check out our rundown of the upcoming changes in the League of Legends patch 12.3 notes, which are currently on the PBE for testing.