Christmas is the season that keeps on giving: A remake of League of Legends Yuumi is scheduled for next year. The annoying feline has become the main threat in the MOBA since its release in 2019, and Riot has finally decided that enough is enough.
League of Legends’ magical cat has effectively been a permanent ban in both solo queue and high-level competitive play; as a result of a clear lack of counterplay due to his W (You and Me!). The ability allows him to bond with an allied champion, where he remains in an invulnerable state until he is separated again.
Meanwhile, he recharges health bars and moves speed with his Zoomies (E), while at the same time providing a shield with his Bop ‘n’ Block passive. OP, am I right?
Given her prevalence in the ban pool at Worlds 2021 and 2022, Riot has decided that the adorable but abominable little feline needs a redesign. The question is, how does Riot rework her while she stays true to the ‘rookie champion’ fantasy?
After all, Yuumi is “a champion like Garen, Annie, and Sona who were designed to help introduce players to Summoner’s Rift,” to quote Riot’s blog post. “These champions play a vital role in helping players learn League of Legends and have a lower barrier to entry.”
While the developers note that, at lower levels, jumping around hasn’t really taken off, at the pro level, players have used its split mechanic to constantly recharge health bars, meaning even hyper-ADCs Aggressives have had trouble taking down enemies.
With that in mind, Riot wants to “rework Yuumi to be an easy-to-learn enchanter who is all about protecting and buffing her allies. This means more emphasis on how Yuumi can help her allies early in the game by trading her damage and crowd control for more starting power.
and defense
“We believe Yuumi staying together for long periods of time is essential for her to serve her current players as well as players learning the game. However, since targeting and fragility are core weaknesses of most enchanters, this job also requires emphasizing other forms of counterplay for Yuumi. This could make Yuumi’s success tied to winning lane, making her abilities easier to dodge and making her less powerful on characters with a lot of mobility.”
Admittedly, the rework is in its “early stages,” so don’t expect it to ship anytime soon; after all, League of Legends Udyr’s rework took some time. As a primary and fledgling support ADC, I am very I’m glad to see this. I had to ban Yuumi many times after some bad trades, and given how often he was benched during Worlds 2022 (or dominated outside of it), I think this is the right move for the overall health of the game. .
To the guy from the LEC finals in Malmo with the tally board who asked people whether Yuumi should be eliminated or not: can you see the future mate? If so, please let me know where she ends up on the League of Legends tier list after the rework. However, for those core Yuumi players lamenting these changes, check out our roundup of League of Legends Prime Gaming rewards; After all, maybe they’ll get a free skin for their ‘Paw’some friend.