Wild Rift Patch 1.0a Analysis

Riot recently released a much-needed patch for Wild Rift, attempting to balance some overpowered picks. These changes should bring a little balance, but still, leave much to be desired. But as mentioned in the patch notes, “you can expect to see balance patches on a pretty regular cadence”.

For the full patch notes, click here

Patch Summary

Patch 1.0a provided nerfs to Xin Zhao, Blitzcrank, and Vayne. Xin Zhao and Blitzcrank were both outperforming every other champion in their respective roles.

[Related: Wild Rift: Broken Picks]

They significantly nerfed Xin Zhao’s base stats, decreasing his attack damage, health, armor and magic resist. They also increased his cooldowns. These changes should make Xin Zhao more manageable when engaging, as these nerfs affect his one versus one potential.

Xin Zhao’s ultimate was left untouched, so Xin Zhao should still stand as a strong pick. But he will definitely no longer be as overpowered as he once was.

Blitzcrank, on the other hand, was not nerfed enough. Blitzcrank’s ultimate nerf decreases his burst damage, a much-needed change. This should decrease the absurd base damage, but the vast majority of Blitzcrank’s kit is left unchanged.

His grab range and utility provided for his team still remains the same, of which he does not need any gold to perform successfully. Thanks to his lack of need of income, he will still stand as an overpowered support pick.

[To understand more of why Blitzcrank is so strong, read Wild Rift: Support Analysis]

The grab’s massive hit mark alongside range and speed give little opportunity for outplay, and there are still very few support picks to counter the groping robot.

Vayne’s performs as she should in duo lanes, but in solo lanes, her opponents do not have a fun time. Riot targeted her silver bolts damage alongside her movement speed. This should make fighting Vayne less overwhelming for solo laners, but definitely hurts Vayne in the duo lane.

In conclusion

The Xin Zhao changes were much needed, but Blitzcrank’s overpowered pick comes more from the lack of variety of support picks. Riot needs to focus on buffing defensive items rather than nerfing picks in order to get more variety of gameplay and more overall more fun in Wild Rift.

Also, Ezreal was left unchanged. Until Ezreal is nerfed, any form of balance in the game is not attainable.

Judging from these nerfs, Riot is clearly listening to the community. Riot stated that there will be more regular updates from now on, so remain hopeful.

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