As we near Worlds 2021, game updates will increasingly be steered towards pro play. However, Riot Games came out of the left field this League of Legends patch 11.16 by making Nunu completely overpowered.
In the patch notes, the game developer explained that it’s because the pair have “hit a slump”, and thereby decided to increase their damage output.
Buffs to Nunu in League of Legends patch 11.16
Base stats
- Movement speed increased from 340 to 345
E – Snowball Barrage
- Damage ratio per snowball increased from 6% AP to 10% AP
- Total damage ratio increased from 54% AP to 90% AP
- Top lane Kennen buffed, Gwen’s early game gutted in patch 11.15
- A massively buffed Blitzcrank on patch 11.15 means free solo queue MMR
Did he really need such a big buff in League of Legends patch 11.16?
In solo queue on patch 11.15, Nunu has a 50.36% in Platinum rank and above according to U.GG, with a low pick rate of 3.3%.
The thing about Nunu however, is that as a champion, he is inherently dichotomous.
“Nunu, it must be a hard champion to track because there’s no other champion in the game… is actually the token troll champion,” T1 content creator and analyst Nick “LS” De Cesare explains in his patch rundown video.
“Some of Nunu’s losses across all rank tiers is due to inters, and I wonder how Riot calculates Nunu’s win rate when knowing something like that?”
In addition, there is a small percentage of Nunu mid lane players that go AP and roam permanently, which LS states is “a very unhealthy thing”. At Master to Challenger ranks, there are also one tricks that have been thriving in the last few patches, even outperforming meta junglers.
Since Snowball Barrage (E) is an ability that can be recast with a low cooldown, the colossal AP scaling damage ratio buff from 54% AP to 90% is downright scary.
Read the full League of Legends patch 11.16 here.
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