news

lol main gameplay designer phroxzon announced the changes to version 14.18 and announced that version 14.18 will be used as the version for the s14 global finals.

enhanced: ahri, gnar, comet (support), prince, jayce, jinx, lulu, malphite, samira, shen, viego, xin zhao

weakened: alora, azrael, corki, ivern, leona, lillia, lissandra, maokai, miss fortune, nasus, rell, rumble, smodur, varus, wei, zelda, ziggs

equipment enhancement: luden, shadowflame, storm surge

equipment weakening: bloodthirster, shieldbow

rune nerf: swiftness

the damage reduction of the defense tower is increased in the first 5 minutes, the permanent resistance is increased after the plating is removed, and the temporary resistance is weakened.

the changes in the version this season are extremely drastic, and the strong heroes in the single-player line are frequently replaced. in the world competition, the strength gap between the top teams is gradually narrowing, and the teams that can keep up with the trend of the version tend to stand out. for example, in this year's msi event, only chovy's dragon king performed the best, and he was also good at using heroes such as corki and yongen, while several other strong teams had obvious deficiencies in the use of dragon king. therefore, gen.g's performance during the msi was extremely strong, and the strength of its jungle combination far exceeded that of blg and t1.

after entering the summer season, ad mid-lane heroes have become the protagonists of the stage. the endurance of this type of hero in the middle lane exceeds that of traditional mages. in addition, the rise of brand and lillia in the jungle can make up for ap damage. whether or not a team can master ad mid-lane has become an important criterion for measuring the strength of the team. players who are not good at using ad mid-lane, such as rookie, yagao, and even faker, have encountered challenges in this version. on the contrary, xiaohu has found his own rhythm in this version. the lucian he trained in the top lane in his early years has become wbg's winning weapon, either winning directly or occupying a ban position.

the changes in versions 14.6 and 14.7 have sparked widespread discussion because they have continuously weakened the ad mid laner and strengthened traditional mages such as tsar and clockwork. many people believe that this is to adapt to the needs of t1 because faker is one of the representatives of tsar and clockwork. however, the adjustments in version 14.8 show that the situation is not that simple. although tsar has been strengthened to a certain extent, in the subsequent weakening, the damage of tsar's ultimate skill was greatly reduced, which actually reduced tsar's threat in the late game.

so which teams will benefit from the 14.8 version? obviously, the enhancements to gnar and jayce are extremely beneficial to blg. bin is the world's top gnar user, and jayce is an important chess piece that blg can use to swing in the middle lane. in addition, warrior-type jungle heroes such as prince and xin zhao are wei's forte. coupled with the enhancements to ahri and jinx, blg will benefit as a whole. of course, it's not just blg that will benefit. for example, 369 is also good at using gnar and jayce, and oner can also control warrior-type jungle heroes. objectively speaking, blg's players have a deep hero pool and can seamlessly switch to different version environments.

the enhancement of heroes is only one aspect, and more important is the overall understanding of the version. even heroes like akali and draven, who are considered suitable for a specific version, may not be able to play their due effect in the big game due to the late-stage game environment. just like in the s12 season, drx was able to win the championship because they caught the two key heroes, aatrox and kindred, which was not generally foreseen before the game. therefore, after the line-swapping tactics and ad mid-lane were weakened, the team that can quickly adapt and innovate tactics is the real "king of the version".