Some changes are on the way to Akali and Pyke with upcoming patch 8.24b

Riot is preparing to launch some balancing changes for both Akali and Pyke with upcoming patch 8.24b, according to the latest PBE update.

Both Akali and Pyke have been significant problem children of the pre-season so far, as they’ve both been unleashed onto Summoner’s Rift with the new Rune combinations. Akali is a general menace to society, while Pyke has moved his shop to the mid lane, which is far different than what he’s known for. Both champions are undergoing heavy changes this patch, and while the intentions seem solid, we fear they may not be what these champions needed to chill out.

Akali

Akali’s changes are definitely the better of the two, so we’ll start with her. Her Twilight Shroud has been the point of contention within her kit for months, and Riot is attempting to whack that on the noggin for the time being. Now, when she enters and re-enters stealth, basic attacks and non-cancellable abilities will no longer be stopped.

She’ll also be briefly obscured when entering stealth now, showing her location but maintaining her untargetability. These are improvements, surely, but many players would have liked to see her waveclear and True Invisibility (which towers can’t even see her through) nerfed.

Pyke

Pyke’s changes are the worse of the two. His primary damaging ability, Bone Skewer, will now do less damage to minions beyond the first one struck, which is only applicable when he doesn’t charge it. The execution threshold on his ultimate was also lowered, but not by much. First, Riot’s goal with the Q nerf seems to be to lower his ability to clear waves of minions. With how much base damage he has on his other damaging ability, that nerf probably won’t matter that much, especially given how easy it is for him to roam.

His ult’s nerf is the silliest of the two, in our opinion, because it doesn’t address the real reason his ultimate is OP right now—its lethality scaling. When Riot added lethality scaling to the ability, the goal was to move Pyke players away from the tank build and push them toward AD, but the same goal could have been accomplished in a much easier-to-balance way by increasing his bonus AD scalings and lowering base effectiveness.

Surly these changes will not effected Pyke future’s with pro plays, and maybe we will see it more on the stage when the LEC (League of Legends Europe Championship) and LCS (League of Legends Championship Series) start at the new season 2019 beginning as one of the Esports titles.

These changes should arrive with upcoming patch 8.24b in the next little days.