League of Legends' preseason “Grievous Wound and Omnivamp” changes have hurt enchanters

For a better part of the last three seasons, the role of the enchanter support has been quite a wobbly one in League of Legends.

They do not have the same impact in the game as they once used to. Perhaps, Yuumi was the last known enchanter pick that was either a must ban or a must pick in the support role.

Champions like Janna, Soraka, Nami, and Karma hardly ever got to see the light of day in pro play. However, they did debut in the top lane every now and then to shake up the meta from time to time.

The Season 7 Ardent Censer meta is a thing of the past, and League of Legends has transitioned to a phase where players are much more inclined to pick a tanky, engage-heavy support than a healer.

And one of the biggest reasons for this significant meta shift is the introduction of Grievous Wound changes and the addition of Omnivamp, which is making healing supports feel outright useless.

League of Legends patch 10.23 sought to do away with much of how itemization worked in the game. Along with the new Mythic items came massive changes to the already existing Grievous Wound passive. This significantly cuts down the amount of healing the opponent will be able to do.

It impacts the amount of utility that an enchanter supports brings to the table. Compared to some other League of Legends tanks like Alistar, Nautilus, and the recently added Rell, enchanters are not as reliable as they used to be.

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How much are Grievous Wounds and Omnivamp hurting League of Legends’ enchanters?

Image via Riot Games

A recent statistical consensus by op.gg shows the abysmal pick rate that enchanter supports are having at the moment. They are being picked as supports in just 5% of the games in both ranked and normal matchmaking.

Moreover, the pick rate is not the only cause of concern for the state that League of Legends’ enchanters is currently in.

Their win rate is equally unimpressive, and according to op.gg, only Janna, Lulu, Nami, and Sona have a win rate above 50%. Whereas the tank supports, boast a much higher percentage in comparison.

In a recent Reddit post, the League of Legends player who goes by the handle of fakename233 opened up about “the disparity between self-heal through omnivamp and dedicated support healing items as abilities seem wildly imbalanced.”

The Redditor suggested that healing through passive rune and item abilities like Ravenous Hunter, Lifesteal, and Omnivamp is a much more reliable form of HP regeneration than the healing from an enchanter support.

He said:

“You have champs that can heal back like 2000 health in 1 Goredrinker active and ability combo after a couple of items. Meanwhile, moonstone, a mythic specifically dedicated for healing, heals what seems like 150 health per second fully stacked while in combat? Which means teammates are taking damage in combat, which with the insane damage in the game right now, basically makes it useless.”

No League of Legends fan wants the Ardent Censer meta to return, and fakename233 also feels that buffing burst heal abilities themselves will ruin the game’s competitive state.

As healing abilities and enchanter support items start having less and less impact the longer a match goes, the issue might just be with Grievous Wound and Omnivamp.

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Enchanters are hurting in League of Legends, and there may not be a solution anytime soon

Image via Riot Games

Enchanters are some of the most formidable champions to balance in League of Legends. And sure, a quick buff to Staff of Flowing Water and Ardent Censer might seem like a good fix at first glance, but there is a high chance that changing the stats of these core items might just make enchanters as oppressive as they used to be in Season 7.

In another Reddit post, a League of Legends developer, GreatBelugaWhale, looked at healing in the MOBA “as the root of all evil.”

The dev suggested:

“Healing is a core and natural mechanic in League (and really in most games where units have health). Healing and play around it should be embraced and developed further rather than skirted away from. This includes easier to access Grievous Wounds (cheaper and more usable by most/all champs), in the same vein that you can buy armor to deal with physical damage - another core and natural mechanic in League of Legends.”

The preseason 11 update does indeed bring easy access to the Grevious Wound passive. Items like Mortal Reminder and Morellonomicon are great counters to sustained healing abilities from enchanters, items, and the Ravenous Hunter rune.

Though the thought behind the addition of Grievous Wounds changes to League of legends might have been from the balance perspective, it has started to affect enchanter supports adversely. And it doesn’t look like Riot Games will be looking to tweak any of the healing reduction items any time soon.

Soraka once had the ability to remove Grievous Wounds with her ultimate ability Wish, but the League of Legends devs removed that back in season 5. Hence, bringing that back once again, and tweaking the enchanters’ abilities to reduce the impact of Grievous Wound, can help bring champions like Janna, Nami, and Lulu back in the meta.