Major Renekton changes hit League of Legends' PBE to balance the early and mid game for the champion

Renekton is one of those champions in League of Legends that everyone seems to dislike. The champion has a lot of dueling prowess right from the early game, which makes laning for others very complicated.

As such, the issue has become even more prevalent in the past two updates since Renekton received a few buffs from the developers. His presence in both professional play and solo-queue went up significantly, prompting Riot Games to drop some changes in the PBE for patch 12.17.

These changes are directed toward bringing a balance to his early and mid-game prowess. It is important to clarify that the changes are not direct nerfs or buffs. These changes are being implemented to make Renekton feel more in line with other popular toplaners in the game.

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Renekton's changes in League of Legends' PBE will make his early game weaker but mid-game stronger

Before breaking down the adjustments, it is first important to take a look at the Renekton changes for League of Legends patch 12.17.

All changes are provided below:

• Q base damage reduced from 65 - 205 to 60 - 180
• Q bonus AD ratio increased from 80% to 100%
• Empowered Q base damage reduced from 100 - 300 to 90 - 270
• Empowered Q bonus AD ratio increased from 120% to 140%

While it is evident that his raw damage has been reduced, his scaling has been increased in League of Legends. This change can have varying receptions depending on how players want to play the champion.

One of the players' major complaints regarding this champion is his early game strength. Whenever there is a Renekton in the lane, it is difficult for most other champions to farm properly without running out of healing potions.

Apart from that, healing items got nerfed, which makes trading hits with this champion even more punishing. The champion also gets a massive power spike at level six and can dive towers to secure easy kills.

Therefore, nerfing his Q damage makes those early dives difficult and definitely lowers his lane prowess massively. However, there are some outliers regarding Renekton that many might fail to consider.

While his early game strength is quite high, his mid-game progression is terrible. Renekton feels useless unless he gets five or six kills in the lane to accelerate his items.

He is an extremely "early game snowball" dependent champion. Therefore, enhancing his AD ratios in League of Legends means that his mid-game progression will be much more lenient, and he will not be forced to get too many kills in the early game.

It is still tough to say whether players will pick Renekton if his scaling is better, as his early game strength was the one aspect that made the champion so popular. Other champions scale much better than Renekton, meaning there are better options than picking this particular champion.

In any case, nothing can be said for certain until professional, or high elo players try Renekton out upon his release in patch 12.17 and provide their feedback.