Despite an initial 37% win rate, why are the League of Legends developers nerfing Bel’Veth in patch 12.12?

Bel’Veth is set to receive a significant number of updates in League of Legends patch 12.12. Riot Games will look to balance her kit and cement her place in the competitive meta.

The patch preview mentioning her changes came as quite a surprise to players. Bel’Veth hasn’t exactly had a great time in ranked matchmaking and was enjoying a very low win rate during the initial days of her launch.

In a recent tweet, Riot August opened up about the void jungler’s upcoming changes. He mentioned that while her win rate was initially very low, her average MMR shot up considerably once players got more used to her kit.

According to the developer:

“Her winrate in skilled/elite play, despite starting at 37%, is starting to reach 50%. Her average MMR winrate is 55%. All are still climbing by the day. That's pretty strong for a champion who's only been out 1 week.”

Hence, the updates that are planned for Bel’Veth in League of Legends patch 12.12 will not be a straight-up nerf. While she will be scaled down overall, some parts of her kit will be receiving considerable buffs.

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All Bel’Veth changes coming in League of Legends patch 12.12

Before moving on to the list of changes that the League of Legends developers have planned for Bel’Veth’s kit, it’s important to note that the prenotes are tentative.

The updates mentioned may not entirely make it to the final patch next week, as Riot Games will first test them out on the PBE server before officially shipping them.

Bel’Veth changes

Base Stats:

• AA range: 125 >>> 175
• HP regen: 8.5 +8.5/lvl >>> 7 + 7/lvl

Passive:

• Value of stacks: .25%-1.25% AS(by lvl 18) >>>.28%-1% AS (by lvl13) ----it gets to 1%@ 14 on live
• Can now gain stacks off large minions

Q:

• Fixed a bug where Q would cause R’s true damage on-hit to deal double damage

E:

• Damage per hit: 8-20 > > > 8-16

R:

• Explosion missing health damage: 25-35% >>> 25%
• Bonus AA range: 50-100 >>> 50
• Void remora health: 70% >>> 50-70%
• Fixed a bug where Bel’Veth would lose R’s bonus health if she devoured a void epic coral while already in her true form

Judging from the changes that Riot is looking to introduce to her kit, it’s evident that Bel’Veth is not going to be receiving a straight-up nerf. While a lot of her abilities will be considerably toned down, auto-attack range as well as the value of stacks will see a good number of buffs.

League of Legends patch 12.12 is set to go live sometime next week. It is expected to drop on the servers on June 22, 2022.