The growing assassin meta is headed for a nerf as League of Legends devs have it “very much on the radar”

It’s not news that the League of Legends mages were dealt a heavy hand with new item updates ever since season 11 hit the live servers.

Picks like Ryze, Azir, Syndra, and Orianna were not as popular as they once were in both the professional stage and standard matchmaking. Instead, assassins took the spotlight, and champions like Akali, Katarina, Zed, and Sylas became the standard go-to for the mid-lane in ranked solo-queue.

In a recent Reddit post, a League of Legends player opened up about the most popular mid-lane picks in solo-queue right now and how it’s almost entirely made up of assassins.

The Redditor posted a screengrab from LoLalytics, which shows the 10 most played champions in the mid-lane. Out of the 10, there are seven assassins, and the other three are Yone, Yasuo, and Vladimir.

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League of Legends assassins to be nerfed soon

Image via LoLalytics

Ever since Riot overhauled how itemization worked in League of Legends and introduced the new Mythic system, Assassins have seen a significant rise in priority.

To complicate matters further, Nocturne and Lee Sin suddenly became viable mid-lane picks, and they both saw an incredibly high pick and ban rate ever since League of Legends’ 2021 MSI.

Though the oppressive assassin meta does not affect competitive play as much as it does in solo-queue, players have been urging Riot to nerf them as Katarina mains are increasingly difficult to manage.

Fortunately, it would seem that the League of Legends devs are aware of the issue, and they will soon be coming in with nerfs.

In the same Reddit post, League of Legend’s lead gameplay designer Jeevun ‘Jag’ Sidhu confirmed that the devs are indeed aware of the growing assassin meta and that it is “very much on Riot’s radar.”

However, since League of Legends has already entered the `11.14 path cycle, the game might not introduce assassin nerfs just yet. But by path 11.15, players can expect the mid-lane mages to rise in priority significantly.