Arrived at the end of 2020 on League of Legends, Séraphine had then made a lot of talk about her. While the studio had planned that the champion was basically intended for the mid lane, she very quickly found herself confined to the support position (which is still the case today). We can also add all the criticisms that the poor singer had to endure even before her release – between her spell kit which was “slightly” reminiscent of Sona’s, but also the fact that the champion had a story that was a little too special and that her appearance did not really correspond to the idea that one could have of a League of Legends champion (It is also anchored with difficulty in the lore of the game).
Anyway, these controversies are now behind us and the studio wants to give the champion a little help – but only in the support position. And this news is not necessarily well received by part of the community..
Seraphine, support only?
If the champion is mainly played in the support position (82.8%), some summoners enjoy playing her in other positions. We thus find her 10.7% of the time on the mid lane and 5.9% as an ADC. Another fact to take into account is especially his win rate in the different roles.
As a support, it is only 48.7% while on the mid lane it is 51.4% and even goes up to 54.3% at the ADC position. (figure by LeagueOfGraphs). However, the changes proposed on the PBE at the moment would give him more power only in the support position and would therefore represent nerfs for the other roles.
The changes made to his Z – Surround Sound are only buffs if Seraphine is playing for allies. The value of the shield applied to the champion is reduced and scales less with the AP while the allies see theirs increase – therefore more effective in the support position.
“The goal is to improve her in her support role, because she is not strong enough in that position and the players have indicated that they want to play her in that position, while remaining neutral in the midfield”said Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrisonresponsible for the design.
With less scaling of her shields and lower values for herself, Seraphine will be a much easier opponent to kill if played as a carry according to players who opt for this playstyle. The buffs on her E – Beat (reduction of the CDR) and on its Z – Surround Sound (CDR and mana cost reduction) are not enough for them.
Seraph hands believe her changes lock her into the support role instead of making her viable across Summoner’s Rift. Riot promised that despite the disparity and magnitude of the current changes, they want to ensure that Seraphine remains a flexible pick.
“She’s weakest in the support role (in terms of win rate) with a significantly higher play rate while underperforming by our numbers. That’s not to say that players don’t don’t like playing her in the Mid (some do) and we still want to support her in that role”added Leung-Harrison.