Major Wukong nerfs hit League of Legends PBE patch 13.7 cycle: BAD reduced, E bonus AS reduced, and more

Wukong is set to be one of the many champions that will receive nerfs in the upcoming League of Legends patch 13.7. Riot Phroxzon, the Lead Designer of the League Balance Team & Summoner's Rift team, stated that Wukong will be included in the upcoming patch. The primary reason for this decision is that he has been one of the strongest jungle champions ever since season 13 began.

While Wukong as a jungle meta-pick isn't something new, he made the transition from the toplane to jungle and ended up being far more effective by the end of 2022. To tackle his dominance, the game's developers previously nerfed his clearing speed to the point where he ultimately fell out of the meta. Since the League of Legends season 13 jungle change, Wukong has made a strong comeback to the meta and has been ever-present in high elo and professional play as one of the best champions.

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Full details regarding the major Wukong nerfs in the League of Legends patch 13.7

Upcoming nerfs to Wukong:

• Base AD is now reduced from 68 to 66

W (Warrior Trickster)

• The ability cooldown is now increased from 22/19.5/17/14.5/12 >>> 22/20/18/16/14

E (Nimbus Strike)

• The Bonus AS is now reduced from 40/45/50/55/60 >>> 35/40/45/50/55

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Will the upcoming Wukong nerfs work in League of Legends?

Quite frankly, these nerfs are unlikely to result in a significant change in terms of Wukong's pick rate/popularity amongst the League of Legends professional play and high-elo Solo Queue.

Considering that League of Legends players are now more inclined towards building AD items and champions like Kayn, Jarvan IV, Lee Sin, and Hecarim are dominant picks in the jungle, Wukong won't fall out of the meta anytime soon.

Additionally, as Death Dance now has 15 Ability Haste, Wukong's build path looks quite strong with Divine Sunderer - Black Cleaver - Death's Dance being his strongest three-item purchase.

On top of this, with Lee Sin receiving nerfs along with Kha'Zix and Vi getting changes to their kits, Wukong is expected to continue his dominance as one of the most-picked jungle champions in professional play and high elo games.

While it's good to see more diverse and unique picks in professional play, these changes won't be enough to affect Wukong's play rate and dominance. The developers could potentially be harsher with him in the future as he's currently one of the best 1v1 and 2v2 dueling jungle champions along with good team fighting capabilities.