"This is a nerf, not buff!": Reddit reacts to Azir's upcoming League of Legends patch 13.5 changes, Riot clarifies

Although League of Legends Patch 13.4 made a few tweaks to Azir, it appears that the next patch is set to make some bigger changes to the champion, and players aren't too happy with them.

On February 22, the game developer and Surrender@20 mod Spideraxe highlighted the alterations to the mage on PBE servers. Azir is about to be changed in the game after ten distinct modifications appear to have been made to all of his skills, including his ultimate.

These suggested adjustments, however, seem to be disliked by the League of Legends player community.

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League of Legends players feel that Azir's W tweaks will make the champion worse

League community thinks Azir's upcoming changes might make the champion worse (Image via Riot Games - League of Legends)

Since one aspect of half of the upgraded skills would be strengthened while the other was weakened, it's difficult to categorically label these modifications as buffs or nerfs. Azir's passive would have a shorter cooldown, a higher AP ratio, and a lower mana cost for his E.

His Q would, however, suffer from lesser base damage, a higher AP ratio, and a greater mana cost, thereby making it stronger in the late game but weaker in the early.

Perhaps Azir's W Conquering Sands will see the biggest tweaks. Although this ability would have a slightly higher AP ratio and a lower cost, its passive attack speed bonus, which could increase to 110 percent if the ability reaches level five and Azir summons a third soldier, would no longer be available.

This was perhaps one of the key elements in the Emperor of Sands' kit, and it's a change that has been greatly disliked by Azir mains.

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League of Legends Reddit community heavily criticized the upcoming Azir tweaks

Azir (Image via Riot Games - League of Legends)

For the past two days, members of the Azirmains subreddit, which is dedicated to gamers who main the champion Azir, have been heavily criticizing these changes. Additionally, they seem to be confused by Riot's decision to remove the attack speed buff from the champion's W.

Some called it a clear nerf as they believe that removing the attack speed from W no longer makes Azir a decent DPS champion.

League of Legends players have also claimed that it's absolutely unnecessary to change the playstyle of a champion. Riot could have just taken away some love from Azir's base damage on R and Q to make him less viable in pro play, but tweaking an entire ability makes it "absolutely boring."

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However, later that day, League of Legends game designer David "Phreak" Turley clarified that there was some unintentional misinformation spread and that the damage on W will scale from 50 to 200, not 150 at level 18.

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Riot Phreak broke down Azir's upcoming changes, clarifying all sorts of community doubts

Riot Phreak took to YouTube and Reddit to break down the upcoming Azir changes in League of Legends patch 13.5, providing better clarity to players.

Phreak claimed that the main reason behind the adjustments was to lessen Azir's influence on pro play while strengthening him for casual players.This was also the original concept behind the modest adjustments added in Patch 13.4. He admitted:

"I wanted to go for a bigger swing at trying to solve the huge problem of Azir being a top three mid laner in pro play while being a 45 percent [win rate] for average solo queue.”

The developer further stated that the main objective of the future Azir adjustments is to provide the champion with a playable win rate for casual players without making him completely active in professional play.

Phreak broke this objective down into four subgoals. The first is adjusting Azir's base stats, while the second is to reduce the effectiveness of spamming his Q. A three-soldier attack speed increase is primarily removed in the third to address W's damage. The final step is to transform his passive into a far more effective tool.

Furthermore, a good amount of data was released by Phreak to back up these objectives. He disclosed that many top players simply ignored Azir's other abilities early in the game and spammed his Q ability. As a result, in higher rankings, he should be the target of a direct nerf to Azir's Q and the benefits to other abilities.

According to the League stat website U.GG, Azir has a disgraceful 46.08 percent win rate across all ranks as of Patch 13.4. Interestingly, this percentage rises to an alarming 52.61 percent for Master and above.

Additionally, Azir is quite well-liked in professional play. He is the third-most picked mid laner in the 2023 League of Legends LPL Spring Split, according to Oracle's Elixir, with a 21.8 percent selection rate. At 42.3 percent, he presently holds the lead in the 2023 LCK Spring Split.