Pyke mains are concerned after Riot has leveled some “very very experimental” changes to the Bloodharbor. The League of Legends developers are looking at making his ultimate damage scale infinitely, but at the cost of significant nerfs elsewhere.
Pyke has always been a snowballing champion, reliant on getting big ultimate executes with a huge hit of gold to keep ahead of the pace of the game.
Come League of Legends patch 12.9, Riot are looking at doubling down on that playstyle by emphasizing the power of his ultimate making it infinitely scale.
However, developer ‘Captain’ made sure to warn players the changes are “very very experimental” and have no guarantee of shipping.
“Pyke is getting infinite execute scaling on his [ultimate] every time he executes anything from any source,” they said.
Very VERY experimental, but tomorrow on PBE pykers is getting infinite execute threshold scaling on his R everytime he executes anything from any source🤽
— Riot Captain Gameplay (@riot_captain) April 27, 2022
The change to his ultimate, which increases its damage cap permanently, are being offset by nerfs to the rest of his kit though. His Q will now cost more mana, although hitting it on an enemy champion will refund 75% of it.
On top of that, his ultimate will no longer give him bonus gold if he kills a target with it. It also does less base damage to account for the scaling. It significantly hinders his snowball power from Level 6, and the changes overall hurt the niche Pyke mid pick that has seen success.
With that being said, the execute scaling doesn’t just apply to getting champion kills with his ultimate. Getting executes on minions with Steel Shoulderguards or Relic Shield will also count towards the ultimate scaling, albeit with a low value. The Collector kills also count.
However, the changes are seen by many Pyke mains as a net negative. Some have claimed “Pyke will be officially dead” if the changes are let through, while others stated Riot have “stolen the last bit of fun [in] this game”.
These changes will significantly impact solo lane Pyke, something mains aren’t too happy about.While players hope Pyke can still be a viable pick in solo lanes, nerfs since Season 9 have made Riot’s indication to push the Bloodharbor back to support only are very clear.
The experimental changes aren’t guaranteed to go live, but if they do, keep an eye out for the League of Legends patch 12.9 notes on May 11.
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