Seraphine is getting “buffed” in League of Legends patch 12.5, however the quotation marks are what’s dividing players. While the Songstress will be powered up in support, players fear she is getting pigeon-holed away from other roles like mid and bot lane.

Seraphine has been a flexible option for teams since her League of Legends debut. While she can be played mid, bot lane (as an AP carry), or support, players have overwhelmingly favored the latter.

In League patch 12.4, she has been picked as a support in 83.2% of games according to LoLalytics. Mid is her second most-played role at 10.3%, with bot lane coming in at 6.1%. While this skews at higher elos to around a 50-25-25 split, support is still where Seraphine predominantly sees play.

So, with Riot looking at her current 48.30% win rate in the role, they have looked at changes to power her up in League of Legends patch 12.5.

The changes predominantly target Seraphine’s W, Surround System. Its mana cost is being reduced at later ranks, so too the cooldown. The shield will now also scale less with AP, making it more efficient to put points into as a support.

Riot’s intention was to make it an “attractive second max” after her Q, High Note.

“The intention is a buff to support as she’s underpowered there and players have indicated their desire to play her there, while being neutral on mid,” design lead Matt ‘Phroxzon’ Leung-Harrison said on February 23.

However, the changes have divided Seraphine players, who still want their champion to be viable in other positions after the changes. The Songstress boasts, on average, a win rate 3% higher in her other two roles compared to support. Some fear that’ll be flipped come the “buffs”.

With less scaling on her shields as well as reduced values overall for herself, Seraphine will be a much more killable opponent as a carry, mains have stated. Compensation buffs to her E, Beat Drop, and its cooldown aren’t enough in their eyes.

Riot has promised that despite the disparity and scale of the current changes, they want to ensure Seraphine can be played flexibly across Summoner’s Rift.

“Support is her weakest role (by winrate) with significantly higher playrate while being underpowered by our metrics. This isn’t to say that players don’t like playing her mid (some players do) and we still want to support her there,” Leung-Harrison added.

The Seraphine changes are due to go live on March 2 with League of Legends patch 12.5, which will also include a nerf to Master Yi’s popular Duskblade build and Hullbreaker.

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