When a League of Legends champion has a high ban rate, it usually means they’re overpowered and Riot Games needs to hit them with the nerf hammer. One champion has an incredibly high ban rate, but they’re not even close to being as broken as Skarner.

According to stats site u.gg, Shaco is the second most banned champion in Patch 14.8, right behind Skarner. While Skarner holds a 32.7 percent ban rate, Shaco has 31 percent. Skarner’s ban rate doesn’t come as a surprise because this champion has been dominating Summoner’s Rift since their rework, and once they’re ahead, it’s hard to shut them down. Patch 14.9 will introduce a new set of nerfs to Skarner.

Former League of Legends World Championship winner TheShy has announced an extension of his competitive hiatus until the year 2025. After missing the LPL Spring Split, fans had hoped to see TheShy return for the Summer Split and, hopefully, compete at Worlds once again. However, it seems his return will only happen next year.

In an interview shared today on X, TheShy reiterated his plans to continue his break this summer, aiming to return to the competitive scene in improved form for the following year.

Riot Games released further details about League of Legends Patch 14.9 on April 24. The developer Is looking to buff some of the easiest champions on the Rift despite their more than reasonable win rates.

Amumu, Malzahar, and Seraphine have been classified as “easy champions” by Riot. The three are receiving minor buffs in Patch 14.9 alongside Kennen, Sejuani, and Karma. Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison, the lead gameplay designer for League, said Riot is buffing the noob-friendly champions so “our training wheels champions feel powerful.”

A plethora of champion nerfs are coming in League of Legends Patch 14.9, with Riot Games set to bring the strongest overperformers in each role back in line with their peers.

13 League champions are being struck by the nerf hammer in Patch 14.9, including Ahri, Evelynn, Jinx, Kassadin, Skarner, and Twitch. Most are doing too well in their respective roles, which is the main reason behind the nerfs.

Skarner’s rework has been out for three weeks in League of Legends, but players are only now starting to appreciate his new version.

A discussion about the rework was sparked by a Reddit user on April 23, with players claiming how much fun the new Skarner version is to play. They acknowledge how the champion is a bit too strong in the meta following League Patch 14.8 buffs, though, it doesn’t take away the fun they’re having with him.

If you’re an avid League of Legends player, chances are you’ve encountered Sylas’ wonky interactions with other champion’s ultimate abilities, where they don’t work as intended. Riot is working on fixing these “inconsistencies,” but they might take longer than you think. 

Unlike other champions, Sylas’ ultimate ability, Hijack, relies heavily on securing enemies’ ultimates, making the Demacian Mageseeker a great blind counter-pick to many League of Legends champions.

The LPL is reportedly transitioning to a new format next split, introducing “Fearless” mode, group divisions, and upper and lower brackets, according to LPL Fanclub. The fan page often reports leaks from Chinese media, and this looks to be one of them.

There are 17 League of Legends teams in the LPL, and this won’t change next split. Instead of competing in a single round-robin format, teams will be divided into four groups based on Spring Split results. In these groups, teams will compete in a double round-robin, best-of-three “Fearless” format. The last two teams in each group will fall into the lower bracket, while the remaining nine will advance to the upper bracket.

Riot Games will be testing a major revamp to League of Legends’ Arena mode in coming weeks, with gameplay boss Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison revealing a myriad of changes designed to appeal to more players as fans cry foul over “sweaty” lobbies.

From tweaking the average length of a League Arena match to adjusting how early players can be eliminated, Phroxzon detailed more about the changes coming to the mode in an April 24 post on X (formerly Twitter). First eliminations will now occur a whole round later, while duos will receive their second augment one round earlier—meaning a team will enter the elimination round with more of a power spike.

The League of Legends professional scene has had its fair share of wild and weird moments. And now, Invictus Gaming’s jungler Lu “Leyan” Jue has been caught up in his own scandal with Riot Games officials in China.

The 21-year-old pro player has been fined and suspended by Riot due to his actions during a recent stream that involved a teddy bear. During the broadcast, Leyan appeared to jump onto the teddy bear and began to make inappropriate movements that prompted officials to not only punish the player but his team as well.

After over a decade of two international events highlighting the professional League of Legends circuit, Riot Games might be adding a new tournament to test the best teams in the world.

Riot is reportedly adding a third major international event to League‘s competitive circuit in 2025, hosted between the Winter Split and the Spring Split, according to esports journalist Alejandro Gomis. The location, format, and name of the tournament have not been revealed yet, but one team per major region will reportedly be invited to this event. It isn’t known if minor region teams will be invited to this event, but it is “likely” that they will attend as well.

The League of Legends developers are looking to suck the soul out of overpowered champions and breathe new life into the meta by adjusting the power scales in the next patch.

Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison, League’s lead gameplay designer, clarified on X (formerly known as Twitter) that Patch 14.9 will intentionally address the “power creep” among champions because the last few patches have heavily focused on enhancing the existing power levels.

League of Legends game designer Phreak has made it his next mission to help correct inconsistencies surrounding each champion’s hitbox, with a first pass of adjustments coming in next week’s Patch 14.9 update.

Riot Phroxzon mentioned “consistency lover” Phreak was taking aim at hitbox issues as part of the 14.9 preview on April 22. Adjustments are set to be made to a range of champs that will make them easier to click on and select as targets for spells. “Champions will more consistently have hitboxes that feel in line with their size,” Phroxzon said, with plans to do away with “Yordle-sized” Warick and Briar as an example.