LoL devs release emergency Briar buffs days after update amid dismal win rate
Riot GamesLeague of Legends’ devs released an emergency buff to Briar just hours after her release as a result of her incredibly low win rate early on.
Briar just hit the live servers on September 13 as LoL’s newest champion, however, there have been some complications upon release. Out of the gate, Briar immediately had one of the worst releases in LoL history in terms of win rate.
Sitting at an abysmal 36% win rate, the devs clearly felt that Briar needed another push to increase her chances of success. Announced by Lead Champion designer Riot August, he revealed some buffs to her resilience in a new September 14 hotfix.
The hotfix increased her HP from 590 to 610 and her E, Chilling Scream, had its Damage Reduction increased from 35% to 40% and its cooldown reduced from 18 seconds to 16.
Despite not being the biggest buffs, the slight increases should give her even more survivability. As explained by Riot August, “We’re being careful here as we expect she’ll get stronger as players learn the in(t)s and outs of her kit.”
This is not the first time a newly released champion had a hotfix buff after performing poorly. Both Zeri and K’Sante both got buffs immediately after release due to their poor win rate. Both would go on to see regular use in high-level play despite subsequent nerfs.
Briar’s kit and playstyle are incredibly unique and require good decision-making which rewards skilled play, which was why so many players were opposed to a hotfix buff.
K’Sante’s kit is also complicated, however, once players figured out how to play it, he soared in popularity. So players will have to wait and see if Briar’s win rate is due to players still figuring out her kit, or if she genuinely needs more buffs.