League devs rush out Zeri ultimate nerfs after Zaunite’s win rate starts to spike

Riot have rushed out some quick Zeri nerfs after the Spark of Zaun exceeded expectations following her LoL patch 12.2 release. The marksman’s unique interaction with Runaan’s Hurricane has been removed, reducing her teamfight power significantly.

Zeri landed on League of Legends patch 12.2 to much fanfare. However, as players got a grip of her unique playstyle with skillshot attacks and plenty of lightning, she quickly shot up the tier lists.

While Zeri’s overall win rate sits at around 46.21%, the higher up you go the more dominant the Spark of Zaun becomes. She currently boasts a 51.61% win rate in Diamond+ a week after her release, and it’s only increasing as top players get the hang of her.

However, Riot is bringing her more in-line with their post-release expectations with a nerf to one of her primary item interactions in Runaan’s Hurricane.

“We just micropatched out a nerf for Zeri’s hurricane interaction,” developer August ‘August’ Browning stated on January 26. “It was looking very strong.”

The nerf to Zeri’s ultimate, Lightning Crash, means Runaan’s Hurricane is less effective on the marksman. The chain lightning no longer counts as an on-hit which allowed Hurricane bolts to apply it rapidly across a teamfight.

• Read More: League fighter item rework will “disrupt” Season 12’s duelist meta

This should cut down on a lot of the big chain Zeri damage in mid-to-late game fights. However, given the variety of builds players have devised, the Spark of Zaun will still likely be a threat as time passes.

The nerf is effectively immediately, with no waiting for the next update.

There are no other nerfs for Zeri planned in the upcoming League of Legends patch 12.3 on February 1, 2022. However, her win rate continues to climb, Riot will bring down the hammer soon enough.