VIT Perkz fined in his first LEC 2023 game due to rune page bug

In the very first day of play in 2023’s LEC season, mid lane superstar Perkz has been fined as a result of taking a rune that’s currently prohibited in pro play because of a bug.

While the matches for the LEC’s first day were explosive, the production as a whole certainly had some issues. The first day of competition had literal hours worth of technical pauses.

Most of these pauses were due to issues on-site with communication, champion select, peripheral issues, and other things that weren’t issues with League of Legends itself.

However, in the last game of day 1, Luka ‘Perkz’ Perković took Waterwalking on his rune page, a rune that’s been prohibited in pro play due to an ongoing bug. While it’s been ruled that he didn’t “gain a significant advantage”, he’s being hit with a fine.

Perkz fined over rune page in his first LEC match

The match between Vitality and Fnatic was incredibly close, with Vitality pulling out the win despite being put at a massive disadvantage earlier in the game.

Their late-game teamfighting put them a league above Fnatic, and, though it wasn’t the smoothest way to start the season, Vitality already looks to be in better form than 2022.

However, Perkz took Waterwalking, a rune that’s currently banned in pro play. He didn’t take advantage of the bug that led to it being prohibited, but he’s getting fined for taking the rune regardless.

#LEC Update:

You may have noticed that Perkz picked Waterwalking on Ryze yesterday which is currently prohibited in pro play.

Our Competitive Operations team assessed Perkz did not gain a significant advantage via the rune.

Vitality will be fined in line with past precedent.

— Maximilian Peter Schmidt (@RiotMAXtheX) January 22, 2023

For those wondering, Waterwalking is banned in pro play due to an ongoing bug that allows players to gain more mana regeneration than intended by walking in and out of river.

It’s been ruled that Perkz took the rune and didn’t take advantage of the bug, so he’s getting off with a fine. The game between Vitality and Fnatic won’t have to be replayed. That said, this ruling has players questioning the validity of the fine.

The two biggest complaints in the replies of Max’s tweet about the ruling are that the bug shouldn’t be in the game in the first place, and that the game should have been remade to correct Perkz’s runes

The first argument isn’t all that realistic, but the second is a bit more feasible. It can be difficult to keep up with all these rules for both pros and viewers, and we can only hope these in-game issues are resolved soon.