The PBE, that is the test server in League of Legends often has changes that make many parts of the community just shake their heads. Often the end result on the live server is less bad than feared, but a current change to an item is causing many players to worry.
Which item is it about? Runaan’s Hurricane
is a well-known ranged item used in some ADC builds, for example by Kog’Maw or Jinx. The item ensures that bolts are fired during auto-attacks, hitting up to 2 nearby enemies. These bolts deal damage, can trigger critical hits, and most importantly, they activate on-hit effects.
On the test server of LoL, the PBE, there is a major change to Runaans. Melee champions can also trigger the effect there. The wave-clear through the additional bolts doesn’t matter, as this can also be achieved with the various Hydra items. The point of the on-hit effects is worrying players, as it creates champion interactions that could become very powerful.
Many champions would benefit from the new Runaans
Before this change, there were already problems with Runaan’s Hurricane
. The item triggered Caitlyn’s Headshot passive with the bolts, and Zeri was also a significant issue with Runaans and Tiamat. In both cases, the champions were subsequently adjusted. Recently, Caitlyn was even playable with a bruiser item.
The possibility that Runaans works for melee champions, however, would likely lead to even more powerful builds. The well-known YouTuber Vandiril posted a video where he becomes an unstoppable force with Master Yi, as he can reset his Q extremely quickly with Runaans:
What else is possible? In a reddit post, other powerful interactions are mentioned. A major candidate for many is Braum. His passive ability allows him to stun people with 3 auto-attacks. With Runaan’s, he could easily stun multiple people at once. The user Skylam simply says: No one is ready for the 5-man Braum passive stun.
Champions like Shyvana, Darius, or Ekko are also mentioned by the community under the post as potential candidates for a strong interaction. But just because an interaction works with Runaans, it doesn’t mean that Runaans fits into the various builds of the champions.
Whether the change will go live as it is on the PBE is still unknown. As Riot Phroxzon posted on x.com, the change will not come with the next patch just yet. Nevertheless, it is exciting whether such a change would have a significant effect on the meta. Many interactions will also only be discovered over time.
Do you think the fears of many players are justified? Or will it not be as bad as many believe? If you have ideas for good interactions with Runaans, feel free to share them in the comments. Quickplay has replaced the blind pick mode in League of Legends, but many players are not fans of it: LoL: Players see no point in Quickplay, sharply criticize the mode: “Leads to the worst games”
