Corki and Tristana are dominating high-ranked games in League of Legends while also being immensely popular in pro play. Now, Riot Games is finally looking into them and potentially working on changes.
Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison shared a few comments on his X profile on July 7 about possible Corki and Tristana changes in League. The lead gameplay dev explained how specific ranks and pro play have become “stale” due to the duo’s popularity. He says the team is investigating which changes they can make to fix the problem.
“High MMR and Pro has been pretty stale because of these champions recently. AD champions mid have gained priority due to some intentional shifts in opening the champions you can pick in AP Jungle. We felt this was necessary to bolster role diversity and increase the health of the jungle role,” Phroxzon wrote.
“We’re going to look into any required systemic adjustments (absorb life, ap jungle tuning, etc.) and potential champion adjustments,” he added. He didn’t say when the changes will arrive or what they might look like, though. With Patch 14.14 coming out next week on July 17, that’s the earliest we could expect them.
If you’re a high-ranked League player, you shouldn’t be surprised to see Phroxzon write that. At Diamond+ ranks, Tristana is the most-popular mid laner with a jaw-dropping 12 percent pick rate and 22 percent ban rate, according to U.GG. At the same time, she boasts a 51.05 percent win rate. Corki’s win rate is a bit worse, at only 48.84 percent, though his pick rate is still quite high at 7.1 percent.
The case isn’t any different in competitive play. In the 2024 LCK Summer Split, for example, Tristana has the third-highest pick and ban rate with 95.8 percent, according to Oracle’s Elixir. Corki trails closely behind with an 84.5 percent pick and ban rate, which earns him the fifth spot in that category.
Obviously, they’re the two most popular champs in the mid lane, and they’re obviously immensely popular in other top competitive leagues, like LEC, LCS, and LPL. In the latter, they both have 100 percent pick and ban rate, according to Oracle’s Elixir.
Like Phroxzon explained, the popularity of both Corki and Tristana is partially due to the popularity of AP-based junglers in the current meta. Teams often tend to go for one of these two ranged AD champions to diversify their damage. At the time of writing, only two out of 10 of the strongest junglers at Diamond+ rank, Bel’Veth and Rek’Sai, are fully AD-based. Surprisingly, though, the former is currently the best, with a massive 52.31 percent win rate, according to U.GG.
