Yuumi, the beloved feline support champion in League of Legends, has just received a major rework. The past few years have seen her go through numerous balance changes, but with the latest rework hitting the live servers, Riot Games is ready to talk about the work behind it and their plans for Yuumi's future. Since her release, Yuumi has been both a cute and powerful champion, making her one of the most mained characters but also one of the most frustrating for opponents. In this blog, we'll take a closer look at the goals of the rework and how they aim to create a more enjoyable experience for everyone.
Yuumi's Rework Goals:
When designing a champion, it's important to consider gameplay and thematic resonance for players. For Yuumi, Riot Games wanted to create the best version of the champion for those looking to learn League with friends or simply for those who love cats. With this in mind, the rework had several major goals. The first was to create a positive experience for first-time MOBA players, emphasizing Yuumi's unique ability as a powerful single-target defensive enchanter. Secondly, the rework aimed to support Yuumi's long-term untargetability by creating other avenues of counterplay. Finally, Riot Games also sought to limit Yuumi's presence in pro play by reducing her less obvious optimization outputs. By achieving these goals, Riot Games hopes that Yuumi will become a more balanced and enjoyable champion for all players to use.
Changes to Yuumi's Abilities:
Yuumi, the magical cat, has undergone some major changes in her abilities. Firstly, her Passive ability has been renamed Feline Friendship (P). It now features a healing portion and a new Best Friend mechanic. Yuumi’s Zoomies (E) was the main source of her healing previously, which meant that she could refresh ally health bars out of combat. This made it necessary to heavily tax her mana costs and cooldown of her E. Now, Yuumi’s shielding ability is on Zoomies (E) while healing is gated to only be in combat with champions and her ultimate ability. This change allows her to remain powerful at defending her allies but limits her ability to keep her allies permanently in fights with healing.
The other part of Yuumi’s Passive is all about building a Best Friend. If Yuumi helps her attached ally kill enemies or minions, she will build a bond, which will enhance her abilities when she’s attached to them. The bond is displayed on Yuumi's health bar and the feet of her Best Friend. Playing the game naturally will help Yuumi buff her lane partner and get the best scaling results, as most of her benefits are great on ranged auto-attackers. However, if the player decides to ditch their old partner, Yuumi will have to pay a pretty big cost to build up a new bond. These changes make laning phase matter to Yuumi, and make laning with Yuumi feel better for her carry.
Yuumi’s signature ability Prowling Projectile (Q) is also getting a significant revamp. Its unique control scheme has made it a highly reliable spell in coordinated play. With the new spell, it will still keep a short duration of mouse-control but will quickly shoot off into the distance—like a mouse chasing a laser pointer. This allows for less guaranteed hit rate, and more exciting outputs on the spell for peeling, healing, and other buffs without Yuumi dominating in coordinated play.
You and Me! (W) is another ability that has undergone some changes. Previously, giving large amounts of reciprocal offensive stats on an untargetable spell meant that snowballing as Yuumi felt pretty hopeless and turned any character into a scaling powerhouse. The changes made to her Passive outputs mean that Yuumi should be one of the best enchanters at keeping one target alive. However, if that target isn’t already ahead from winning their lane, then they won’t take over the game automatically.
Yuumi’s Zoomies (E) has become her main defensive spell now, allowing for a healthier pattern that lets Yuumi’s players express their mastery with perfect parries and emergency saves. Additionally, she can now grant small amounts of mana to allies. This gives her a good reason to cast Zoomies out of combat, making her a more engaging experience.
Finally, Yuumi’s ultimate ability Final Chapter (R) has been revamped too. Previously it was a feast-or-famine spell. With the new changes, her power is shifted from consistent offensive power and crowd control to more defensive strengths. Her old ultimate was an undodgeable root that was ideal for mobile champions with good coordination. The new ultimate ability will allow her to continue to defend allies while also being able to use her kit more proactively.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the changes to Yuumi's abilities represent a significant rework aimed at addressing some of the issues that have been present since her release. By shifting her power from consistent offensive power and crowd control into more defensive strengths, Yuumi should become a more balanced and engaging champion to play. The Best Friend mechanic, which allows Yuumi to build a bond with her attached ally and enhance her abilities, should make laning with Yuumi feel better for her carry and provide a thematic win for players. Overall, these changes are intended to make Yuumi a more viable and enjoyable champion to play while maintaining her unique playstyle as a supportive enchanter who can follow any ally indefinitely.
