Riot Games Slams Massive Nerfs to Yuumi for Wild Rift Patch 3.4

The Wild Rift Patch 3.4 update has revealed a ton of new content and balance changes to spice up the gameplay. One of the biggest changes made by Riot Games for the current patch is the Yuumi nerf which drastically reduced her overall utility. The nerf completely removed her ability to gain mana through her passive while her healing power now requires Yuumi or her attached ally to do basic attacks to maximize its effect. These drastic changes may affect her performance in competitive matches as she was previously hailed as one of the most overpowered utility supports in Wild Rift.

Wild Rift Yuumi receives heavy utility nerfs

The Yuumi nerf in Wild Rift was revealed previously on the Public Beta Environment (PBE) server of the game. However, the changes made during the testing phase were slightly altered when they arrived on the regular server.

According to a blog posted by Riot Games, the goal of this balance change is to “make Yuumi less frustrating to play against, but allow Yuumi enjoyers to feel more comfortable enhancing their ally of choice without feeling immense pressure to constantly bop her foes to get the most out of her passive.”

Here are the complete changes made to Yuumi’s abilities in Wild Rift;

Bop’N’Block

• Cooldown: 12/10/8/6s → 18/15/12/9s

• Shield value: 60 - 410 + 35% Ability Power → 60 - 410 + 25% Ability Power

• [REMOVED] Mana restoration

Yuumi’s mana restoration through her passive ability has been removed. This means players may have to build mana items such as Tear of the Goddess or maybe even upgrade to an Archangel Staff just to compensate for her expensive mana requirement in the late game.

Prowling Projectile

• [ADJUSTED] Projectile is no longer gated by distance from your attached ally. Instead, it has a time-gated duration of 2.25s only.

• Empowered threshold: 1s → .75s

• Magic damage: 60/100/140/180/220 + 30% Ability Power → 60/100/140/180/220 + 25% Ability Power

• Empowered Magic damage: 80/130/180/230/280 + 40% Ability Power + 2/4/6/8/10% Target's current health → 70/120/170/220/270 + 35% Ability Power + 1.5/3/4.5/6/7.5% Target's current health

• Cooldown: 9/8/7/6/5s → 7/6.5/6/5.5/5s

The poke potential from Yuumi’s second skill has been improved. Players no longer need to worry about range limits just to hit a target, granted they can land a hit within 2.25 seconds.

You and Me!

• Bonus Attack Damage granted to Yuumi and attached ally: 7.5/9/10.5/12+12/15/18/21% × Ally bonus Attack Damage → 7.5/9/10.5/12+13/15/17/19% × Ally bonus Attack Damage

• Bonus Ability Power granted to Yuumi and attached ally: 15/18/21/24 + 12/15/18/21% × ally bonus Ability Power → 15/18/21/24 + 13/15/17/19% × ally bonus Ability Power

The attach mechanic is Yuumi’s most unique ability. This ability allows her to help allies snowball faster than other champions. While the nerf is quite small, this will slightly balance out how attached champions snowball and allow enemies a chance to retaliate.

Zoomies

• Mana cost: 40/45/50/55 + 15% maximum mana → 80/90/100/110

• Movement speed: 15% + 10% Ability Power → 15% + 5% Ability Power

• Heal value: 80/120/160/200 + 40% Ability Power → 20/30/40/50 +10% Ability Power

• [NEW] Healing now repeats the healing effect for the next 3 attacks or abilities within 5 seconds. This will affect Yuumi normally, or her attached ally if Yuumi is attached.

The ability that was heavily nerfed by Riot Games is Zoomies. The massive healing power is now slightly reduced and is divided into three basic attacks. Yuumi or her attached ally will have to attack enemies in order to maximize Zoomies or else the healing won’t make much of a difference.

Yuumi is arguably one of the best support champions in Wild Rift. While these nerfs may add challenges to players who plan to use the magical cat on the rift, Yuumi’s attach mechanic still allows her to be one of the best champions to amplify an ally's power despite the healing changes.