I’m a Seraphine main in League of Legends. There, I said it. Alongside Senna she’s one of my most-played champions ever, effectively replacing my poor OTP, Sona, upon release. Having played her in a variety of different combinations with my lane partner, she remains one of the more powerful enchanter supports alongside mainstays like Soraka or Janna. Riot has seen her survive and thrive as a support, and has elected to rework her abilities to align with that role – a decision that has proven controversial.
Dropping with League of Legends patch 13.21, Sera’s rework aims to kill off her ability to be played in the MOBA’s mid and ADC roles, orienting her entirely towards being a support.
Lead gameplayer designer Matt ‘Phroxzon’ Leung-Harrison claims that this is because “through their pickrate, Seraphine players have expressed their desire to play her in the support position.” While he highlights that “this doesn’t mean that we’re making mid/bot Seraphine dead,” he explains that Riot is “trying to narrow the gap between them.”
The main changes are to her Surround Sound (W) and Beat Drop (E), with the former providing a better shield, and the latter doing more damage and having its cooldown reduced. Additionally, her High Note (Q) also has better AP scaling and a slightly shorter cooldown. It also initially dropped quicker (1,400 instead of 1,200), but that buff has already been removed.
The changes have already proven divisive, with one player asking “Are the current changes final? A lot of peopled liked the faster Q missile speed buff but it was just reverted. Plus the W mana cost nerf along with the base mana nerf is a bit rough. Will there be follow up for her if she ends up bad?”
In response, game designer David ‘Phreak’ Turley writes, “I think Q speed is a good change for Mid/Support but the internal feedback was that these changes were too much power so we had to start cutting somewhere.”
“I’m a big believer in E rank-up and AS Growth to help mid specifically. The re-shape to Q damage is a support buff at all points in time and largely a buff to APC/Mid. The W changes should be a huge feels win for support as well (better at applying Echoes of Helia and Ardent Censer, stronger synergy with Redemption and such if you choose) but the heal cut marks a substantial power decrease overall, which is the primary nerf of the change list.
“If she’s weak everywhere, Q missile speed is the first buff I’m putting in,” he states, concluding “If she’s OP, we have to find something else to cut.”
At the time of writing, his comment is averaging ten downvotes on the official Reddit, proving just how divisive this decision is. “I understand we are going off of popularity here but when you state something saying that she is for mid then let her be for mid,” one player replies. “It’s so sh*tty to just dumb her down into a role she’s not even truly made for #RevertSeraphine.”
If you jump onto Twitter (or X) and check #RevertSeraphine, there are plenty of players who agree with the sentiment above. Looks like Riot may have, well, a riot on its hands.
As a Seraphine support main, I do like a lot of these changes. However, Sera was built to be a mid laner, and some of the most fun I’ve had is playing alongside her when my partner is feeling spicy and wants to run her as an ADC. It’s a double-edged sword: I’m happy she’s getting support buffs, but sad she isn’t quite what she’s supposed to be.
All of these changes are coming in patch 13.21, though, so I’d suggest glancing through the League of Legends patch 13.20 notes, as well as our LoL tier list to see what has changed.