Riot surprises players by dropping rework for one of League’s most-hated champions on PBE

Finally, after years of waiting for major changes, League of Legends players can dive into what they’ve long asked for: a Yuumi rework.

Though no release date was given for the Yuumi rework that was announced to be coming at some point this year, Riot Games has surprisingly dropped the changes in their entirety on League’s PBE, where they are expected to remain until their release to live servers with Patch 13.5. While her partner-attachment gameplay is still intact, these changes appear to prioritize attaching to one or two champions rather than switching at multiple points.

Yuumi is going Live in 13.5. We want Yuumi to be a great champion to bring a new friend into the game (and also a great duo experience generally) and we’re making changes to our outdated pricing model this patch to reflect this philosophy (she will be 450 BE now). pic.twitter.com/5vgUil7x6T
— Matt Leung-Harrison (@RiotPhroxzon) February 25, 2023

Riot Phroxzon, lead designer on the Summoner’s Rift team, explained that these changes are aimed to address not only how prominent Yuumi was in pro play, but also to provide more room for players to counter her. He noted that her untargetability is “required for her to succeed on her goals,” emphasizing that she should be a champion players can pick up easily, but is also hard to master.

This rework revolves almost entirely around a new Friendship mechanic. The more that Yuumi and the ally she’s attached to get kills or assists, the more their Friendship level together will raise, ultimately leading to becoming Best Friends with that specific champion. Reaching this point will give Yuumi’s abilities various empowered effects with said ally. She can raise her Friendship level with all allies individually, though will be rewarded immensely for sticking with one for a while.

Yuumi’s primary form of healing has transferred into other areas of her kit and is no longer instantly toggleable as it once was, marking a major shift in champion direction for her. Instead, her passive heals her by a small amount when attacking enemy champions, also granting this heal to champions she attaches to. Her W, which continues to be her way to stick to an ally, rewards an ally that Yuumi has turned into her Best Friend with extra healing—though no longer provides adaptive force.

Her Q remains relatively the same in both its unattached and attached forms. For her Best Friend, the ability will always be empowered and grant her ally bonus magic damage if it makes contact with a foe.

Another large change to the Magical Cat is in the form of her E’s new effect, which now grants a shield and movement speed to herself when unattached and her ally when attached, as well as restoring 20 mana to the ally she uses this ability on.

Yuumi’s ultimate remains largely the same, though can now have its direction changed freely as it casts—as long as Yuumi remains attached to one ally and doesn’t jump to another. This ability no longer roots allies stuck in it, rather it slows them for longer with each wave that makes contact.

Additionally, this ability can now be used to heal allies, with any overheal being converted into a shield. The ally designated as Yuumi’s Best Friend will restore more health per wave and receive a bonus to their Armor and Magic Resist during its duration.

Yuumi’s rework is now available for testing on League‘s PBE and is expected to release live with Patch 13.5, though further changes may be made while the testing period continues.