The joke was definitely on Shaco following last week’s League of Legends patch.
League Patch 11.15 tweaked Shaco’s Deceive (Q), making the orange smoke VFX visible to enemies when cast through fog of war. But after players complained that the champion’s win rate dropped to unhealthy levels, it appears the bug fix will be reverted in the next patch, according to game designer Phlox.
“Y’all called out how long it’d be out of the game and how poor the gameplay was which prompted some internal conversations around proper counterplay in League,” Phlox said in a Twitter thread today. “Honestly y’all were right, this kind of counterplay isn’t something we should ask of an opponent.”
For two years now, Shaco’s “poof” wasn’t showing up for enemies when cast in fog of war. But Patch 11.14 nerfed Shaco’s base health and movement speed, while Patch 11.11 reduced the AP rations on Jack in the Box and Two-Shiv Poision. Pairing those nerfs with the seemingly innocent VFX bug fix appears to have made the jungler noticeably worse.
Shaco’s sitting at a 47.8-percent win rate in Platinum ranks and above right now, according to Champion.gg. His win rate last patch in those ranks was 52.2 percent, over four percent higher. With the bug fix being reverted in Patch 11.16, Shaco’s win rate should jump up a bit. But Phlox said there are “plenty of other ways to balance him.”
In addition to the Deceit revert, Phlox said that there will be some Shaco clone bug fixes in the next patch.