“Very very experimental” changes for Pyke coming to the PBE
Pyke, as a champion whose gameplay is heavily reliant on his ultimate, holds a very special place among one of the most satisfying execution champions in the entire game. Not to mention the natural sharing of bonuses for teammates at 300 gold per kill. Pyke is a Support champion with a considerably more aggressive playstyle than other Support champions.
Captain Gameplay, a League of Legends game designer, has released some experimental Pyke adjustments that will soon be available on the PBE servers. They intend to significantly alter his ult, Death From Below.
Captain Gameplay said on Twitter that the Bloodharbor Ripper will get unlimited execute threshold scaling on his R every time he kills anything from any source.
Pyke has an execute threshold that varies depending on his level on the live servers. Starting at level 6, the threshold is 250 health, rising to 550 health once the champion reaches the maximum level. The suggested improvements that will be tested out on the PBE servers will probably boost his ultimate’s threshold every time he executes an enemy with it or from any source of damage.
In the most recent patch 12.8, many champions were targeted for balance tweaks. The Bloodharbor Ripper, on the other hand, was not among the champions who received buffs or nerfs. Pyke hasn’t been a priority in competitive play recently. Riot may be looking to add some new meta-like plays to the previously terrifying assassin support champion as the MSI approaches. After all, it’ll be an excellent way to advertise the newly released Ashen Knight skin.
For now, it remains to be seen if his ‘experimental’ adjustments make it to the live servers or not.