Taliyah Rework in Patch 12.9

Taliyah is set to get a rework at some point in 2022. What is Riot going to chaneg about her and will she be a mid lane pick again or will she stay in the jungle?

Freljord Taliyah — Please give her some love. | © Riot Games

Taliyah hasn't gotten much attention from Riot in recent times. Sure, she got to be part of a short story and played a big part in the 2022 Season cinematic, but other than that, she's fallen into obscurity.

Her identity on the rift is just as much a mystery as her overall character. Seriously, is she supposed to be a mid laner or a jungler? Should she just be mobile or deal a whole lot of damage? Nothing is certain when it comes to this champion, but it seems like Riot knows this, and they'll take her under the microscope with an upcoming mini reworks.

Riot August Announced Taliyah Rework

Riot August, Lead Champion Designer at Riot Games, recently tweeted out that Taliyah and Olaf will be receiving reworks at some point in 2022. These would be small power shuffles for the champions, akin to the Ahri rework which went live earlier this year already.

He named this a "mid-scope update" which are a larger set of changes for champions. These changes will take a couple of months to go live, but at least we know which champion Riot is considering giving some love in 2022.

Taliyah Rework Coming in Patch 12.9

It seems, that just like Olaf, Taliyah will have her mid-scope update aimed for League of Legends Patch 12.9. Unlike Olaf though, there is nothing on the PBE server yet, so we can only speculate on the changes she will receive.

Though, Riot Axes, who is working on the Olaf update, did state that while Taliyah should hit the PBE server for Patch 12.9, her mid-scope update could be pushed back if the changes don't land how Riot wants them to be.

Taliyah Rework By The Numbers

This mid-scope update is pretty extensive and will give Taliyah an AoE Q, lower cooldowns, some range on her E as well as some other nifty tools like stunning champions that dash. But the price of it all? Her massive amounts of burst damage.

But enough hinting, let's go over all the changes that Riot August outlined on Twitter.

Abilities/Stats	Changes
Base Stats	Armor 20 --> 18 HP 531 --> 500 HP/5 9.34+0.85/lvl --> 8+0.8/lvl Mana 425 --> 470
Rock Surfing (P)	Out of combat movement speed: 20%-45% by lvl 18 --> 10/20/35/55% at 1/9/12/15 Time before passive falls off away from walls 1s --> 2.5s Bug fix where Taliyah could lose her passive permanently if she had a spell shield
Threaded Volley (Q)	[NEW] Deals damage in an 175 radius AoE Damge: 70-170(+.45 AP) --> 38-130(+.5 AP) Extra rock damage reduction 50% --> 60% Max Q damage 210-510(+1.35 AP) --> 98.8-338(1.3 AP) Cooldown 7-3 --> 6.5-2.5 Cost 50-90 --> 60-80 [NEW] Worked Ground cast is a single hit boulder, hit in an 225 radius AoE deals 2x damage (76-260(+1.0AP)) to the primary target and slows everything hit by 30-50% for 2s [NEW] Worked ground cast has new VFX, SFX, animation and icons Worked Ground mana cost 1 --> 30 Worked ground min CD 1s --> 0.75s [NEW] Casting on Worked Ground consumes the Worked Ground Worked Ground radius 300 --> 400 Worked Ground duration 25s --> 30s Worked Ground on Howling Abyss is now the same as Summoner's Rift Extra rock damage reduction on jungle monster 25% --> 60% (same as normal Q) [NEW] Q deals 150% damage to monster [NEW] Will now continue to cast while Taliyah is in stasis Fixed a bug where Worked Ground Q would sometimes not get the reduced cooldown
Seismic SHove (W)	Damage 60-140(+.4 AP) --> REMOVED Delay before knockup .8 --> .65 AoE Radius 200 --> 225 Cooldown 16-12 --> 14-8 Mana Cost 70-110 --> 60-0
Unravelled Earth (E)	[NEW] Mines stun enemies that dash through them for 1s Up front damage 50-150(+4. AP) --> 60-240(+.6 AP) Damage after 4s 50-150(+.3 AP) --> REMOVED Detonation Damage 50-90(+.3 AP) --> 25-105(+.3 AP) Damage reduction per mine 15% --> 25% Max detonation damage 155-279(+.93 AP) --> 62.5-262.5(+.75 AP) Cooldown 16-8 --> 16-12 Number of rows (range) 4 --> 6 Mines per row (width) 6 --> 4 Mine spawn delay between rows (effects how fast they go out) .1 --> .17 Delay after cast time before first mine spawns 1s --> 0 Field duration 4 --> 5
Weaver's Wall (R)	Range 3000-6000 --> 2500-6500 Damage no longer knocks Taliyah off her wall [NEW] Cannot cast within 3s of taking damage from an enemy champion or structure Moving jumps off the wall perpendicular to the direction of travel --> Moving causes Taliyah to dash to the location she clicked, up to a maximum dash range Jump off dash range 400 --> 700 Jump off dash speed 1000 --> 1200 Jump off dash now has more forgiveness when attempting to dash through a wall

Right now, her damage has been reduced by quite a lot. Much of her burst has been removed, but these are the numbers which Riot will bring onto the PBE for testing, so they are still subject to change. This reduction in damage was implemented due to her increased reliability and DPS that was added with this mid-scope update.

Upon release, Taliyah had AoE as part of her Q, but Riot quickly removed it due to how powerful it was in pro play. Due to the damage reduction, this shouldn't be as big of a problem this time around.

The mid-scope update kept much of her kit intact, changing some of the more problematic aspects that made her less fun to play for a casual player. But things like her E+Q combo will still work wonders on chunking down opponents, and the combo now also includes a stun, which is going to be nice.

Riot Axes (no relation) notes that Taliyah's changes are aimed for 12.9 pic.twitter.com/fFmEFSvOz2
— Spideraxe (@Spideraxe30) April 12, 2022

Is Taliyah Jungle Still Viable?

These changes are meant for both Taliyah in the mid lane, and in the jungle, according to Riot August on Twitter. He did state that the balance team will keep an eye out for the changes, in case she becomes OP in either position when it comes to pro play.

Of course, Taliyah is a very versatile, so you can definitely give her a try as a support and these changes will likely make her a popular pick in that position as well with the added stun.

When Will The Taliyah Rework Go Live?

The Taliyah mid-scope update will release for League of Legends Patch 12.9. She will be released along with Olaf whose mid-scope update has been on the PBE patch for the last two weeks. Sadly, we will not be able to see how these two champions work in pro play, since the Mid-Season Invitational will be played on Patch 12.8.

Therefore, these changes will hit solo queue harder than the pro scene, which will give players a chance to boost these champion's play rates and make them popular once more. Do you think you'll be playing some Taliyah in the future with these changes?