On Mar. 7, Rob “RiotKingCobra” Rosa revealed that one of League of Legends‘ oldest champions is getting an update. Anivia will see changes, and you can currently test them for yourself on the Public Test Environment (PBE). The changes to Anivia’s R – Glacial Storm arrive on the live servers with the patch 10.6 update on Mar. 18.
The change to Anivia’s Glacial Storm
The update in question is to the ability Glacial Storm. Anivia’s current version has one specific weakness: Glacial Storm is canceled when she is immobilized by a crowd control (CC) effect. Canceling CC can be any immobilizing effect, such as a stun, knock-up, or even silence from champions such as Fiddlesticks and Cho’Gath.
The newly proposed change will remove this weakness entirely. Glacial Storm will now no longer be canceled when Anivia is CC’d, which should drastically increases her consistency and damage output.
Hey Anivia players – noticed that PBE threads haven't picked up a change we made to her that we’re aiming to ship in 10.6: Her ultimate is no longer cancelled by CC (of any kind) and the Frostbite applied by her ultimate now lasts the same duration as the one applied by her Q.
— Rob Rosa (@RiotKingCobra) March 7, 2020
However, this is not the only change made to Anivia’s Glacial Storm. In addition to the consistency increase, her slows have also seen a drastic improvement. The current version of Glacial Storm slows enemies for 1 to 1.5 seconds if they are within the affected area. However, the proposed changes see this buffed drastically to a flat 3-second slow.
How it could affect pro play
Henrik “Froggen” Hansen is one of the best professional Anivia players of all time. He has played Anivia in the professional scene during times other players didn’t dare to touch the champion. However, when he found out about these changes, even he suggested this might be “too op”.
this is too op xD?
— LGFroggen – Henrik Hansen (@Froggen) March 7, 2020
While this is just one expert’s prediction, there are ways these changes could affect the professional scene. If these changes make it through testing, Anivia could see play in the professional scene as early as April. Usually, the professional scenes are two weeks behind on the live servers, giving players enough time to practice the new update.
One way she could affect pro play comes through the wave manipulation Anivia has access to. In the past, players have experimented with Anivia in the top lane – such as a few updates ago, when Crystallize, her Wall, saw an increase in size. Anivia can use this to block off minions from entering the lane, causing them to path into the jungle. Previously, this wasn’t a big issue, as Anivia was too weak to see real play. However, now that she is much more reliable, this could become a practical strategy for both the top and mid lanes.
For more League of Legends news, be sure to read all about the new matchmaking update.
Trending
