Pro players in the LEC will not have access to the newly reworked Wukong after Riot announced that he would be disabled for the final week of group stage and the playoffs for the Spring Split.
The LEC’s league operations lead, Maximilian Peter Schmidt, confirmed that the Monkey King would be joining Vi on the blacklist of champions after the rework that dropped with Patch 10.6 last week left Wukong massively overpowered – even after an emergency nerf two days after the patch – and saw a huge spike in both his pick rate and win rate in ranked play.
As is usual protocol for reworked champions, Riot wants to ensure pro players have enough time to practice and get to grips with reworked champions before unleashing them into the esports leagues. However, with Wukong now commanding high win rates in both top lane, mid lane, and jungle, he has become extremely strong and versatile, so it will be a particularly big relief that he has been disabled as Riot tries to balance the champion out.
No monkey business:
Due to the rework Wukong will be disabled for #LEC Week 9 and the entirety of the #LEC Spring Playoffs.— Maximilian Peter Schmidt (@RiotMAXtheX) March 25, 2020
While Wukong’s blacklisting has only been confirmed by the LEC so far, other competitive LoL leagues are expected to follow suit soon.
Despite the six teams for the LEC Spring Playoffs already being confirmed, this weekend’s action will be a case of what order the leading pack will finish in. G2 are currently top, but could lose first place if they fail to win and Fnatic or Origen pick up victories.
While it’ll be a weekend full of action, one thing there definitely won’t be is monkeys.
