Qiyana has received a lot of attention from Riot Games this Season 11. A little too much, perhaps.

On patches 11.1 and 11.5, her base stats, Terrashape (W), and Supreme Display of Talent (R) were buffed. From then on, it all went downhill.

Terrashape’s bonus movement speed was reduced on 11.11 to curb her roams. Patches 11.18 and 11.19 introduced even more drastic changes that pushed her into the jungle meta for Worlds 2021, nerfed more base damage, and forever changed the mechanic of her E+Q combo.

League of Legends patch 11.22 is now nerfing the base stats of two abilities, Edge of Ixtal (Q) and Audacity (E), and her base health, while buffing her health growth. At the same time, Goredrinker’s durability and sustain has been strengthened.



Qiyana buffs in League of Legends patch 11.22

True Damage Qiyana Prestige Edition skin
True Damage Qiyana Prestige Edition
Credit: Riot Games

Base Stats

  • Base health decreased from 590 to 520
  • Base health growth increased from 90 to 110

Q – Edge of Ixtal

  • Damage decreased from 60/85/110/135/160 (+90% bonus AD) to 50/80/110/140/170 (+75% bonus AD)

E – Audacity

  • Damage decreased from 50/80/110/140/170 (+70% bonus AD) to 50/90/130/170/210 (+50% bonus AD)

Goredrinker buffs in League of Legends patch 11.22

  • Health increased from 400 to 450
  • Omnivamp increased from 8% to 10%

Ceaseless Hunger (Ornn’s upgraded item)

  • Health increased from 550 to 600
  • Omnivamp increased from 13% to 15%
League of Legends item Goredrinker
Credit: Riot Games

How these patch changes shape bruiser Qiyana

Due to the myriad of changes to the champion, two builds have been prevalent: a pure lethality assassin build with Electrocute, and a bruiser build with Conqueror and Goredrinker as its core, both of which have been used by pro players at Worlds 2021.

Even though Riot Games’ intention with these nerfs is to even out the power of Qiyana between elite play and average play, the combined updates to Goredrinker and her base health buffs only empowers her bruiser build.

“They made her tankier and her damage isn’t going to be that different because Goredrinker Qiyana doesn’t aim to stack a lot of AD,” explained Nick “LS” De Cesare in his League of Legends patch 11.22 video. “She has a lot of CDR, evasiveness, and then Goredrinker.”

The reduced AD scaling means that from early to mid game, lethality assassin Qiyana will not be able to one-shot targets as easily. However, instead of pushing her out of the meta by nerfing her AD build, the combined health she gets from the increased base health growth, Goredrinker, plus Omnivamp, just makes bruiser Qiyana paramount.

Goredrinker Qiyana build

Keystone Runes — Precision

  • Conqueror
  • Triumph (jungle) or Presence of Mind (mid lane)
  • Legend: Tenacity
  • Coup de Grace

Secondary Runes — Inspiration

  • Magical Footwear
  • Cosmic Insight
  • Attack Speed (jungle) or Adaptive Force (mid lane)
  • Adaptive Force
  • Armor (jungle) or Magic Resist (depending on your mid lane matchup)

Item build

  • Boots of Lucidity
  • Goredrinker (Mythic item)
  • Serpent’s Fang (if the enemy team has a lot of shields) or Youmuu’s Ghostblade
  • Black Cleaver
  • Serylda’s Grudge
  • Guardian Angel

Click here to read the full League of Legends patch 11.22 notes.

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