Just when we thought the days of double-enchanter bot lanes were behind us, an ever-problematic, pink-haired champion is singing a song of old and disrupting League of Legends’ ADC meta once more.
Seraphine has once again emerged in the ADC position following an overhaul to the bot lane meta, currently sitting around a 54-percent win rate across all Elos according to League stats websites OP.GG and U.GG. This follows two consecutive patches of the Starry-Eyed Songstress prevailing over more traditional ADCs thanks to a gold income exploit, though now she returns to her powerful state as a lane bully.
Patch 14.2 included the much-anticipated nerfs to the double support strategy that had been overwhelming players—both casually and professionally—since the start of the 2024 season. As part of these nerfs, the gold penalty for farming minions with this item began to apply to any player with a support item in their inventory, thus effectively removing the strategy involving players trading off which minions to kill.
With just this single change, enchanters moved away from the ADC role and back into the support position—but Seraphine, who highlighted this unhealthy strategy for the game, could simply opt for a different, more offensive-focused build that most other enchanters cannot efficiently do. As of this current patch, players have returned to Seraphine’s mage build, all while adding items like Staff of Flowing Waters and Moonstone Renewer that provide her with bonus stats while simultaneously increasing her supportive capabilities.
Seraphine’s prowess in the ADC position over the past several years stems from her wave-clearing capabilities. Both of her standard damaging abilities can deal damage to multiple targets at once and, when combined with her passive, can even be cast twice to quickly remove any minions blocking her path. This, in turn, opens up further bot lane strategies, including allowing her support to freely roam or turret-diving enemies with the assistance of her jungler.
Should Seraphine’s win rate remain where it is over the next several days, she may be included on the list of nerfs for Patch 14.4—though her status as a champion that can be played in three roles often makes it difficult to balance properly. More information regarding the changes accompanying League Patch 14.4, which is set to include the second half of the Lunar New Year event and a handful of new Porcelain skins, is expected to be revealed in the coming days.
