Seraphine of one of League of Legends’ most problematic champions. She is incredibly strong inside the game, while also being a bit of a question mark ping outside of the game. When Riot first launched her at the end of 2020, she was a strong Midlaner and Support. Riot attempted to balance her, putting her to rest for a moment. However, recent professional games are showing, if anything, she is the strongest she has ever been. Here are the reasons why the Seraphine build is OP in Season 11.
Seraphine is one of the most overpowered Champions in League of Legends Season 11
Flex Picking Seraphine
Seraphine is a champion that sort of feels like how the LCK played Karma back in Summer 2020. Her flex pick ability is extraordinarily strong, with multiple regions electing her a mid-pick, mage marksman pick, or support. The reason for this is that her farm as an ADC or Mid allows her to build more items, with the support version of her not differentiating too much.
The added benefit of Seraphine as a mid laner means she fits the control mage meta very well. Mid lane picks like, Viktor, Twisted Fate, Orianna, Zoe and more are some champions getting plenty of play. She can contest farm very well and perform a controlling role with her ultimate and still provide utility at the same time.
Seraphine Build
All the builds go a similar path, with the Moonstaff build at its core. This Seraphine build allows her to maximize her healing potential as the bonus healing and shielding is where Seraphine naturally excels. Furthermore, this Seraphine build also allows several members of her team to receive AP scaling bonuses with the granted AP on Staff of Flowing Water. Several ADCs getting picked like Kai’sa, Tristana and Miss Fortune benefit from this. Farming Junglers like Lillia and Nidalee benefit from this too.
In general, Seraphine, regardless of position, can fit into a team comp very well. This is simply because her supporting playstyle is beneficial regardless of position on the map.
Seraphine’s runes are very different depending on what role she’s in. Guardian is to go-to rune for the most part. However, ADC Serpahines pick up aery or phase rush depending on the situation. Guardian shields allies stood close to each other when taking damage. This generally fits a Seraphine build better, but farm lanes can tale additional runes to support their combat ability if needed.
Seraphine tips
One of the things that makes Seraphine so strong is the range of her abilities. Her ultimate has quite the long-range skill shot with it getting even longer if it successfully hits a target. This has led to teams getting quite surprised with her CC potential. Landing one of them can lead to follow and easy enough team wipes.
11.4 Changes
League of Legends patch 11.4 is seeing quite the shake-up of a few key details of Seraphine. One of these is the slight nerf to the early game of the Moonstone Renewer. The item generally grants less healing at lower levels, but its mid and late-game power remains the same. This makes the item a little less snowball-y, but nothing too extreme.
However, the buffs to Chemtech Purifier means Seraphines combination of her heals and an AOE grievous wounds item makes Seraphine one of the best support Mages available. The Staff of Flowing Water is also still rather strong with the bonus healing and shielding power and the granting of additional AP.
Moreover, the Patch 11.4 changes seem to hint towards a complete jungle rework. Tanks and ganking junglers may become more of a factor, meaning the Moonstaff build may naturally become more favorable.
Seraphine’s Ban Rate
At the time of writing, the professional meta is about to enter the 11.4 patch. Teams will get to experience the above changes soon. But how does Seraphine look on both patches? The transition of patches suggests that Seraphine is going to remain a prominent pick.
In patch 11.3, the major professional leagues have a high importance on her. The LPL has the lowest P/B rate at 14.6%, 23.6% in the LEC, 47.6% in the LCK and a 68.9% in the LCS in 11.3. Clearly, some of the professional regions favor Seraphine a considerable amount.
Even in a regular game of League of Legends, Seraphine sees some considerable ban percentage. According to U.GG, Seraphine has a 19.5% overall ban rate across the world. The ban rate in the higher elos goes up and up. According to LoLVVV, the pros the website tracks ban Seraphine 42% of the time. It is clear as day that Seraphine’s power level is still prevalent.
It is pretty clear that Seraphine remains rather OP in Season 11. Regardless of where Seraphine goes, the enchanter and control mage hybrid will continue to be relevant unless there are specific nerfs to her kit.
