League players call out Riot for stealth nerfing DJ Sona skin

League of Legends players hit out at Riot after visually updating DJ Sona in patch 12.2, which players claim stealthily nerfed the skin along with removing some of the more popular features of the cosmetic.

In patch 12.2, Sona received a massive VFX update that aimed to modernize her animations and provide more clarity for her abilities.

While nearly a dozen of her skins were updated, one stood out to players over the others. That was DJ Sona. Released back in 2015, the Ultimate skin incorporates unique music and can cycle through three different forms: kinetic, concussive, and ethereal.

One League player pointed out that the update to the skin could in fact have downgraded the visual quality of the skin and also stealth nerfed it.

DJ Sona update causes concern

Reddit user Fealnort dug into concerns about the update to the skin and found that Riot might have actually hurt the quality of the 3250 RP skin.

• Read More: Riot confirms Ahri rework for League Season 12

Riot claimed with the update would add “additional special celebration effects for each passive aura”, which Fealnort simply couldn’t find after the patch went live.

The overhaul to the skin also removed the changing of colors when Sona use her abilities for some of her forms. Previously, her basic Q, W, and E abilities would alter the color of her soundboard, a feature that was seemingly removed with the update.

Fealnort also claims it’s now more difficult to see which allies you are empowering with your abilities, as well as using the same animation for her empowered auto attacks as her Q spell, meaning both are indistinguishable. Riot originally asked for feedback when the update was teased but hasn’t gone back to the thread since.

• Read More: How to enable 2FA in League of Legends and Valorant

Many in the comments sounded off about the changes with one user who pointed out the music for the skin also could be bugged.

“The skin is bugged from the release, music was supposed to get better throughout the game while you leveled your spells. It was like that only on pbe. Now besides ultimate promise not working we have bland and robbed VFX still for the cosmic price. Yikes.”

One League fan was unhappy with the intended update’s visual changes from an artistic perspective, “it waters down all of her auras to blurry circles stripped from vivid colors and soundwaves.”

Since the Sona update dropped Riot has yet to respond.