Riot reveal nerfs to counter popular “inting Sion” League strategy

Sion has become increasingly popular in Season 12 of League of Legends as players are utilizing the “inting Sion” strategy, which involves only pushing minion waves and knocking down enemy towers by abusing his zombie form passive ability. Riot Games have announced incoming nerfs to The Undead Juggernaut which reduces his passives damage.

Sion is one of League’s oldest champions, released all the way back in 2009. When the tank top laner was reworked in 2014, he was granted a new passive, Glory in Death, which reanimates him upon dying in zombie form. In zombie form, Sion can only auto-attack, but auto-attacks at increased speed and deals bonus damage based on the target’s minimum health.

His passive is one of the most unique abilities in the game and without a cooldown is quite abusable as Sion can repeatedly die to run down opponents, minions, and towers.

One of the most popular League streamers on Twitch, Thebausffs, has popularized the “inting Sion” strategy of dying often to use his zombie form to kill enemies and towers with ease. Now, Riot is looking to tone down Sion’s unforgiving passive ability.

Sion nerfs for League of Legends patch 12.9

Riot Games have begun testing massive Sion changes on the Public Beta Environment. On the PBE,  Zombie form does 50% reduced damage against towers.

• Read More: League of Legends patch 12.8 notes

Although these changes aren’t confirmed to hit live servers yet, it’s likely the Sion nerfs will come with patch 12.9 which is scheduled for May 11.

The nerfs come on the heels of an increase in Sion’s play rate, making it the highest it’s been all year. According to stat tracking site lolalytics, Sion was being played in 9.87% of matches in patch 12.7, his highest pick rate in over a year.

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The popularity of “inting Sion” seems to be at the heart of these changes, as Riot looks to reduce Sion’s power from beyond the grave.

Although Sion will still be able to smack enemy opponents around, he will have a harder time taking down turrets which will reduce his unrivaled map presence.