League of Legends: How to Play Nunu Mid Like Faker
By Josh Tyler
Nunu mid is the new rising pick in League of Legends. Here’s how it rose to power.
One underreported aspect of Patch 10.13 was the sudden and inexplicable rise of mid lane Nunu. Once a niche pick with barely a noticeable pick rate in Diamond plus, Nunu mid saw its pick rate spike in the last week of June and the first week of July. Today, Nunu mid currently has a pick rate of almost 3.5% and professional League of Legends players like Faker are even trying out the pick.
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The big question most players are probably wondering is: how the hell did this happen? Let’s take a look at the history of Nunu and the buffs that brought him into the mid lane and why this pick has gained such popularity.
What Happened
Usually, when a new pick skyrockets into the meta, it’s the result of several patches of small, incremental buffs that reach a tipping point. For Nunu, though, it was one patch’s changes that put the Boy and his Yeti into the mid lane.
In Patch 10.13, Riot made changes to two of Nunu’s abilities: Consume and Absolute Zero. Both abilities saw massive changes to the AP ratios, with Consume’s damage against champions and heal from monsters and minions going up by 15% and 20%, respectively. In addition, Absolute Zero’s shield also gained AP scaling at 150% AP.
These changes meant that building raw AP on Nunu allowed him to be extremely tanky and improved his sustain in lane and in the jungle. Not only were his trades stronger with Consume, but if he was chunked low in a ranged matchup mid he could consume a minion and get even more health back. Plus, he could now get a bigger shield from building more damage, a concept which is so ludicrously broken I can’t believe it would ever make it into the game (stares directly at Riven).