Buzz
The purpose of Riot's latest experiment remains unclear, but it will undoubtedly make Pyke much more dangerous.
Since its release, Pyke has always been a formidable and highly disruptive champion. From basic abilities like crowd control, isolating opponents, to his ultimate ability, Pyke has become a true terror in League of Legends. Despite numerous damage nerfs, Pyke remains a potent threat.
It's unclear why Riot Games is buffing Pyke in patch 12.9. Specifically, Pyke's ultimate ability, Death from Below, will now have an increased threshold for executing enemies with each successful kill. Precisely, the health threshold for executing targets will increase by 9 units for each champion or large monster kill, and 3 and 1 units respectively for melee and ranged minions.
In theory, Pyke's execution threshold could reach thousands, allowing him to instantly eliminate opponents with full health. As demonstrated by the 'Bug Saint' Vandiril, Pyke can execute a 5000-health Cho'Gath provided he has accumulated enough bonus damage.
In practice, however, executing this strategy proves challenging for Pyke. In a typical match, even with numerous successful executions, the increased threshold only reaches 200-300 health. Nonetheless, it's still sufficient for Pyke to eliminate multiple enemy champions over the course of a game.
Pyke may become more popular in the near future and return to the meta after being surpassed by other support champions recently.
