"My place is at the top." Not anymore, buddy.
Since League of Legends 2023 Mid-Season Invitational began on May 2, weve seen several unique picks across the lanes in matchdays one and two. While some of these picks have been off-meta and have done well, like Nautilus in the mid lane, one jungle champion has the worst win rate across five gamesWukong.
So far in the 2023 MSI Play-Ins, Wukong has been piloted by Do Levi Duy Khánh from GAM Esports, Sebastián Oddie Alonso Niño Zavaleta from Movistar R7, Park Croc Jong-hoon from LOUD, and twice by Mun Steal Geon-Yeong from DFM.
Unfortunately, in all five games, Wukong was heavily beaten by meta jungle champs Viego, Nidalee, Vi, and Lee Sin, with Oddie recording the lowest Wukong KDA of 0.33 against Bilibili Gaming.
As most junglers know, Wukong is a reasonably solid pick due to his sustain and damage. And he has excellent crowd control, which can be effective in team fights. But before Leagues MSI patch, Patch 13.8, Wukong was nerfed in 13.7.
His attack damage was reduced, the cooldown for Warrior Trickster (W) was increased, and the bonus attack speed he received from Nimbus Strike (E) was also reduced. Although there hasnt been too much of a win rate drop for League players between Patch 13.7 and 13.8, its astounding to see what was once a prime jungle pick start the Mid-Season Invitational with zero wins on the board across a majority of matches.
While were all building him relatively the same, with Divine Sunderer, Plated Steelcaps, and Black Cleaver, the 57 percent win rate he has across all regions when piloted by pros doesnt seem to be translating as well as teams would like.
When compared to the dominating junglers like Lillia, Viego, and Elise, Wukong doesnt seem to be cutting it after he was, quite literally, nerfed to zero.
As Play-In games continue on May 4, it will be interesting to see if these teams pick Wukong, the once-solid choice, in favor of buffed and dominating jungle champions.