Everything You Need to Know About the 14.16 Senna Rework

In Patch 14.16, released on the 14th of August 2024, Riot Games has released a new rework that has been up for testing on the PBE for a while. Senna has been in an uncomfortable position for some time now, not being able to dance the line between hypercarry and support. She eventually settled into preferring to play off-role ADC, with Starving Senna taking the meta and becoming a feast-or-famine pick.

Originally, Riot Games had promised that though they were excited to balance Senna around both the ADC and support roles, she would remain primarily support, balanced solely around that ideology. Now, Riot Games has kept their promise, with some massive changes coming to the champion that will give her a new playstyle that she'd never experienced before.

What Changed?

First, let's talk a bit about what really changed. Her scaling and critical strike has been toned down. Scaling has been overall affected, with Critical Strike per 20 Stacks of her passive, Absolution, being reduced, and her Attack Speed growth also seeing an adjustment. Though, that wasn't the biggest change.

What has been more affected is the AP scaling on most of her abilities, with Q — Piercing Darkness and R — Dawning Shadow being affected. Her Lethality scaling on Q — Piercing Darkness's healing has been removed, replaced instead by a hefty +80% AP scaling (from +40%) and her R — Dawning Shadow being changed to +70% AP from +40% AP in her shielding.

What Does This Mean?

We've spoken about raw stats, but what does that mean in general? With Lethality out of her Q scaling for healing, the ADC playstyle for Senna has been changed drastically, removing her capability to heal allies with as much ease. Though her damage in R — Dawning Shadow hasn't been changed, the massive buffs for these abilities' AP scaling offers room for Senna to build enchanter as a healer rather than aggressive, making her superior in double marksman lanes.

The reason this change is massive is because the increased AP ratios give Senna a new build route, benefitting massively from AP items. This gives her the capability to build items like Echoes of Helia comfortably without wasting the AP stats, while also giving opening for other items like Ardent Censer. The lower income required for these builds gives Senna the capability to purchase her new core item without struggling so much from the lack of gold due to the decision between farming minions or getting stacks of Absolution.

Does This Affect "Old Senna"?

With these massive changes, Senna is being given the opportunity to change from her standard playstyle, but it doesn't entirely invalidate Senna's previous gameplay. With her Critical Stike Chance being reduced from 10% to 8% per 20 stacks of Absolution and her Lethality scaling removed from Q —Piercing Darkness, there is less incentive to go full damage.

While Crit and Lethality builds will still be viable, the utility coming from the increased AP ratios and better CC from Q — Piercing Darkness slow and W — Last Embrace gives her more utility, reducing her feast-or-famine playstyle that would heavily punish players for one misplay.

How is the Community Reacting?

Though many of the League of Legends community have been negative about the rework, many others have been enthusiastic by her new utility. With Echoes of Helia and AP playstyles, Senna can fill more roles than she would traditionally pre-rework, and though her damage has been affected, it is a small change in contrast to the massive amounts of utility given to her. Content creator i0ki has been excited about her changes throughout his time playing her and exploring different builds.