Warwick Abilities and Skills: 'League of Legends' rework update detailed in patch notes

Impact

After a week filled with rumors and a sweet animated teaser video, we finally know what to expect out of the new skills and abilities to expect from the reworked version of Warwick, the bloodthirsty wolfman in League of Legends. The beginner-friendly "jungler" champion (someone who's good at sneaking in and out of the areas between the three lanes) got a major overhaul, with Riot Games attempting to add more depth and raise his skill ceiling. 

Full details on the Warwick rework can be found here, but keep reading for a distilled explanation of what new abilities in skills the blood hunter is picking up.

League of Legends: Warwick abilities and skills after the rework, explained

First, here's a short video showing off Warwick's new abilities in action.

That's a little confusing without context, but that's what we're here for. The first thing you need to know is Warwick has a passive ability called Eternal Thirst. His basic attacks now do bonus damage and if he's below half health, that bonus damage will heal him a little bit. That will make him last a little longer in direct confrontations.

Mapped to the Q key is Jaws of the Beast, a lunging attack that heals Warwick for some of the damage dealt by the forward leap. If you hold down the key, you will actually leap and attack from behind, which could be useful when you have the element of surprise as a jungler.

The attack mapped to the W key is where things get really interesting. By default, enemy players with less than half their health remaining will leave a blood trail visible to Warwick. At this point, they are Blood Hunted. As Warwick, you can follow the trail and hunt them down. Your movement and attack speed are significantly increased against Blood Hunted enemies, making Warwick a fearsome opponent when retreating. I bet you're wondering what the W key has to do with this. It's simple: Pressing it will make a nearby enemy Blood Hunted even if they're at full health, giving you all the bonuses listed above. Yikes.

On the E key is Primal Howl, which simply causes Warwick to take reduced damage for a short time. At the end of its duration, he'll howl again, causing nearby enemies to flee in fear. Riot had to balance out his other offensive-minded skills with a defensive maneuver.

Finally, on the R key is Infinite Duress. Warwick will leap at an enemy, repeatedly slashing and healing himself for all damage dealt during the fearsome flurry. The distance of the leap has a positive correlation with your movement speed and you're immune from all crowd control effects during the leap, so go nuts with this one. 

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While you download the latest League update, you might as well check out Mic's gaming guides on how to get started with Pokémon Go data, the latest Overwatch changes, how to become a real estate magnate in GTA Online and the latest info on the new Nintendo Switch console.