Welcome to the 2022 Worlds patch!
Following the trend of our last two patches, 12.18 is focused on tuning down some overperforming picks in Pro like Kalista and Lulu, while giving a little power to champions just under everyone's radar. Since our goal isn't to completely change the meta from playoffs, these adjustments will be on the lighter side. And with that, to Worlds we go!
Secrets of the Shallows, a new TFT event kicks off this patch with Pengu and company charting the Uncharted Realms! Uncover that and more at the TFT patch notes here!
Q bonus attack speed increased.
While Ashe has recently gained popularity as a support, her power hasn't been quite up to par with other marksmen. We're increasing her damage to help her shine a bit more in a meta that lacks utility ADC options.
Q AD ratio decreased, damage per stack decreased. W post-mitigation damage heal reduced.
Hecarim came charging out of the gates after his update last patch. We're bringing down his overall power with these nerfs, but aiming to reduce the strength of his AD builds in particular without bringing tank Hec back from the dead.
Base health decreased.
Kalista's been a popular Pro pick for quite some time now due to her overwhelmingly dominant laning phase. We're making her a bit more punishable in lane in situations where she overcommits early on.
Darkin form Q bonus AD scaling decreased.
Rhaast has been winning the preferred Kayn form battle in most skill levels recently. Not only does he offer a surprising amount of damage, but he's also proving to be a hard-to-kill drain tank. We want to lean more into his identity as a healing tank, so we're taking his damage down so he no longer gets the best of both forms.
Health growth increased. W lifesteal and spellvamp increased.
Would this even be a Worlds patch without a Lee Sin buff? Jokes aside, Lee isn't in a great spot right now. He hasn't seen much play in Pro recently and has been struggling quite a bit in solo queue, so we're giving this fan and pro favorite some high skill level skewed buffs to help him find his place once again.
W bonus movement speed decreased, disable duration decreased, cooldown increased.
Lulu has been the best enchanter on the Rift as of late. Not only is she great at keeping her carries alive, but she brings boatloads of utility to her team. We're tuning down one of her most powerful tools in Pro play to bring her in line with other enchanters.
Passive heal decreased. Q bonus damage to monsters increased. E AP scaling decreased.
Maokai's update has been transplanted to the Rift successfully, taking root not only in support, but in top as well (which was one of our major goals!). He's been struggling to branch out into the jungle, so we're giving him some jungle oriented buffs in hopes they bear fruit while trimming some of his strengths in other roles. We’re sorry. These plant puns are just low hanging fruit.
Health growth and AD growth decreased.
Miss Fortune's buffs in patch 12.17 really hit the mark for both of her builds, even after the mid-patch nerfs. Her crit/attack speed builds benefitted much more than lethality, so we're tuning that build down a bit while also giving her a more generic health nerf to bring her down just a peg.
Attack damage growth decreased.
Nocturne's buffs last patch made him a little too strong. We're pulling a bit of power out of his base stats so that he isn't quite as terrifying, but still sufficiently scary.
Health growth increased. E base damage increased.
Thresh has been a ghost of his former self, falling behind many of his support peers this season. We're being cautious with buffs because we don't want him to become THE support (especially with Worlds coming up), but we do want Thresh players to feel better about being more aggressive as the game progresses as opposed to scaling into a lantern delivery service.
Base health decreased, armor growth decreased. Q mana cost decreased, AP scaling increased, first 2 attacks now gain 50 range, Awakened Q now deals additional maximum health damage on first 2 attacks. W percent healing decreased, lifesteal now scales with rank. R base damage decreased, AP scaling decreased, damage to minions adjusted.
Like most new/updated champs, as all of you have gotten more used to Newdyr the stronger he has become. Now he's a tad more powerful than we'd like. Our goals with these adjustments are to bring his scaling down a bit, shift some power from his R-max to his Q-max (particularly in lanes), reduce the strength of his W-max second, and incentivize players to take at least 1 point in Q early.
When autofill protection was initially introduced, support was by far the least popular role. However, role preferences have shifted over time and can also vary heavily by region. Around a year ago we made behind-the-scenes changes to proactively protect players from autofill if they were queuing for high demand positions.
We’re pulling back the curtain now and indicating which roles are in high demand when you’re selecting your role with a “priority” tag in the lobby. Now you can decide if you’d like to queue for one of these roles to avoid being autofilled in your next game and to get into a game more quickly.
Players you have recently honored or who have recently honored you will show up in the suggested party members menu with an honor icon next to their summoner name. Now you can run it back with those you’ve already enjoyed playing with!
In this Mythic Shop rotation, we’ll have a new Unvaulted Prestige, Unvaulted Mythic, Mythic Chroma, and a new Seasonal Mythic.
Team formation for the first weekend of Worlds Clash will be open starting on September 26 and the tournaments will be on October 1 and 2. In addition to the trophy, banner, and logo rewards of other Clash tournaments, Worlds Clash has an additional reward of a loot capsule!
This loot capsule will contain the following:
New Challenges coming at you in patch 12.18!
The following skins will be released in this patch:
The following chromas will be released this patch: