The patch notes are here and there’s A LOT of them. We have Chemtech Drake’s redemption arc, a brand new Chemtech Rift, three new adorable jungle companions, seven new items, new ARAM balance changes, new… well you get the point.
Welcome to League of Legends 2023 Preseason!
It's the last patch of Dragonlands over at TFT and the team is doubling down on the Treasure Dragon mechanic and shipping a ton of buffs. Read more about it at the TFT patch notes here!
Chemtech Drake is BACK and better than ever! Our goal with the new-and-improved drake is to encourage calculated, aggressive plays and incentivize players to fight to the end to gain the edge over their opponents. Go big or go home!
Alongside the new drake is the new Chemtech Rift! The Chemtech gas we introduced to the Rift in last year’s preseason was a bit too toxic for a good gameplay experience, so we opted to take a more measured approach this year. Now, instead of sitting on the surface, the Zaunite chemicals have seeped their way into the Rift, mutating the environment and enhancing each of the jungle plants with different effects.
We’ve got a lot of jungle changes to unpack here, so let’s jump right into it!
One of the biggest changes you’ll notice is that all the camps got their own little Durability Update. Our goals with this update are to make it more of an investment for laners to take jungle camps (especially in the early game), keeping fast clear speeds fast while making slow clearers slightly less slow by shifting jungle dps into companions, and shifting some gold and experience from the jungle itself into the new jungle items. On the other hand, we actually made Krugs a less durable camp by removing the 2 Krugs that spawned from the Ancient Krug which should make the camp less of a time sink and allow for more interesting early game jungle pathing.
We've also made quite a few adjustments to reduce how effectively both laners and enemy junglers can poach camps. The Own-Side clearing strength changes are meant to speed up how fast junglers clear their own jungle while increasing the opportunity cost of invading. This Own-Side Clearing Strength change will also help tone down very early invades and vertical jungling which, while interesting and powerful, is currently too reliant on your team's ability to play around you and maintain early lane pressure. In addition, the new Marked for Death change should make getting counter jungled a bit less punishing as well. To be clear, we absolutely do want counter jungling in the game and believe it should be an effective strategy for junglers. However, the current state of counter jungling is far too strong and punishing, making it an incredibly miserable experience for those being invaded which isn’t ideal for the role.
And now a paragraph just for our favorite Rift Scuttlers. Scuttle has two key issues we’re trying to correct: breaking its shield was a miserable experience for junglers unable to do so and champion viability in the jungle was dependent on whether or not your champion could reach Scuttle by 3:15. While we completely removed the former, we shifted the spawn time for Scuttle to 3:30 to help slower junglers take their time clearing while faster ones can get in a sweet pre-Scuttle gank now.
Last big change to discuss is sustain in the jungle. We’re taking the healing power out of Smite and Gromp and spreading it across the jungle with the jungle companions. When the % health on-hit damage from some camps is factored in, this should result in a jungle where only a few champions finish their clear with low health, most champions have a decent amount of health to work with, and sustain oriented champions leave very healthy. After all, if every champion could heal like Warwick, there wouldn’t be much value in Warwick’s innate sustain.
Blue Sentinel
Gromp
Krugs
Murk Wolves
Raptors
Red Brambleback
Rift Herald
Rift Scuttler
It’s dangerous to go into the jungle alone, so take one of these jungle companions! Traditional jungle items will now be replaced by adorable, feisty, and all-around wholesome companions. If you bring Smite, you'll have the option to purchase Mosstomper, Scorchclaw, or Gustwalker in egg form at the beginning of the game. They’ll grow and evolve as you progress in the game by getting stacks from monster and champion takedowns, so make sure to give them lots of treats/stacks and love. In an effort to conserve the Rift ecosystem, we strongly recommend that our furry and scaly friends (and Smite) be kept in the jungle.
Companion Attacks
Companion Mana Regeneration
Companion Progression
Jungle companions will evolve twice throughout the game by acquiring treats via the following methods:
As jungle companions evolve, they will receive the following bonuses at each evolution:
First Evolution
Final Evolution
Mosstomper
Scorchclaw
Gustwalker
In an effort to make the jungle more welcoming to players unfamiliar with the role, we’ll be adding visual leashing indicators that will show how far camps can be pulled before their patience starts diminishing. We’re also decreasing the distance camps can be pulled, so no more having to stand on the perfect pixel to clear two camps at once in order to hyper-optimize your clears.
Starting off your first clear on the wrong foot can be quite punishing for junglers, especially when the opponent knows exactly how to optimize their clear straight into their first gank. In order to make this first clear less punishing for newer or off-role junglers, we’re adding first clear pathing recommendations. These recommendations will be shown on your minimap and above camps visually, indicating the recommended order of your first clear. These first clear paths were determined by gathering data from high-skilled junglers on their high mastery champs across the globe. Pathing recommendations are based on win percentage and will be updated each patch.
It’s worth noting that your first clear order will always be situational depending on team comps and lane/jungle matchups. This is not meant to replace the skills and knowledge needed to have an optimal first clear, but more so intended to help those less familiar with the role.
League is a team game at its core. In order to better facilitate communication between teammates, we’re doubling the number of pings available to players. The 8 pings on the wheel will now be as follows:
We’re also adding an entirely new ping wheel that focuses primarily on vision. Using this wheel, you can now indicate the following:
The Caution ping, which exists outside of the ping wheel system, is staying the same, with some updated visuals.
Getting your team on board with taking an objective can be difficult, and having everyone ping simultaneously can get very confusing very quickly. We’re introducing a new voting function that will appear when objectives are pinged that works similarly to a surrender vote. Now all players can vote and indicate whether or not they’d like to take or contest that objective. The jungler’s vote will be counted as 2 votes and a total of 4 votes for or against will be considered aligned. Our hope is that this helps teams better plan around global objectives together because sometimes the team call is better than the right call.
While there are currently ways to see how many wards you have out on the map, there isn’t a quick way to check which wards are closest to expiring. We’re introducing new ward visuals on the minimap that will indicate when wards are close to expiring. Allied ward minimap icons will now change appearance when they reach a third of their remaining duration.
It can be hard to keep track of every single ward that gets placed on the map and even harder to successfully communicate that information to your teammates. Now, if you use a vision ping near an enemy ward that you've seen within the last 10 seconds—or just attack it—a perfectly accurate ward timer that is always visible to all teammates will appear until the ward is removed or expires.
In a continuous effort to make League of Legends more welcoming to newer players, we are adding in-game ability level-up recommendations. These visual indicators will appear once you level up and highlight which ability is typically leveled by players at each level. This information will be updated with each patch so that you’re all getting the latest and greatest information.
We’ll also be making some adjustments to help top laners scale better relative to other lanes, and hit those key item and level breakpoints faster relative to mid and bot. TL;DR: Mid and top are getting a bit more XP, bot duo is getting a bit less, and mid is getting a bit less gold.
When we introduced Mythic items in the item update, we designed them to be first item purchases that defined the playstyle of your build. As we’ve seen all of you test hundreds of thousands of build variations, we’ve revisited our Mythic item philosophy and now believe that these items don't always have to be first item rushes. Sometimes a Legendary item better fits the item profile a champion is looking for, and given the wide breadth of champion playstyles in the game we believe there's no need to be overly restrictive.
With the relaxed restriction on Mythic items as a first purchase, we are revamping tank Mythics without the presence of Immolate, allowing them to focus less on damage/farming and more on enabling the core tank fantasies of having tons of durability or crowd control (or both)!
To this end we'll be introducing three new Mythic tank items, as well as reworking Frostfire Gauntlet back to its former frosty glory: Iceborn Gauntlet. Turbo Chemtank and Sunfire Cape will be moving to the Legendary item space and have their effects simplified. Finally, we'll be making some smaller changes to a few other tank items to ensure they have the tools they need in this new world, including the return of an old friend for mages and tanks alike. Without further ado, let’s dive into the items!
Become an unkillable monstrosity over the course of a fight.
This is the Ornn upgraded version of Jak’Sho, the Protean.
Become a shining light and lead the charge as a beacon of hope for your allies.
This is the Ornn upgraded version of Radiant Virtue.
Grow into a goliath that towers over foes and pummels the opposition.
This is the Ornn upgraded version of Heartsteel.
Control the battlefield and cripple the opposition.
This is the Ornn upgraded version of Iceborn Gauntlet
The one you’ve all been waiting for. An old friend returns to help you scale into the late game.
This is the Ornn upgraded version of Rod of Ages.
Returning alongside Rod of Ages as a one-stop shop for health and mana sustain during laning phase.
Abyssal Mask is a niche item that has struggled to find its way into builds. Returning Catalyst and its Eternity passive should make it a solid option for those looking for a combination of magic resist, mana, and health.
Randuin's critical damage reduction being tied to the active has led to a less satisfying and less reliable version of the item. We're returning the reduction to its passive, the active to its longer slow, all while retaining the new Rock Solid passive.
While it's no longer a mythic item, Sunfire is still your go-to option for waveclear and sustained damage as a tank.
Rather than a jungle specific rush item, Chemtank should now be a possible mid-to-late game option for any tank looking for an extra bit of engage potential.
Great for AD melee champions looking to carry their teams with damage.
Updating Cleave’s damage to be more in line with the new Ravenous Hydra.
Shojin is back! Become the AD caster you’ve always wanted to be.
Navori’s was a bit too niche of an item in its previous form resulting in it often being skipped over. We’re adjusting it so that it competes with Infinity Edge as a build defining item, trading DPS for stronger spells and lower cooldowns. (Note: this item cannot be built with Guinsoo’s Rageblade or Infinity Edge)
R damage increased.
With the increased damage coming to Smite this patch we’re buffing up Cho’Gath’s Feast execute damage in order to keep it competitive with Smite—don’t let Cho near your Barons!
Changed from ranged to melee. Base health decreased. Health growth increased. Passive healing vs champions increased.
Changing Lillia to a melee champion to be more intuitive with how she attacks. We expect this to be a slight buff to her, so we’re preemptively nerfing her passive.
Q damage to non-champions increased.
In a similar change to Cho’Gath, our goal is to keep Nunu & Willump’s Consume damage competitive with Smite so we’re upping its damage!
Changed from ranged to melee.
Changing Rakan to a melee champion so that his attacks are more in line with player expectations.
Updating Smite’s damage to correspond to the amount of stacks your jungle companion has accumulated throughout the game.
Turret Plating
In case you haven’t seen it yet, we’re updating our ARAM balance philosophy and will begin in patch 12.22 with some champion specific changes (read more about it in our full post here). This initial patch is expected to be a little rockier on the balance side while we gather data on some new buffs and nerfs we’re trying on specific champions. The end goal is to reduce our reliance on the damage taken/received modifiers, as several champions quickly lose counterplay when their damage is pushed too far. We want champions on ARAM to get to live their fantasy as much as we can allow, so we’re hoping to pull back on the damage in favor of making some champions more forgiving.
We’re updating some champion base stats to make their numbers a bit more clean.
The long-awaited upgrade to League’s text evaluation service we discussed earlier this year is being released with this patch! For a long time we've recognized disruptive chat in League of Legends, but haven't been able to target it as effectively as we wanted to because of the challenge of separating disruptive chat from well-meaning chat, especially chat which is marginally disruptive. With our new systems, we can more effectively identify the nuance between more egregious chat and less-severe, but still inappropriate, chat.
With these improvements, we are expecting an increase of disruptive chat detections of over 20x. As a result of the significant increase in detections and penalties, we will be carefully monitoring these new systems to ensure their accuracy.
When adding party members using the ‘+’ button, recently honored and matched players are included
Currently if a player is AFK after the time the remake window passes, you need to wait until 10 minutes before your team is allowed to call for a unanimous early surrender. In line with our previous updates to the remake system, we want to give teams the agency to end the game when competitive integrity has been impacted.
As we discussed in this article, we think the best version of League is not one where you metagame based on the players in your lobby. We also want to avoid using someone else’s win or loss streak/playing a different champion to force a dodge (or pressure others to dodge) when your setup doesn’t meet the perfect conditions.
Whether someone is or isn’t connected to the game or pressing buttons on their mouse and keyboard, if they’re doing nothing but standing in the fountain then they aren’t playing the game. At the end of the day, this is what we want to protect against with the remake system.
Eternals Series 2 is finally here! The new series includes three new unique Eternals for each champion. Similar to the previous series, Series 2 can be unlocked individually or as the pass for all current and future champions.
With Series 2 comes a few additional changes. Players can gain a third chevron for their Mastery emotes once they pass 15 total Series 2 Milestones for that champion. Milestone requirements for all Series (including Starter Series and Series 1) have also been adjusted so that you can reach “Personal Best” scores even faster!
See our “Eternals Series 2 Launch” FAQ for additional details when it goes live on November 16.
In this Mythic Shop rotation, we’ll have two Unvaulted Prestige skins and a Mythic Chroma.
The Summoner’s Rift Ranked season ended on November 14th, so hopefully you all reached your ranked goals and if not, better luck next year! End of Season Ranked rewards will be distributed to all players by December 14th. More details can be found at the Player Support page here!
On a similar note, last patch was also your last chance to make progress on your 2022 Seasonal Challenges, so we hope you hit those goals!
The following skins will be released in this patch:
The following chromas will be released this patch: