Patches are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get—unless you read the patch notes, that is. (Speaking of surprises, we have a new author today!)
This patch the Chem-Baroness Ms. Renata Glasc begins her corporate takeover of the Rift. We also have a few buffs for Kalista, Lucian, and Xayah to freshen up the current ADC assortment among other balances. Meanwhile in top lane, things have been a little tense with our enchanter friends, so we have some support gold income changes to help address the current situation. Lastly, be sure to keep your heart rate in check as we introduce a new set of stunning Shockblade skins!
And over in TFT, Renata Glasc, Silco, and many more join the updated TFT roster during the mid-set, Neon Nights. Read more about the update over at the TFT patch notes here!
Q Sweetspot bonus damage increased.
We’re still keeping an eye on the changes to the fighter item system, but it’s clear that Aatrox drew the short sword. This buff should hit the sweet spot.
E base damage reduction increased.
Last patch's nerfs made our mummy a little too sad. His E passive's damage reduction is now capped, so we can return some power to the ability by making the baseline stronger.
R arrow speed increased.
Ashe has been fairly out of the meta for a while now, so we’re taking the opportunity to give the Frost Archer some more reliable utility with those magical, cross-map ults.
Base health regen reduced.
We're lowering the robot's innate sustain so that he has to be a little more cautious in lane.
AD growth decreased. R cooldown no longer decreases with rank.
Dr. Mundo's been tearing up top lane. We're pulling some of his baseline offensive power so he has to make better use of his medical kit to successfully sedate his patients.
Base attack speed increased. W damage ratio increased.
Illaoi hasn't found her footing yet this season, and the fighter item changes haven't done the priestess any favors either. She can already hit some wildly high highs, so we're bolstering her baselines to help her release the kraken.
Base armor increased.
The Spear of Vengeance hasn’t been very scary recently. We’re buffing her so she can play more aggressively early and survive lane more reliably.
Q mana cost decreased.
The Sentinel of Light hasn't actually seen much light this season, so we're letting him use his shining spells more aggressively before he gets Essence Reaver.
E on-hit base damage reverted.
Last patch, we tide a small nerf to Nami's E when we adjusted her passive so that her power would remain at sea level. It turns out she actually sank a bit as a result, so we're reeling that part of the change back in.
Hitbox is now smaller. Q additional bloom base damage increased. W cooldown decreased.
Our curious chameleon has been sitting at a low winrate for quite some time and could use a little love. We're trimming down her THICC hitbox to match those of similar characters and giving her more access to her tricks. An extra boost to her blossoms should help her waveclear so she can roam to other lanes more using her camouflage, as well as make her combos really pop-blossom off.
Health growth decreased. Q base damage and healing from champions decreased.
Nunu has been playfully toeing the line into OP territory across all brackets for a while now, but this last patch finally broke the ice. We're bringing him andWilliamWillump back into a more reasonable state by tapping down on their general tankiness rather than detracting from their jungle clear and signature snowy skills.
Passive AD scaling decreased.
The empress continues to be a little too oppressive in higher levels of play, so we’re reducing the AD scaling on her passive to curb her waveclear and snowball potential.
Base armor increased.
Rumble is weak, especially in the top lane. We're fortifying him to be more in line with other melee laners so he can get scrappier with his enemies.
Health growth increased.
The Rift’s #2 mama’s boy (just behind the new patch notes author) has dropped in effectiveness and winrate a bit more than other fighters last patch, so we’re giving him a small buff.
Base armor decreased; armor growth increased. E cooldown increased early.
Veigar is standing head-and-shoulders above the competition. His shadow is especially tall in bot lane, so we’re adjusting his scaling in a way that’ll impact him more in bot lane than in mid.
E damage amp based on crit chance increased.
While we're happy that Xayah has lethality options, they've been overshadowing her crit builds. The Rebel's gameplay is healthier and better suited to her identity when she builds at least some attack speed, so we’re increasing the crit scaling on E - Bladecaller to bring back her fast and furious feathers.
Uncharged basic attack base damage and AP ratio decreased; damage amp against low-health enemies increased. Charged basic attack slow percentage decreased early and increased late; duration decreased. Q base damage decreased but now also multiplied in crits; excess AS to AD ratio increased. W slow decreased early; cooldown increased early but now decreases with rank. E cooldown decreased. R bonus attack speed no longer increases with rank.
Zeri's spark still has a bit more shock than she needs, so we're nerfing her overall power in a way that should hit her bruiser builds harder than her crit builds.
You can now display your allies' item cooldowns and charges in-game by pinging an item's icon in the "Tab" scoreboard! Item icons in the scoreboard will also have timer VFX to visually indicate their status, similar to those on Summoner Spells.
Buying three Rejuvenation Beads has recently cropped up as a powerful item start strategy. However, it offers weak early game champions a bit too much sustain without asking for enough tradeoffs mid-game. We're adjusting it to require some more commitment and will look at changing Doran's items if players struggle to survive, especially in tough solo lanes.
Recently, there's been an increase of enchanter support champions in solo lanes who use support gold income items to gain money passively while roaming the map rather than playing in their lane. While we do value creativity in League of Legends, we believe this specific strategy goes over the line for what a healthy amount of early game roaming looks like. It also denies their lane opponents the opportunity to use early-game strengths to build leads during lane phase, which is a core part of each game.
These issues definitely call for a more robust solution and we're in the process of developing one. In the meantime, we're adjusting a few systems to minimize the effects on other parts of the game. In particular, both objective and CS bounties don't yet account for unconventional income strategies, which can waterfall into unhealthy game states. We're also increasing the minion farming penalty on these support gold income items during the first 5 minutes of the game so that laners can't just farm as usual, then grab-and-go once the timers kick in.
Unrelated to the gold income items above, we're also shortening the deactivation timers for Objective Bounties to address some extreme swing cases. When an Objective Bounty period ends, the losing team should still be behind, but the lingering duration allowed some cases where a losing team could catapult ahead after claiming multiple bounties in a row.
The 2022 Clash Season begins! Team formation for the first weekend of Ionia Cup starts on February 14, and the tournaments take place on February 19 and 20. Team formation for the second weekend starts during patch 12.5 on March 1, and the tournaments take place on March 5 and 6.
The Mythic Content Overhaul starts in a few patches! 12.4 is the last patch where you can claim OG ownership of 2018+19 Prestiges by obtaining one from loot drops or rerolls. (OG owners of these Prestiges will get a special version of the skin for free during the Mythic Content Overhaul!)
The following skins will be released this patch:
The following chromas will be released this patch: