League of Legends Patch 12.15 Highlights

Champion Nerfs

Gwen

Q – Snip Snip!

• True Damage in Center 75% ⇒ 50% of damage dealt is converted to True Damage

The Gwen “adjustments” from patch 12.13 predictably ended up being a buff at high levels of play. Another cut to her true damage on center Q should tune down her damage a slight amount, but the problem still remains that Gwen’s lane opponents either don’t build Magic Resist, or can’t fight her anyways.

Kalista

Base Stats

• Base Attack Damage 69 ⇒ 66

Despite the Durability Update bringing favor to scaling and reliable late game DPS, Kalista has risen as the new queen of bot lane due to her ability to punish almost any matchup. A 3 AD nerf is always huge for AD carries, causing Kalista to lose out on potentially hundreds of damage throughout the laning phase and later into the game.

Qiyana

Passive – Royal Privilege

• Damage 15-83 (levels 1-18)(+45% bonus AD)(+30%AP) ⇒ 15-83 (levels 1-18)(+30% bonus AD)(+30%AP)

Bugfixes

• Fixed a bug where Qiyana could apply an extra proc of her passive with First Strike equipped

Qiyana is receiving a triple nerf this patch. First, a 15 percent AD ratio nerf on her passive. Second, a passive bug fix that turns into a huge nerf. Lastly, a nerf to her primary Keystone, First Strike, which you’ll see later down the patch. All of these changes will combine to really hurt Qiyana’s standing as one of the only commonly picked Assassins at the moment. Expect a decent size decrease in win rate.

Sivir

Base Stats

• Attack Damage Growth 3.3 ⇒ 3

E – Spell Shield

• Cooldown 22/20/18/16/14 ⇒ 24/22.5/21/19.5/18

R – On The Hunt

• Cooldown 100/85/70 ⇒ 120/100/80

Some more housekeeping from the Sivir mid-scope update. She’s still a very strong scaling marksman who isn’t actually losing much noticeable damage this patch. It’s her survivability and utility being targeted, which should make playing against Sivir more manageable.

Taliyah

E – Unraveled Earth

• Cooldown 16/15/14/13/12 seconds ⇒ 18/17/16/15/14 seconds

R – Weaver’s Wall

• Wall Duration 5 seconds ⇒ 4 seconds

Taliyah’s terrain control is one of her strongest features as a champion. By upping the cooldown of her E by 2 seconds, she should control team fights at a more reasonable level. A 1 second reduction to Weaver’s Wall is much less impactful and will only come into play in scenarios where Taliyah is trying to block off the enemy team.

Champion Buffs

Akali

W – Twilight Shroud

• Energy Restoration 80 ⇒ 100
• Max Energy Increase 80 ⇒ 100

League of Legends Patch 12.15 has given a lot of love to champions that use Energy as a secondary resource. With more drawn-out fights being common, these champions need some more rotations to stay in contention. For Akali, she’ll be sporting an extra 20 Energy on her W.

Kennen

W – Electrical Surge

• Cooldown 14/12/10/8/6 ⇒ 13/11.25/9.5/7.75/6
• Magic Damage 60/85/110/135/160 ⇒ 70/95/120/145/170

R – Slicing Maelstrom

• Magic Damage Per Bolt 40/75/110 (+20% AP) ⇒ 40/75/110 (+22.5% AP)

Instead of increases to his energy, Kennen has been given more damage on his W and R. As these are his main team fighting tools, Kennen should be able to come out on top more often. This likely won’t increase his pick stats too much, but it will be a nice bonus.

Lee Sin

Q – Sonic Wave/Resonating Strike

• Resonating Strike Energy Cost 30 ⇒ 25

W – Safeguard/Iron Will

• Iron Will Energy Cost 30 ⇒ 25

E – Tempest/Cripple

• Cripple Energy Cost 30 ⇒ 25

The Blind Monk has been one of the worst junglers with a high play rate. Instead of adding raw damage onto his skirmish-focused play, all of his ability re-casts now cost 5 less Energy. If Lee Sin is allowed to stick to his targets, he’ll be able to rotate more and provide more damage and utility.

Leona

Q – Shield of Daybreak

• Mana Cost 45/50/55/60/65 ⇒ 35/40/45/50/55

R – Solar Flare

• Stun and Slow Duration 1.5 ⇒ 1.75 seconds

Combined with the Enchanter nerfs of previous patches, this Leona buff will definitely make an impact. An extra 0.25 second stun on her ultimate will allow Leona to more frequently land killing crowd control chains.

Shen

E – Shadow Dash

• Energy Refunded upon dealing damage with Passive or E 30/35/40 ⇒ 30/40/50

Shen was already a decent pick due to the Teleport nerfs, making him one of the best global impact champions. This buff to his Energy refund won’t make him significantly stronger, but he might be able to extend his rotations with an extra Q or E in a fight. Expect a spike in play rate which will artificially inflate his stock.

Singed

Passive – Noxious Slipstream

• Bonus Movement Speed 20% ⇒ 25%
• Per-target Cooldown 10 seconds ⇒ 8 seconds

R – Insanity Potion

• Bonus Stats 20/60/100 ⇒ 30/65/100

Riot is reverting some of the nerfs to Singed made back when he was dominating Mid with Predator. In addition, he’s gaining more accessibility to his passive movement speed. It will be interesting to see if he ends up back in Mid, or sees more play Top.

Thresh

Q – Death Sentence

• Cooldown 20/18/16/14/12 ⇒ 19/17/15/13/11
• Magic Damage 80/120/160/200/240 ⇒ 100/140/180/220/260

Thresh has been one of the weakest supports overall post-Durability Update. Previous Enchanter nerfs combined with an extra 20 damage on Hook means that Thresh should be able to find lethal much more frequently in lane.

Zed

W – Living Shadow

• Shadow Spell Mimic Range 2000 ⇒ No Limit

E – Shadow Slash

• Energy Cost 50 ⇒ 40

The last Energy champion to receive a buff, Zed’s E now costs 10 less to use. Since his full combo didn’t use more than one, this will mainly help his wave/jungle clear and trading. The W change is interesting, but will be incredibly niche.

Items

Divine Sunderer

• Spellblade Heal 65% ⇒ 55% of premitigation damage (+(4.8% melee/2.4% ranged) of target’s maximum health) (+100% base AD)

A follow up nerf to Divine Sunderer. This is a slight reduction to the healing and sustain aspect of the item, which can have an effect in competitive matchups.

Mercurial Scimitar

• Magic Resistance 30 ⇒ 40
• Quicksilver Active Duration 1 second ⇒ 1.5 seconds

Silvermere Dawn

• Magic Resistance 35 ⇒ 40
• Quicksilver active bonus stats 40% Tenacity and 40% slow resist ⇒ 50% Tenacity and 50% slow resist

The Quicksilver Sash upgrades have been given some extra Magic Resistance, as well as a boost to their active. Champions didn’t typically go for these upgrades, as there were more useful defensive tools, or in Merc Scim’s case, better ways to win fights via more damage. Hopefully they are now better options in crowd control heavy matches.

Runes

First Strike

• Bonus True Damage 10% ⇒ 9%

A small reduction in bonus True Damage for the First Strike Keystone. This rune has been the primary choice for burst champions recently, but whether or not Electrocute or Dark Harvest retake prominence is up in the air.

Those are the biggest changes of League of Legends Patch 12.15. This patch was much smaller overall due to few changes to items and systems. We’re getting close to the end of the season now, so expect patches to stay smaller in size as Worlds draws near.