League of Legends Patch 12.17 Highlights

Champion Nerfs

Ahri

E – Charm

• Charm Duration 1.4/1.55/1.7/1.85/2 seconds ⇒ 1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8/2 seconds

Ahri has been pick/ban in pro play throughout the back half of the summer season. She brings consistent wave clear, burst threat, mobility, and utility. This nerf to her early E charm duration will help to cut down on that last one, considering that Ahri maxes it last. She’ll still be a good pick, but will probably fall out of perma blind pick status.

Azir

W – Arise!

• Sand Soldier Damage 50-150 (based on level) (+60% AP) ⇒ 50-150 (based on level) (+55% AP)
• Cooldown 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 seconds ⇒ 9/8.25/7.5/6.75/6 seconds

E – Shifting Sands

• Cooldown 19/18/17/16/15 seconds ⇒ 22/20.5/19/17.5/16 seconds

Azir has also returned to prominence in the mid lane as a generalist Mage pick. While a 5 percent AP ratio and one second cooldown nerf at rank one on his Sand Soldiers looks like a big hit, it won’t really affect him that much. The bigger nerf is the three additional seconds of downtime on his E. Azir being less mobile means that he’ll be easier to punish in lane and in later team fights.

Nami

E – Tidecaller’s Blessing

• Removed an interaction where each application of Nami’s E would count towards procing Electrocute. E (and its applications) will now only count as a single spell cast for effects such as Electrocute.

The Nami plus Lucian bot duo has been a dominant force across multiple regions. While Lucian is known for being a lane bully Marksman, Nami’s E and Electrocute damage really pushed this pairing over the edge. Now that Electrocute is no longer viable on Nami, she will likely completely fall out of the meta. There’s no reason to play Nami if you can’t win early game, since she scales worse than every other Enchanter.

Renekton

Q – Cull the Meek

• Damage 65/100/135/170/205 (+80% bonus AD) ⇒ 60/90/120/150/180 (+100% bonus AD)
• Furious Damage 100/150/200/250/300 (+120% bonus AD) ⇒ 90/135/180/225/270 (+140% bonus AD)

Sure enough, the previous buffs to Renekton firmly returned him to pro play status. This new nerf is a simple one: lower Renekton’s base damage while giving him incentive to build more damage. Since it’s a bonus AD ratio buff and not total AD, Renekton’s damage in the lane phase will be notably weaker, giving his opponents more survivability early on. However, a damage focused build will actually allow him to break even, and come out ahead later in the game.

Sivir

Base Stats

• AD Growth 3 ⇒ 2.8

W – Ricochet

• Bounce Damage AD Ratio 30/35/40/45/50% total AD ⇒ 25/30/35/40/45% total AD

Sivir has been the quintessential AD carry ever since her mid-scope update. With access to best-in-class wave clear, team utility, survivability, and high DPS, few carries can rival Sivir’s universality. This nerf to her AD Growth and Ricochet ratio will slightly harm her team fighting. Even so, expect Sivir to continue dominating.

Sylas

Base Stats

• Base Health 595 ⇒ 575

Q – Chain Lash

• Cooldown 10/9/8/7/6 seconds ⇒ 11/10/9/8/7 seconds

Sylas currently brings all of the damage and utility of a Mage while also having the ability to farm up as a melee champion.  These nerfs will make him a bit squishier in lane, as well as slightly decrease his rate of wave clear. More picks will now be able to punish Sylas in mid lane.

Taric

Base Stats

• Base Magic Resist 32 ⇒ 28

E – Dazzle

• Cooldown 15/14/13/12/11 seconds ⇒ 16/15/14/13/12 seconds

Taric is the only champion on the nerf block this patch that isn’t there for pro play reasons. He has been running rampant on the solo queue ladder as one of the most oppressive supports (with a non-zero pick rate in the jungle). The big nerf here is the four Magic Resist reduction. Now, Enchanters and poke Mage supports will have an easier time displacing Taric from lane.

Champion Buffs

Camille

Passive – Adaptive Defenses

• Percent HP Shielded 17% ⇒ 20%

E – Hookshot/Wall Dive

• Damage 60/95/130/165/200 (+75% bonus AD) ⇒ 80/110/140/170/200 (+90% bonus AD)

Camille is already a fringe pick in both pro play and solo queue. These buffs include a bit more effective HP from her passive and damage in her trade/all-in rotation from E. The fact that the E buff provides an additional 20 damage at rank one is actually pretty impactful. Camille will be much more threatening in favorable matchups now.

Graves

Q – End of the Line

• Cooldown 12/11/10/9/8 seconds ⇒ 13/11.5/10/8.5/7 seconds

R – Collateral Damage

• Damage 250/400/550 (+150% bonus AD) ⇒ 275/425/575 (+150% bonus AD)

Graves buffs are here, and we all know what that means for the jungle meta. Jokes aside, Graves has been one of the hardest to balance champions in the jungle ever since his rework. Either he one shots everyone while not dying ever, or he doesn’t do damage and is useless. Speeding up his clear speed after three points in Q and adding 25 damage to his full combo is a dangerous proposition. The caveat is that the meta currently doesn’t suit Graves, so we may not see him soon.

Hecarim

Base Stats

• Base Armor 35 ⇒ 32
• HP Growth 104 ⇒ 99

Q – Rampage

• Damage 60/90/120/150/180 (+90% bonus AD) ⇒ 60/85/110/135/160 (+95% bonus AD)
• Damage per stack 2% (+3% per 100 bonus AD) ⇒ 4% (+6% per 100 bonus AD)
• Q Cooldown per stack 1 second ⇒ 0.75 seconds
• Max number of stacks 2 ⇒ 3
• Stack Falloff All at duration end ⇒ 1 stack per second at duration end
• Mana Cost 28/31/34/37/40 ⇒ 30

W – Spirit of Dread

• Cooldown 14 seconds ⇒ 16/15.5/15/14.5/14 seconds
• Hecarim now gains 15/20/25/30/35 Armor and Magic Resist while Spirit of Dread is active

E – Devastating Charge

• Min Damage 30/45/60/75/90 (+55% bonus AD) ⇒ 30/45/60/75/90 (+50% bonus AD)
• Max Damage 60/90/120/150/180 (+110% bonus AD) ⇒ 60/90/120/150/180 (+100% bonus AD)
• Minimum Knockback 250 ⇒ 150
• Maximum Knockback 450 ⇒ 350
• Cooldown 20/19/18/17/16 ⇒ 18 at all ranks

R – Onslaught of Shadows

• Fear duration 0.75-2 seconds based on distance traveled ⇒ 0.75-1.5 seconds based on distance traveled

Hecarim is getting a major shift of stats and power between his abilities. The bottom line is that Riot is trying to force Hecarim to stay towards Bruiser builds and less into pure Tank builds. This is being done by removing power from his crowd control on E and R and his damage values on E and Q. In exchange, Hecarim is getting an updated Q which stacks much more damage than before, as well as some free resistances while W is active. Since Hecarim has been in a weak state anyways, these changes are certainly a net buff. Time will tell if the horse sticks the handing.

Maokai

Passive – Sap Magic

• Getting hit by large jungle monsters now reduces Sap Magic’s cooldown by 1.5 seconds per attack received
• Heal 5-45 (+4.5-11% Max Health) (levels 1-15) ⇒ 4-34 (+4.8-14% Max Health) (levels 1-17)

Q – Bramble Smash

• Damage 70/110/150/190/230 (+40% AP) ⇒ 65/110/155/200/245 (+40% AP)
• Q now deals percent maximum health damage (2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3%)
• Q now deals 40/60/80/100/120 bonus damage to monsters

E – Sapling Toss

• Saplings no longer deal maximum percent health damage
• Base Damage 20/45/70/95/120 (+7/7.25/7.5/7.75/8% (+70% per 100 AP) target maximum Health) ⇒ 55/80/105/130/155 (+42.5% AP +6% bonus HP)
• Empowered Brush Damage 40/90/140/190/240 (+14/14.5/15/15.5/16% (+1.4% per 100 AP) target maximum Health) ⇒ 110/160/210/260/310 (+85% AP +12% bonus HP)
• Minions no longer take empowered brush damage from Saplings.
• Mana Cost 60/70/80/90/100 ⇒ 45/55/65/75/85
• Slow Amount 35% ⇒ 45%
• Brush empowered Saplings now slow for 35% ⇒ 45% (+2% per 100 AP) (6% per 1000 bonus HP)

R – Nature’s Grasp

• Initial Speed 50 ⇒ 100
• Maximum Speed 650 ⇒ 750
• Acceleration 250 ⇒ 300
• Maokai now gains 40/50/60% Bonus Move Speed that decays over 2 seconds upon hitting enemy champions.

Also on the list of massive number overhauls this patch is Maokai. Maokai has been stuck as a strange Imperial Mandate support pick with only minor presence in his usual solo roles. This laundry list of updates adds a bunch of percent bonus HP ratios, a feature that heavily incentivizes getting a tons of HP items. Maokai’s passive and Q also now interact with jungle camps, potentially opening up a new role.

The icing on the cake is the R update. Previously, this ability was only a mediocre zoning tool. Now, it moves faster and gives Maokai a speed boost to help him get in deep. Just like with Hecarim, these changes are a very big positive for Maokai and will heavily increase his play rate as people try him out.

Miss Fortune

Q – Double Up

• Physical Damage 20/40/60/80/100 (+100% AD) (+35% AP) ⇒ 20/45/70/95/120 (+100% AD) (+35% AP)
• Cast Time 0.25s ⇒ Matches Basic Attack Time

W – Strut

• Mana Cost 45 ⇒ 35
• Attack Speed 40/55/70/85/100% ⇒ 50/65/80/95/110%

E – Make It Rain

• Cooldown 18/16/14/12/10 seconds ⇒ 18/17/16/15/14 seconds
• Full Damage (8-ticks) 80/115/150/185/220 (+80% AP) ⇒ 70/100/130/160/190 (+100% AP)
• Slow 40/45/50/55/60% ⇒ 50% (+4% per 100 AP)

While not as sweeping as the previous full kit updates, MF has also been given a face lift. Her Q and W are straight buffed to be more effective and more fluid. In order to not make her broken, she lost a big chunk of efficiency from her E when leveled. Four seconds added to the cooldown will make the lane spam much less oppressive. AP MF enjoyers need not worry though, as the ability now has more AP scaling and a new AP ratio on the slow.

Sett

W – Haymaker

• AD ratio 20% per 100 bonus AD ⇒ 25% per 100 bonus AD

E – Facebreaker

• Slow 50% ⇒ 70%

Sett has fallen out of favor this season. He’s just a bit too weak across the board to be a consistent pick. These buffs won’t break the bank on his power budget, but they’re a good start. The extra 20 percent slow on his E especially opens up a route for Sett support to get some play again.

Twisted Fate

Q – Wild Card

• AP Ratio 70% ⇒ 80%

W – Pick A Card

• Mana Cost 40/55/70/85/100 ⇒ 30/40/50/60/70

Twisted Fate is one of those champions that can be incredibly potent in pro play. His global ultimate and guaranteed lock down crowd control are always valuable. The problem is that TF becomes a glorified stun bot later in the game. Adding 10 percent AP ratio on his main damage and wave clear tool as well as cutting the mana cost of his W by 30 at max rank means that TF will be even better at pushing waves and spamming cards in fights.

Items

Stopwatch

• Cost 650 ⇒ 750 (Note: Perfect Timing will still only contribute 250 gold towards a Stopwatch item)

League of Stopwatch has been in effect ever since the item was introduced. The ability to go totally invulnerable at any moment is just too powerful to overlook. Riot is trying to cut down on this meta choice by upping its cost by 100 gold. While this won’t make people stop buying Stopwatches whenever they can, it will delay their item spikes and require better CSing to be able to afford it during key moments.

Guardian Angel

• Combine Cost 50 gold ⇒ 150 gold
• Total Cost 2800 ⇒ 3000 gold
• Attack Damage 40 ⇒ 45 gold

Nerf to Guardian Angel’s cost in conjunction with the Stopwatch nerf. The choice to increase the price by 200 and add five AD instead of just a 100 hike is deliberate, as it means that Bruisers and AD Carries will need to invest more heavily into the defensive option.

Zhonya’s Hourglass

• Total Cost 2600 ⇒ 3000
• Ability Power 65 ⇒ 80
• Ability Haste 10 ⇒ 15

Same idea as the GA nerf, but much more pronounced. The item is now a whole 400 gold more expensive while gaining 15 AP and 5 Ability Haste. This is actually a very big nerf to the Mage and AP Bruiser classes, since Zhonya’s was core for them within the first three, sometimes even two items.

Those were the biggest changes of League of Legends Patch 12.17. This was a massive patch, and likely the biggest patch that we’ll see before Season 13’s preseason starts to roll around. With so many champs being changed and multiple full kit updates, the meta will certainly be shaking up before Worlds.