League of Legends Patch 12.19 Highlights

Champion Nerfs

Rek’Sai

Base Stats

• Base Attack Damage: 64 ⇒ 61

A 3 AD nerf to an early game ganking and skirmishing jungler. This will definitely be noticeable, especially since Rek’Sai’s clear uses AOE AD ratios as its main tool.

Champion Buffs

Blitzcrank

Base Stats

• Base Attack Speed: 0.625 ⇒65
• Attack Speed Ratio: 0.625 ⇒7

W – Overdrive

• Mana Cost: 75 ⇒ 85
• Bonus Attack Speed: 30/38/46/54/62% ⇒ 40/53/66/79/92%
• Attacks during W deal an additional 1% of target’s maximum HP in magic damage. Against non-champions, this damage is increased by an extra 60-180 (based on level) damage.

E – Power Fist

• Mana Cost: 25 ⇒ 40
• Knock Up Duration: 0.9 seconds ⇒ 1 second
• Empowered Auto Attack Damage: 200% total AD ⇒ 200% total AD (+ 25% AP)
• Against non-champions, Blitzcrank’s E empowered auto attacks will deal a bonus 150% total AD (+ 125% AP) damage

R – Static Field

• Maximum Stacks from Passive: 3 ⇒ Unlimited
• Magic Damage from Stacks On-Hit: 50/100/150 (+ 30% AP) ⇒ 50/100/150 (+ 30/40/50% AP)
• Magic Damage: 275/400/525 (+ 100% AP) ⇒ 275/400/525 (+ 125% AP)

Blitzcrank is getting a small kit overhaul to try and give him more tools than just his Rocket Grab. Many of these changes are skewed towards improving his jungle clear. While no one asked for jungle Blitz, it’s a pick that will certainly be tested out.

Ekko

Passive – Z-Drive Resonance

• Third Proc Damage: 30-140 (based on level) (+ 80% AP) ⇒ 30-140 (based on level) (+ 90% AP)

R – Chronobreak

• Magic Damage: 150/300/450 (+ 150% AP) ⇒ 200/350/500 (+ 175% AP)

Ekko has been a borderline playable pick for a decent amount of the season, but never quite broke into meta territory. These huge damage increases will definitely help him move into relevancy.

Jinx

Base Stats

• Base Attack Damage: 57 ⇒ 59

R – Super Mega Death Rocket!

• Base Damage to Primary Target: 250/400/550 ⇒ 300/450/600

Not only is two base AD to a Marksman a very noticeable buff, adding 50 damage onto Jinx’s ultimate will increase her kill thresholds once she hits level six.

Nasus

Q – Siphoning Strike

• Empowered Basic Attack Range: 150 (25 bonus range) ⇒ 175 (50 bonus range)

W – Wither

• Attack Speed Slow: 50% of movement speed slow (23.5/29.5/35.5/41.5/47.5%) ⇒ 75% of movement speed slow (new attack speed slow values: 35.25/44.25/53.25/62.25/71.25%)

R – Fury of the Sands

• Increased Size: +30% Size ⇒ +30/35/40% Size (levels 6/11/16)
• AoE radius of Nasus’ damage now increases based on his size
• Damage Tick Rate: Every 1 second ⇒ Every 0.5 second (note: overall damage is unchanged)

Nasus is known as a low elo stomper in the top lane. These changes make him even more oppressive in that niche, but they also open up Nasus support to more experimentation. The additional attack speed slow on his Wither cripples ADCs and can basically stun champions when maxed. Expect to see a few of these in the preseason.

Ryze

Q – Overload

• Magic Damage: 70/90/110/130/150 (+ 50% AP) (+ 2% bonus mana) ⇒ 70/90/110/130/150 (+ 55% AP) (+ 2% bonus mana)

W – Rune Prison

• Magic Damage: 80/110/140/170/200 (+ 60% AP) (+ 4% bonus mana) ⇒ 80/110/140/170/200 (+ 70% AP) (+ 4% bonus mana)

Careful with the Ryze buffs, Riot. The good thing here is that these changes will not be seen in pro play for multiple months, so if they do boost Ryze too much, the response will be there. That said, he’ll still be trash in solo queue, so not much will change for the average player.

Shyvana

W – Burnout

• Magic Damage per Tick: 10/16.25/22.5/28.75/35 (+ 10% bonus AD) ⇒ 10/16.25/22.5/28.75/35 (+ 15% bonus AD)
• Bonus On-Hit Magic Damage: 5/8.125/11.25/14.375/17.5 (+ 5% bonus AD) ⇒ 5/8.125/11.25/14.375/17.5 (+ 7.5% bonus AD)

E – Flame Breath

• Auto Attacks Against Marked Enemies Damage: 3.75% of target’s maximum health ⇒5% of target’s maximum health
• Damage: 60/100/140/180/220 (+30% AD) (+70% AP) ⇒ 60/100/140/180/220 (+40% AD) (+90% AP)
• Dragon Form Extra Damage: Additional 100-160 (based on level) (+30% AD) (+30% AP) ⇒ Additional 75-135 (based on level) (+30% AD) (+30% AP) (Note: this is in addition to the E base damage)

R – Dragon’s Descent

• Magic Damage: 150/250/350 (+ 100% AP) ⇒ 150/250/350 (+ 130% AP)

Shyvana was doing relatively well this season with the Blade of the Ruined King plus Iceborn Gauntlet build. In order to shift her away from that, Riot has added a bunch of added damage ratios to her abilities. Most notably, her E and R carry much larger AP ratios, likely shoving AP Shyv into the limelight.

Sona

Q – Hymn of Valor

• Base Damage: 40/70/100/130/160 ⇒ 50/80/110/140/170

E – Song of Celerity

• Power Chord Slow: 40% (+ 4% per 100 AP) ⇒ 50% (+ 4% per 100 AP)

Sona is one of those champions that is risky to buff. Her raw scaling and utility can take over a meta if left unchecked.  She has struggled compared to other enchanters recently, so these buffs are an attempt to bring her up. The 10 added damage on Q is the big thing. It hits two targets, so that’s 20 damage that gets spammed off cooldown in lane. Sona’s early game gets much stronger from this.

Syndra

Base Stats

• Base Health: 593 ⇒ 563

Passive – Transcendent

• Updated Passive: Syndra collects up to 120 Splinters of Wrath via damaging enemy champions and gaining levels. Splinters of Wrath enhance Syndra and her abilities.
• Syndra restores 20-215 (based on levels 1-18) mana whenever she collects a Splinter from an enemy
• Transcended: At 120 Splinters, Syndra gains 15% Total AP
• Syndra can gain Splinters of Wrath from the following methods:
  • Damaging an enemy champion with 2 abilities within 4 seconds grants (1/2/3 at levels 1/11/18) Splinters (8 second cooldown per target)
  • Syndra will receive 5 Splinters of Wrath when she levels up
  • Killing a Cannon minion grants 1 Splinter of Wrath
• When Syndra fully upgrades an ability, she will receive a new, upgraded ability icon

Q – Dark Sphere

• Cooldown: 4 seconds ⇒ 7 seconds
• Mana Cost: 40/50/60/70/80 ⇒ 40/45/50/55/60
• Magic Damage: 70/105/140/175/210 (+ 65% AP) ⇒ 70/105/140/175/210 (+ 70% AP)
• Upon gathering 40 Splinters of Wrath, Q will be able to store up to 2 charges (Note: 1.25 second cooldown between casts)

W – Force of Will

• Sphere Pickup Detection Radius: 400 units ⇒ 500 units
• Non-Sphere units that Syndra picks up will now be unable to die while under Syndra’s control. There was previously a very small amount of time units could die while being picked up which has been removed.
• Upon gathering 60 Splinters of Wrath, W will deal an additional 15% (+1.5% per 100 AP) true damage

E – Scatter the Weak

• Cooldown: 18/17/16/15/15 seconds ⇒ 15 seconds at all ranks
• Stun Duration: 1.5 seconds ⇒ 1.25 seconds
• Magic Damage: 85/130/175/220/265 (+ 60% AP) ⇒ 75/115/155/195/235 (+ 55% AP)
• Scatter Angle: 34 degrees ⇒ 56 degrees
• Reduced the likelihood of Q not stunning targets at close range
• Dark Spheres spawned after casting Scatter the Weak are no longer fired as missiles
• Upon gathering 80 Splinters of Wrath, Scatter the Weak’s cone is increased (56 degrees ⇒ 84 degrees) and also slows enemies by 70% for 1.25 seconds (applied after initial CC)

R – Unleashed Power

• Damage per Sphere: 90/140/190 (+ 20% AP) ⇒ 90/130/170 (+ 17% AP)
• Unleashed Power will now grant Q – Dark Sphere an additional 10/20/30 Ability Haste
• Upon gathering 100 Splinters of Wrath, Unleashed Power will execute champions below 15% max health

Syndra’s mid-scope update looks very imposing at first glance. In reality, her active abilities are exactly the same, just with a few new added benefits that stem from her new passive. Syndra now stacks up Splinters of Wrath that unlock her ability ascensions, similar to how Viktor’s new Hex Core passive functions. This replaces Syndra’s old passive, which ascended the abilities after they were maxed.

She’s still encouraged to bully her lane opponents due to farming Splinters and restoring mana. Syndra has some reduced mana costs and QoL updates to help with this. Now, reaching your Splinter thresholds early will provide a huge spike in power for Syndra that was previously locked behind needing to max an ability, something that couldn’t be done on half of her abilities until level 16.

Twitch

Passive – Deadly Venom

• Damage Per Stack: 1/2/3/4/5 (based on level) (+ 2.5% AP) ⇒ 1/2/3/4/5 (based on level) (+ 3% AP)

E – Contaminate

• Magic Damage per Stack: 35/50/65/80/95 (+ 35% bonus AD) (+ 33% AP) AP ⇒ 35/50/65/80/95 (+ 35% bonus AD) (+ 35% AP)

Even if this buff doesn’t do too much on paper, it will still have the effect of increasing the amount of AP Twitch players in solo queue by 100 percent or so. The build is deceptively strong and should not be underestimated.

Items

Eclipse

• Bonus Attack Damage: 55 ⇒ 60
• Lethality: 18 ⇒ 12

Bruiser champions like Aatrox have started abusing Eclipse recently. This reduction to the Lethality of the item will take it down a peg for all users, whether fully deserved or not. The AD is at least some compensation for champions with large AD ratios, but losing 33 percent of its Lethality is a nerf overall.

And those are all the biggest changes of League of Legends Patch 12.19! This patch was very big and experimental as we approach the pre-season. Many of these changes will fall by the wayside, while a couple might inspire new picks or builds to rise up.