League of Legends Patch 12.2 Highlights

League of Legends Patch 12.2 is now out. The second patch of Season 12 brings with it many champion changes, as well as updates to the new dragons, Lethal Tempo, and mage items. Additionally, the newest champion, Zeri, will be released on January 20. Here are all the biggest changes of League of Legends Patch 12.2. For the full patch notes, click here.

Champion Nerfs

Talon

W – Rake

• Damage Against Monsters 130% ⇒ 105%

Here we have yet another nerf to Jungle Talon. Somehow, he survived the first one and maintained a presence in the role. However, this should be the blow that removes him from the Jungle entirely. Losing 25 percent damage against monsters is just too much of a hit to his clear speed.

Qiyana

Base Stats

• Base Health Regeneration 7.5 ⇒ 6

Q – Edge of Ixtal

• Grass Trail Zone Duration 3.5 seconds ⇒ 3 seconds

Qiyana has received two nerfs that will both tone down her effectiveness across the board. Less health regeneration means less sustain in lane and a less healthy jungle clear. Reducing her Grass Trail Zone duration by half a second may not seem like much, but it is her most powerful tool in skilled play. Qiyana will be less effective at stalling fights now.

Zed

R – Death Mark

Damage 100% AD (+25/40/55% of damage dealt against marked target) ⇒ 65% AD (+25/40/55% of damage dealt against marked target)

Zed has been hit with a pretty huge nerf this patch. His ultimate, Death Mark, is losing 35 percent of its AD scaling. Keep in mind, this is total AD. At two items, Zed has around 200 AD, meaning he will lose a whole 70 damage on his Mark.

Champion Buffs

Samira

R – Inferno Trigger

• Physical Damage per Shot 0/10/20 (+50% AD) ⇒ 5/15/25 (+50% AD)
• Total Damage per Target 0/100/200 (+500% AD) ⇒ 50/150/250 (+500% AD)

Back when Samira dominated both solo queue and pro play, Riot removed all the base damage from her ultimate. With the Shieldbow nerf lowering her win rate, she is being given that base damage back. This is a very big buff to her level six all-in potential. Samira’s pick rate should climb back up after this.

Senna

Q – Piercing Darkness

• Now slows all enemies struck by 20% (+6% per 100 AP) (+10% per 100 bonus AD) for 2 seconds

Senna has received potentially the biggest buff of Patch 12.2. Last season, she was able to abuse Glacial Augment to slow enemies on her auto attacks and Q hits. With Glacial’s rework, it no longer does anything for Senna. This buff adds back that slow to her Q hits. Senna should now be able to kite much more like she could with old Glacial Augment.

Veigar

Q – Baleful Strike

• Cooldown 7/6.5/6/5.5/5 seconds ⇒ 6/5.5/5/4.5/4 seconds
• Stacks Granted Upon Killing Large Monsters and Minions 2 ⇒ 3

Veigar is another one of the biggest winners of this patch. His main spell for farming and most reliable form of team fight damage is getting its cooldown lowered by one second. It will also give Veigar an extra one AP when last hitting cannons and jungle camps. Expect to see a lot more Veigar from here on out.

Volibear

Base Stats

• Attack Damage Growth 3 ⇒ 3.5

E – Sky Splitter

• Cooldown 15 seconds ⇒ 13 seconds

Volibear was sidelined after the Chemtank meta last year. This buff to his E is actually incredibly nice. Sky Splitter is tied to Volibear’s clear speed, team fighting, and survivability. Having a two second lower cooldown means that Volibear gains a lot of effectiveness in all aspects of his game. This also opens the door for the more niche AP Volibear, as Sky Splitter is that build’s bread and butter.

Yasuo

Q – Steel Tempest

• Damage 20/45/70/95/120 (+100% AD) ⇒ 20/45/70/95/120 (+105% AD)

Yone

Q – Mortal Steel

• Damage 20/40/60/80/100 (+100% AD) ⇒ 20/40/60/80/100 (+105% AD)

Yasuo and Yone were both given the same buff of five percent AD on their Q. Five percent total AD can add up very quickly with how many times they cast the ability, so this buff will definitely be noticeable. Yone was the better champion prior to this and he will remain the better champion after. Still, Yasuo might see some of his fans return.

Champion Updates

Janna

Base Stats

• Move Speed 315 ⇒ 330
• Base AD 46-71.5 ⇒ 52-103
• AD Growth 1.5 ⇒ 3
• Basic Attack Range 550 ⇒ 500

Passive – Tailwind

• Janna gains 8% bonus move speed only while moving toward allied champions. (Bonus move speed for allied champions moving towards Janna unchanged.)
• Janna’s basic attacks and W – Zephyr no longer deal bonus magic damage based on her bonus move speed

Q – Howling Gale

• Cost 60/90/100/120/140 mana ⇒ 60/70/80/90/100 mana
• Minimum Range 1000 ⇒ 1100
• Maximum Range 1750 ⇒ 1760
• Time to Destination 1.5 seconds ⇒ 1.25 seconds

W – Zephyr

• Range 550 (from edge to edge) ⇒ 650 (centered)
• Slow Duration 2 seconds ⇒ 3 seconds
• Cooldown 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 seconds ⇒ 12 seconds at all ranks
• Base Damage 55/85/115/145/175 ⇒ 70/100/130/160/190
• Bonus Move Speed 6/7/8/9/10% ⇒ 8/9/10/11/12%

E – Eye Of The Storm

• Innate – Whenever Janna’s abilities slow or knock up at least one enemy champion, E – Eye of the Storm’s cooldown is reduced by 20% ⇒ she receives +20% heal and shield power for 5 seconds
• Shield 80/115/150/185/220 (+70% AP) ⇒ 80/110/140/170/200 (+65% AP)
• Cooldown 16/15/14/13/12 seconds ⇒ 15/13.5/12/10.5/9 seconds
• Shield Decay Starts After 0.75 seconds ⇒ 1.25 seconds

R – Monsoon

• Healing Tick Rate 0.5 seconds ⇒ 0.25 seconds (total heal amount unchanged)

Janna has been the weakest enchanter in the game for quite a while now. Her kit just doesn’t bring as much value as other picks in her role. This rework aims to return some of her power while also keeping her balanced in the poke department.

Basically, Janna no longer gains bonus damage on her auto attacks and W from her movement speed. Her auto attack range has been decreases, as has her W cooldown. In exchange, her W now slows for longer and grants Janna more move speed. Her Q travels slightly further and faster, making it better for chaining crowd control together.

Janna’s shield is now 20 HP less with five percent less AP scaling. However, the passive has changed from reducing the cooldown when CCing champions to increasing heal and shield power when CCing champions. The base cooldown has been lowered to keep the change power positive. Lastly, the shield decay begins after an extra half a second, increasing the effective shielding that Janna puts out.

These changes should be an overall positive for Janna, as it reinforces her role as a shield and crowd control bot instead of a poke support.

Tahm Kench

Q – Tongue Lash

• Enemy Slow 40% ⇒ 50%

E – Thick Skin

• Amount of Damage Stored into Grey Health 45/50/55/60/65% ⇒ 15/25/35/45/55%, increased to 45/50/55/60/65% if there are 2 or more visible enemy champions nearby (dead or alive)
• Amount of Healing Restored from Grey Health 30-100% (levels 1-18) ⇒ 45-100% (levels 1-18)

R – Devour

• Ally Shield Upon Devour 400/500/600 (+100% AP) ⇒ 500/700/900 (+150% AP)
• Move Speed Upon Devouring Ally Slows Tahm Kench by 30/20/10% while ally is swallowed ⇒ Grants Tahm Kench 40% move speed for 3 seconds (regardless of swallow duration)

Tahm Kench Top has been terrorizing solo queue this season. This list of changes is meant to try and once again move him into the Support role. Tongue Lash now has more utility, as does Kench’s Ally Devour. The nerf to solo lane Kench is a big one. He now only stores 15 percent of his damage taken as Grey Health, meaning he can’t shield tank without an ally nearby. Keep in mind that if that condition is met, Tahm Kench was basically just buffed across the board.

Items

Lich Bane

• Build Path Blasting Wand + Aether Wisp + Sheen + 600g ⇒ Fiendish Codex + Aether Wisp + Sheen + 550g (total cost unchanged)
• Ability Haste 0 ⇒ 15
• Spellblade Damage 150% base AD (+40% AP) ⇒ 75% base AD (+50% AP)
• Spellblade Cooldown 2.5 seconds ⇒ 1.5 seconds

Lich Bane was a lackluster mage item compared to the other options available, even for the usual Lich Bane users like Viktor. These changes are meant to make the item more appealing to the champions who used to like the item, but found it outclassed this season.

Rylai’s Crystal Scepter

• Combine Cost 815 gold ⇒ 415 gold (total cost equally reduced)
• Ability Power 90 ⇒ 75
• Health 350 ⇒ 400

Rylai’s is a niche item that was previously too expensive to fit into builds. By lowering it’s AP and gold cost and increasing its HP, battle mages like Singed, Mordekaiser, or Swain may be able to fit it into their builds more often.

Chemtech Drake

Chemtech Dragon Soul

• Zombie Health 80% base health + 50% bonus health ⇒ 70% base health + 40% bonus health
• Zombie Duration (Without Other Health Impacting Factors) 4 seconds ⇒ 3 seconds

Chemtech Rift

• Offensive Action Camouflage Timer 1.5 seconds* ⇒ 2.5 seconds
• Bonus Damage Vs Enemies with More Current Health Up to 10% ⇒ Up to 12%

Chemtech Dragon is a big source of frustration in any game it shows up. These nerfs to both the Soul and the Rift should be a step forward in making the map less skewed towards the team with Dragon stacks.

Runes

Lethal Tempo

• Attack Speed per Stack (Melee) 13% ⇒ 10-15% (levels 1-15)
• Attack Speed per Stack (Ranged) 7% ⇒ 5-9% (levels 1-12)

Lethal Tempo was too strong of a rune at all points for many champions after the rework. This change mainly targets melee champions who used it to win lane early against picks that couldn’t fight back. ADC’s who use Tempo as a scaling tool shouldn’t feel the effects of this nerf too much.

Those are the highlights of League of Legends Patch 12.2. This was a pretty big patch overall with lots of changes to prominent champions. With many meta picks taking a hit and borderline meta picks getting buffed, things could be shaking up in League of Legends soon.