League of Legends Patch 12.20 Highlights

Champion Nerfs

Maokai

Passive – Sap Magic

• Healing Based on Maximum Health: + 4.5% – 12% (based on level) maximum health ⇒ + 4% – 10% (based on level) maximum health (note: maximum health ratio will now be 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9%, 10% at levels 1, 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, and 17)

R – Nature’s Grasp

• Cooldown: 120/100/80 ⇒ 120/110/100

Maokai has been dominating the Worlds meta and is in clear need of some pruning. The tree is losing a bit of sustain on his passive, as well as a whole 20 seconds off his rank three R cooldown. Since Maokai builds a lot of Ability Haste and spams this ultimate off-cooldown, this will definitely be noticeable.

Sett

Base Stats

• Magic Resist: 32 ⇒ 28

Passive – Pit Grit

• Health Regeneration per 5% of Missing Health: 0.25/0.5/1/2 ⇒ 0.15/0.5/1/2
• Right Punch AD Ratio: 50% bonus AD ⇒ 55% bonus AD

Sett has recently resurfaced as a viable solo laner, just in mid lane instead of top. A Magic Resist nerf coupled with less passive regeneration during the early levels should make him much more susceptible to AP lane bully matchups like Syndra.

Champion Buffs

Blitzcrank

Base Stats

• AD: 62 ⇒ 60
• Base Attack Speed: 0.65 ⇒ 0.625

Passive – Mana Barrier

• Shield Amount: 30% of maximum mana ⇒ 15-45% of maximum mana (levels 1-18)

W – Overdrive

• Damage to Monsters: 60-180 (levels 1-18) ⇒ 60-220 (levels 1-18) (note: no longer scales linearly, scaling is as follows: 60/80/100/120/140/160/165/170/175/180/185/190/195/200/205/210/215/220)

E – Power Fist

• Empowered Auto Attack Damage against Champions: 200% total AD (+ 25% AP) ⇒ 175% total AD (+ 25% AP)
• Damage to Non-Champions: unchanged
• Blitzcrank now has a chance to uppercut monsters to the moon when overkilling them

It is very apparent that Riot WANTS Blitzcrank to be a jungler. This round of changes has brought up his damage to monsters even higher at the cost of some of his damage to champions. If you’re looking to play Blitzcrank support only, these changes are a net nerf overall, although the buff to Mana Barrier will make you tankier in the mid-game regardless.

Evelynn

Q – Hate Spike

• Bonus Magic Damage to Marked Targets: 10/20/30/40/50 (+25% AP) ⇒ 15/25/35/45/55 (+25% AP)

W – Allure

• Charm Duration: 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds ⇒ 1.25/1.5/1.75/2/2.25 seconds

These are a pair of very simple buffs to help Evelynn take down opponents a bit more reliably. An extra 0.25 seconds of Charm duration ensures that enemies eat every recast of her Q. Additionally, the extra damage to marked targets on her Q will slightly speed up Evelynn’s clear. An extra 15 damage per Q does stack up quite quickly.

Jayce

W – Lightning Field

• Mana Restoration: 6/8/10/12/14/16 ⇒ 10/12/14/16/18/20

R – Transform Mercury Hammer

• Bonus Armor and Magic Resist: 5/15/25/35 ⇒ 5/15/25/35 (+ 7.5% bonus AD)

Jayce has fallen out of favor towards the end of this season. These buffs will definitely help him rise back to the top of the top lane. The extra mana refund helps him poke more in lane, and the bonus resistances on transforming into Hammer form help negate any damage he takes in return while trading. At 200 AD later in the game, he’ll get 15 whole Armor and MR, a sizable amount.

Rammus

W – Defensive Ball Curl

• Self Slow: 30% ⇒ 0% (Removed)

R – Soaring Slam

• Dash Speed: 105% of Move Speed ⇒ 110% of Move Speed

Rammus as a champion can only really be played into largely AD/auto attacking teams. This buff will make him even more of a no-brainer pick in those situations. Not being slowed by pressing W will help Rammus stick to those pesky ADC’s while they inevitably hit themselves to death.

Ziggs

Q – Bouncing Bomb

• Magic Damage: 85/135/185/235/285 (+ 65% AP) ⇒ 95/145/195/245/295 (+ 65% AP)

Watch out, Ziggs’s Q just got a 10 damage buff. This ability is one of the most spammable skills in the game, incredibly useful for both poking and wave clear. Expect to see a bunch of Ziggs cropping up as people realize that he actually deals a ton of damage.

Items

Demonic Embrace

• Health: 450 ⇒ 350
• Ability Power: 60 ⇒ 70
• Ranged Burn Damage per Tick: 1% maximum health ⇒ 0.8% maximum health

Demonic Embrace has become a staple of tank builds, with many AP scaling meatballs opting into the item to deal tons of damage while not dying ever. This nerf will hurt these kinds of champions, but the item is still powerful in the right spots.

Frozen Heart

• Total Cost: 2500 ⇒ 2700
• Combine Cost: 600 ⇒ 800
• Armor: 80 ⇒ 90
• Rock Solid Damage Reduction: 7 (+ 3.5 per 1000 health) ⇒ 5 (+ 3.5 per 1000 health)

Who would have thought that making Frozen Heart a 2500 gold item would make it incredibly efficient to buy on anyone when facing down a heavy AD team. The cost is back up to 2700, reducing its potency as a rush item.

Sterak’s Gage

• The Claws that Catch bonus AD: 45% base AD ⇒ 50% base AD
• Lifeline Shield Amount: 75% Bonus Health decaying over 3.75 seconds ⇒ 80% Bonus Health decaying over 4.5 seconds

This item has been in the dumpster for almost the entire season. It is strictly inferior to Death’s Dance and Gargoyle’s Stoneplate, the two anti-burst items for fighters and tanks respectively. This buff is small overall; just some extra bonus AD and shielding. There will likely be a couple of cases where it would be a better buy than Death’s Dance depending on the exact stats and build, but that’s not saying much.

Runes

Lethal Tempo

• Bonus Auto Attack Range: 50 for melee champions, 75 for ranged ⇒ 50 for melee and ranged champions

When the extra range bonus for ranged champions was first added to Lethal Tempo, it was expected to be a massively impactful tool in the right hands. As it turns out, extending the range of ADCs even more was not a great idea. Champions like Kalista could now suddenly out-space everyone while hopping around like a rabbit. There were many more abuse cases, and the result was this nerf here. The rune is still very good and will continue to be core for many ADCs, but this nerf was long overdue.

And those were all the biggest changes of League of Legends Patch 12.20. This patch was much smaller than the previous one, mostly cleaning up some leftovers from it and the Worlds patches. We can expect even more changes moving forward as the pre-season is drawing nearer.