League of Legends Patch 12.4 Highlights

League of Legends Patch 12.4 is about to go live. Unlike the previous patch which featured nearly no champion buffs, this patch is going all in on giving love to less popular picks. Additionally, changes to the support items are here in an attempt to nerf the prevalent enchanter top lane strategy. Without further ado, here are the most important changes of League of Legends Patch 12.4. For the full patch notes, click here.

Champion Nerfs

Dr. Mundo

Base Stats

• AD Growth 4.2 ⇒5
• Attack Damage 61-132.4 (levels 1-18) ⇒ 61-120.5 (levels 1-18)

R – Maximum Dosage

• Cooldown 110/100/90 seconds ⇒ 110 seconds at all ranks

Mundo has received nerfs to his AD growth and R cooldown with levels, making his late game a step weaker. Whether or not he needed these nerfs is up for debate, but it shouldn’t affect his pure tanking ability too much.

Nunu & Willump

Base Stats

• Health Growth 82 ⇒ 76
• Health at Level 18 1934 ⇒ 1832

Q – Consume

• Healing From Champions 60/88/116/144/172 (+72% AP) (+8% bonus health) ⇒ 45/66/87/108/129 (+54% AP) (+6% bonus health)

Nunu’s niche has always been that of a fast-clearing gank machine who struggles in extended skirmishes against stronger early game junglers. This nerf to his Q will hurt his dueling even more. The counter play window against Nunu should be larger overall.

Veigar

Base Stats

• Base Armor 23 ⇒ 21
• Armor Growth 3.75 ⇒0
• Armor at Level 18 86.75 ⇒ 89

E – Event Horizon

• Cooldown 18/16.5/15/13.5/12 seconds ⇒ 20/18/16/14/12 seconds

The recent buff to Veigar’s Q cooldown has left him in a strong state. This round of nerfs is meant to keep him in line. Hits to his tankiness and main utility and peel tool should make it easier to punish the infinitely scaling threat.

Zeri

Uncharged Basic Attack

• Magic Damage 15-40 (levels 1-18) (+4% AP) ⇒ 10-25 (levels 1-18) (+3% AP)
• Damage Increase 300% ⇒ 500% against enemies below 35% health

Charged Basic Attack

• Slow 20/25/30/35/40% ⇒ 14/23/32/41/50% (based on Q rank)
• Slow Duration 1.5 seconds ⇒ 1 second

Q – Burst Fire

• Damage 10/15/20/25/30 (+110% AD) ⇒ 9/13/17/21/25 (+110% AD)
• Burst Fire’s critical strikes now also multiply its base damage (in addition to its AD ratio)
• Excess Attack Speed to AD Conversion 50% ⇒ 60%

W – Ultrashock Laser

• Slow 50/55/60/65/70% ⇒ 30/40/50/60/70%
• Cooldown 10 seconds at all ranks ⇒ 13/12/11/10/9 seconds

E – Spark Surge

• Cooldown 23/21.5/20/19.5/17 seconds ⇒ 23/22/21/20/19 seconds
• Cooldown Reduction 1.5 seconds ⇒ 1 second per champion hit with charged basic attacks or abilities

R – Lightning Crash

• Bonus Attack Speed 30/35/40% ⇒ 30% at all ranks

As players learn the correct build and playstyle for Zeri, it turns out the champion was ridiculously overtuned. This laundry list of nerfs serves to reduce her damage and utility across the board. However, Zeri has been given a little bit of compensation damage on her Burst Fire with crit builds. In all likelihood, she will still be able to build Triforce and Black Cleaver.

Champion Buffs

Aatrox

Q – The Darkin Blade

• Sweetspot Damage 150% ⇒ 160%

Ten percent increased damage on Aatrox’s main fighting and wave clearing ability. While it won’t propel him into the meta, Aatrox will be more viable following the fighter item rework last patch.

Amumu

E – Tantrum

• Physical Damage Reduction 2/4/6/8/10 (+3% bonus armor) (+3% bonus magic resist) ⇒ 5/7/9/11/13 (+3% bonus armor) (+3% bonus magic resist)

Amumu previously received an E nerf due to it hard countering Zeri. This hurt the Sad Mummy enough to lower his win rate, so its been buffed back up.

Illaoi

Base Stats

• Attack Speed 0.571 ⇒625

W – Harsh Lesson

• Bonus Physical Damage 3/3.5/4/4.5/5% (+2% per 100 AD) of target’s maximum health ⇒ 3/3.5/4/4.5/5% (+4% per 100 AD) of target’s maximum health

Illaoi is one of those champions who needs a specific situation to be played. Even when played into a bunch of melee champions, she still struggled to be effective. These changes will help her bully vulnerable opponents in top lane much better.

Nami

E – Tidecaller’s Blessing

• On-Hit Damage (Per Hit) 20/35/50/65/80 (+20% AP) ⇒ 25/40/55/70/85 (+20% AP)

Nami was already a top tier support prior to her “nerf” a patch ago. Now that the nerf part has been reverted, Nami’s is actually in a stronger state than she was earlier this season. Expect to see her often.

Neeko

Base Stats

• Gameplay (Hitbox) Radius 80 ⇒ 65

Q – Blooming Burst

• Additional Bloom Damage 40/60/80/100/120 (+20% AP) ⇒ 40/65/90/115/140 (+20% AP)

W – Shapesplitter

• Cooldown 20/19/18/17/16 seconds ⇒ 16/15/14/13/12 seconds

Neeko has been an underwhelming pick for quite a while. As such, she has been given a variety of buffs that should all increase her effectiveness. The reduced hitbox and decreased cooldown on W will add a layer of extra survivability. Additionally, the 20 added damage on Q rises to 60 when all three blooms hit. Neeko should be feeling much nicer to play now.

Xayah

E – Bladecaller

• Critical Strike Chance Damage Multiplier Deals 0.5% ⇒75% more damage per 1% critical strike chance

Xayah’s go to build this season has been based on Lethality and Q max. This is a far cry from her normal ADC playstyle, but is simply more effective since its hard for her to get damage out otherwise. With this buff, Xayah will be rewarded more for well-placed E’s. At two and three crit items, this buff adds 10 and 15 percent more damage respectively.

Roaming Support/Enchanter Top Changes

Spellthief’s Edge, Relic Shield, Steel Shoulderguards, & Spectral Sickle

• GOLD VALUE BOUNTIES Gold value bounties (a.k.a. CS bounties) are now based on the number of support gold income items on each team, rather than assuming each team has one support gold income item
• OBJECTIVE BOUNTIES Enemy gold leads are now significantly less likely to lead to Objective Bounties activating if there are two or more support gold income items on your team
• TRIBUTE/SPOILS OF WAR (PASSIVE) – MINION FARMING PENALTY Receive diminishing gold from excessive (4 minions per minute) ⇒ (2 minions per minute until 5 minutes; 4 minions per minute thereafter) minion kills. This diminished gold penalty is now also more severe during the first 5 minutes of the game. (All else unchanged)

Here is the big one. The emergence of enchanter picks in top lane has been a storyline throughout the early season. The strategy revolves around taking smite and farming until level three, then leaving the lane entirely to support your jungler and laners. It worked for a number of reasons, two of which are addressed with these nerfs.

The presence of more than one support item on a team will now affect the ability for the team to receive bounties. Second, the item now allows users to farm even less minions than they could before. A top laner with a support item now can’t even farm to level three without triggering reduced gold gains.

Basically, the strategy has been nerfed by significantly reducing the amount of gold able to be earned by running it. While this doesn’t completely eliminate the possibility of using it since you can still just go get kills and invade the enemy jungler, it heavily disincentivizes it as any misplays will just result in a losing battle.

Other Item Changes

Rejuvenation Bead

• Total Cost 150 gold ⇒ 300 gold
• Base Health Regeneration +50% ⇒ +100%
• Sell-Back Ratio 70% (sells for 105 gold) ⇒ 40% (sells for 120 gold)

Rest in peace three rejuv bead start. The strategy where you could buy three Rejuvenation Beads and one Potion was very helpful for weak early laners in matchups where they got poked often. The start is now likely no longer viable, as the amount of regen you can get is down from 150 percent to 100 percent, not to mention the reduced sell back price.

Those are the most important changes of League of Legends Patch 12.4! While the list of champion buffs is long, the nerfs to Zeri and the roaming top strategy will most heavily impact the current game. It was a short time with these two at the forefront. For better or worse, they should be gone for now.