League of Legends patch 12.17. rundown

League of Legends patch 12.17 is the first of the two patches with massive changes heading into the World Championship.

Every year, the two League patches that come out in September, are focused on reshaping the meta at the highest level. Before bootcamps and the event start at the end of September, Riot have to rebalance the game so we don’t see the same champions being played for three months straight. The goal is to nerf champions that have been dominating the summer splits and buff some champions that will be good additions to the viable champion pool in pro play. Miss Fortune and Hecarim are due for massive adjustments, that we already covered, alongside the Stopwatch and Zhonya nerfs.  Maokai also got some love, but it’s doubtful we will see him on the biggest stage.

League patch 12.17 buffs

Twisted Fate and Kasadin, two mid-lane champions that counter each other and the other meta champions, got some small buffs. Their Q abilities will cost less mana, have lower cooldowns and do more damage. Rell will jump off her horse faster and her E ability will have a flat cooldown of 15 seconds, while Ezreal becomes more mobile with a lower cooldown on his E ability by two seconds. Camille will receive a bigger shield and more damage from her passive and E ability, while Sett’s E and W ability will become stronger with more damage items built. Nocturne will get more attack speed and his passive will have its cooldown reduced by one second. Graves’s ultimate ability will now do more damage and the cooldown on his Q will be longer early game but shorter late game.

League patch 12.17 nerfs

Nami won’t be able to proc Electrocute with her E ability anymore and Trundle’s W ability will receive a major cooldown nerf. Sylas and Ahri will become weaker early game, with nerfed base health and their Q and E abilities will now have longer cooldowns and reduced duration. Wukong will lose some base attack speed and movement speed, while Taric will have a longer cooldown on his E ability and lose some base magic resist. Azir’s soldiers won’t do as much damage with reduced scalings and his E ability will have a longer cooldown. Sivir is losing attack damage scalings across the board, while Renekton is receiving scaling buffs but will lose flat damage on his Q ability.

With this update, we can expect to see some new champions in the jungle and top lane at the highest level. The champions dominating the mid laner should be toned down a bit, and expect a Miss Fortune to enter the bot lane meta. The Zhonya adjustments spell doom for engage supports, as we are headed for an enchanter meta at Worlds. 

Header: Riot Games