League of Legends Patch 9.12 Breakdown
Two weeks have passed, which means we have yet another set of balance changes to go over — this time it’s League of Legends patch 9.12! This is an interesting patch, to say the least. It might not seem that important in the grand scheme of things, but it’s carrying a ton of changes that could heavily impact not just casual but professional play as well. A couple of competitive mainstays are getting hit, a couple of them are getting changed by a considerable amount, and we’re also getting a brand-new reworked champion — Mordekaiser, The Iron Revenant!
Now, Mordekaiser’s (re)introduction to the game, paired with slick new visuals and a couple of great new abilities could heavily impact the meta. If things pan out as expected, he will quickly rise as a prominent pick which means he’ll either be a must-pick or a must-ban. Either way, a change to the competitive status quo is imminent, for better and worse.
With that out of the way, let’s start our League of Legends patch 9.12 breakdown!
Big Adjustments
Mordekaiser
The Iron Revenant will be joining the fight in patch 9.12! If you want to learn more about Riot’s latest champion rework, you can read our breakdown by clicking here.
While it’s still too early to know for sure, we can fairly assume that the latest Mordekaiser will heavily impact both solo queue as well as competitive play. He’s simply too strong of a champion right now and will surely be picked up in every major region.
Sylas
Like many of the latest champions Riot released, Sylas is much stronger in competitive when compared to casual play. To balance things out, they’re shipping a couple of nerfs that are targeted at very specific aspects of his kit.
First of all, his passive “Petricite Burst” will now store up to two charges which will be consumed on subsequent basic attacks. His passive will now deal more damage, but only to enemy champions — minions will receive 70% less damage. His Q “Chain Lash” will also deal less detonation damage — from 45/70/95/120/145 (+0.6 AP) to 40/60/80/100/120 (+0.4 AP), and it’ll have a smaller detonation AoE (from 200 to 180) on minions.
His W “Kingslayer” will now heal for more — from 60/80/100/120/140 (+0.4 AP) to 70/90/110/130/150 (+0.50 AP). Lastly, his E “Abscond/Abduct” will no longer shield Sylas when first cast. Instead, it will only shield (for 80/115/150/185/220 +1.0 AP) when you manage to land the ability on an enemy champion or monster. Likewise, its cooldown is going up from 18/16/14/12/10 to 18/17/16/15/14 seconds.
Yuumi
Riot is shipping a couple of adjustments to Yuumi. They aim to nerf her at her best (when a really skilled player is piloting the feline champion), but also buff her when someone less experienced opts to play her. These are basically nerfs, but it’s still too early to know for sure until we see things in action and actually accrue some data.
Her base health is going up (from 432.36 to 480), her passive “Bop N’ Block” will refund less mana (from 40-160 to 30-160) and shield for less (from 80-360 +0.4 AP to 80-300 +0.3 AP). Finally, her W “You and Me!” will provide less Adaptive Force to the ally she’s attached to — from 5/9/13/17/21% to 5/7/9/11/13 flat Adaptive Force (+4/7/10/13/16% of attached ally’s existing Adaptive Force).
Tahm Kench
The Kench is receiving a solid nerf to his W “Devour.” Going forward, devoured allies will no longer be able to release themselves, and the allied spit range will be 250, instead of 400. Finally, base damage numbers are also going down — from 100/135/170/205/240 (+5/7/9/11/13% of target’s maximum health) to 60/105/150/195/240 (+9/10/11/12/13%).
Ryze
The legendary League of Legends mage is getting reworked… Again. Riot simply can’t settle on his identity, so they’re having yet another go at reworking a good chunk of his ability kit.
Here’s a list of his reworked/adjusted abilities:
As Riot so eloquently pointed out, when you play Ryze optimally, his weaknesses aren’t nearly as evident or exposed. If you have a coordinated team as well, then he’s pretty much an OP pick. They want to decrease his strength when it comes to competitive play, but also buff him so that someone who isn’t a professional player or mechanical deity can still find success.
How this will turn out is anyone’s guess at this point, but we should have a solid enough sample size to analyze in two week’s time.
Simple Adjustments
Aatrox
The cooldown on Aatrox’s passive “Deathbringer Stance” now scales based on level. So it’s no longer just 15 seconds, but instead goes from 24 to 12 (from levels 1 to 18) seconds.
His ultimate “World Ender” will now only revolve around self-healing, instead of all incoming healing.
Ashe
Riot is decreasing the cooldown on Ashe’s W “Volley” — from 15/12.5/10/7.5/5 seconds to 14/11.5/9/6.5/4.
Not exactly a momentous buff but it should be noticeable regardless.
Caitlyn
Caitlyn is receiving a very small buff to her base attack damage. Going forward, she will start the game with 60 AD instead of 58.
Irelia
Balancing Irelia is like a double-edged sword. As we’re seeing more frequently, there’s quite a palpable discrepancy between her viability in professional and casual play. If you nerf her too hard, she’ll only be playable in highly-coordinated scenarios, which would basically punish millions of players across the globe. This time around, Riot is targeting Irelia’s E “Flawless Duet.” Going forward, it will have a noticeably longer cooldown (from 14/13/12/11/10 seconds to 18/16.5/15/13.5/12) and it’ll have a shorter range (from 850 to 775).
By nerfing her built-in stun, players who don’t land the ability will be punished way harder, making it much riskier to go for any all-in engages.
How this change will pan out still remains to be seen, but it should be a noticeable nerf regardless of the final outcome. Still, Irelia is exceptional in most areas of play (when piloted by the right player), so she’s probably not going to be phased out of the meta any time soon.
Karma
Riot wants to make enchanter supports at least a little bit more viable in the current meta, and they’re starting with Karma — although this change could bring her back in the mid lane as well. Starting with patch 9.12, her Q “Inner Flame” will slow for more (from 25% to 35%), and her E “Inspire” will both cost less mana (from 60/65/70/75/80 to 50/55/60/65/70) as well as give Karma a longer movement speed bonus (from 1.5 to 2.5 seconds).
Lulu
Going forward, Lulu’s E “Help, Pix!” will shield for more (from 70/105/140/175/210 to 80/115/150/185/220) and will cost less mana (from 60/70/80/90/100 mana to 60/65/70/75/80).
Nautilus
Nautilus is currently a bit too strong. To counteract this, Riot is decreasing the base damage on his Q “Dredge Line” from 100/145/190/235/280 to 80/130/180/230/280.
Zac
Everyone’s favorite green blob is getting a slight buff. Going forward, his W “Unstable Matter” will deal more base damage (from 15/30/45/60/75 to 25/40/55/70/85). His ultimate “Let’s Bounce!” is also getting adjusted. It will now knockback for 250 units from where a target is hit, instead of 400 units away from Zac.
Finally, each bounce that hits an enemy champion (whether it’s just one opponent or multiple) will spawn a chunk of goo. These are welcome changes, and the buff to his W will seriously impact his jungle clear speeds.
Item Changes
There is only a single item change shipping with patch 9.12, but it’s a noticeable one.
Corrupting Potion
Corrupting Potion is the start many professional players opt for in competitive play and it’s incredibly potent in the right hands. To counteract this, Riot is shipping a noticeable nerf.
Going forward, it will deal 15 bonus magic damage at all levels (over 3 seconds) instead of 15-30 (level 1-18). In other words, it will deal less bonus damage (compared to prior patches) as you level up.
ARAM Changes
Riot is shipping a ton of ARAM buffs and nerfs with patch 9.12. The most surprising thing, however, is that they’re nerfing/buffing specific champions. Take a look at the images below for a more detailed list of changes:
ARAM Buffs
ARAM Nerfs
Poke-heavy champions are taking the brunt of the nerfs — as they should. Everyone who played even a single game of ARAM knows perfectly well just how overwhelming a couple of long-range mages can be. This won’t exactly solve the problem, but it will alleviate a bit of the suffering.
But perhaps even more importantly, they’ve finally tuned the end game Mastery Grade to “better represent the nuances of the game.” In other words, they’ll be using different, map-specific parameters going forward when it comes to judging your performance.
Upcoming Skins & Chromas
As with every new patch, Riot is releasing brand-new skins, and this time we have a couple of really cool ones — Dark Cosmic Jhin, Dark Star Karma, and Dark Star Shaco. The Shaco and Karma skins will be shipping with accompanying chromas, and there are multiple variants of the Dragonslayer Braum chroma that’s directly tied with each major region and its Team Pass.
Dark Cosmic Jhin
Dark Star Karma
Dark Star Shaco
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