Season 2022 is in bloom!
We’ve carefully plucked a delicate bouquet for you this patch, including several champion nerfs and a significant update to the fighter item system. This is also our first patch reacting to Pro play on the preseason meta, so there’s a lot of focus on balancing that skill bracket this week. Ahri’s champion refresh is another part of the floral mix and, last but not leaf, the rest of the Crystal Rose and Withered Rose skins will be available soon. ❀
Allergies acting up with all this flowery language? Head on over to the pollen-free TFT patch notes here!
Let us see what do we have new in Patch 12.3!
MID-PATCH UPDATES
2/4/2022 – Janna Nerfs
Janna
Janna’s 12.2 changes swept Summoner’s Rift by storm, making her one of the strongest and most popular supports. However, it wasn’t clear just how strong of a nerf she needed last patch due to a Glacial Augment bug that interacted with her Q and R a little too well. Even after the hotfix, Janna remains very strong with Glacial and other runes, so we’re lowering her early roaming power and her enhanced heal and shield window.
These changes are not intended to address her (and other enchanters’) recent top lane strategy. We’re working on a separate solution for that and will update as soon as we have an accurate forecast.
BASE MOVE SPEED 330 ⇒ 325W – ZEPHYR BASE BONUS MOVE SPEED 8/9/10/11/12% ⇒ 6/7.5/9/10.5/12%E – EYE OF THE STORM ENHANCED HEAL & SHIELD POWER DURATION 5 seconds ⇒ 4 seconds (upon slowing or knocking up at least one enemy)
2/3/2022 – ARURF and Seraphine & Twisted Fate Bugfixes
ARURF Balance Changes
Champion Buffs
AKALI -5% Damage Taken ⇒ -10% Damage Taken
DARIUS +5% Damage Dealt, -10% Damage Taken ⇒ +5% Damage Dealt, -15% Damage Taken
KATARINA -5% Damage Taken ⇒ +5% Damage Dealt, -5% Damage TakenKLED -5% Damage Taken ⇒ -10% Damage Taken
MORDEKAISER -15% Damage Taken
NUNU & WILLUMP -5% Damage Taken ⇒ +8% Damage Dealt, -5% Damage Taken
QIYANA -5% Damage Taken ⇒ -10% Damage TakenRAMMUS +10% Damage Dealt, -10% Damage Taken ⇒ +10% Damage Dealt, -15% Damage Taken
REK’SAI +5% Damage Dealt ⇒ +5% Damage Dealt, -5% Damage Taken
SION +10% Damage Dealt ⇒ +10% Damage Dealt, -8% Damage Taken
THRESH -8% Damage Taken ⇒ -13% Damage Taken
VIEGO +5% Damage Dealt ⇒ +5% Damage Dealt, -5% Damage Taken
Champion Nerfs
MALPHITE -5% Damage Dealt
MASTER YI -20% Healing ⇒ -10% Damage Dealt, -20% Healing
MORGANA -5% Damage Dealt ⇒ -10% Damage Dealt, +5% Damage Taken
ORIANNA -10% Damage Dealt, +8% Damage Taken, -20% Shielding ⇒ -10% Damage Dealt, +10% Damage Taken, -20% Shielding
SERAPHINE -3% Damage Dealt, -20% Healing ⇒ -8% Damage Dealt, -20% Healing
SHACO -5% Damage Dealt ⇒ -10% Damage Dealt, +5% Damage Taken
VEX -10% Damage Dealt ⇒ -10% Damage Dealt, +5% Damage Taken
VOLIBEAR +5% Damage Taken, -20% Healing ⇒ -5% Damage Dealt, +5% Damage Taken, -20% Healing
YUUMI -30% Damage Dealt, +20% Damage Taken, -30% Healing ⇒ -40% Damage Dealt, +20% Damage Taken, -40% Healing
ZED -5% Damage Dealt ⇒ -15% Damage Dealt
Bugfixes
HECARIM BUGFIX Fixed a bug where Hecarim’s Q – Rampage would get disabled for the rest of the game after Viego possessed him in ARURF
Seraphine
TAKE NOTES Fixed a bug where Seraphine’s abilities would get canceled if cast while attacking an enemy with a Passive – Stage Presence empowered basic attack
Twisted Fate
ANY CARD Fixed a bug that caused Twisted Fate’s next basic attack after using W – Pick a Card to have a slight delay
2/2/2022 – Ahri Bugfix
Ahri
STOP! IN THE NAME OF LOVE Fixed a bug where Ahri’s E – Charm could interrupt Unstoppable enemies, such as Malphite during his R – Unstoppable Force
PATCH HIGHLIGHTS
CHAMPIONS
AHRI
Champion refreshed. Base stats and all skills updated.
Ahri’s unique identity as a highly-mobile mage assassin has eroded over the years. Instead of a being flighty terror dashing across a teamfight, she’s limited to a single attempt at an exciting play with her R, then fishing with her E from safety for the rest of the fight. To address this, we’re refreshing her passive to offer a partial ultimate reset upon takedowns so a well-played Ahri can capitalize on favorable situations to hunt down the entire enemy team. We’ve also redistributed her abilities’ mana costs and early damage so each spell feels rewarding. To balance things out, we’re slightly nerfing her burst damage and defensive stats. (As an aside, these changes are unrelated to Ahri’s upcoming ASU.)
BASE STATS
HEALTH GROWTH 92 ⇒ 82HEALTH 526-2090 (levels 1-18) ⇒ 500-1894 (levels 1-18)BASE HEALTH REGENERATION 5.5 ⇒ 2.5ARMOR 21-80.5 (levels 1-18) ⇒ 18-77.5 (levels 1-18)
PASSIVE – ESSENCE THEFT
UPDATED PIECES OF YOU Killing minions or monsters grants Ahri an Essence Fragment. After obtaining 9 Essence Fragments, Ahri consumes them to heal for 40-120 (+25% AP). When Ahri scores a takedown against an enemy champion within 3 seconds of damaging them, she feasts upon their Essence, healing for 80-200 (+35% AP).
Q – ORB OF DECEPTION
DAMAGE PER PASS 40/65/90/115/140 (+35% AP) ⇒ 40/65/90/115/140 (+40% AP)MANA COST 65/70/75/80/85 ⇒ 60/70/80/90/100
W – FOX-FIRE
DAMAGE 40/65/90/115/140 (+30% AP) ⇒ 60/85/110/135/160 (+30% AP)MANA COST 40 ⇒ 25
FLAME DURATION 5 seconds ⇒ 2.5 seconds
BONUS MOVE SPEED DURATION 1.5 seconds ⇒ 2 seconds
UPDATED HEAT-SEEKING Updated missile targeting and last-hitting logic
E – CHARM
DAMAGE 60/90/120/150/180 (+40% AP) ⇒ 80/110/140/170/200 (+60% AP)MANA COST 70 ⇒ 50
REMOVEDENTRANCED Ahri’s abilities no longer deal bonus damage to enemies hit by Charm
R – SPIRIT RUSH
INITIAL DURATION 10 seconds ⇒ 15 seconds
NEW A SPIRITED CHASE Consuming a champion’s Essence with Essence Theft while Spirit Rush is active extends Spirit Rush‘s recast duration by and up to 10 seconds, and grants an additional cast of Spirit Rush (up to 3 casts stored)
VFX & SFX UPDATES
PASSIVE – ESSENCE THEFT VFX and SFX have been updated for all skins
W – FOX-FIRE Cleaned up VFX and enhanced missile movement
R – SPIRIT RUSH Cleaned up VFX and added new ammo bar icons to indicate number of stored Spirit Rush casts
AKSHAN
Passive damage decreased.
Akshan’s been quite strong everywhere (especially in top lane), so we’re hitting his early passive power to make his harass on melee enemies a bit less dirty.
PASSIVE – DIRTY FIGHTING
BONUS MOVE SPEED UPON CANCELING SECOND SHOT 35-75 (levels 1-18) ⇒ 20-75 (levels 1-18)
THREE-STACK BONUS MAGIC DAMAGE 20-175 (levels 1-18) ⇒ 10-165 (levels 1-18)
AMUMU
Base armor decreased. E passive’s damage reduction now capped per instance.
Amumu has been too strong in Average play ever since he got a ton of new items this season. And although flat damage reduction is supposed to shine against champions like Zeri, completely negating certain attacks or abilities is a bit much—especially for an always-on passive—so we’re adjusting his E to match similar abilities.
BASE STATS
ARMOR GROWTH 3.5 ⇒ 3ARMOR 30-89.5 (levels 1-18) ⇒ 30-81 (levels 1-18)
E – TANTRUM
MAXIMUM PASSIVE DAMAGE REDUCTION Up to 100% per instance of physical damage ⇒ Capped at 50% per instance of physical damage
BRAND
QoL changes on passive and R.
We’re firing up a couple of quality of life changes to make Brand’s passive a little more intuitive, while also optimizing the bounces on his ult.
PASSIVE – BLAZE
UPDATED BLAZE IT Mana refund upon killing an enemy now also occurs if Brand’s ability last hits a target that was not already Ablaze
R – PYROCLASM
UPDATED PYROMANIA Pyroclasm‘s fireball now prioritizes bouncing to nearby enemies before bouncing back to Brand at full range. Pyroclasm will still prioritize bouncing to enemy champions first (before minions or monsters), regardless of range.
CAITLYN
AD growth decreased. Q damage reduced.
Caitlyn is getting banned really often in Pro play lately, likely because of her ability to shut down many popular late-scaling marksmen. Instead of curtailing her early lane bullying strengths, we’re getting on the case by nerfing her wave control and scaling instead.
BASE STATS
AD GROWTH 3.8 ⇒ 3.4ATTACK DAMAGE 62-126.6 (levels 1-18) ⇒ 62-119.8 (levels 1-18)
Q – PILTOVER PEACEMAKER
DAMAGE AGAINST SECONDARY ENEMIES 60% ⇒ 50%
BUGFIXES
- Fixed a bug where Caitlyn’s ult would incorrectly get a cooldown refund if she was feared during its cast
CORKI
First package delayed and restock cooldown increased.
Corki’s been taking over Pro play. We’re making his lane a bit less safe and lowering his impact on the first dragon and Rift Herald fights by delaying his first package, which used to let him secure a return to combat at the speed of heat. They’ll also get restocked at a slower rate so that he can’t make special deliveries to every dragon spawn.
PASSIVE – HEXTECH MUNITIONS
FIRST PACKAGE ARRIVES AFTER 8 minutes ⇒ 10 minutesPACKAGES RESTOCK EVERY 4 minutes ⇒ 5 minutes
LEBLANC
W damage decreased late.
LeBlanc has been too stranc for too lanc, especially in Pro where she’s been popular for a while now. We’re tapping down her first-maxed skill to curb her early burst and waveclear.
W – DISTORTION
BASE DAMAGE 75/115/155/195/235 ⇒ 75/110/145/180/215
LILLIA
R sleep duration increased early.
We’re making Lillia’s lullaby last a little longer so she can follow up with her spells and help her teammates more consistently at early levels. Sweet dreams~ ♪
R – LILTING LULLABY
SLEEP DURATION 1.5/2/2.5 seconds ⇒ 2/2.25/2.5 seconds
NAMI
Passive initial bonus move speed increased and now decays over duration. E on-hit base damage reduced.
It’s high tide for a Nami adjustment! This should make the move speed boost on her passive much more noticeable, so you can stop taking your enchanter supports for granted. (Just kidding. Maybe.) She’s already pretty strong, so we’re balancing out this slight buff with a small nerf to her E.
PASSIVE – SURGING TIDES
UPDATEDBONUS MOVE SPEED 45 (+20% AP) for 1.5 seconds ⇒ 90 (+20% AP), decaying over 1.5 seconds
E – TIDECALLER’S BLESSING
ON-HIT DAMAGE (PER HIT) 25/40/55/70/85 (+20% AP) ⇒ 20/35/50/65/80 (+20% AP)
QUINN
W passive attack speed bonus increased early. R damage ratio increased.
Although Quinn is technically flying fine, her impact has descended a bit across all skill brackets due to various system changes recently. Since she’s ended up with some headroom, we’re taking this opportunity to improve her gameplay satisfaction.
W – HEIGHTENED SENSES
BONUS ATTACK SPEED 20/30/40/50/60% ⇒ 28/36/44/52/60%
R – SKYSTRIKE
FLURRY DAMAGE 40% AD ⇒ 70% AD
SENNA
Passive soul drop rate for Senna’s farm reduced.
The buff to Senna’s Q last patch did make her support stronger as intended, but it also overwhelmingly increased her ADC winrate. Our goal isn’t to make ADC Senna weak, but instead to bring her two roles closer together in strength. (Before you grab a calculator, this rounds out to approximately one soul for every six minion waves.)
PASSIVE – ABSOLUTION
UPDATED QUICK MATHS: Minions and lesser monsters that Senna kills have a 10% chance ⇒ 2.7777% chance to spawn a Mist Wraith(all else unchanged)
TWISTED FATE
Q damage ratio increased; base damage decreased late. E bonus attack speed decreased early.
Twisted Fate seems to always have the right cards in Pro play with his global power and consistent CC. We’re cutting into his abilities’ base stats so he has to buy more AP to dish out big damage instead of opting for his usual utility builds.
Q – WILD CARDS
MAGIC DAMAGE 60/105/150/195/240 (+65% AP) ⇒ 60/100/140/180/220 (+70% AP)
E – STACKED DECK
BONUS ATTACK SPEED 20/25/30/35/40% ⇒ 10/17.5/25/32.5/40%
ZERI
Base move speed reduced. Fully charged basic attack damage decreased. R chain lightning damage decreased and can now critically strike.
Zeri’s Trinity Force build has ended up being much stronger than expected, skyrocketing her winrate once players swapped over from crit. We’re targeting these nerfs to ideally hit her Tri Force build more than her crit ones, but because there’s some overlap, we’re compensating the latter with a bit more zap on her ult.
BASE STATS
MOVE SPEED 330 ⇒ 325
BASIC ATTACK
FULL CHARGE DAMAGE BASED ON TARGET’S MAX HEALTH 3-20% (based on level) ⇒ 3-15% (based on level)
R – LIGHTNING CRASH
CHAIN LIGHTNING MAGIC DAMAGE 10/20/30 (+15% AP) ⇒ 10/15/20 (+15% AP)
NEW STATIC SHOCK Chain lightning magic damage can now critically strike
BUGFIXES
- Zeri’s E – Spark Surge will correctly vault over Trundle’s E – Pillar of Ice and glide over Anivia’s W – Crystallize wall instead of dashing through them
- Fixed a bug where several of Zeri’s VFX would not display correctly upon reconnecting to the game
ITEMS
We’re making changes to the fighter system to re-establish the differences between nimbler, more fragile fighters like Fiora and less agile but beefier picks like Darius. Previously, most items were accessible to most fighters thanks to the built-in health. While this made big health-stackers happy, when lighter fighters used these generic items, it would wash out their weaknesses, making them durable yet still high-damage and high-mobility (contrary to their subclass characteristics).
Ideally with these changes, each subclass will feel like they have items tailored just for them. For more context, check out our Quick Gameplay Thoughts article about it here. Lastly, we’re aware this is a pretty big shift and will be keeping a very close eye on things and almost certainly following up.
Mythic Fighter Items
For fighter Mythics, we’re shifting a couple of items from high health, all-in-one purchases into more unique and offensive options. Not all fighters should be tanky and durable, and those who should—like juggernauts—can lean on specific Legendaries for that.
Trinity Force is the exception here. We’re bumping up its health to make it match the other options in exchange for a small reduction in stacking AD. This way, the amount of health you get won’t be the main reason why you choose (or don’t choose) a certain Mythic; rather, each Mythic should have its own unique benefits to make that decision clearer and fairer.
Divine Sunderer
BUILD PATH Sheen + Phage + Kindlegem + 700 gold ⇒ Sheen + Caulfield’s Warhammer + Kindlegem + 700 goldHEALTH 400 ⇒ 300ATTACK DAMAGE 35 ⇒ 40
Deicide (Ornn Masterwork Item)
HEALTH 550 ⇒ 450ATTACK DAMAGE 55 ⇒ 60
Goredrinker
BUILD PATH Ironspike Whip + Phage + Kindlegem + 300 gold ⇒ Ironspike Whip + Caulfield’s Warhammer + Kindlegem + 300 gold
HEALTH 450 ⇒ 300
ATTACK DAMAGE 45 ⇒ 55
Ceaseless Hunger (Ornn Masterwork Item)
HEALTH 600 ⇒ 450ATTACK DAMAGE 60 ⇒ 70
Trinity Force
HEALTH 200 ⇒ 300
UPDATED THREEFOLD STRIKE (ON CHAMPIONS OR STRUCTURES) +6% base AD per stack, up to 5 times for +30% ⇒ +4% base AD per stack, up to 5 times for +20% (also applies to Infinity Force)
Infinity Force (Ornn Masterwork Item)
HEALTH 300 ⇒ 400
Legendary Fighter Items & Components
Our approach to fighter Legendaries is similar: Shift health into AD across select items. Another top priority is to move Sterak’s Gage out of being a go-to default option for all fighters. Lighter fighters should now be more intrigued by this reworked Death’s Dance, which will scale with your other AD purchases and sustain tools. It also requires fighters to be constantly active in a fight to be effective, which is something we believe is important for systemic lighter fighter survivability.
We’re also adjusting a few somewhat underpowered Legendaries that should support lighter fighters (like Maw and Ravenous Hydra). These items need to be powerful enough for lighter fighters to consider purchasing them over other options. And finally, a few component items have also been updated to round everything out.
Death’s Dance
TOTAL COST 3100 gold ⇒ 3300 gold
UPDATED IGNORE PAIN (PASSIVE) Stores [35% for melee/15% for ranged] of post-mitigation physical damage received ⇒ [30% for melee/10% for ranged] of all types of post-mitigation damage received, (not including true damage), which is successively taken as true damage over 3 seconds instead. Now also applies to damage on shields
UPDATED DEFY (PASSIVE) Heal for 15% maximum health upon scoring a kill or assist ⇒ 175% bonus AD if a champion dies within 3 seconds after you’ve dealt damage to them. (all else unchanged)
Sterak’s Gage
ATTACK DAMAGE 50 ⇒ 0
NEW THE CLAWS THAT CATCH (PASSIVE) Gain 40% of your base AD as bonus AD
REMOVED BLOODLUST (PASSIVE) After dealing damage to or taking damage from an enemy champion, heal for a portion of your maximum health over 6 seconds
UPDATED LIFELINE (PASSIVE) If you take damage that would reduce you below 30% of your maximum health, gain a shield that absorbs 100 (+[8% for melee/4.8% for ranged] of your maximum health) per stack of Bloodlust) for 4 seconds ⇒ equal to 75% of your bonus health that decays over 3.75 seconds
Maw of Malmortius
ATTACK DAMAGE 50 ⇒ 55
ABILITY HASTE 15 ⇒ 20
SHIELD 200 (+20% maximum health) ⇒ 200 (+[225% for melee/168.75% for ranged] bonus AD)
UPDATED LIFELINE (PASSIVE) When Lifeline is activated, gain 12% omnivamp until the end of combat (i.e. have not dealt or taken damage for at least 3 seconds)
Blade of the Ruined King
TOTAL COST 3200 gold ⇒ 3300 gold
UPDATED MIST’S EDGE (PASSIVE) Basic attacks deal [10% for melee/6% for ranged] of target’s current health ⇒ [12% for melee/8% for ranged] of target’s current health as physical damage (all else unchanged)
Black Cleaver
HEALTH 450 ⇒ 350
ATTACK DAMAGE 40 ⇒ 45
ABILITY HASTE 25 ⇒ 30
Ravenous Hydra
ATTACK DAMAGE 65 ⇒ 70
Hearthbound Axe
TOTAL COST 1100 gold ⇒ 1000 goldCOMBINE COST 450 gold ⇒ 350 gold
Hexdrinker
ATTACK DAMAGE 20 ⇒ 25
TURBO CHEMTANK
Our changes to Turbo Chemtank in patch 12.2 were a bandaid to bring the item back in line on dash-y champs (like Akali and Irelia) while we looked for better solutions. We’re further adjusting its stacking mechanics to make Turbo Chemtank better suited for “tanking” rather than for “turbo charging” at enemies. Emphasis on the tank, not the turbo. (These changes also apply to its Ornn Masterwork item, Turbocharged Hexperiment.)
UPDATED REFUEL (PASSIVE) STACKS Gain 5 stacks per instance of damage dealt against champions and large monsters, and 1 stack for every 15 units traveled ⇒ damage taken from champions and large monsters, and 1 stack for every 25 units traveled (still capped at up to 10 stacks for dashes and blinks)
UPDATED REFUEL (PASSIVE) BONUS DAMAGE At 100 stacks, your next basic attack deals magic damage to all nearby enemies, increased by 25% against minions and 175% against monsters ⇒ increased by 30% against minions and 200% against monsters
BUGFIXES & QOL CHANGES
- UPDATED Hextech Gates: Champions will now both visually and mechanically move along the Hextech Gates’ travel paths rather than immediately teleporting to their destination gate. This also means that active champion effects (such as Kennen’s R – Slicing Maelstrom) will travel along with and apply their effects around the champion’s traveling indicator.
- Fixed a bug where Kled’s W – Violent Tendencies‘ fourth attack would not deal its bonus damage if the ability was learned during a basic attack
- Fixed a bug where Runaan’s Hurricane would not proc correctly with Ezreal’s Q – Mystic Shot after a certain range
- Fixed a bug where killing an enemy champion with The Collector would grant Samira an extra Style stack
- Fixed a bug where the Charm icon would not appear in champion buff/debuff bars
- Fixed a bug where Kled’s Courage bar would display incorrect values upon losing Skaarl
- Fixed a bug where resource bars (like Energy or Rage bars) would sometimes get visually stuck when changing window display modes
- Varus’s Q – Piercing Arrow cancellation VFX has been restored on all skins
- Fixed a bug where Talon’s blades would briefly disappear for a frame during his R – Shadow Assault‘s VFX
- Base Darius and Base Amumu’s voiceovers have been remastered for clarity
- Fixed Battlecast Skarner’s sound effects to play correctly when he marks a minion with Crystal Venom using his E – Fracture and when he gains Crystal Charge upon triggering Crystal Venom
- The in-game FPS indicator’s update rate has been reverted for smoother reporting
- Fixed a bug where players would be able to select multiple roles in Summoner’s Rift lobbies with 5 players
- Fixed a bug where pressing the ESC key would not close the role selector in game lobbies
VFX UPDATES
VEL’KOZ
This update should make Vel’Koz’s VFX more Void-y and his hitbox indicators more accurate.
BASE VEL’KOZ Complete overhaul and adjusted hitbox indicators
BATTLECAST VEL’KOZ Some cleanup
ARCLIGHT VEL’KOZ Cleanup and new E indicator
INFERNAL VEL’KOZ Minor tweaks and new E indicator
BLACKFROST VEL’KOZ Minor tweaks and new E indicator
Woaah, this was a big boy! Let us know what you think about Akshan nerf in the comment section down below!