New League Of Legends Patch 12.22 Makes Assertive Balance Changes

League of Legends is one of the oldest and most profound multiplayer games of the 21st century. Although receiving a lot of hate, it still has a very hefty player base, players that wait patiently for new patches and updates, and this new one is definitely a looker.

Major Takeaways:

• The new patch makes some major hero changes.
• The Chemtech Drake is also back for this patch.
• There have also been a lot of Jungle Changes.

The new 12.22 League patch focuses on extreme hero changes in order to balance out the extreme dynamics. It’s the last patch of Dragonlands and the team has decided to double down on the Treasure Dragon mechanic and ship a ton of buffs and some reworks.

Up first some minor bug fixes, the largest of which include a bug where wards revealed by Firelight’s Bloom would display repeated on-hit attack effects (like Titanic Hydra) if attacked while temporarily invincible due to effects like Teleport and a bug where Radiant Virtue would permanently increase the cooldown of castable ultimate abilities upon being recast

Now the characters receiving changes are, Amumu, Ivern, Jak’Sho the Protean, Karthus, Kindred, Maokai, Radiant, Virtue, Rammus, Ravenous Hydra, Rod of Ages, Rod of Ages, and Viego.

Amumu gained a few buffs like Cooldown Reduction when hit by Basic Attacks and Tantrum Magic Damage increased to a good extent. Ivern got his health cost decreased and his mana cost got decreased. There was also a bug fix where Daisy could take kill credit for Drake and not give the credit toward Soul to her respective team

Jak’Sho the Protean received bonus armor and had his MR stacks increased from 10 to 15 percent. Karthus had no real changes except a bug fix where a specific rare bug where Karthus would momentarily revive from his passive if he had the Chemtech Soul buff.

Kindred Bonus Attack Speed after Casting Q, this is a large 10 percent increase. Maokai her E – Sapling Toss Empowered Slow Amount was also increased.

Radiant Virtue received more maximum health and a faster cooldown for his non-ultimate ability. Uncool Cooldowns: Fixed a rare bug where Radiant Virtue could permanently reduce an ally’s ability cooldowns Rammus Defensive Ball Curl Base Bonus Armor increased by 10. Defensive Ball Curl Base Bonus Magic Resistance increased by 15.

Ravenous Hydra’s total cost went up by 100 gold. Unique Passive – Carnivorous AD per Stack was also increased. Rod of Ages’ total cost surprisingly decreased by a few hundred golds.

Shaco Not-so-fun Surprise had a bug fix where Shaco’s boxes from his W would no longer deal absurd bonus damage. Viego Ruined King had a bug fix Viego would no longer gain bonus jungle experience after ending possession of an enemy champion.

Chemtech Drake

The Chemtech Drake has also returned for another filling and is better than ever before. “Our goal with the new-and-improved drake is to encourage calculated, aggressive plays and incentivize players to fight to the end to gain the edge over their opponents.”

• Chemtech Drake: When the Chemtech Drake is below half health it gains 33% damage resistance and deals 50% more damage. 
• Chemtech Buff: When your team kills a Chemtech Drake they will gain a stacking buff that grants 5% Tenacity and 5% Healing and Shielding power.
• Chemtech Soul: Upon receiving the Chemtech Soul, players will receive a buff that gives them 10% damage resistance and 10% more damage while below 50% health.

Alongside the new drake is the new Chemtech Rift. The Chemtech gas that was introduced to the Rift in last year’s preseason was hard to deal with in a gameplay experience, so the team took a new approach this year.

Now, instead of sitting on the surface, the Zaunite chemicals have seeped their way into the Rift, mutating the environment and enhancing each of the jungle plants with different effects. This ultimately changes the entire map’s gameplay aspect.

Jungle Camp Changes

One of the biggest changes you’ll notice is that all the camps got their own little Durability Update. This makes approaching camps a more significant approach. On the other hand, we actually made Krugs a less durable camp, this should make the camp less of a time sink and allow for more interesting early-game jungle pathing.

The team also comments on the change,

We’ve also made quite a few adjustments to reduce how effectively both laners and enemy junglers can poach camps. The Own-Side clearing strength changes are meant to speed up how fast junglers clear their own jungle while increasing the opportunity cost of invading.”

They continue, “To be clear, we absolutely do want counter-jungling in the game and believe it should be an effective strategy for junglers.” These are obviously big changes to the game, almost flipping the table upside down on strategies.

And lastly, we have some NPC buffs and nerfs coupled with many new item changes. As the Jungle received a ton of changes, another is Traditional jungle items will now be replaced by adorable, feisty, and all-around wholesome companions.

There will also be added visual leashing indicators that will show how far camps can be pulled before their patience starts diminishing.

Overall, an extremely explosive and content-filled patch that shows how much the team still commits to the game. If patches like these are occurrent, we should be able to view League Of Legends as a great game for years to come.