Full preview of patch 12.15

Just yesterday, Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison made a post on his Twitter with a preview of patch 12.15, where they showed only the champions themselves and the items with runes that will change, and today we received the full list of changes in the upcoming balance update.

Here the chief balance designer in the game noticed that they like the way things are with Kennen's energy consumption, and therefore they decided to reduce all champions with this resource to a relative balance. This can increase the power of these champions after Tempering Champions.

“Adjustments are received by energy champions: Zed, Li Sin, Akali, Kennen, Shen.

These are mostly champions whose energy costs can't keep up with gameplay updates after tempering. We like how much energy Kennen's skills cost, so we're buffing something else instead."

Patch 12.15

Exact numbers and how it will affect the game

In general, as expected, this balance update did not become as large-scale and significant as the previous three. Matt promised us that the previous 12.14 patch will be the last major patch before Worlds 2022 and the Continental League playoffs. Actually, this is what we are seeing.

Perhaps we will start with the “main” change of the patch – the cost of skills for energy champions.

kennen

[W-Surge]

Skill Cooldown: 14-6 >>> 13-6 seconds

Skill Damage: 60-160 >>> 70-170

[R-KillingStorm]

Ability Power Damage Increase: 20% >>> 22.5%

Akali

[W-ShroudofTwilight]

Energy Recovery: 80 >>> 100

Zed

[W-LivingShadow]

Now has no range limit for copying skills. It used to be 2000. The same goes for the shadow from his ult.

[E-ShadowCut]

Energy cost: 50 >>> 40

Shen

[E-ShadowRush]

Energy regeneration for dealing damage with Shadow Rush or Twilight Strike: 30-40 >>> 30-50

Lee Sin

Energy cost to reuse skills (i.e. the second form of each of his abilities) 30 >>> 25

If we somehow evaluate such changes, then it is obvious that lower energy costs will strengthen the champions and increase their burst potential, but not critically. I believe that they deserved such a buff in conditions when absolutely all the champions of the League of Legends became more tanky. I would still like to pay special attention to Akali and Zed.

The Akali got 100 energy back from using their smoke bomb, bringing it back to what it was a long time ago. And it would seem that this is just an extra 20 energy, but for Akali in the late game, this is quite a lot. No matter how Riot Games rolled back her buff again, due to the fact that the champion will be stronger on the pro scene.

As for Zed, his buffs are very nice. Previously, Zed's shadows would stop repeating skills if the champion himself moved 2000 or more away, which does not happen as often, but can affect the game. His[E], which is a main melee spam skill with a lower cost, can also significantly increase the killer's win rate, at least at low-mid ranks.

Champion Buffs

Here we see a tendency of the balance team to give buffs to those champions who, for one reason or another, fell out of the meta. The latest patches brought in the meta of bruisers and utility-supports, which forced out most of the tanks. And such small but pleasant buffs are supposed to restore the strength of the champions so that they can compete.

Lilia(forester)

[PassiveSkill-DreamStaff]

Damage against forest monsters: 40-100 >>> 50-150

Singed

[PassiveSkill-ToxicSlipstream]

Acceleration: 20% >>> 25%

Cooldown on target: 10 >>> 8 seconds

[R-PotionofMadness]

Bonus stats: 20/60/100 >>> 30/65/100

Rammus

[R-PowerLanding]

Skill Cooldown: 110/95/80 >>> 90 at all levels

Base range: 600 >>> 800

Movement Speed Range Multiplier: 1.3 >>> 1.5

Flight speed increased by 200

Leona

[Q-ShieldofDawn]

Mana cost per skill: 45-65 >>> 35-65

[R-SolarFlare]

Stun Duration: 1.5 >>> 1.75 seconds

trash

[Q-DeathSentence]

Skill Cooldown: 20-12 >>> 19-11 seconds

Skill Damage: 80-240 >>> 100-260

Champion Nerfs

As for the nerfs, what we're seeing here is mostly just an adjustment to those who have recently received buffs or minor reworks, such as Mastrey Yi, Sivir, and Gwen with Talia. I'm sure a lot of people have noticed how strong the champions have become after the rework, but this is not a reason to roll back their buffs, but rather an excuse to balance them differently.

Master Yi

[E-WujuStyle]

Skill Cooldown: 18/17/16/15/14 >>> 18 seconds at all levels

kiana

[PassiveSkill-RoyalPrivilege]

Damage Boost: 45% of attack power >>> 30% of attack power

(Also, which is not in the patch, but Matt Leung-Harrison responded in the comments. A bug was also fixed when Qiana deald double or even triple damage with the Pre-Strike rune)

Sivir

Attack Power Gain per Level: 3.3 >>> 3

[E-MagicShield]

Skill Cooldown: 22/20/18/16/14 >>> 24/22.5/21/19.5/18 seconds

[R-Gohunting]

Skill Cooldown: 100/85/70 >>> 120/100/80 seconds

Gwen

[Q - Chik-chik!]

Pure center damage: 75% >>> 50%

Waist

[E-RisingGround]

Skill Cooldown: 16/15/14/13/12 >>> 18/17/16/15/14 seconds

[R-WalloftheSpinner]

Wall duration: 5 >>> 4 seconds

Calista

Base attack damage: 69 >>> 66

Special attention deserves the nerf of Master Yi, who after his rework became really stronger than before. Personally, I expected him to be weakened by[W-Meditation]or even the attack range. But, as you can see, Phroxzon and the team decided to go the other way, which is quite interesting, but very doubtful.

"We're happy with how Yi ended up at different levels of the game, but he's too strong across the board."

System changes

We've also slightly changed items that, in theory, should be extremely good and cost-effective, but whose popularity is too low. Slightly nerfed one of the main runes and the most collectible item for tanks and Bruisers.

Quicksilver Scimitar

Magic Resistance: 30 >>> 40

Quicksilver Active Skill Duration: 1 >>> 1.5 seconds

Silvermere Dawn

Magic Resistance: 30 >>> 40

Slow Resistance/Durability: 40% >>> 50%

Health: 300 >>> 350%

Strike ahead

Bonus Pure Damage: 10% >>> 9%

God Crusher

Damage Healed: 65% >>> 55%