Riot has released the full League of Legends patch 12.16 notes, giving players a list of the changes coming to its flagship MOBA. The developers says the changes are relatively low-key, with major updates to come after the Worlds tournament later this year.
While these changes may seem fairly inconsequential, the eco-system of the Rift is so fragile that when a butterfly flaps its wings in Argentina, Irelia gets a Pentakill in the bot lane.
League of Legends patch 12.16 notes
Below is the list of changes coming with patch 12.16, as posted on the official League of Legends site. It’s worth noting that this patch doesn’t only include your regular buff and nerfs, but the complete Udyr rework is thrown in there, as well as the VFX changes to Fizz. For a complete list of the changes to the buff Spirit Walker, check out the complete League of Legends Udyr rework details here.
Champion Buffs
Tristana
- Rapid Fire (Q): Attack Speed 50/65/80/95/110% > 65/80/95/110/125%
Tristana’s kit is more focused on burst than a regular ADC, so a substantial buff in attack speed should make it a lot easier to get to max stacks of her Explosive Charge.
Zoe
- Spell Thief (W): Spell Thieves – Minions killed by allied champions will now also drop orbs while Zoe is within 1500 range.
- Sleepy Trouble Bubble (E): Damage 60-220 (+40% AP) > 70-230 (+45% AP)
Being able to pick up summoner spells from minions is one reason Zoe can be so useful as a mid-laner. Increasing the regularity of these appearing will further increase her pressure in lane and her utility to help the rest of the team. The fact that your teammate accidentally killing a minion with an orb is no longer an issue is huge, not only for Zoe’s utility but also for the player’s mental health.
Irelia
- Armour per level: 4.2 > 4.7
- Base Magic Resistance: 28 >30
A simple buff, but one that Irelia mains should be happy with. When used correctly, the top-lane terror has no issues with outputting damage, so an increase in her resistances should help with sustaining in fights.
Caitlyn
- Headshot (Passive): Attack Damage Ratio 60/85/110% > 60/90/120%
- Ace in the Hole (R): Now deals up to 25% bonus damage based on crit chance
These buffs add a bit more scaling to Caitlyn, especially for those opting for a crit build rather than the first-strike lethality route that’s proven popular. She won’t see the benefits of these changes until later in a match, but at full build, Caitlyn will hit harder in every aspect.
Kai’sa
- Second Skin (Passive): On-Hit Damage 4-16 > 5-23 (based on level)
- Second Skin (Passive): Additional damage per stack 1-8 > 1-12
- Icathian Rain (Q): Ability Power Ratio 25% > 30%
- Killer Instinct (R): Ability Power Ratio 90% > 120%
A pretty substantial bump in damage for Kai’sa with these buffs, as well as offering more shielding when going all-in with her ultimate ability (provided you’ve got enough AP). Building stacks on your passive is going to be more important than ever.
Jayce
- To the Skies! (Q): Melee damage 55/95/135/175/215/255 (+120% bonus AD) > 55/100/145/190/235/280 (+120% bonus AD)
- Thundering Blow (E): 8/10.4/12.8/15.2/17.6/20% of target’s maximum health (+100& bonus AD) > 8/10/8/13.6/16.4/19.2/22% of targets maximum health (+100% bonus AD)
Damage increases across the board, including more hits to an enemy’s maximum health, could see a Jayce resurgence in the top lane.
Malphite
- Granite Shield (Passive): Cooldown 10-6s > 8-6s
- Thunderclap (W): Cooldown 12s > 12-10s
Reducing the cooldown for Malphite’s passive by 2 seconds in the early game might not seem like much, but having that shield up more often in lane means that the enemy is going to struggle to make their damage stick. You’ll be able to trade more often with very little downside.
Zyra
- Grasping Roots (E): Podcast Lockout 0.15-0.4s > 0.15s
This change, while slightly confusing at first, aims to standardise the amount of time that Zyra is in place after casting her Grasping Roots. Only skilled Zyra players may even notice this change, but it appears to come as a welcome one.
Champion Nerfs
Zeri
- Ultrashock Laser (W): Ability Power Ratio 60% > 40%
- Burst Fire (Q): Attack Damage Ratio 105-125% > 100-120%
Zeri finds herself on the chopping block yet again. A further nerf to her AP ratios should see her neigh-on unusable in the mid-lane, while the Q nerfs should see her damage diminished in the bot-lane. The line from Riot here is to nerf her in order to ‘reassess her state’ after Worlds.
Yuumi
- Zoomies (E): Movement Speed 20% (+6% per 100 AP) > 20% (+2% per 100 AP)
- Zoomies (E): Cooldown 12-8s – 12-10s
While not directly affecting the amount of healing that Yuumi outputs, this nerf will change the frequency and alternate utility of her Zoomies. Being chased by a champion with unlimited health and ridiculous movement speed is never nice, and this will hopefully lower the chances of that happening.
Draven
- Spinning Axe (Q): Base Damage 45-65 > 40-60
A slight nerf to Draven’s damage should see opponents have a slightly easier early game against him – not so noticeable with a few items under his belt, though.
Poppy
- Hammer Shock (Q): Monster Damage 50-170 > 30-150
Another change that Poppy mains won’t notice when they have an item or two, but nerfing her early game clear of the jungle is pretty big – a slower clear means less lane pressure, decreasing her usefulness as a jungler.
Champion Adjustments
Diana
- Moonsilver Blade (Passive): Damage 20-250 (+50% AP) > 20-220 (+55% AP)
- Lunar Rush (E): Ability Power Ratio 45%50%
This change comes as an attempt to steer Diana away from a bruiser build into more of a straight-up assassin. Players are now rewarded for building more AP, so we may have seen the last of the Sunfire Aegis jungle builds… hopefully, anyway.
System Buffs
Evenshroud
- Damage Amp: 9% > 10%
- Damage Amp Duration: 4s > 5s
That’s all the current information we have for the upcoming patch 12.16 – while the changes aren’t ground-breaking, it’ll be interesting to see how things pan out. If there are any Zeri mains out there, I feel for you; I wonder if Riot is trying to set a record for ‘nerfs in a row’. Stay strong. Now that League of Legends RP is more expensive, especially in the UK, it might be worth checking out just how much you’ve spent in League of Legends so far. The new cyber-themed skins are out soon, so it’s worth weighing up whether they’re worth the new increased cost.