The League of Legends patch notes for the 12.23 update are here, and they’re going to be changing up some of the MOBA’s core details. Some pre-season follow-ups are coming to help struggling tanks, while overpowered junglers are being weakened alongside a Zeri update. Importantly though, the first-ever free-to-enter ARAM clash is coming from Riot Games.
Riot has noted that these patch notes are especially long as some of the team will be on break until the end of December, with mid-patch updates potentially coming before they head out and when they get back, so it’s encouraged you get feedback in.
Plenty of Winterblessed skins will be available starting December 8, as shown in the image below. Hexgates are also coming to the Howling Abyss, and will move you from your Nexus to Outer tower right from the start of the game. Once the first tower is destroyed, you’ll be teleported to the inhibitor tower, where it will remain for the rest of the game.
If you’re curious in the meantime, we’ve got a League of Legends preseason 2023 explainer, as well as breakdown of the Pokemon-style jungle pets.
You’ll find the detailed patch notes for League of Legends update 12.23 below.
League of Legends 12.23 patch notes
ARAM Balance Adjustments
Nerfs
- Heartsteel: Maximum health gained: 10% of damage dealt > 5% of damage dealt
Items
- Mosstomper has come out of the gates as one of the stronger jungle companions introduced in Preseason. We’re making a few adjustments to Mosstomper’s current Tenacity bonuses so that enemies have a few more counterplay opportunities.
- Tenacity Buff Duration: 3 seconds > 1.5 seconds
- Tenacity Type: Item (additive with item tenacity) > Champion (multiplicative with item tenacity)
- Ravenous Hydra: We overshot a bit with Hydra’s overall stats, making it a much too efficient item for the gold that it cost. We’re preserving its niche as a rush item for champions that like the AD, but are reducing its AoE damage and pulling out the Ominvamp from stacks that was really pushing this item over the edge.
- AoE Splash Damage: 60% AD for melee champions /30% AD for ranged champions > 50% AD for melee champions/25% AD for ranged champions
- [REMOVED] Omnivamp from Stacks: 4% > Removed
- Sunfire Aegis: With the recent downgrade to Sunfire Aegis we expected tanks to farm less effectively than they could with the Immolate passive. Unfortunately the changes landed a bit weak in 12.22 resulting in tanks opting to just not buy the item which, in turn, resulted in a loss of farm for top lane tanks (jungle tanks made out alright though thanks to the companions). We still want Sunfire to be a useful tool for tanks as a first or second item, but not mandatory. So this patch we’re addressing these issues by buffing the tanks whose ability to farm was impacted most and increasing the state efficiency of Sunfire so that it’s a more reliable tank damage option.
- Combine Cost: 1000 > 900
- Total Cost: 2800 > 2700
- Health: 400 > 500
Champions
Amumu: Health growth increased. Q mana cost increased. W damage increased. E base magic damage increased. Despite his newfound companions in the jungle, Amumu has been a sad mummy. The new tank items and jungle changes really hurt his ability to clear come mid- to late-game relative to other junglers, so we’re shifting some of his power to cover these weaknesses without buffing his already strong Support power.
Base Stats
- Health Growth: 89 > 100
- Q – Bandage Toss
- Mana Cost: 30/35/40/45/50 > 40/45/50/55/60
- W – Despair
- Damage per Second: 12/16/20/24/28 (+1/1.15/1.3/1.45/1.6% of target’s maximum HP) > 12/16/20/24/28 (+1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2% of target’s maximum HP)
- E – Tantrum
- Base Magic Damage: 85/110/135/160/185 (+ 50% AP) > 80/110/140/170/200 (+ 50% AP)
Cho’Gath: Passive mana restoration increased. W base damage increased. R cooldown now decreases with rank.
The lack of early access to Immolate and overall tank item changes have resulted in a pretty sizable power loss for Cho. In order to help him feel like a good chonky monster again we’re putting some more power into his passive mana sustain and letting him feast on enemies a bit more often.
- Passive – Carnivore
- Mana Restored on Enemy Kills: 3.5-7.75 (based on level) > 4.7-9.5 (based on level)
- W – Feral Scream
- Base Damage: 75/125/175/225/275 > 80/135/190/245/300
- R – Feast
- Cooldown: 80 seconds > 80/70/60 seconds
Dr. Mundo: All abilities adjusted. Dr. Mundo hasn’t been living up to his unkillable late game fantasy lately, so the good doctor has received some treatment in order to help him out. We’ve made a bunch of changes to Mundo’s medical tools, but the biggest changes were to his Heart Stopper and Maximum Dosage which have been adjusted to be significantly stronger in the late game. Now get out there, throw some Qs, and be unkillable.
Base Stats
- Base Magic Resist: 32 > 29
- Magic Resist Growth: 2.05 > 2.3
- Base Attack Speed: 0.72 > 0.67
- Attack Damage Growth: 3.5 > 2.5
- Passive – Goes Where He Pleases
- Cannister Health Loss: 7% of current health > 3% of current health
- Cannister Heal: 8% of maximum health > 4% of maximum health
- Max Health Regen per 5 seconds: 0.8-1.6% (linear progression) > 0.4-2.5% (non-linear progression, equal at level 11)
- Q – Infected Bonesaw
- Health Cost: 50 > 60
- W – Heart Zapper
- Health Cost: 5% of current health > 8% of current health
- Gray Health Healed after Not Taking Damage: 0% > 50%
- Damage Stored as Gray Health: 25/30/35/40/45% > 80-95% based on level in the first 0.75 seconds, then 25% afterwards
- Duration: 4 seconds > 3 seconds
- E – Blunt Force Trauma
- Passive Bonus AD: 15/20/15/30/35 (+ 25/30/35/40/45 based on missing health) > 2.5/3/3.5/4/4.5% maximum health
- Health Cost: 10/20/30/40/50 > 20/30/40/50/60
- Cooldown: 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 seconds > 9/8.25/7.5/6.75/6 seconds
- Bonus Damage to Monsters: 200% > 150%
- R – Maximum Dosage
- Missing Health Gained as Maximum Health: 8/11.5/15% > 15/20/25%
- [NEW] Mega Mundo Heals: At rank 3, Mundo’s R’s healing effects are increased by an additional 5% per nearby enemy champion
- [REMOVED] Mundo Mad: R no longer gives bonus AD
K’Sante: Base health regeneration increased, health growth increased. E adjusted.
K’Sante has been a tad weak in average skill brackets, so we’re giving him a few quality of life upgrades that should help him perform better in the hands of average players without pushing him over the line in elite play.
Base Stats
- Base Health Regeneration: 8.5 > 9.5
- Health Growth: 104 > 108
- E – Footwork
- [NEW] Auto Attack Reset: E will now partially reset auto attacks in K’Sante’s base form, and will be a full auto attack reset while in his All Out form
- Wall Forgiveness: Adjusted E so that if K’Sante is very close to dashing through a wall he will now go through the wall
Kassadin: Q base shield increased, shield AP scaling decreased. E adjusted. We’re giving Kassadin some quality of life updates to his shield so he can perform better into ranged matchups. We’re also adjusting his E so that you can now cast it whenever you want (as long as it isn’t on cooldown)!
- Q – Null Sphere
- Shield Strength: 60/90/120/150/180 (+ 40% AP) > 80/110/140/170/200 (+ 30% AP)
- Shield Spawn Speed: Shield is granted when the Q projectile leave’s Kassadin’s hand > Shield is granted when Q is cast
- E – Force Pulse
- Cooldown: 5 seconds > 21/19/17/15/13 seconds
- [REMOVED] Stacks Be Gone: This spell no longer requires a certain number of stacks in order to be cast
- [NEW] Send Your Energy: Ally and enemy spells cast near Kassadin reduce E’s cooldown by 1 second
Kayn: Passive Shadow Assassin bonus damage increased. E heal AD ratio increased. Shadow Assassin Kayn has fallen off over the course of the Durability Update and Preseason. While we were cautious about returning damage to burst characters after the Durability Update, it’s been long enough for us to be confident that Shadow Kayn is failing on most fronts to complete his main goal… killing his enemies. We’re returning some damage to his passive and giving him a little more sustainability with some Shadow Step healing.
- Passive – The Darkin Scythe
- Shadow Assassin Bonus Damage: 8-30% (based on level) > 13-40% (based on level)
- E – Shadow Step
- Heal upon entering Terrain: 90/100/110/120/130 (+35% bonus AD) > 90/100/110/120/130 (+45% bonus AD)
Lillia: Q base damage decreased. Changing Lillia from a ranged champion to a melee champion last patch greatly increased her synergy with Demonic Embrace, Conqueror’s, and Red Buff which resulted in her gaining a little more power than we expected. We’re pulling some of that power out in a way that should hurt her tankier builds a little more than her AP builds.
- Q – Blooming Blows
- Magic Damage: 35/50/65/80/95 (+40% AP) > 40/50/60/70/80 (+40% AP)
- Outer Edge True Damage: 35/50/65/80/95 (+40% AP) > 40/50/60/70/80 (+40% AP)
Malphite: E base damage increased, armor scaling increased, mana cost no longer increases with rank. Malphite has had a chip on his shoulder ever since we nerfed his waveclear by taking away his ability to rush Immolate. We’re adding some waveclear power back into his kit in a way that will reward tank builds without over-buffing his AP builds.
- E – Ground Slam
- Magic Damage: 60/95/130/165/200 (+60% AP) (+30% Armor) > 70/110/150/190/230 (+60% AP) (+40% Armor)
- Mana Cost: 50/55/60/65/70 > 50 at all ranks
Maokai: Passive heal increased. Q base damage increased, damage to monsters increased. Similar to other tanks, Maokai’s been missing Sunfire Aegis and Immolate which increased his ability to effectively clear minions and jungle camps. We’re putting a bit more clear power into his Q to help him find his spot in the jungle and top lane once again.
- Passive – Sap Magic
- Heal: 4-34 (based on level) + (4-10% maximum health (based on level)) > 4-34 (based on level) + (4-12% maximum health (based on level))
- Q – Bramble Smash
- Base Damage: 65/110/155/200/245 (+2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3% of the target’s maximum HP) > 70/120/170/220/270 (+2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3% of the target’s maximum HP)
- Bonus Damage to Monsters: 80/100/120/140/160 > 120/140/160/180/200
Mordekaiser: Passive damage cap against monsters decreased, now only procs when hit by large monsters. Mordekaiser jungle appears to have been a big winner of patch 12.22 thanks to his passive. We’re dialing that passive down a bit by reducing his base damage to monsters and making it specific to large monsters so that it functions similarly in the jungle as it does in the top lane.
- Passive – Darkness Rise
- Damage Cap against Monsters: 180 > 28-164 (based on level)
- Passive Proc on Monsters: Generates a stack on all monster hits > Generates a stack on large monster hits
Shyvana: E damage vs marked enemies decreased. Shyvana has been blazing through the new jungle thanks to the Preseason changes that made camps healthier and increased the damage output of her E. We’re taking down her maximum percent HP damage so she isn’t quite so oppressive against camps AND all the tanks seeing more play.
- E – Flame Breath
- Empowered Basic Attacks vs Marked Enemies: 3.5% of target’s maximum HP > 3% of target’s maximum HP
Sion: Base mana increased, mana growth increased. Q base damage increased. Sion, like many other tanks that relied on Immolate for waveclear, is struggling to farm well in Preseason, decreasing his overall power. We’re giving him a bit more mana and Q damage to help him better match his opponent’s waveclear.
Base Stats
- Base Mana: 330 > 400
- Mana Growth: 42 > 52
- Q – Decimating Smash
- Base Damage: 30/50/70/90/110 > 40/60/80/100/120
Syndra: Upgraded W bonus damage decreased, AP scaling increased. E AP ratio decreased, cooldown increased. Q bugfix.
Since her mid-scope update in patch 12.19, Syndra’s been slowly gaining winrate and popularity. While she’s meant to be a powerful scaler, Syndra’s mid-game waveclear and burst potential let her Transcend a bit too safely. We’re cutting back some of her long-range power with Scatter the Weak and shifting a portion of it into Force of Will. Now Syndra needs to be a bit more close and personal before disintegrating her enemies.
- W – Force of Will
- Transcendent Upgrade Bonus Damage: 15% (+1.5% per 100 AP) > 12% ( 2% per 100 AP)
- E – Scatter the Weak
- Cooldown: 15 seconds > 17 seconds
- Magic Damage: 75/115/155/195/235 (+55% AP) > 75/115/155/195/235 (+45% AP)
Bugfixes
Cooldown: Fixed a bug where upgrading Q could reset its cooldown
Tahm Kench: Passive AP damage added. Q AP ratio increased, self heal increased. W AP ratio increased. E gray health increased. R AP scaling increased, shield decay adjusted.
AP Tahm Kench croaked a little when the Preseason changes made it to him, resulting in the Kench being downgraded to the bench. We’re giving him some buffs that should help his tank builds while also doing some followup buffs to his AP builds from a few patches ago.
- Passive – An Acquired Taste
- On-Hit and On-Q Bonus Magic Damage: 8-60 (based on level) (+ 3% bonus health) > 8-60 (based on level) (+ 3% bonus health) (+ 2% AP per 100 bonus health)
- Q – Tongue Lash
- Magic Damage: 80/130/180/230/280 (+ 90% AP) > 80/130/180/230/280 (+ 100% AP)
- Self Heal: 10/15/20/25/30 (+ 3/3.5/4/4.5/5% missing Health) > 10/15/20/25/30 (+ 5/5.5/6/6.5/7% missing Health)
- W – Abyssal Dive
- Magic Damage: 100/135/170/205/240 (+ 125% AP) > 100/135/170/205/240 (+ 150% AP)
- E – Thick Skin
- Damage Stored to Gray Health: 13/21/29/37/45% > 15/23/31/39/47%
- Increased Damage Stored to Gray Health: 40/42.5/45/47.5/50% > 42/44/46/48/50%
- R – Devour
- Magic Damage: 100/250/400 (+ 15% (+ 5% per 100 AP) of target’s maximum health) > 100/250/400 (+ 15% (+ 7% per 100 AP) of target’s maximum health)
- Shield: Lasts 2.5 seconds after Devour ends > Decays by 50 health per 0.25 seconds after Devour has ended until gone
Trundle: Base attack speed reduced. R damage decreased.
Trundle benefitted a bit too much from the preseason jungle changes, especially now that tanks are seeing a lot more play. We’re bringing down his clear speed to bring him more in line with other junglers while reducing his R percent health damage so he doesn’t completely subjugate tanks.
Base Stats
- Base Attack Speed: 0.67 > 0.60
- R – Subjugate
- Damage Based on Target’s Maximum Health: 20/27.5/35% (+2% per 100 AP) > 20/25/30% (+2% per 100 AP)
Yuumi: Passive cooldown increased. R root duration decreased.
Yuumi has simultaneously been one of the most frustrating and most popular/played champs in the game. We think there’s a better place for Yuumi where we can deliver on her gameplay fantasy for her players while also making her less frustrating to play against. In this patch, we’re giving Yuumi a decently sized nerf to temporarily address some of her more frustrating features and curbing her power in both Elite and Pro play. However, we definitely don’t see this as the final, long-term solution for this champion.
We’ve started work on a larger scale Yuumi rework to help this cat land in a much healthier spot. We want to highlight what Yuumi as an attached, untargetable enchanter can provide to her team. As an early goal, we want to limit her aggressive CC outputs/damage, emphasize more defensive/enchanter outputs, reduce her scaling, and make her more dependent on her own lane’s success to win games. We’ll have some more news to share on this in the future, but for now we appreciate your patience as we work on Yuumi.
- Passive – Bop ‘n’ Block
- Cooldown: 14-6 seconds (based on level) > 18-6 seconds (based on level)
- R – Final Chapter
- Root Duration: 1.75 seconds > 1.25 seconds
Zac: Passive healing increased. Q cooldown decreased, health scaling increased.
Zac also made the list of champions that were nerfed now that they aren’t rushing Immolate. In order to add some goop back to this glob, we’re buffing his health scaling a bit to help him synergize better with some of the new Preseason tank items.
- Passive – Cell Division
- Healing per Chunk: 4/4.75/5.5/6.25% (based on R Rank) maximum HP > 4/5/6/7% (based on R Rank) maximum HP
- Q – Stretching Strikes
- Cooldown: 15/13.5/12/10.5/9 seconds > 14/12.5/11/9.5/8 seconds
- Base Damage: 40/55/70/85/100 (+2.5% of Zac’s maximum health) > 40/55/70/85/100 (+4% of Zac’s maximum health)
Zeri: All abilities adjusted.
Zeri’s been a turbulent champion over the past year, with an electrifying kit, explosive pentakills… aaand a plethora of balance changes. We’re taking one more big swing at our favorite lightning-themed Zaunite to address some issues that set her apart as the best marksman in Pro play this year. Zeri’s combination of long range, high move speed, and scaling damage gave her little to no weaknesses in a coordinated environment like Pro play. We’re shifting Zeri’s playstyle by shortening her range so that she has to get up close and personal to make sparks fly and opponents die. This comes with revamped base stats, a higher damage Burst Fire, and an adjusted Spark Surge. So even though Zeri is being amped up, opponents should now have many more opportunities to catch lightning before it bolts off to safety. SPARKS READY!
Base Stats
- Move Speed: 325 > 330
- Base Attack Damage: 50 > 53
- Base Armor: 20 > 24
- Base Health: 600 > 630
- Attack Speed Ratio: 0.568 > 0.625
- HP Growth: 109 > 115
- Passive – Living Battery
- Fully Charged Basic Attack Damage: 90-200 (based on level) (+90%AP) (+1-15% (based on level) target maximum HP) > 90-200 (based on level) (+110%AP) (+1-15% target maximum HP)
- Gotta Zip Shield Bonus: 10% multiplicative Move Speed > 10% Move Speed (Note: this should make the shield stack less effectively with other move speed sources)
- Bonus Move Speed Duration: 3 seconds > 2 seconds
- Q – Burst Fire
- Range: 825 > 750
- Conversion of Excess Attack Speed to Bonus AD: 60% > 70%
- Physical Damage: 8/11/14/17/20 (+ 100/105/110/115/120% AD) > 15/18/21/24/27 (+ 104/108/112/116/120% AD)
- W – Ultrashock Laser
- Damage Type: Magic > Physical
- Physical Damage: 20/55/90/125/160 (+100% AD)(+40% AP) > 20/60/100/140/180 (+130% AD) (+25% AP)
- Cast Time: 2.5x Attack Time > 0.55-0.3 seconds (based on Attack Speed)
- Missile Speed: 2200 > 2500
- Beam Cast Time: 0.75 seconds > 0.85 seconds
- E – Spark Surge
- Mana Cost: 80 > 90/85/80/75/70
- Cooldown: 24/22.5/21/19.5/18 seconds > 22/21/20/19/18 seconds
- [NEW] Lightning Rounds are Magic: For 5 seconds after using her E, Zeri gains Lightning Rounds and her Q – Burst Fire will deal additional magic damage to the first enemy hit.
- [NEW] Bonus Magic Damage to First Target Hit with Lightning Rounds: 20/22/24/26/28 (+20% AP)(+12% bonus AD). . This damage is increased by up to 65% based on Zeri’s Critical Strike Chance.
- Lightning Rounds Pierce Damage Fall Off after First Target Hit: 60/70/80/90/100% > 80/85/90/95/100%
- Vision while Sliding on Terrain: 850 units > 1500 units
- R – Lightning Crash
- [REMOVED] Short Circuited: Zeri’s Overcharged attacks no longer deal 5/10/15(+15% AP) bonus magic damage on-hit
- Chain Lightning Range: 450 > 650
- On-Cast Magic Damage: 150/250/350 (+80% AP)(+80% bonus AD) > 175/275/375 (+110% AP)(+100% bonus AD)
- Kerchow: If Zeri’s R hits at least one enemy champion, Zeri gains 10% move speed, 30% attack speed, and chaining shots for 5 seconds. Hitting champions with Q or auto attacks refreshes this buff by 1.5 seconds. (Note: this buff cannot be extended to be longer than its original duration.)
- Boundless Energy: Hitting enemy champions grants Zeri 1 stack (3 stacks for critical strikes) of Overcharge for 1.5 seconds. Zeri gains 0.5% move speed for each stack of Overcharge, stacking infinitely.
Jungle Adjustments
Jungle Companions
We’re introducing a few adjustments to help jungle companions scale better with tanks, while reducing the amount of gold they give to their owners, as junglers were often significantly ahead in gold compared to laners.
- Companion Attack Damage: 20 (+ 15% AD) (+ 10% AP) (+ 4% bonus health) > 16 (+ 15% AD) (+ 10% AP) (+ 3% bonus health) (+ 10% bonus Armor) (+ 10% bonus Magic Resist)
- [NEW] Bigger Companions need More Treats: After their first evolution, jungle companions will consume 2 bonus treats on Large Monster kills and receive the associated benefits
- Bonus Treat Gold: 50 gold > 35 gold
- [REMOVED] Epic Monsters are Spooky: The 20% bonus damage provided by companions no longer works on Epic Monsters
Jungle Camps
Making a few follow-up changes to the Preseason jungle adjustments introduced in the last patch.
- Gromp Attack Range: 175 > 150
- Crimson Raptor Attack Range: 300 > 200
- Leashing Range: Leash range centers have been offset from Camp spawn location giving more space for champions to move and kite
- Jungle Camp Experience Given Multiplier:
- 1/1/1.025/1.075/1.15/1.15/1.25/1.25/1.35 (levels 1-9) > 1/1/1.025/1.075/1.2/1.2/1.3/1.3/1.45 (levels 1-9)
We’ve also got a League of Legends tier list to help you get ahead of the game, alongside a look at the best League of Legends champions, if you’re struggling to pick that is.
