Patch 12.18 notes

Welcome to patch 12.18 - the 2022 Worlds Championship patch!
Game Updates
Riot Riru, RiotAether
Welcome to the 2022 Worlds patch!

Following the trend of our last two patches, 12.18 is focused on tuning down some overperforming picks in Pro like Kalista and Lulu, while giving a little power to champions just under everyone's radar. Since our goal isn't to completely change the meta from playoffs, these adjustments will be on the lighter side. And with that, to Worlds we go!

Secrets of the Shallows, a new TFT event kicks off this patch with Pengu and company charting the Uncharted Realms! Uncover that and more at the TFT patch notes here!
Lilu “Riot Riru” Cabreros Paul "RiotAether" Perscheid

Patch Highlights

Ashen Slayer Sylas, Fright Night Annie, Fright Night Draven, Fright Night Nautilus, Fright Night Renata Glasc, Fright Night Trundle, Fright Night Urgot, and Worlds 2022 Azir will be available September 22, 2022.

Champions

Ashe

Q bonus attack speed increased.

While Ashe has recently gained popularity as a support, her power hasn't been quite up to par with other marksmen. We're increasing her damage to help her shine a bit more in a meta that lacks utility ADC options.

Q - Ranger’s Focus

Bonus Attack Speed 20/25/30/35/40% ⇒ 25/32.5/40/47.5/55%

Hecarim

Q AD ratio decreased, damage per stack decreased. W post-mitigation damage heal reduced.

Hecarim came charging out of the gates after his update last patch. We're bringing down his overall power with these nerfs, but aiming to reduce the strength of his AD builds in particular without bringing tank Hec back from the dead.

Base Stats

Base Health 650 ⇒ 625

Q -Rampage

Physical Damage Bonus AD Ratio 95% ⇒ 90%
Increased Damage Per Stack 4% (+6% per 100 bonus AD) ⇒ 4% (+5% per 100 bonus AD)

W - Spirit of Dread

Percent of Post-Mitigation Damage Healed 30% (+2.5% per 100 bonus AD) ⇒ 25% (+2% per 100 bonus AD) (Note: remains halved for damage not dealt by Hecarim)

Kalista

Base health decreased.

Kalista's been a popular Pro pick for quite some time now due to her overwhelmingly dominant laning phase. We're making her a bit more punishable in lane in situations where she overcommits early on.

Base Stats

Base Health 604 ⇒ 574

Kayn

Darkin form Q bonus AD scaling decreased.

Rhaast has been winning the preferred Kayn form battle in most skill levels recently. Not only does he offer a surprising amount of damage, but he's also proving to be a hard-to-kill drain tank. We want to lean more into his identity as a healing tank, so we're taking his damage down so he no longer gets the best of both forms.

Q - Reaping Slash

Darkin Damage 65% AD (+5% of the target's max health (+5% per 100% bonus AD)) ⇒ 65% AD (+5% of the target's max health (+3.5% per 100% bonus AD))

Lee Sin

Health growth increased. W lifesteal and spellvamp increased.

Would this even be a Worlds patch without a Lee Sin buff? Jokes aside, Lee isn't in a great spot right now. He hasn't seen much play in Pro recently and has been struggling quite a bit in solo queue, so we're giving this fan and pro favorite some high skill level skewed buffs to help him find his place once again.

Base Stats

Health Growth 99 ⇒ 105

W - Safeguard/Iron Will

Lifesteal and Spellvamp 5/9.5/14/18.5/23% ⇒ 5/10.5/16/21.5/27%

Lulu

W bonus movement speed decreased, disable duration decreased, cooldown increased.

Lulu has been the best enchanter on the Rift as of late. Not only is she great at keeping her carries alive, but she brings boatloads of utility to her team. We're tuning down one of her most powerful tools in Pro play to bring her in line with other enchanters.

W - Whimsy

Movement Speed 30% ⇒ 25%
Disable duration 1.25/1.5/1.75/2.0/2.25 ⇒ 1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8/2.0 seconds
Cooldown 17/16/15/14/13 ⇒ 17/16.5/16/15.5/15 seconds

Maokai

Passive heal decreased. Q bonus damage to monsters increased. E AP scaling decreased.

Maokai's update has been transplanted to the Rift successfully, taking root not only in support, but in top as well (which was one of our major goals!). He's been struggling to branch out into the jungle, so we're giving him some jungle oriented buffs in hopes they bear fruit while trimming some of his strengths in other roles. We’re sorry. These plant puns are just low hanging fruit.

Passive - Sap Magic

Heal 4.8-14% (based on level) ⇒ 4.5 -12% (based on level)

Q - Bramble Smash

Bonus Damage to Monsters 40/60/80/100/120 ⇒ 80/100/120/140/160

E - Sapling Toss

Damage 55/80/105/130/155 (+ 6% bonus health) (+ 42.5% AP) ⇒ 55/80/105/130/155 (+ 6% bonus health) (+ 40% AP)
Empowered Damage 110/160/210/260/310 (+ 12% bonus health) (+ 85% AP) ⇒ 110/160/210/260/310 (+ 12% bonus health) (+ 80% AP)

Bugfixes

  • Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause Maokai’s Q to pull targets closer to him as opposed to knocking them away
  • Fixed a bug that would cause Maokai’s R to be narrower than intended

Miss Fortune

Health growth and AD growth decreased.

Miss Fortune's buffs in patch 12.17 really hit the mark for both of her builds, even after the mid-patch nerfs. Her crit/attack speed builds benefitted much more than lethality, so we're tuning that build down a bit while also giving her a more generic health nerf to bring her down just a peg.

Base Stats

Attack Damage Growth 2.7 ⇒ 2.4
Health Growth 107 ⇒ 103

Nocturne

Attack damage growth decreased.

Nocturne's buffs last patch made him a little too strong. We're pulling a bit of power out of his base stats so that he isn't quite as terrifying, but still sufficiently scary.

Base Stats

Attack Damage Growth 3.1 ⇒ 2.6

Thresh

Health growth increased. E base damage increased.

Thresh has been a ghost of his former self, falling behind many of his support peers this season. We're being cautious with buffs because we don't want him to become THE support (especially with Worlds coming up), but we do want Thresh players to feel better about being more aggressive as the game progresses as opposed to scaling into a lantern delivery service.

Base Stats

Health Growth 115 ⇒ 120

E - Flay

Magic Damage 65/95/125/155/185 (+40% AP) ⇒ 75/110/145/180/215 (+40% AP)

Udyr

Base health decreased, armor growth decreased. Q mana cost decreased, AP scaling increased, first 2 attacks now gain 50 range, Awakened Q now deals additional maximum health damage on first 2 attacks. W percent healing decreased, lifesteal now scales with rank. R base damage decreased, AP scaling decreased, damage to minions adjusted.

Like most new/updated champs, as all of you have gotten more used to Newdyr the stronger he has become. Now he's a tad more powerful than we'd like. Our goals with these adjustments are to bring his scaling down a bit, shift some power from his R-max to his Q-max (particularly in lanes), reduce the strength of his W-max second, and incentivize players to take at least 1 point in Q early.

Base Stats

Health Growth 106 ⇒ 98
Armor Growth 5.2 ⇒ 4.7

Q - Wildling Claw

Mana Cost 45-28 (based on level) ⇒ 20
Empowered Lightning Strike AP Ratio +0.6% per 100 AP ⇒ +0.8% per 100 AP
newBIT OF A REACH Udyr’s first two attacks gain 50 attack range, matching the functionality of his Awakened Q
newSHOCKER Awakened Q now deals an additional 2-5% (based on level) (+0.03% bonus AD) max health physical damage on first two attacks

W - Iron Mantle

Percent HP Heal 1.2/1.26/1.32/1.38/1.44/1.5% ⇒ 1.2%
Percent HP Shield 2/2.4/2.8/3.2/3.6/4.0% ⇒ 2/2.3/2.6/2.8/3.2/3.5%
Life Steal 15% ⇒ 15/16/17/18/19/20%

R - Wingborne Storm

Magic Damage 20/38/56/74/92/110 (+40% AP) ⇒ 20/36/52/68/84/100 (+35% AP)
Damage to Minions 50/60/70/80% (levels 1/6/11/16) ⇒ 40/55/70/85% (levels 1/6/11/16)

Competitive

When autofill protection was initially introduced, support was by far the least popular role. However, role preferences have shifted over time and can also vary heavily by region. Around a year ago we made behind-the-scenes changes to proactively protect players from autofill if they were queuing for high demand positions.

We’re pulling back the curtain now and indicating which roles are in high demand when you’re selecting your role with a “priority” tag in the lobby. Now you can decide if you’d like to queue for one of these roles to avoid being autofilled in your next game and to get into a game more quickly.
newPICK ME Selecting a priority role will protect you from being autofilled onlyin your upcoming game
REMOVED SUPPORT SUPREMACY Guaranteed autofill protection when queuing as support or queuing as fill has been removed
UNCHANGED RECURRING PROTECTION Players will still receive autofill protection for 2 games after having played a game while autofilled

Behavioral Systems

Players you have recently honored or who have recently honored you will show up in the suggested party members menu with an honor icon next to their summoner name. Now you can run it back with those you’ve already enjoyed playing with!

Mythic Content

In this Mythic Shop rotation, we’ll have a new Unvaulted Prestige, Unvaulted Mythic, Mythic Chroma, and a new Seasonal Mythic.

NOW AVAILABLE

  • Prestige Battle Academia Leona
  • Prestige PsyOps Ezreal
  • Hextech Poppy
  • Soulstealer Vayne
  • Ashen Slayer Sylas
  • Mythic Chroma Ashen Slayer Sylas (Emberwoken)

LEAVING THE MYTHIC SHOP

  • Prestige Battle Academia Lux
  • Prestige PROJECT Zed
  • Hextech Ziggs
  • Dreadnova Darius
  • Ashen Knight Pantheon
  • Mythic Chroma Battle Academia Ezreal

MYTHIC UPDATES

  • Emberwoken Chromas of Ashen Knight Pyke and Ashen Conqueror Pantheon now have recolored VFX to match Ashen Slayer Sylas' (releasing with this patch)
  • Ashen Knight Pantheon’s name has been updated to Ashen Conqueror Pantheon

Worlds Clash

Team formation for the first weekend of Worlds Clash will be open starting on September 26 and the tournaments will be on October 1 and 2. In addition to the trophy, banner, and logo rewards of other Clash tournaments, Worlds Clash has an additional reward of a loot capsule!

This loot capsule will contain the following:
  • For Worlds Clash participants with premium tickets who finish between 1 - 7 place: (1) Championship Skin Permanent
  • For all Worlds Clash participants (premium and basic tickets) who finish 1st place: (1) World’s Event Capsule
  • For Worlds Clash participants with premium tickets who finish between 8 - 15 place: (1) Championship Skin Shard

Challenges

New Challenges coming at you in patch 12.18!
  • Challenges are Here - This is a new “limited time” challenge to thank players for their patience as we removed the very enthusiastic “Challenges are here!” tooltip. You can complete this challenge by logging in between now and Patch 12.20.

Updates

  • The Challenge “Unkillable Demon King” criteria has been updated from “win games without dying” to “win games without dying and at least a 30% kill participation.”

Bugfixes & QoL Changes

  • Fixed a bug that caused Spirit Visage to double the omnivamp of other items that were purchased before it
  • Fixed a bug that unintentionally removed the cursor range indicator on Xerath’s R
  • Fixed a bug that caused some champion abilities to be invisible for Mac users
  • Fixed a bug that caused certain abilities to be visible and audible from the Fog of War
  • Fixed a bug that caused Zeri’s W to sometimes not fire through terrain and towers
  • Fixed a bug that allowed players to Cleanse Tahm Kench’s W knock up
  • Fixed a bug that would not let Taliyah fire a large boulder if she flashed onto Worked Ground to cast it
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Akshan to deal damage with his E while also charging his R
  • Fixed a bug that caused Exhaust’s VFX to be overridden by Kennen’s E
  • Fixed a bug that would reveal Lulu’s location if Pix attacked while attached to an ally
  • Fixed a bug that caused the Challenge “Get On My Level” to not track progress in games that lasted longer than 10 minutes
  • Fixed a bug that caused the end of game experience wheel to display amount of experience gained from current match instead of the experience needed to progress to the next level
  • Fixed a bug that distorted SFX when leaving and rejoining a premade lobby

Upcoming Skins & Chromas