Patch 12.2 notes

Zip, zap, and zoom with Zeri and celebrate the Lunar New Year with patch 12.2!
Game Updates
ahrisoo, RiotAether

Zip, zap, and zoom with Zeri, the Spark of Zaun, in patch 12.2!

This patch, we're introducing an electrifying new personality to the Rift, plus a ton of champion balance changes. There's a champion refresh for Janna in the forecast as well as more item, dragon, and rune adjustments, too.

The Lunar Revel event is also in full moon swing this week! Celebrate the Year of the Tiger with us with special events including the return of ARURF, exciting missions (with reduced points requirements), and beautiful new Porcelain, Firecracker, and Prestige skins. Happy Lunar New Year!

Tacticians from across the Convergence are also gathering to celebrate the Lunar Legend Festival with a new event, Gifts of the Golden Lantern. Read all about the event and more at the TFT patch notes!
Jina “ahrisoo” Yoon Paul "RiotAether" Perscheid

Patch Highlights

Withered Rose Zeri will be available January 20, 2022. Porcelain Protector Ezreal, Porcelain Lissandra, Porcelain Amumu, Porcelain Lux, Porcelain Lux Prestige Edition, Porcelain Kindred, Firecracker Sett, Firecracker Diana, Firecracker Teemo, Firecracker Tristana, Firecracker Xin Zhao, and Brave Phoenix Xayah Prestige Edition will be available January 26, 2022.

Champions

newZeri

The Spark of Zaun

Zip, zap, and zoom across Summoner's Rift with Zeri on January 20!

updatedJanna

Base stats and all abilities adjusted.

Janna just hasn't felt very rewarding to play over the past few seasons, especially when compared to other enchanter options in bot lane. We wanted to approach this mid-scope update to her while staying true to her classic playstyle and identity. In particular, we believe Janna's ally shielding and peel are what makes her appealing to most enchanter players, so we've shifted some power from her W and poke damage into her Es and Qs. We also made a few nice little QoL changes here and there in hopes of blowing you away~

Base Stats

Move Speed 315 ⇒ 330
Base AD 46-71.5 ⇒ 52-103
AD Growth 1.5 ⇒ 3
Basic Attack Range 550 ⇒ 500

Passive - Tailwind

updatedTAILWIND Janna gains 8% bonus move speed only while moving toward allied champions. (Bonus move speed for allied champions moving towards Janna unchanged.)
removedFAST & FURIOUS Janna's basic attacks and W - Zephyr no longer deal bonus magic damage based on her bonus move speed

Q - Howling Gale

Cost 60/90/100/120/140 mana ⇒ 60/70/80/90/100 mana
Minimum Range 1000 ⇒ 1100
Maximum Range 1750 ⇒ 1760
Time to Destination 1.5 seconds ⇒ 1.25 seconds

W - Zephyr

Range 550 (from edge to edge) ⇒ 650 (centered)
Slow Duration 2 seconds ⇒ 3 seconds
Cooldown 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 seconds ⇒ 12 seconds at all ranks
Base Damage 55/85/115/145/175 ⇒ 70/100/130/160/190
Bonus Move Speed 6/7/8/9/10% ⇒ 8/9/10/11/12%

E - Eye Of The Storm

updatedA FRIENDLY FORECAST Innate - Whenever Janna's abilities slow or knock up at least one enemy champion, E - Eye of the Storm's cooldown is reduced by 20% ⇒ she receives +20% heal and shield power for 5 seconds
Shield 80/115/150/185/220 (+70% AP) ⇒ 80/110/140/170/200 (+65% AP)
Cooldown 16/15/14/13/12 seconds ⇒ 15/13.5/12/10.5/9 seconds
Shield Decay Starts After 0.75 seconds ⇒ 1.25 seconds

R - Monsoon

Healing Tick Rate 0.5 seconds ⇒ 0.25 seconds (total heal amount unchanged)

Lulu

W cooldown increased.

Lulu's been queen of the bot lane for quite some time now—especially at the highest levels of play—so we're reducing access to her most versatile spell just a pinch!

W - Whimsy

Cooldown 16/15/14/13/12 seconds ⇒ 17/16/15/14/13 seconds

Nocturne

Health growth increased. Q damage ratio increased.

Nocturne has been a nightmare to play as in all skill brackets, regardless of his builds or runes. We're buffing him with some scaling power, so he can become more useful as the game progresses, rather than just relying on his ultimate as his only way to say lights out.

Base Stats

Health Growth 85 >> 95

Q - Duskbringer

Bonus AD Ratio 75% ⇒ 85%

Qiyana

Base health regen decreased. Brush Q zone duration decreased.

Qiyana is dominating Elite play quite a bit right now. We're reducing how much time she gets to spend being invisible in a fight, which should help lower some frustration when playing against the Empress of the Elements.

Base Stats

Base Health Regeneration 7.5 ⇒ 6

Q - Edge of Ixtal

Grass Trail Zone Duration 3.5 seconds ⇒ 3 seconds

Rengar

R passive now enables leaping from camouflage.

As a primary jungler, this battle kitty has been suffering a lot on the Chemtech Rift. While he's not the only champion affected, Rengar has certainly gotten the worst of it as so much of his power budget is dedicated to his passive's interaction with brush. Removing 12 spots of it is incredibly disruptive—not just to his core farming pattern, but his entire gameplay, really—so we're giving him a new way to pounce and prowl. No catnip needed. (Note that this passive is on his R and only takes effect once he ranks up his ultimate.)

R - Thrill of the Hunt

newHIDE AND LEAP Innate - Rengar can leap to enemies with his next basic attack when he is in camouflage

Samira

R base damage increased.

Now that her mid-game transition is less reliable with the Shieldbow nerfs, we're giving Samira a bit more baseline potential in her R so she can snowball in style.

R - Inferno Trigger

Physical Damage per Shot 0/10/20 (+50% AD) ⇒ 5/15/25 (+50% AD)
Total Damage per Target 0/100/200 (+500% AD) ⇒ 50/150/250 (+500% AD)

Senna

Q passive now empowers basic attacks with slows.

Senna is quite weak this season, especially when she builds for DPS. The old Glacial Augment was a crucial part of that playstyle and since it no longer procs off Senna's basic attacks, we're adding some utility back into her kit.

Passive - Absolution

newLOW VISIBILITY Innate - Senna's basic attacks now slow enemies by 20% (+6% per 100 AP) (+10% per 100 bonus AD) for 2 seconds

Shen

Q damage decreased.

With the changes to Teleport in 12.1, Shen has once again become king when it comes to map influence from top lane. To bring things back to equilibrium, we're lowering his damage as a duelist instead of bringing down his cross-map power so that his unique, global presence remains his most powerful tool.

Q - Twilight Assault

Increased Bonus Damage 10-40 (+6 every 3 levels) (+5/5.5/6/6.5/7% (+2% per 100 AP) of target's max health) ⇒ 10-40 (+6 every 3 levels) (+4/4.5/5/5.5/6% (+2% per 100 AP) of target's max health)

updatedTahm Kench

Q slow increased. E adjusted; damage stored as grey health decreased (unless near multiple enemies). R ally shield increased; now grants move speed upon devouring ally.

We did a mini-rework of Tahm Kench back in 11.13 because his old kit held huge advantages in highly coordinated team play. Our goal back then was to lower his priority in Pro pick/ban while putting him in a place where he could have a fun playstyle, as well as reasonable winrates in both of his roles. (Historically, his top lane winrate has been higher than that of his support.)

The rework is looking pretty good so far in terms of Pro play as he doesn't have nearly as much priority there as he used to. When it comes to his winrates, the rework didn't dramatically affect the difference between his support versus top capabilities, but it did highlight the gap. This left support Tahm Kench players feeling like the catfish was no longer viable in their role. Now that we've had some time to observe all of these effects together, we're willing to take a riskier swing to buff support Kench while nerfing his top lane capabilities to keep him in check up there.

Q - Tongue Lash

Enemy Slow 40% ⇒ 50%

E - Thick Skin

Amount of Damage Stored into Grey Health 45/50/55/60/65% ⇒ 15/25/35/45/55%, increased to 45/50/55/60/65% if there are 2 or more visible enemy champions nearby (dead or alive)
Amount of Healing Restored from Grey Health 30-100% (levels 1-18) ⇒ 45-100% (levels 1-18)

R - Devour

Ally Shield Upon Devour 400/500/600 (+100% AP) ⇒ 500/700/900 (+150% AP)
Move Speed Upon Devouring Ally Slows Tahm Kench by 30/20/10% while ally is swallowed ⇒ Grants Tahm Kench 40% move speed for 3 seconds (regardless of swallow duration)

Talon

W monster damage ratio decreased.

We introduced Talon jungle in 11.18 in hopes of bringing new players and playstyles into the jungle. He ended up becoming one of the stronger jungle assassins, especially in Elite play where his mobility, damage, and clear speed are almost unmatched. He's still extremely fun as a flex pick, but we also understand that his current state has very few weaknesses, which can be frustrating to play against. In turn, we're heavily nerfing his clear speed to tune him down. He'll still be viable there and will keep his high-mobility edge, but you might need to think a little longer before jumping into the jungle with him.

W - Rake

Damage Against Monsters 130% ⇒ 105%

Tristana

Base health and health regen increased.

Our rocket girl isn't doing so hot lately. Her abilities already hit super hard, but they're pretty risky and can take a while to stack up. We're bumping up her early durability to give Tristana the time she needs to finish her combos and survive those explosive plays.

Base Stats

Base Health 559 ⇒ 600
Base Health Regeneration 3.75 ⇒ 4

Veigar

Q cooldown decreased; stacks from large monsters and minions increased.

The tiny master of evil has been less threatening than usual as of late. We're upping the rate on his Phenomenal Evil stacks so that he can stand above his competitors in the mid lane. (Figuratively speaking, at least.)

Q - Baleful Strike

Cooldown 7/6.5/6/5.5/5 seconds ⇒ 6/5.5/5/4.5/4 seconds
Stacks Granted Upon Killing Large Monsters and Minions 2 ⇒ 3

Volibear

Base AD growth increased. E cooldown decreased.

The once-fearsome Volibear is bad for everyone, everywhere. We're giving him a reliable baseline stat buff and more access to his signature stormy skill.

Base Stats

Attack Damage Growth 3 ⇒ 3.5

E - Sky Splitter

Cooldown 15 seconds ⇒ 13 seconds

Yasuo

Q damage ratio increased.

Like Samira, the wind brothers were hit hard by the Immortal Shieldbow nerfs. We're compensating for this by returning some of that power into their more skill-dependent abilities.

Q - Steel Tempest

Damage 20/45/70/95/120 (+100% AD) ⇒ 20/45/70/95/120 (+105% AD)

Yone

Q damage ratio increased.

Of course, we have to do the same for Yone to make sure he doesn't fall behind in the sibling rivalry.

Q - Mortal Steel

Damage 20/40/60/80/100 (+100% AD) ⇒ 20/40/60/80/100 (+105% AD)

Zed

R base damage ratio decreased.

Zed has been creeping up from the shadows in terms of both power and ban rate. We're tapping him back down in a way that will require him to make better use of his base kit to secure kills.

R - Death Mark

Damage 100% AD (+25/40/55% of damage dealt against marked target) ⇒ 65% AD (+25/40/55% of damage dealt against marked target)

Items

Lich Bane

At the start of Season 2021, we revamped Lich Bane to broaden its user base by removing its ability haste and increasing Spellblade's damage and cooldown. These changes made it very powerful as a burst tool, but that burst also got a few nerfs throughout the year. As a result, Lich Bane was left feeling pretty underwhelming for its core users, so we're partially restoring it to a healthier state.
Build Path Blasting Wand + Aether Wisp + Sheen + 600g ⇒ Fiendish Codex + Aether Wisp + Sheen + 550g (total cost unchanged)
Ability Haste 0 ⇒ 15
Spellblade Damage 150% base AD (+40% AP) ⇒ 75% base AD (+50% AP)
Spellblade Cooldown 2.5 seconds ⇒ 1.5 seconds

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Rylai's has been struggling to find its place in the last couple of seasons because it's been trying to serve tanky battlemages, burn mages, and AP supports alike all at once. We're focusing on its purpose as a utility item by lowering its cost and increasing its health to make it more accessible to tankier midrange mages and supports.
Combine Cost815 gold ⇒ 415 gold (total cost equally reduced)
Ability Power 90 ⇒ 75
Health 350 ⇒ 400

Turbo Chemtank

Turbo Chemtank's update during Preseason 2022 was designed to let tanky gankers and initiators store movement into one big turbo blast for those moments when they gotta go fast. However, Refuel was stacking too well with dashes, which meant it was being used as a DPS source for non-tanks. While we admire the creativity here, Turbo Chemtank is supposed to be for, well, tanks, so we're adding some limits to the way its passive stacks. Ultimately, these adjustments shouldn't affect its intended use cases very much. (These changes also apply to its Ornn Masterwork item, Turbocharged Hexperiment.)
updatedRefuel (Passive) Damage Stacks Gain 5 stacks per instance of any damage dealt ⇒ per instance of damage dealt against monsters and champions only
updatedRefuel (Passive) Movement Stacks Gain 1 stack for every 15 units travelled, (uncapped) ⇒ capped at up to 10 stacks per movement command

Jungle

Chemtech Drake

The Chemtech Dragon Soul is still significantly overperforming compared to other dragon soul buffs. We're nerfing the undeads' health and, uh, longevity. Expected lifetime? Active duration? ... You get what we mean.

Chemtech Dragon Soul

Zombie Health 80% base health + 50% bonus health ⇒ 70% base health + 40% bonus health
Zombie Duration (Without Other Health Impacting Factors) 4 seconds ⇒ 3 seconds

Chemtech Rift

We're making a few changes to make the ahead team slightly less advantaged when fighting in the Chemtech rift.

(Now's a good time to mention we stealth-nerfed (heh) the Chemtech Rift last patch. At launch, champions instantly entered camouflage when they entered the fog. In 11.24, we made the camouflage timer check if you've made any offensive moves in the last 1.5 seconds upon entering the fog as well. The only change to the camouflage mechanics this patch is an increase to that timer.)
Offensive Action Camouflage Timer 1.5 seconds* ⇒ 2.5 seconds
Bonus Damage Vs Enemies with More Current Health Up to 10% ⇒ Up to 12%

Hextech Drake

Hextech Dragon Soul is also overperforming compared to other soul effects, though not to the same degree as Chemtech.

Hextech Dragon Soul

Chain Lightning True Damage 25-75 (based on attacker's level, 1-18) ⇒ 25-50 (based on attacker's level, 1-18)

Runes

Lethal Tempo

Lethal Tempo's power is skewed a little too much toward early game right now, making it especially cheese for melee champions. We're adjusting it to be weaker early on and letting it scale instead.
Attack Speed per Stack (Melee) 13% ⇒ 10-15% (levels 1-15)
Attack Speed per Stack (Ranged) 7% ⇒ 5-9% (levels 1-12)

ARURF is Back!

Ring in the Lunar New Year with ARURF starting on January 26! (That's the All Random Ultra Rapid Fire game mode if you're new around these parts.) Beyond the normal ARURF that you know and love, we added a flipper full of changes to a couple of runes and a few surprises to the Awesome Buff of Awesomely Awesome Buffing's tooltip.
First Strike Cooldown 25-15 seconds (based on level) ⇒ 15-9 seconds (based on level)
ARURF Glacial Augment Cooldown 25 seconds ⇒ 15 seconds

VFX Updates

Sona

Base Sona Complete overhaul
Muse Sona Minor details added to new base
Pentakill Sona Same as new base
Silent Night Sona Recolored from new base
Guqin Sona Minor details added to new base
Arcade Sona Complete overhaul
DJ Sona Complete overhaul and additional special celebration effects for each passive aura
Sweetheart Sona Same as new base, plus some cleanup
Odyssey Sona Minimal tweaks
Pentakill III: Lost Chapter Sona Minimal tweaks

Vayne

Base Vayne Complete overhaul
Dragonslayer Vayne Recolored from base with added smoke and flames
Heartseeker Vayne Recolored from base with heart in W decal
SKT T1 Same as new base, different missiles to match model
Arclight Vayne Recolored from base with more golden, divine sparks

Bugfixes & QoL Changes

  • Fixed a bug where Teleport could sometimes still target certain units other than towers before 14 minutes
  • Fixed a bug where Unleashed Teleport would permanently replace one of your Summoner Spells if acquired and used via the Unsealed Spellbook rune
  • Champions will now correctly drop Unleashed Teleport spell shards if used after 14 minutes into a game with Zoe
  • Fixed a bug where Yone could sometimes cast Unleashed Teleport while his E - Soul Unbound was active
  • The exclamation point stealth indicator has been fixed and will correctly reappear above your champion if you are visible to an enemy inside the Chemtech Fog after completing certain stealthing abilities (such as Akali's W - Twilight Shroud)
  • Fixed a bug where towers would incorrectly target enemy champions who took damage from Kog'Maw's Passive - Icathian Surprise or Karthus's Passive - Death Defied
  • Rengar's Passive - Unseen Predator leap basic attacks will correctly trigger Navori Quickblades' Deft Strikes effect
  • Fixed a bug where taking damage from certain jungle monsters would sometimes incorrectly grant stacks toward Force of Nature's Absorb passive
  • Fixed a bug where triggering Glacial Augment's passive would incorrectly count toward triggering Eclipse's Ever Rising Moon passive
  • Fixed a bug where Mythic or active item icon borders would sometimes appear in incorrect locations. (Yes, the mysterious orange squares...)
  • Enemy player chat and emote mute toggle buttons have been fixed and will no longer overlap with other icons in the scoreboard
  • DJ Sona and K/DA Seraphine's in-game music mute toggle buttons have been fixed and will display correctly next to their champion icon in the scoreboard every game
  • Chat restriction notifications have been fixed and will once again inform players how many messages they have left in their limit

Upcoming Skins & Chromas