Patch 12.23 notes
It’s the last patch of the year, 12.23 is here!
Welcome to the ARAM/post-Preseason patch! This week we have a few large changes shipping to the Howling Abyss—like Frostgates, bridge repairs, and landscaping—so make sure you give them a try in our first-ever, free-to-enter ARAM Clash! We also have some Preseason follow ups shipping this patch to help a few struggling tanks, power down some overperforming junglers (Mordekaiser), and a shocking Zeri update.
(Author’s Note: This is going to be a long patch as many of us will be on a Riot-wide break for the end of December. We’ll likely have mid-patch updates before we head out and when we get back, so if there are any big issues we’ll do our best to tackle them but we appreciate your patience!)
Thanks for playing with us in 2022 and we’re looking forward to seeing you in 2023!
We’re also shipping our 8th TFT set this patch! It’s a monster of a new set, so make sure to check out the TFT patch notes here!
Patch Highlights
ARAM Updates
This update goes out to our ARAM players! From the new stat adjustments introduced in the last patch to falling towers and Frostgates, new and exciting updates are coming to the Howling Abyss this patch.
Frostgates
A lot of the fun in ARAM happens when you're fighting, poking, or womboing your opponents—not when you're walking back to the fight. To help you get back into the action faster we're introducing Hexgates to the Howling Abyss!
- newFrostgates: Frostgates will be present from the beginning of the game and will teleport you directly from your Nexus to your outer tower. Once your first tower is destroyed, the Frostgate will then link to your team’s inhibitor tower where it will then stay for the remainder of the game.
Falling Towers
Some parts of the bridge have been showing their age recently and are starting to fall apart. Our goal with falling towers is to create more interesting situations on the map that break away from the usual straight line of ARAM. Now you’ll have new choke points to think about, Fog of War to hide in, and terrain you can experiment with to create new plays!
- newTower Rubble: When outer towers are destroyed they will collapse and leave behind a pile of rubble which will be treated as new terrain.
Brush Changes
Alongside the ARAM changes we figured we'd also do some landscaping on the bridge to help freshen things up a bit.
- newBrushing Up: There is now one new brush in the middle bottom side of the bridge. The brushes between the outer and inhibitor turrets have also increased in size.
Bridge Repairs
We finally got around to making some repairs on Howling Abyss! With the new falling towers mechanic we wanted to make the bridge a bit more spacious to compensate for the space now taken up by tower rubble.
- newUnder Repair: The gaps on the bottom side of the bridge have been filled in and are now traversable
Battle Boost QoL Updates
Adding a few quality of life updates to the current Battle Boost feature.
- newNot so Fast: Players will no longer be able to activate Battle Boosts within the last 10 seconds of champion select
- newYou’re Welcome: Allies will now be able to tell which player gifted their team a Battle Boost
S-Rank Chest Visibility
Go forth and get S rank on all the champs (or as many as your team's RNG will allow)!
- newMaster them All! Players will now be able to see which champions they have not yet received S-Rank Chests for in ARAM champion select
ARAM Balance Adjustments
Nerfs
- Heartsteel Maximum health gained: 10% of damage dealt ⇒ 5% of damage dealt
Items
Mosstomper
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
- removedOmnivamp 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%
- newMega Mundo Heals: At rank 3, Mundo’s R’s healing effects are increased by an additional 5% per nearby enemy champion
- removedMundo 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
- newAuto 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
- removedStacks Be Gone: This spell no longer requires a certain number of stacks in order to be cast
- newSend Your Energy: Ally and enemy spells cast nearby 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 worse 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
- newLightning 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
- newBonus 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 Falloff 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
- removedShort 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 refresh 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)
- newBigger 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
- removedEpic 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)
Objective Planning
Most of the communication tools that we’ve had in the past cater towards conveying personal intent, the ability to describe what you and you alone plan on doing. We introduced Objective Planning as a way for people to build alignment across the team as a whole.
So far, we've seen that Objective Planning is allowing players to better align around whether or not to take an objective as a team. However, there are some situations in which the vote is showing up too frequently or at irrelevant moments. When it comes to objective planning, we want to make sure that we’re showing relevant information to players that can help them make better decisions at the right time. We want players to be able to communicate their intent clearly, whether it's being ready and prioritizing for objectives or actually using the tool for alignment.
For now, we’re making some changes to have the voting system better match players' intent and will continue to improve this system as we learn more about how all of you are using it!
- Scoreboard Voting Disabled: Clicking on the objective timer will no longer initiate objective votes and will instead just display the timer information in chat
- Vote Timing: Adjusted the earliest time players can start voting for an objective from 90 seconds before an objective spawns to 75 seconds
- Auto Vote Disabled: The vote to contest an objective will no longer automatically begin 30 seconds before an objective spawns
ARAM Clash
As a special thank you to ARAM players everywhere, we’re going to be hosting our last Clash of the year on Howling Abyss! This Clash will be free-to-enter and feature an 8-team bracket where each team gets to play 3 matches. Each player will receive 2 rerolls per game, so make sure you use them all!
Registration for this special, for-fun Clash will begin on December 5 and the tournament days will be on December 10 and 11, 2022.
Players that participate will receive a limited-time, exclusive ARAM clash icon so make sure to mark your calendars!
On a non-ARAM related note, Clash rewards for this year will roll out during patch 12.23, so keep an eye out!
Mythic Content
End of Year Mythic Shop Rotation
In this Mythic Shop rotation, we’ll have two Unvaulted Prestige skins, two Unvaulted Mythic skins, and a new Seasonal Mythic skin (with accessories). Similar to our End of Year Prestige Point shop, the Mythic Essence icons are returning alongside a couple of previously offered Grab bags.
Now Available
- Prestige Arcade Caitlyn
- Prestige PROJECT Sylas
- Hextech Rammus
- Hextech Kassadin
- Ashen Graveknight Mordekaiser
- Ashen Graveknight Mordekaiser Mythic Chroma + Icon (Emberwoken)
- Ashen Graveknight Mordekaiser Emote
- Anima Squad 2022 Grab Bag
- Star Guardian 2022 Grab Bag
- Anima Squad 2022 Mythic Essence Icon
- Star Guardian 2022 Mythic Essence Icon
- MSI High Noon 2022 Mythic Essence Icon
- Steel Valkyrie 2022 Mythic Essence Icon
- Worlds 2022 Mythic Essence Icon
- Eclipse Knights 2022 Mythic Essence Icon
- Ocean Song 2022 Mythic Essence Icon
Leaving the Mythic Shop
- Prestige Star Guardian Neeko
- Prestige Conqueror Jax
Competitive
Rune Recommender
We want it to be easy to get to the fun of League without having to do a ton of research beforehand. So like we added item recommendations to the shop, we’re also adding a rune recommender in champion select! You can access it by hovering or locking in a champion and clicking the new icon next to the edit rune page button. We have a few more planned additions for this feature and will be keeping an eye on your feedback to improve it over the next few patches!
- Added the Rune Recommender to champion select for all game modes. These recommendations are tailored for your champion, position, and come with optional summoner spell recommendations as well. Like in-game item recommendations, these will be updated each patch.
- All players have a free temporary rune page that the recommender will overwrite in each champion select. To permanently save a recommendation to your collection, you can add it in the post match screen.
- The 5 preset rune pages have been removed.
Pick Order Swapping
Draft strategy is an important part of the game in queues that support drafting, so we want to make it easy for your team to optimize its draft for success. Currently there are a lot of opportunities for things to go wrong for players trying to swap their pick order — you have to communicate in chat with the person you want to swap with, have the champion that the other player wants, and then successfully trade champions before the game starts, all while preparing your rune and summoner loadouts. We’ll be streamlining this process by letting you swap pick order with the press of a button!
- In matchmade queues with drafting, during the declaration, ban, and pick phases, you can now press a button next to ally portraits to swap pick order with them. When there is 5 seconds left in a phase, in-progress order swap requests will be canceled. If your order swap request is declined, you cannot initiate another request with that player.
- Champion swapping during the preparation phase is now initiated by clicking on the allied champion’s portrait instead of a button next to the portrait.
- Miscellaneous champion select font and text changes for consistency.
Champ Select Anonymity
We’ve heard feedback that with the only difference between ally’s names in champion select being the numbers 1 through 5, it can be difficult to tell who’s speaking, particularly when a lot of people are talking at the same time. So now you all get code names!
- Ally 1 -> Ally 5 have been renamed to Gromp, Murk Wolf, Raptor, Krug, and Scuttle Crab for improved clarity around who is speaking in champion select chat.
Behavioral Systems
End of Season Honor rewards including the new Honor level 5 Malzahar skin reward will be granted according to your Honor level at the End of Season.
The ARAM AFK threshold has been changed to 120 seconds from 90 seconds.
Bugfixes & QoL Changes
Champ Select Favoriting Improvements
Improving usability around favoriting champions so that you can find them faster in champion select. As a reminder, you can right click champions in champion select to favorite them for a specific role!
- In champion select, "Sort by Favorites" is the default sorting option. Note: The fallback option is "Sort by Name" so a player who does not have any favorites selected will still have the same experience.
- A player's selection for "Sort by" preference is saved between champion selects.
Ping Adjustments
- Ping sizes have been slightly reduced
- Improved clarity of the “push” ping VFX
- Polished the ping ripple VFX and visual fidelity of the icons
QoL Updates
- Updated Death’s Dance so that its bleed will no longer interrupt recalls
- Empyrean Pyke's R - Death from Below distortion visual effects will now be disabled when Eye Candy is turned off in the game options
Bugfixes
- Fixed a bug where some champion’s icons would briefly flicker on the minimap at their last known location when they exit the Fog of War elsewhere
- Fixed a bug where Gnar’s Q would veer off in an unexpected direction if a movement command was issued right when the boomerang was about to return
- Fixed a bug that caused Singed and Cassiopeia’s on-hit VFX to not be visible
- Fixed a bug where Yasuo’s Windwall would not correctly block Syndra’s spheres if they were pushed by her E
- Fixed a bug where Sion's R would not proc Radiant Virtue if he used his R during his passive
- Fixed a bug that allowed Ivern to Smite jungle monsters not marked by his passive. Camps are friends.
- Fixed a bug where Karma could extend the cast time of her R by casting W or E on champions very far away from her
- Fixed a bug where Skarner’s W would reset an in-progress basic attack
- Fixed a bug that would disable Viego’s W if he ended possession of K’Sante while casting K’Sante’s W
- Fixed a bug that was causing Samira’s E+Q combo to be counted as one spell for effect like Conqueror or Electrocute
- Fixed a bug where Sylas’ could cast his R to steal Tahm Kench’s ultimate faster than he could use it to steal other champion’s ultimate abilities
- Fixed a bug where K’Sante could cast R - All Out and move Mordekaiser outside of his Death Realm
- Fixed a bug where Caitlyn would not attack enemies that taunted her if she was taunted while casting her R
- Fixed a bug where undoing selling Ravenous Hydra would cause the item to lose all acquired stacks
- Fixed a bug that caused Ravenous Hydra to stop functioning correctly ~40 minutes after purchasing the item
- Fixed a bug where Jak’Sho’s percent Armor and MR increase would not correctly calculate with other Armor and MR increases
- Fixed a bug where Jak’Sho the Protean would generate stacks of Voidborn Resilience after a champion’s death
- Fixed a bug where Xayah’s W feathers were not receiving Navori Quickblade’s Impermanence’s bonus damage
- Fixed a bug where Tahm Kench could re-proc Radiant Virtue after using his R
- Fixed a bug that caused Pyke’s R to proc Radiant Virtue, but not heal himself or allies
- Fixed a bug that would cause the bonus HP from Radiant Virtue to not be converted into AD with Pyke’s passive
- Fixed a bug that was caused Taliyah’s and Anivia’s ultimates to not proc Radiant Virtue
- Fixed a bug where jungle companions would separate from their champions to path around walls
- Fixed a bug where non-champion primary targets would not be crippled by Iceborn Gauntlet’s effect
- Fixed a bug where Rek’Sai’s R would not procRadiant Virtue’s passive
- Fixed a bug where enemies could tell which Shaco was the clone due to Radiant Virtue’s VFX
- Fixed a bug that was causing Guinsoo’s Rageblade’s On-Hit damage to be counted as magic damage
- Fixed a bug that causes K’Sante’s bonus Armor and MR from sources like Hullbreaker to not reduce his Q cooldown
- Fixed a bug that cause K’Sante to temporarily lose Hullbreaker’s bonus stats while casting his R
- Fixed a bug that caused jungle camps to not properly aggro summoned units like Shaco’s boxes or Elise’s spiderlings
- Fixed a bug that was caused Draven’s VO’s to not play correctly when catching his axes with Q
- Fixed a bug that caused the practice tool drake soul to be infernal 100% of the time
- Fixed a bug that caused the VO lines announcing tower plating will soon fall to not play
- Fixed a bug that was causing some of Neeko’s VO lines to not play
- Fixed a bug that caused Program Camille’s VOs to play globally for allies and enemies if she was outside of the Fog of War
- Fixed a bug that caused Clash capsules, orbs, banners, and trophies to not be awarded correctly
Upcoming Skins & Chromas
The following skins will be released in this patch:
The following chromas will be released this patch: