League of Legends 12.1 Patch Notes

The most recent League of Legends 12.1 Patch Notes bring about the official start of the new season. So get ready folks, it’s time to climb Ranked once again. In this patch update, Riot implemented a soft reset on ranked, made some small tweaks to changes to decay, and implemented some visual updates as well. In addition, a new, limited time clash event, God Forge Clash, debuts very soon. There’s not too much to go over in the League of Legends 12.1 Patch Notes. Champion balances, item tweaks, and some new cosmetic upgrades mark the beginning of League of Legends Season 12. Starting off with the Champion Changes.

[Related: League of Legends Season 12]

Champion Buffs

Diana

[P] Moonsilver Blade

• AP Ratio 40% -> 50%
• Monster Damage 250% -> 300%

This champion’s play in the jungle brought joy to the Riot developers, but they recognized that the pick needs a bit more power for viability. As a whole, Diana jungle struggles to survive the early game. Once she can scale properly, the pick excels at fighting team fights thanks to the champions burst damage utility. To add a little extra juice to Diana’s wave clear, Riot buffed Diana’s Passive AP Ratio alongside damage dealt on monsters.

Much appreciated stat increases, the buff targets Diana’s early game weakness. A faster wave clear means she can scale earlier on. Higher AP ratios also increases Diana’s scaling, something she didn’t necessarily struggle with. It’s hard to tell if these buffs will be enough, but they’re much welcome changes nonetheless.

Gangplank

[Q] Parrrley

• Mana Cost 60/55/50/45/40 -> 55/50/45/40/35
• Cooldown 5 seconds -> 4 seconds

GP fell out of the meta. With the nerfs to Grasp of the Undying, alongside the overbearing power of tanks and bruisers in the top lane, Gangplank simply doesn’t fit in all too well. The reason picks like Vayne are popping off in the top lane are due to the general play of tanks. But without the consistent DPS to outtrade such targets, alongside lack of burst trade potential to 100-0 these picks, Gangplank fell off.

The decrease in cooldown alongside mana cost means Gangplank will be allowed to perform his signature plays more often. It’ll definitely help Gangplank mains out there, but it’s likely not enough to place Gangplank in a dominant position in the meta.

Champion Nerfs

Rek’Sai

[E] Furious Bite

• physical damage 50/60/70/80/90 (+85% bonus AD) -> 55/60/65/70/75 (+85% bonus AD)

[E] Tunnel

• cooldown 26/23/20/17/14 seconds ⇒ 26/24/22/20/18 seconds

Rek’Sai is a bit too strong in skilled play, especially when she maxes E first. Riot is targeting exactly that while leaving her normal Q max builds relatively unchanged. (As a reminder, E – Furious Bite‘s damage gets doubled and converted to true damage at maximum Fury stacks.)

Sona

Base Stats

• Armor growth 3.3 -> 3

[E] Song of Celerity

• Cooldown 12 seconds -> 14 seconds

Sona’s been overperforming in skilled play and pushing the limit in other brackets ever since Archangel’s Staff was changed in preseason. They’re tapping down on her power by slightly reducing her durability and ability cast frequency.

Item Changes

Eclipse

Ever Rising Moon (melee)

• Cooldown 6 seconds->8 seconds

Riot beliefs this item wasn’t too strong, but stood a little too mighty among the other lethality itemizations available during the preseason. They buffed it previously, but are partially reverting the buffs back to stabilize a bit. For those who don’t know, Ever Rising Moon grants a shield, bonus scaling attack damage, and movement speed. By increasing the cooldown, Riot essentially limits melee champion’s frequency of choosing quick trades. Nothing too substantial here.

Force of Nature

• Absorb Stack Duration 5 seconds -> 7 seconds
• Dissipate Magic Damage Reduction 20% -> 25%

Though Force of Nature provides magic resistance, the item has been overshadowed by Spirit Visage. It’s not a terrible item, but the straight tank stats that the item provided was a bit too lackluster to warrant the purchase over Spirit Visage, which granted greater utility thanks to its bonus healing.

By increasing the duration of the item, alongside the overall magic damage reduction, tanks should be able to feel the effects of the item more effectively from now on. A solid two additional seconds is a lot of time, alongside a 5% additional damage reduction.

Immortal Shieldbow

• Attack Damage 55 -> 50
• Lifeline Shield 300-800 (based on level) -> 275-650 (based on level)

Though underused in the lower elo backets, immortal shield bow has been pretty broken for a cool while. The additional sustain and shield the item granted marksmen made them, well, immortal. Marksmen typically have an exploitable weakness of being killable. It’s in the nature of the champion description.

To help stabilize this, the scaling shield was cut down significantly. 25 minimum shielding and 150 maximum shielding trimmed off the stats is quite substantial. In additional, the 5 attack damage nerf definitely hurts the marksmen’s desired stats. In essence, this nerf is quite big, and should help place Immortal Shieldbow back in the situational build items rather than the overbearing staple it has been.

Wit’s End

Build Path

• Hearthbound Axe + Negatron Cloak + Long Sword + 750 gold >>> Hearthbound Axe + Null-Magic Mantle + Pickaxe + 675 gold (total cost unchanged)
• Magic Resist 50 -> 40

Wit’s End is a great itemization option for attack speed reliant champions playing against heavy ability power champions. The additional on hit damage alongside defensive magic resist made the item very powerful under certain circumstances.

To help balance the broken purchase, Riot nerfed the item’s build path slightly. Wit’s End requires a Null-Magic Mantle rather than a Negatron Cloak. This is interesting, because Null-Magic Mantle is cheaper than Negatron Cloak. But the former builds into the ladder. In essence, Wit’s End defensive capabilities dropped ever so slightly.

Since the total purchase item is the same, the only real change is the 10 total magic resist. Not a huge nerf, considering the damage remains unchanged. Just won’t provide as much defensive capabilities.

Ranked Season 2022

Ranked Season Start & Split 1

The Summoner’s Rift Ranked Season 2022 begins on Friday, January 7, 2022. All ranked accounts will receive a soft reset of 5 tiers for initial seeding. (For example, Gold I will become Silver II.) This also marks the beginning of the Summoner’s Rift Ranked Split 1. The exclusive rewards for Split 1 are as follows.

Summoner Icon: Vex

Emotes: Vex

Champion Permanent: Vex

Series 1 Eternals Capsule

For more information about Ranked Seasons and Splits, check out the Player Support page.

Changes to Apex Tier Decay

Decay rules for the Apex tiers (a.k.a. Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger) are changing in Season 2022. These changes are intended to correct misplacements and improve the matchmaking experience. (Note that these only apply to Apex tiers. Diamond decay rules are not changing this season.)

Banked Days for Apex Players :: 10 days >>> 14 days

Decay Rate :: 250 LP per day >>> 75 LP per day

Visual Updates 

It’s about time for some update to the ranked borders on display. The past couple of season have been debatably less flaunt worthy for ranked borders, which have always been a huge incentive for players to grind the ranked ladder. Players will notice some visual updates to their ranked identity and game lobbies starting this patch.

These huge visual upgrades look far more impressive than the puny, almost lackluster, borders that were on display before. In addition, Riot is laying the groundwork for the new Challenges feature, which will arrive later this year.

• [NEW] Ranked Armor has transformed into Ranked Crests! Check out rank’s fresh new look in the profile, ranked page, game lobby, and friends list.
• [NEW] Ranked Crests also have ambient magic, Yay!
• [UPD] Loading screen borders have been updated to match the new Ranked Crests.
• [UPD] Several parts of the game lobby UI have been rearranged for clarity.

Forge God Clash

Ready for a new Clash event? Well, ready or not, here it comes! In celebration of Ranked Season 2022 Start, there will be a special Forge God Clash tournament. These clash events commemorate teamwork and friendship among players, promoting intense competition. Forge God Clash will have the following special Forge God-themed rewards.

• 3 Trophies
• 3 Banners
• 5 Team Logos

But keep in mind, Forge God clash will only take place on one weekend. Therefore, it’s a very limited time event! Team formation opens on January 10, with matches taking place on January 15 and 16. Forge God Clash is not part of the regular Clash season, so make sure to participate and not miss out. Players will still be able to earn Forge God-themed rewards, but the Clash VP track won’t be affected.

The first Clash tournament of Season 2022, which will count towards the VP track, will be in patch 12.4!

[Related: What is the Clash LoL Schedule]

Conclusion

Riot Games is clearly ramping up for some big things in 2022. League of Legends 12.1 Patch Notes were a little small in regards to game balance. Only really balancing two champions by providing buffs, alongside a small handful of item updates, it’s quite obvious that big changes are sure to come. Such small balance updates during such a pinnacle time of 2022 wouldn’t really make much sense otherwise.

The cosmetic updates to the banners definitely make up for the lack of gameplay updates this time around. Replacing the outdated ranked reward, these new League of Legends Ranked Borders look incredibly impressive. In addition, the new Forge God Clash will definitely bring tons of opportunity for fun for casual and serious players alike.

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