League of Legends Patch 9.12 Notes Breakdown and Analysis

Lulu

"E – Help, Pix! Shield: 70/105/140/175/210 –> 80/115/150/185/220 Cost: 60/70/80/90/100 mana –> 60/65/70/75/80 mana"

Mostly visual updates for Lulu in Patch 9.12, but the shield buff is an interesting change. Currently, the yordle mage sits amongst the lowest win rates for supports (49.29%), so this is definitely a push in the right direction. Although the shield strength increase is only small, the mana change also enables herself and her lane partner to utilize the shield more often in the early stages.

This won’t immediately add Lulu to the list of S tier supports, but its a nice buff which could put her alongside the likes of Nami, Janna, and Soraka in the coming weeks.

Master Yi

"Passive – Double Strike Bugfix: Fixed a bug where Master Yi’s Double Strike stacks were lasting 3 seconds instead of 4."

Yi’s Double Strike is one of his main sources of damage and having 1 second less to maintain stacks could make a difference in team fights when chasing down escaping enemies. While this isn’t a game-changing bugfix, it’ll definitely help Master Yi out throughout future patches.

Nautilus

"Q – Dredge Line Base Damage: 100/145/190/235/280 –> 80/130/180/230/280"

Nautilus is THE support champion to pick right now. He offers incredible crowd control and tanky stats in the bottom lane to set up ganks or 2v2 opportunities, while also possessing a massive team fight ultimate for later in the game. Floating above every other tank option in the S tier with a 51.44% win rate is enough to take a look at his numbers and fine tune the bot lane titan.

The main strength and reason you pick Nautilus is to win the bottom lane 2v2 with heavy CC from his Q – Dredge Line and Passive – Staggering Blow. While the majority of the damage comes from his accompanying AD Carry, there’s no doubt that Naut offers plenty himself, and adjusting this is a step in the right direction. At level 6 however, his Q only sees a damage reduction of -10, which is arguably too small of a change. Perhaps a cooldown nerf could have been added on top of the damage, but time will tell as players adjust to the changes during Patch 9.12.

Zac

"W – Unstable Matter Base Damage: 15/30/45/60/75 –> 25/40/55/70/85 R – Let’s Bounce! Knockback Distance: 400 units away from Zac –> 250 units from where target is hit. Cell Division Chunk Spawn: Each enemy champion spawns a chunk the first time they’re hit by a bounce (subsequent bounces on the same enemy won’t spawn additional chunks) –> Each bounce that hits one or more enemy champions spawns a chunk (hitting the same enemy still spawns a chunk)."

Zac’s reverted ultimate has only been out for two weeks but Riot is already making small changes in an attempt to combat his 46.62% win rate in solo queue. Increasing the base damage by 10 on W – Unstable Matter will improve his early clear speed – which he struggles with – and damage in skirmishes early on. The changes to his ultimate R – Let’s Bounce! make it easier for Zac to stay on top of his targets while retaining health through his Cell Division chunks, increasing his team fight utility.

Prior to the reworked/reverted ultimate Zac was in a decent spot, making the occasional pro play appearance and being one of the few playable tanks in solo queue. However since the ult change, either players haven’t yet adapted to the new playstyle, or it’s just not very strong. These changes should tempt junglers to try out Zac due to the improvement to his early clear and as a result, we should see whether his new ultimate is game-changing or garbage in the coming weeks.

Items

Corrupting Potion
Bonus Magic Damage: 15-30 (level 1-18) over 3 seconds –> 15 at all levels over 3 seconds.

You’ll almost always see Corrupting Potion picked up as a starting item for both top and mid laners in solo queue and pro play due to its immense amount of sustain and damage amplification for trades. Thus, it makes sense to tone its effectiveness down for future patches by reducing its bonus damage from level 2 onwards.

Patch 9.12 won’t kill off Corrupting Potion and we’ll almost certainly see it continue to be picked up in future patches but it’s a step in the right direction. Alternatives like Doran’s Blade or Doran’s Ring can be considered if you’re in a winning match-up and want a damage boost in lane.

Has Riot nailed Patch 9.12? What else would you like to see? What champions need buffs/nerfs? Let us know in the comments below!