League of Legends Patch 10.12 Breakdown: BIG Elemental Rift Changes

The official notes for League of Legends Patch 10.12 have been revealed

Professional League of Legends teams have begun their Summer Split preparations across North America and Europe and the release of the official Patch 10.12 notes will quickly become part of those preparations. Although the first week of games will be played on Patch 10.11, the upcoming patch could play a huge part in who leads the LCS and LEC during the opening weeks.

Following last week’s Patch 10.12 preview, the official patch notes have now been revealed with very few changes. The majority of the champion changes have remained the same, the rune buffs are very similar, and the exciting elemental rift changes have stuck. The main aim of Patch 10.12 is to increase the impact of the Infernal and Cloud Rifts, while also buffing some of the most underutilized and undervalued runes in their respective trees.

Here’s a full breakdown of every change on Patch 10.12:

Champions

Akali

"Q – Five Point StrikeMagic Damage: 25/50/75/100/125 (+0.65 attack damage)(+0.6 ability power) -> 30/55/80/105/130 (+0.65 attack damage)(+0.65 ability power)"

Akali has made up some ground after her Perfect Execution buffs on Patch 10.7 and is now an acceptable pick under very specific circumstances. However, her win rate in solo queue remains an abysmal 45.66% and the balance team are looking to change that on Patch 10.12.

Five Point Strike will see its damage increased by 5 at all ranks, as well as a +0.05 ability power boost to its ratio. Although this may seem completely ineffective, it’s important to consider how often Akali will cast her Q during a team fight and how much even the smallest of buffs will have an impact.

That being said, this is by no means enough to improve Akali’s current position to a viable state and it will be a while before we see the Rogue Assassin in the mid lane meta again.

Brand

"Passive – BlazeAblazed Kill Mana Restore: 6-18 (levels 1-18) -> 20-40 mana (levels 1-18)"

As solo queue shifts from tank supports to enchanter supports, the opportunity for lane bully mages like Brand, Karma, and Zyra has grown, as evidenced by the latter’s 50.18% win rate on Patch 10.11. Nevertheless, Brand isn’t getting as many opportunities as some support mains (or auto-filled supports) would like and will be buffed on Patch 10.12.

This buff comes in the form of a mana restore buff for Brand’s Passive – Blaze. Rather than restoring 6-18 mana on killing an Ablazed unit, Brand will now receive 20-40 mana, improving the Burning Vengeance’s laning phase sustain.

If combined with a Relic Shield, support Brand could get off a few more Pillars of Flame during the early game by picking up some minions from his carry, however, this buff will have a much bigger impact on mid lane Brand due to his ability to consistently farm minions. Don’t expect to see either iteration of the champion climb to the S tier too soon though due to the small impact the buff will have.

Cassiopeia

"Base StatsHealth: 575 -> 560Armor: 20 -> 18Magic Resist: 30 -> 34"

While other mid laners have received nerf after nerf, Cassiopeia has quietly risen from the middle of the pack to the mid lane S tier over the last few months. A scaling carry like Cassiopeia boasting an excellent 51.40% win rate on any patch would be worrying and it’s no surprise that the balance team have taken action on Patch 10.12.

The Serpent’s Embrace will have a much tougher time in lane after the upcoming patch is implemented as her base health and armor are both taking a reasonable hit. Although these nerfs are offset by a small magic resist buff, the opportunity to take the snake down early with physical damage and ganks has been opened up, reducing the impact of her unmatched late game DPS.

Fiddlesticks

"W – Bountiful HarvestDamage to Minions: 60% -> 50%"

The balance team are determined to keep Fiddlesticks in the jungle with a further reduction to his most effective farming tool’s minion damage.

Senna

"Passive – AbsolutionMist Drop Chance on Minion Kill: 1.67% -> 8.333%"

The choice between fasting Senna and farming Senna just became much more difficult, regardless this buff helps out one of the most versatile and effective bot lane champions in the current meta.

Trundle

"Base StatsHealth: 616.28 -> 616Mana: 281.6 -> 281Mana Regen: 7.508 -> 7.5W – Frozen DomainBonus Movement Speed: 30/35/40/45/50% -> 20/28/36/44/52%"

Despite not appearing regularly in the jungle until the last few patches, Trundle has gone on to become an S tier jungler and one of the most threatening champions of the current meta. The Troll King’s excellent 51.93% win rate on Patch 10.11 illustrates how much power he’s had over the jungle role recently and proves that these nerfs are more than deserved.

Ignore the base stat changes, they’re just basic rounding. As for the Frozen Domain movement speed nerf, you can also ignore every change except rank 1, as Trundle maxes this ability last and will only feel the effects of rank 2 onwards at level 14. As a result, this is basically a -10% movement speed nerf for Trundle’s W, not massive, but enough to decrease the threat of his chase/escape potential throughout the early and mid game.

Nonetheless, this nerf isn’t significant enough to drop Trundle out of the jungle S tier as his strengths lie in ganks with Pillar of Ice and team fight longevity with Subjugate.

Varus

"Base StatsAttack Damage Growth: 3.11 -> 3.00Q – Piercing ArrowDamage Ratio: 1.1 attack damage (1.65 maximum) -> 1.0 attack damage (1.5 maximum)"

We all know that lethality Varus is one of the most annoying and difficult to deal with champions in League of Legends. The Darkin Sniper sits untouched on the backline spraying out arrow after arrow dealing incredible damage while completely protected by his teammates, Hail of Arrows, and Chain of Corruption.

That could be about to change with these Patch 10.12 nerfs, though. Now, Varus will have about 2 less attack damage from his base stats over the course of the game while also losing up to 0.15 attack damage from his AD ratio on Piercing Arrow, Varus’ primary damage tool.

The Arrow of Retribution will probably stick around in the bot lane meta after these changes but will not be as effective at all stages of the game and could rely on building an early gold advantage to snipe enemies down to half HP from the backline with ease.

Viktor

"Q – Siphon PowerDischarge Damage Ratio: 0.55 ability power -> 0.6 ability powerShield Ratio: 0.15 ability power (0.24 ability power when empowered) -> 0.2 ability power (0.32 ability power when empowered)"

Who? Viktor has all-but disappeared from the League of Legends meta of recent with an almost irrelevant 0.2% pick rate.

While small buffs to his Siphon Power shield and damage will encourage more players to pick him in certain situations, they’re certainly not enough to see him climb back into the viable mid lane champion pool.

Volibear

"Base StatsMana Growth: 50 -> 40Health Growth: 90 -> 85R – StormbringerTurret Disable Duration: 2/4/6 seconds -> 3/4/5 secondsEpicenter Radius: 250 -> 300Base Damage: 250/475/700 -> 300/500/700"

Players are still adjusting to Volibear after his rework, but the Relentless Storm’s awful 41.92% top lane win rate and 42.30% jungle win rate suggest he still has a long way to go before becoming a viable option in solo queue and pro play.

These buffs should help, but as we don’t yet know where Voli’s strengths lie, it remains to be seen how effective they will be and they are unlikely to increase his win rate by a sufficient amount.

Xayah

"R – FeatherstormPhysical Damage: 100/150/200 -> 125/250/375"

As a result of the recent marksman buffs, the bot lane role has gone from a boring, monotonous state to having one of the most diverse pools in the game right now. Every ADC champion is having their say right now, all except for Xayah who sits at a poor 48.39% win rate on Patch 10.11 and needs a little more help before she can cement her place in the bot lane meta.

Although, a Featherstorm damage buff isn’t going to do that, even if it could increase the ability’s damage by up to 175. Ultimately, Xayah’s problems aren’t her lack of ult damage, they’re instead her lack of overall damage and her ultimate is used as an escape/dodging tool rather than a damage tool.

It would be wise to keep your distance if you’re in Xayah’s ult range from now on though.

Yasuo

"Base StatsHealth: 523 -> 490Passive – Way of the WandererShield: 100-510 (levels 1-18) -> 115-525 (levels 1-18)W – Wind WallCooldown: 26/24/22/20/18 seconds -> 30/27/24/21/18 seconds"

Yasuo boasts a strong win rate across both mid lane and bot lane right now, making him one of the most versatile and useful champions in the current meta.

To reduce his impact, the balance team have nerfed his base health and Way of the Wanderer shield to reduce his early game sustain and ensure that poke against him sticks. On top of that, Yasuo’s Wind Wall will have a +4 second cooldown until level 14, giving him one opportunity to use it during skirmishes and team fights and allowing marksman to land effective damage during the laning phase.

Elemental Rifts

Cloud Rift

"[New] Movement Speed increased to 35% when out of combat[New] Scryer’s Bloom near base gates[New] Scryer’s Bloom near river tri-bush"

Four new Scryer’s Blooms overall, with the base gates additions being particularly effective when defending a heavy gold deficit in order to clear out vision and re-establish control over your own jungle.

Infernal Rift

"[New] Blast Cone near Gromp tri-bush[New] Blast Cone near Wolf camp[New] Blast Cone near base gates[New] Blast Cone in the alcoves"

EIGHT new Blast Cones are being added to the Infernal Rift which could lead to a huge increase in outplays and escapes on Patch 10.12 and beyond. The most interesting addition is probably around Gromp camp as an ambush from here would be unexpected and hard to predict or prevent with vision.

Runes

Approach Velocity

"[New] Passive: Gain 7.5% bonus movement speed when moving toward a movement-impared enemy champion, increased to 15% if you were the one who impaired their movement"

Approach Velocity is strong on a handful of champions currently, but that’s set to change on Patch 10.12. If you’re in champion select and see a bunch of movement impairment options on your team, Approach Velocity could be a better choice than Cosmic Insight or Time Warp Tonic.

Guardian

"Range: 175 -> 350Trigger Condition: Any damage -> 90-250 damage in the last 2.5 seconds or lethal damageShield: 70-150 -> 80-200[Removed] Movement Speed"

Guardian has been used as a “get out of jail free card” since its release, allowing champions to escape from potential danger due to the big burst of movement speed the rune provides upon taking damage. With this removed, the rune’s impact is limited and will be purely used for combat from now on, potentially forcing enchanters to look elsewhere in the rune tree.

Predator

"Cooldown: 150-100 seconds -> 100-70 secondsDamage: 60-180 (+0.4 bonus attack damage)(+0.25 ability power) -> 30-90 (+0.2 bonus attack damage)(+0.1 ability power)[Removed] Start of game cooldownMovement Speed: 67.5% reduced to 45% -> Accelerates to 45% bonus movement speed over 1.5 seconds while moving towards enemy champions[Removed] Active no longer interrupted by entering combat[New] Only deals damage and ends the hunt against enemy championsHunt Duration: 15 seconds -> 10 seconds"

These buffs could make Predator overpowered as the movement speed will stick for a full 10 seconds before timing out, allowing no room for escape for fleeing enemies. On the likes of Olaf, Udyr, or Volibear this could be a deadly rune, and we will certainly be seeing a lot of it in upcoming solo queue games.

Unflinching

"[New] Passive: Gain 10% slow resist and 10% tenacity. Gain up to 20% more slow resist and tenacity based on missing health"

Unflinching is an entirely new rune that is excellent for tanks against CC-heavy comps and could be infuriating if combined with Legend: Tenacity.

Summoner Spells

Ghost

"Movement Speed: 28-45% (levels 1-18) -> 20-40% (levels 1-18)[Removed] 2 seconds ramp up timeCooldown: 180 seconds -> 210 seconds[New] 4-7 seconds added to duration on takedown"

Instantly gaining over 20% movement speed for 4-7 seconds will allow champions to close the gap for important crowd control, like Twisted Fate’s Gold Card, or dodge incoming ganks with ease. The takedown aspect is extremely situational however, but the prospect of permanent +30% movement speed during a team fight is worth testing the rune on Patch 10.12.

Patch 10.12 will be implemented on League of Legends live servers on the morning of Wednesday, 10 June. Check out the League of Legends server status page to keep updated with the maintenance times.