Patch 12.4 Rundown

A lot of bite-sized armor buffs.  A lot of bite-sized armor nerfs. Nunu finally gets sent to the Shadow Realm (not quite.)

Aatrox

Q – The Darkin Blade

Sweetspot Damage: 150% – 160%

A small boost across all elos if anything; Aatrox struggles in lower elos and consistently gains winrate the higher up you go, there’s a good chance he becomes a mainstay pro pick after this.

Aatrox Top Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days:  47.82%

Expected to be: 48%

Amumu

E – Tantrum

Physical Damage Reduction: 2/4/6/8/10 (+3% bonus armor) (+3% bonus magic resist) to 5/7/9/11/13 (+3% bonus armor) (+3% bonus magic resist)

I don’t know what Riot’s obsession with Amumu is these days… First they were trying to make him viable for proplay by shamelessly promoting him after his Q buffs, now they’re reeling back on the nerfs to make sure he stays viable.

I don’t like how Riot tries to manicure certain champions to be viable in certain elo brackets; just accept the champion for its strengths and weaknesses, there are so many other big problems that need to be tackled instead of wasting time on inconsequential stuff like this.

Amumu Jungle Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days:  52.66%

Expected to be: 52.95%

Ashe

R – Enchanted Crystal Arrow

Missile Speed 1600 to 1500 (+200 per second of travel time), up to 2100

One of the most interesting changes of the patch, this should add some very cool gameplay options to a somewhat forgotten champion, Given that her E ability becomes more and more broken in higher elos, buffing a high cooldown ability like her ult and making it more landable adds new dynamics to her as opposed to a base stat buff. Big fan.

Ashe Bot Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 49.86%

Expected to be: 50.4%

Blitzcrank

Base Stats: Base Health Regeneration: 8.5 to 7.5

I had to look at the stats for this once, since it sort of came out of left field. This is probably an Oracle-triggered nerf, since Blitzcrank has above average win rates across both low and high elo brackets; nerfing his health regen increases his vulnerability to enemy bot lane while his hook is down.

Blitzcrank Support Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 52.34%

Expected to be: 51.8%

Dr. Mundo

Base Stats

AD Growth: 4.2 – 3.5

Attack Damage 61 – 132.4 (levels 1-18) to 61 – 120.5 (levels 1-18)

R – Maximum Dosage

Cooldown 110/100/90 seconds to 110 seconds at all ranks

The important thing to recognize about this nerf is that Mundo gains AD through his E passive, especially when he gets to lower health. While this nerf might seem like a solid -1.5% drop off in total winrate, keep in mind he has way more AD than what’s initially shown here owing to that passive. Still, Mundo has been a consistent top performer for awhile now, and the nerf is quite welcome.

Mundo Top Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 53.61%

Expected to become: 52.85%

Illaoi

Base Stats

Attack Speed: 0.571 to 0.625

W – Harsh Lesson

Bonus Physical Damage: 3/3.5/4/4.5/5% (+2% per 100 AD) of target’s maximum health to 3/3.5/4/4.5/5% (+4% per 100 AD) of target’s maximum health

Extra attack speed at level 1 can translate into more early game kills as Illaoi will simply take your vessel and bonk you half to death. The new AD buffs on bruiser items fit nicely with the extra 2% added onto her point and click ability, and she should be much more viable into tanks with this.

Illaoi Top Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 49.26%

Expected to become: 50.18%

Kalista

Base Stats

Armor: 21 to 24

While this buff will make a difference in her early game durability and allow her to abuse her early spikes much more consistently, this is bound to make Kalista a pro-play problem again and subsequently get nerfed, making her unplayable in SoloQ. She is one of the saddest change cycles of any champion – consistently being gutted for being too strong in coordinated environments where her ultimate is excellent, and thus lower elo SoloQ players have to suffer as a result.

I would like to see some kind of mini-rework to her W to make it an actual ability instead of some worthless ward that almost never spots anything; some kind of QSS effect would be nice in flattening out her extreme skill curve, and making this fun champion more available for lower-tier players.

Kalista Bot Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 47.34%

Expected to become: 48.1%

Lucian

Q – Piercing Light

Mana Cost 50/60/70/80/90 to 48/56/64/72/80

Mana buffs are usually lower elo centered, since players might not have developed good mana management skills yet and tend to spam abilities on waves. He definitely needs those lower elo buffs, since his high elo winrate is passable, and I do think this will have a positive impact.

Lucian Bot Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 48.34%

Expected to become: 49.08%

Nami

E – Tidecaller’s Blessing

On-Hit Damage (Per Hit) 20/35/50/65/80 (+20% AP) to 25/40/55/70/85 (+20%)

Definitely a force to be reckoned with, Nami support has been quite powerful ever since her buffs last year. However, looking at her win rates, I do not think she is deserving of this nerf (especially since much higher win rate champions like Amumu actually got buffed for some reason.) Maybe Riot is trying to push her towards an enchantress identity as opposed to the undodgeable burst that comes off her E, but it still feels like a placebo nerf that just pleases the general audience.

Nami Support Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 51.23%

Expected to become: 50.9%

Neeko

Base Stats

Hitbox Radius: 80 to 65

Q – Blooming Burst

Additional Bloom Damage 40/60/80/100/120 (+20% AP) to 40/65/90/115/140 (+20% AP)

W – Shapesplitter

Cooldown 20/19/18/17/16 seconds to 16/15/14/13/12 seconds

These buffs and nerfs are starting to feel random at this point, and I am starting to think that there is a new Neeko skin on the horizon. While I do like the Shapesplitter buff and the hitbox change is a rare one of its kind, this champion suffers from not being able to make good on her promise of being a shapeshifting threat. Instead she comes with giant AP ratios and AOE abilities that just make her yet another waveclear bot, without anything to distinguish her from the pack. Sure this will pump the win rate up in time for the next Neeko skin, but I believe this champion is one big failure of champ design in general.

Neeko Mid Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 49.37% 

Expected to become: 50.3%

Nunu

Base Stats

Health Growth 82 to 76

Health at Level 18: 1934 to 1832

Q – Consume

Healing from Champions 60/88/116/144/172 (+72% AP)(+8% bonus health) to 45/66/87/108/129 (+54% AP)(+6% bonus health)

Perhaps my most favorite change in the patch, Riot takes a big swing at Nunu’s rampaging through SoloQ and does it in a very intelligent way. Nunu, much like Mundo’s sneaky AD, has a lot of sneaky health thanks to his Q ability, that can be cast multiple times through a fight. Not only does he build tank most of the time, once you finally whittle him down some, he is able to instantly regenerate it back thanks to his Q.

This nerf is very well placed at destroying his consistency by reducing the power of that regeneration; now all the below average Nunu players who were barely making it out of fights thanks to the heal will now die in those same fights and the team will be unable to capitalize on objectives without their jungler. Very big fan, best change so far.

Nunu Jungle Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 52.18%

Expected to become: 50.7%

Qiyana

Passive – Royal Privilege

Additional Physical Damage: 15-83 (levels 1-18) (+55% bonus AD) (+30% AP) to 15-83 (levels 1-18) (+45% bonus AD) (+30% AP)

Similar to my comments about Amumu should be allowed to exist as a lower elo champion and Riot shouldn’t try and force him into higher elos, if you’re a lower elo player, forget about playing this champion. One of the hardest skill scaling champions in the game, Qiyana continues to eat nerf after nerf because of how good high elo players are at harnessing her power with superior mechanics and roam timing and lower elo enthusiasts continue to suffer as a result.

I remember when Riven was the champion that was powerful in high elo but lower elo players couldn’t make work; in the modern day, Qiyana definitely feels like to new Riven in that regard.

Qiyana Mid Win Rate Across D2+ Over Last 30 Days: 54.99%

Expected to become: 53.7%

Rumble

Base Stats

Base Armor: 31 – 36

Rumble top (his most popular role, double that of mid lane) is in the dirt right now, and most of his common matchups are AD champions up in the top lane. Similar to Kalista, early game durability for early-mid game champions are a welcome buff, because it enhances their strong suits and allows players with good understanding of their champion’s power spikes to abuse them. We’ll definitely see a little bump in the win rate after this, but I still expect Rumble to be a below average top laner for most people.

Rumble Top Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 46.19%

Expected to become: 48%

Sett

Base Stats

Health Growth: 93 – 100

Health at Level 18: 2181 – 2300

Sett does not need a buff; he’s sitting smack dab at 50% across all elos and there is no need to give scaling buffs. Perhaps the Firecracker Sett skin didn’t pull as much money as Riot had anticipated, because they are pumping more power into Sett’s scaling to make him more viable to lower elo players.

Sett Top Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 50.10%

Expected to become: 51.35%

Veigar

Base Stats

Base Armor: 23 – 21

Armor Growth: 3.75 – 4

Armor at Level 18: 86.75 – 89

E – Event Horizon

Cooldown: 18/16.5/15/13.5/12 seconds – 20/18/16/14/12 seconds

Necessary nerf for Veigar bot, since the combination of his scaling burst and ridiculous CC make him a very powerful bot laner that can not only spike faster than traditional ADCs, but also scale way better than them. While mid Veigar will also be punished as a result of these changes, I think that’s fine; the champion should not have that much durability given the consistency of his power and especially when he can also build tank and just be a CC bot with free damage scaling.

Veigar Mid Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 52.85% 

Expected to become: 50.95%

Veigar Bot Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 54.49%

Expected to become: 52.7%

Xayah

E – Bladecaller

Critical Strike Chance Damage Multiplier: Deals 0.5% – 0.75% more damage per 1% critical strike chance.

She is at a passable win rate for the past month, so the only reason I can see for this buff is the new Prestige skin that’s being released for her this patch.

Xayah Bot Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 48.98%

Expected to become: 50%

Zeri

Uncharged Basic Attack

Magic Damage: 15-40 (levels 1-18)(+4% AP) – 10-25 (levels 1-18)(+3% AP)

Damage Increase: 300% – 500% against enemies below 35% health

Charged Basic Attack

Slow: 20/25/30/35/40% – 14/23/32/41/50% (based on Q rank)

Slow Duration: 1.5 seconds – 1 second

Q – Burst Fire

Damage: 10/15/20/25/30 (+110% AD) – 9/13/17/21/25 (+110% AD)

UPDATED: Burst Fire’s critical strikes now also multiply its base damage (in addition to its AD ratio)

W  – Ultrashock Laser

Slow: 50/55/60/65/70% – 30/40/50/60/70%

Cooldown: 10 seconds at all ranks – 13/12/11/10/9 seconds

E  – Spark Surge

Cooldown: 23/21.5/20/19.5/17 seconds – 23/22/21/20/19 seconds

Cooldown Reduction: 1.5 seconds – 1 second per champion hit with charged basic attacks or abilities

R – Lightning Crash

Bonus Attack Speed: 30/35/40% – 30% at all ranks

A largely pro-focused nerf, Riot is attempting to take down Zeri from her 100% presence across major regions as well as add power to her Crit build so players would stop building her as a bruiser. It’s never healthy for the game when marksmen can just freely build non-damage items and be unkillable whilst dealing very good amounts of DPS. Throw Zeri’s mobility into the mix and you get an exceedingly oppressive champion that can almost do everything in the game, as if she was some main character in an MMO.

Zeri Bot Win Rate Across All Ranks Over Last 30 Days: 49.70

Expected to become: 48.6%

All data is collected through the free stat-tracking website of LoLAlytics.