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League of Legends’ patch 12.10 changes the game for everyone

League of Legends patch 12.10 doesn’t just target a few characters. There are major changes to the durability of every champion, so here are our estimates on how the updates might impact your matches.

By Natalia Makarski

6 min readPublished on 06/01/2022 · 9:57 PM UTC

Riot Games has made huge shifts in the League of Legends meta with patch 12.10. The update, released on May 25, aims to make each champion more durable, in response to the excessive champion damage of recent seasons. Just how often have you heard “forfeit at 15” (the earliest you can call for a surrender vote) after a single death because of how easily kills were happening?

The changes were announced on Riot Games’ blog, detailing increased base health, health per level, armor per level, magic resist per level for the cast of characters. After these updates, games should be lasting longer since players won’t get picked off as easily in the earlier stages, and are less likely to snowball out of control as often.

Healing was reduced, while turret damage increased (they were starting to feel absolutely irrelevant), along with an increase in Baron Nashor’s damage and mana regeneration (since champs will have to use more spells to get a kill). This makes objectives harder to get, slowing the pace of the game, while putting further emphasis on your own plays in the laning phase.

Roams are harder to pull off as champs have more durability, meaning that players will not risk roaming as often for kills and stick to their lane. Levels are more rewarding in this patch, thanks to games lasting longer, and consistent damage is stronger opposed to bursting a target. Many players would agree these changes have been long overdue from Riot Games.

Here’s our list of which roles we think have been the most positively affected by the patch down to the most negatively so far:

Roles most positively affected by patch 12.10

ADC

ADC champs like Vayne, Twitch, Kog’Maw or Jinx (and other champs that shred or have consistent damage output) appear to be getting the best treatment. They want the durability to engage in extended periods of combat. These picks seem to be gaining the most, because it is easier for them to battle in teamfights, and they won't die from one combo. This makes the role overall easier to play making it easier to not get picked off for mispositioning.

Battle Mages

Characters such as Cassiopeia, Ryze, and Azirl provide consistent damage and will no longer fear being one-shot. Battle mages tend to be closer range, and more at risk of taking damage, so the damage durability will help them withstand the laning phase to transition to more of a carry role. These champions tend to soak damage as they have lower range and the increase in defensive stats mitigates this.

Enchanters

Enchanters such as Sona and Soraka will withstand the durability changes, as healing has become much more powerful. Even at reduced healing, each point of healing is much more valuable. Enchanters will benefit from Grievous Wounds being nerfed into a less effective means of countering heals.

Bruisers

Low mobility champions such as Darius and Mordekaiser prefer a more drawn out fight. Bruisers tend to have issues with being poked out in lane as well as getting bursted down in a team fight before they can get off their rotations. These changes make a bruiser play their role more effectively, as it will be hard to get sufficient poke damage on them with more natural bulk. Bruisers tend to want to take longer fights rather than the quick trade in lane. It will be a lot harder to cheese an enemy kill on a bruiser, as skirmishes and fights are now longer in this patch.

Skirmishers

Champs like Viego and Yi will be forced to build more damage to get the kills that they require. However, they're going to remain on the stronger side due to them being harder to burst. This, along with the high consistent damage they have available to dish out, will make them harder to deal with all around with their increased durability. They tend not to build too many health items, so the extra defense is very valuable on these champions.

Roles that will be most negatively affected by patch 12.10

Assassins

Assassins similar to Zed and Qiyana need to be able to kill their target efficiently. These changes have them struggling to pull off the one-shot they require to be an effective assassin. However, Riot has hinted at a future buff saying: “our intent with this update isn’t to overnerf burst champions, so we’ll be keeping an eye on them to make sure they land in a healthy spot.” For now, they will be in a tough spot in this patch as the time to kill will be increased. Assassins usually put themselves in dangerous positions to secure a kill onto the enemy, but this patch has made assassins more risk than reward.

Tanks

Tanks will have net negative changes, as the core items they build already have armor, magic resistance (MR), and HP built in. Armor and MR have gotten worse as they get exponentially less gold value the more you have. The base damage from tanks will fall flat unless they have some form of natural shred in the kit, as everyone is more tanky so there is less need for a specific champ as the front line. You may make it to late game more often with the current patch, but will struggle to make impact as a tank. You will last longer overall, but so will your more useful enemies.

Snowballers

Early game champs that rely on snowballing such as Katarina or Akali may have a harder time doing so, and are suffering because of it. This is because these champions need to be ahead of the enemy to effectively play, so they are going to be at a disadvantage in the next patch. The durability makes for a safer laning phase, and mistakes will be less punishing. This will give more chances for the enemy to not be snowballed as the tower damage is strengthened. It will be harder to punish an opponent who is behind, as they can play under their tower more safely.

Burst mages

Lux and Annie, or champs who are especially dependent on a single combo to burst down a target, are taking a big hit. Burst mages have one goal in mind, and that is to pump out as much damage in the shortest amount of time to kill the opposing side. They tend to have one quick rotation of abilities, and the enemy is left either dead or alive. Usually after the combo, the burst mages need to fall back. This patch protects other players from being one-shot as easily, meaning more chances to soak up the full combo and the potential to fight back.

Junglers who are gank reliant

Not all junglers will be impacted negatively, but those who are gank reliant such as Lee Sin or Nidalee will struggle. This is because stronger turrets equal a harder dive, and it will be harder to pull off ganks successfully. Champions will be harder to dive in general with the increase to health and base stats, and turrets will be stronger making the dives more risky. Higher levels become more meaningful, meaning that unsuccessful ganks will put you greatly behind.

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