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League of Legends Season 2022 has been one of the most action-packed seasons yet with the Riot Games developer team making momentous changes to the game. With Patch 12.3, the dev team has targeted several popular champions that are making a mark in regular and professional play. As many as nine champions are on the chopping block this time around, including the newly released Zaunite attack damage carry (ADC) Zeri. Apart from these adjustments, Patch 12.3 also introduces the players to the much anticipated Ahri rework and the changes to fighter items.
Here’s the full list of changes and adjustments made in Patch 12.3.
Season 2022 is in bloom! We've carefully plucked a delicate bouquet for you this patch, including several champion nerfs and a significant update to the fighter item system. This is also our first patch reacting to Pro play on the preseason meta, so there's a lot of focus on balancing that skill bracket this week. Ahri's champion refresh is another part of the floral mix and, last but not leaf, the rest of the Crystal Rose and Withered Rose skins will be available soon.”Riot Games
Ahri rework hits the servers
Riot has hit the refresh button on Ahri and has reworked her to bring the nine-tailed fox back into the meta. Initially, Lead Gameplay Designer Bryan “Axes” Salvatore explained that her presence in the game had mellowed down and Riot was aiming to bring her back to life with a mini-rework.
Apart from this, she is also getting an Art and Sustainability Update (ASU) soon to keep her relatable and in vogue. League of Legends’ older champions have been getting these updates to help bring them closer to modern expectations.
In Patch 12.3, her Passive - Essence Theft has been updated alongside a mini-rework of her E - Charm and R - Spirit Rush. To bring a more rounded gameplay experience, Ahri’s base stats, abilities’ mana, and damage distribution have been tweaked.
Passive – Essence Theft
[Updated] Pieces of You – Killing minions or monsters grants Ahri an Essence Fragment. After obtaining nine Essence Fragments, Ahri consumes them to heal for 40 to 120 (+25 percent AP). When Ahri scores a takedown against an enemy champion within three seconds of damaging them, she feasts upon their Essence, healing for 80 to 200 (+35 percent AP).
E – Charm
Ahri’s abilities no longer deal bonus damage to enemies hit by Charm.
R – Spirit Rush
Initial duration: 10 seconds > 15 seconds
[New] A Spirited Chase: Consuming a champion’s essence with Essence Theft while Spirit Rush is active extends Spirit Rush’s recast duration by and up to 10 seconds, and grants an additional cast of Spirit Rush (up to three casts stored).
Changes to fighter items
One of the major changes introduced in Patch 12.3 is the change to fighter items. A blogpost by Ezra “Phlox” Lynn said, “An interesting issue in the fighter item space is that a lot of the items are pretty similar, yet the champions and classes they’re meant for are quite diverse. What do Illaoi (a juggernaut), Fiora (a light fighter), and Vi (a diver) all have in common? Honestly, not very much, but they use a lot of the same items and are all called fighters.”
Riot has brought in changes to make sure that the differences between “nimbler, more fragile fighters like Fiora and less agile but beefier picks like Darius” are evident. Now, every subclass will feel like they have items tailor-made for them.
The tankiness on duelist items has been reduced but these items have been granted increased damage. A total of 11 items have been adjusted in Patch 12.3, some getting nerfed, some receiving significant buffs, and some item build paths undergoing changes.
Apart from the fighter items, Turbo Chemtank, an item that was notoriously built by champions like Akali and Irelia, has also been adjusted.
Zeri gets nerfed in Patch 12.3
The Zaunite ADC has been running amok on the rift ever since her release. She had an abysmal win rate at the time of her introduction and the community started criticizing her character design and damage potential. However, players were quick to experiment with new build paths and items, transforming her into a formidable opponent. Thanks to this, Riot has now targeted her and has given the champion some much-needed adjustments.
“Zeri's Trinity Force build has ended up being much stronger than expected, skyrocketing her winrate once players swapped over from crit. We're targeting these nerfs to ideally hit her Tri Force build more than her crit ones, but because there's some overlap, we're compensating the latter with a bit more zap on her ult,” read the patch notes.
Zeri’s movement speed has been reduced and her basic attack damage based on the target’s max HP has also been reduced. While her R - Lightning Crash’s magic damage was brought down, it can now chain lightning magic damage and critically strike enemies.
The other changes in Patch 12.3 are the nerfs directed at Akshan, Amumu, Caitlyn, Corki, Leblanc, Senna, and Twisted Fate. On the other hand, Lillia and Quinn have been buffed.
A couple of small changes have been made to Brand to make his spells work a little more intuitively while Nami also received a tweak to her passive. The visual effects update to Vel’Koz is also now live on the servers.
Patch 12.3 also made some quality-of-life changes and bug fixes to the game. The new skins arriving in this patch are the Crystal Rose and Withered Rose skins. Players in the meanwhile can also go ahead and test out the new enchanter support champion Renata Glasc, as she is now live on the Public Beta Environment (PBE).
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