LoL Patch 12.4 Full Notes and Updates: Renata Glasc Added to Game
League of Legends (LoL) Patch 12.4 is officially here after being tested out in the Public Beta Environment (PBE) for a considerable amount of time. LoL Season 2022 has already had three patches that brought in significant changes which impacted the way the game is being played. Riot Games’ constant engagement with the community and the subsequent changes have turned this season into an action-packed ride.
With LoL Patch 12.4, the developer team has targeted certain system changes including support items and objective bounties. Just like any other patch, LoL Patch 12.4 has a slew of champion buffs and nerfs intended to balance gameplay. The community is also paying close attention to the item changes introduced to understand build paths and economy.
This patch the Chem-Baroness Ms. Renata Glasc begins her corporate takeover of the Rift. We also have a few buffs for Kalista, Lucian, and Xayah to freshen up the current ADC (Attack Damage Carry) assortment among other balances. Meanwhile, in the top lane, things have been a little tense with our enchanter friends, so we have some support gold income changes to help address the current situation. Lastly, be sure to keep your heart rate in check as we introduce a new set of stunning Shockblade skins!"Riot Games
Patch 12.4 of League of Legends is also officially introducing Chem-Baronness Renata Glasc to the rift and she will be available for play starting on 17th Feb. You can check out the full list of changes and adjustments made in LoL Patch 12.4 here.
LoL Patch 12.4 brings system changes to combat enchanter top meta
Riot made it clear that while it supported and valued creativity in League of Legends, the new enchanter top lane strategy was “over the line.” It acknowledged the fact that there has been an increase in enchanter supports in solo lanes using the support gold income items to gain gold passively while roaming around the map.
Riot pointed out that this meta strips the opponents of the opportunity to use early game strengths to “build leads during the laning phase, which is a core part of every game.”
In the LoL Patch 12.4 notes, the devs noted, “These issues definitely call for a more robust solution and we're in the process of developing one. In the meantime, we're adjusting a few systems to minimize the effects on other parts of the game. In particular, both objective and CS (Creep Score) bounties don't yet account for unconventional income strategies, which can waterfall into unhealthy game states.”
As a means to combat the new meta, Riot is increasing the minion farming penalty on the support gold income items during the first five minutes of the game.
Following are the support item changes:
Gold Value Bounties: Gold value bounties (a.k.a. CS bounties) are now based on the number of support gold income items on each team, rather than assuming each team has one support gold income item
Objective Bounties: Enemy gold leads are now significantly less likely to lead to objective bounties activating if there are two or more support gold income items on your team
Tribute/Spoils of War (Passive) - Minion Farming Penalty: Receive diminishing gold from excessive (2 minions per minute until 5 minutes; 4 minions per minute thereafter) minion kills. This diminished gold penalty is now also more severe during the first 5 minutes of the game. (All else unchanged)
Objective Bounties have been nerfed
Another hit to the enchanter top meta comes in the form of nerfs to objective bounties. Apart from the farming penalty from the support items, objective bounties are now halved if a team has multiple support items.
Riot stated, “Unrelated to the gold income items above, we're also shortening the deactivation timers for Objective Bounties to address some extreme swing cases. When an Objective Bounty period ends, the losing team should still be behind, but the lingering duration allowed some cases where a losing team could catapult ahead after claiming multiple bounties in a row.”
Bounty Linger Period is now 5 seconds after objective bounties fall off.
Zeri is on the chopping block yet again
A total of six champions have been nerfed in Patch 12.4. They are Blitzcrank, Dr.Mundo, Nunu and Willump, Qiyana, Veigar, and Zeri. It has now become routine for the community to see Zeri on the nerf list as she’s been targeted in every patch since her release. Riot is still trying to tweak her kit and make her a viable pick, both in pro play and in Solo Queue games.
In LoL Patch 12.4, Zeri had almost every part of her kit changed. This is yet another attempt by Riot to shift her away from the bruiser builds into a more critical strike-based marksman build.
Riot wrote, “Zeri's spark still has a bit more shock than she needs, so we're nerfing her overall power in a way that should hit her bruiser builds harder than her crit builds.”
Uncharged basic attack base damage and AP (Attack Power) ratio decreased; damage amp against low-health enemies increased. Charged basic attack slow rate and duration decreased. Q base damage decreased but now also multiplied in crits; excess AS (Attack Speed) to AD (Attack Damage) ratio increased. W slow decreased early; cooldown increased early but now decreases with rank. E cooldown decreased. R bonus attack speed no longer increases with rank.”Riot Games
Patch 12.4 also noted some improvements made on the player behavioral system which detects intentional feeding. Riot said it has made further enhancements to the detection model's accuracy to improve the player experience. Apart from this, the devs have made a handful of quality-of-life changes and bug fixes in the game. The Shockblade skin line is introduced alongside Patch 12.4 and is expected to be live on the servers on 17th Feb with Renata Glasc. Players can also delve deeper into Neon Nights, the new mid-set update in Teamfight Tactics (TFT). Arcane-villain Silco has finally made it into TFT as a playable unit.
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