LoL Patch 12.7: Zeri Nerfs Explained

League of Legends' first new champion for 2022, Zeri, the Spark of Zaun, made her way onto the rift on 20th January with the release of Patch 12.2. She was introduced as a champion with an electricity-themed kit, who can zap her enemies with electric pulses, and dash and vault over the many terrains of the Summoners’ Rift. Upon first look, it became evident that Zeri’s in-game kit would promise a high-impact playstyle, making her a hyper carry.

However, ever since her release, the community has been torn between whether it likes her or not. Social media sites have been recording both positive and negative feedback about this new champion and Riot Games, too, has been constantly adjusting her kit to make the gameplay better. She has been constantly nerfed to make her a balanced champion both in pro play and in Solo Queue.

In LoL Patch 12.3, the first patch after her release, Riot realized that she was a formidable opponent and gave Zeri some much-needed adjustments. Her Trinity Force build was hit which forced players to opt for critical strike items and to compensate for the overlap, Riot changed her Ultimate - Lightning Crash to chain lightning magic damage and critically strike enemies.

Following this, in LoL Patch 12.4, Riot was forced to address the bruiser builds that players were opting for while playing Zeri. In this patch, almost every part of her kit was changed.

As a sigh of relief, Zeri did not crop up in the patch notes in LoL Patch 12.5 and 12.6. But, now again with LoL Patch 12.7, Zeri has ended up on the chopping block yet again.

On 6th April, teasing the new nerfs, Riot Games’ Principal Champion Designer August “August” Browning wrote on Twitter, “Zeri the carry is still very *checks notes* strong in pro play...The nerfs hit all builds but should hurt bruiser more than crit. We're making the ult stack slower and more consistently, no more 2x-5x stacks when hitting a grouped up team, but you get double stacks on crit!”

What are the Zeri nerfs in LoL Patch 12.7?

Simply put, Zeri’s base attack damage (AD), AD growth, and armor have been reduced. On the other hand, her health growth has increased. Additionally, her Q - Burst Fire has undergone significant changes. Meanwhile, her W - Ultrashock Laser’s base damage has also been decreased but its AD and Ability Power (AP) ratios have increased. Another change is that the cooldowns of E - Spark Surge and R - Lightning Crash have been increased for the early game and they would decrease with rank later on in the game.

Riot Games wrote, “Zeri, Zeri, you’ve been a little too unfair-y. Despite the nerfs in previous patches, Zeri has been shockingly resilient and continues to dominate Pro play. With this round of nerfs, we’re aiming to bring her bruiser build more in line with her crit build, as well as make her stacks and on-hits more predictable. This should give enemies more time to catch Zeri before she starts zipping circles around them.”

Following are the Zeri changes:

BASE STATS

• AD Growth 2 ⇒ 1.5

• Attack Damage 53-87 (levels 1-18) ⇒ 50-75.5 (levels 1-18)

• Base Armor 22 ⇒ 20

• Health Growth 90 ⇒ 95

• Health at Level 18 2030 ⇒ 2115

Q – BURST FIRE

• Total physical damage: 10/15/20/25/30 (+110 percent total AD) has been changed to 7/9/11/13/15 (+110/112.5/115/117.5/120 percent total AD)

• [Updated] Q – Burst Fire now only applies on-hit effects once per cast

• [Updated] Zeri can now only gain one stack of R – Lightning Crash and one instance of E – Spark Surge cooldown reduction per Q – Burst Fire cast (excluding critical strikes)

• [New] Critical strikes on Q – Burst Fire grants Zeri an additional R – Lightning Crash stack and an additional instance of E – Spark Surge’s cooldown reduction (at most two procs per cast: one for Q upon hitting a champion and another if it crits on a champion)

W – ULTRASHOCK LASER

Magic damage: 40/75/110/145/180 (+100 percent total AD)(+60 percent AP) has been changed to 10/45/80/115/150 (+120 percent total AD)(+70 percent AP)

E – SPARK SURGE

Cooldown: 23 seconds changed to 28/26.5/25/23.5/22 seconds

R – LIGHTNING CRASH

Cooldown: 100/90/80 seconds changed to 120/95/70 seconds

Riot Games announced that League of Legends players should expect to see a change in meta with LoL Patch 12.7, especially so with the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) on the horizon. Since the meta is quite stale with the same champions and picks making the rounds in both Solo Queue and League of Legends esports, Riot wants to shake up the meta. These Zeri changes are very spicy and will impact pro play in the 2022 MSI for sure.