Welcome to the first patch of the new season!
You can find all the changes here, but let’s discuss how these changes are going to affect the game.
In Patch 11.8, Riot monitored League and came up with a conclusion that the current meta did not have enough junglers, which was accurate!
To fix this, Diana was one of the champions that her jungle damage got buffed. After a while, in Patch 11.16, her jungle damage was nerfed because she was played many times in pro-play as a jungler.
Finally, at 12.1, Diana is buffed again like in Patch 11.8. Diana is always a solid jungle pick as long as her ‘numbers’ are good enough. With this buff, I am sure that we will see more of her in both pro-arena and soloqueue.
Gangplank has always been one of the strongest champions when you hit late game but many players miss that he is also very strong at level 1 when he can spam Q to his opponent without taking much damage.
Both buffs will make him stronger at early game and I recommend keeping an eye on him to see how stronger he might become.
Rek’Sai was a dominant jungler especially in Korean server with his new leveling-up pattern.
Players in solo-queue first maxed E instead of Q and by that, Rek’Sai became more like an assassin instead of a fighter with high true damage.
The nerf on his tunnel cooldown is not that relevant but, the AD nerf will limit his damage outcome and his place at the meta for sure.
Sona is one of the most popular support picks in the game since enchanters became more popular than tanky supports like Alistar or Rell.
Even though she is weaker in early game, her overall power level made her a viable pick for the role.
With these nerfs, especially her late game takes a big hit and probably you should look for other enchanters instead of her.
Eclipse was a great item for many melee champions (or even Draven) and his buff at Patch 11.23 was an overkill as Riot acknowledged.
With this nerf the item is still viable but not as OP as it used to be.
Even though tanks (and adcs) are not in a great position in the meta right now, Force of Nature is still a good and valid tank item.
20% magic damage reduction was a solid feature, making this %25 will make this item even better.
Too bad there is no place for tanks in the meta right now.
Immortal Shieldbow is a perfect fit for many champions like Yone, Yasuo, or even Vayne.
We can argue on if this item needed a nerf or not but especially the nerf on lifeline shield will make these picks weaker than they used to be.
The defensive and offensive options Wit’s End provides are almost unique so it was one of the most OP ‘situational’ items in the game.
With the changes, this item will provide less magic resist, but it is still a reliable item.
Well, this is interesting.
Especially in pro-play we always see 5v5 fights at min 5-6 with all solo laners joining the party with teleports.
Starting from season 12, this is no longer the case.
I believe this will change pro-play a lot than it seems and solo laners even try to pick ignite, exhaust ... instead of teleport to increase their lane domination at the early game.
This is hard to guess but, well, let’s wait a couple of days more till pro leagues start!
Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed this article.
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