Riot has released the 4.12 patch notes, which include changes to the most popular ADC, controversial jungler timers and a slew of bug-fixes.
Launching only a few weeks after 4.11 went live, 4.12 promises to continue the current meta-game fluxuations, especially at ADC. Drastic changes to Lucian and a strong collection of buffs to Alistar promise to shake-up bottom lane, while many irritating bugs (most notably Caitlyn's auto-attack) have been repaired. Also included are built-in jungle timers!
Jungle Timers
We want League to be all about the smart decisions you make in the moment and how you make plays around those moments, rather than how well you can track certain timers. There's definitely skill in memorizing information, but our philosophy on gameplay clarity is making sure that skillful decisions can be made with the rightinformation and that players are fighting each other, not the system.
The information you get through clearing an objective is important stuff you've already earned, so we wanted to clarify that through jungle timers. It's also worth mentioning that jungle timers aren't adding new information that hasn't been there before, as they follow the same rules as minimap icons.
- Jungle timers have been added to the game!
- Jungle timers currently track the next spawn time of: enemy / team Elder Lizard, enemy / team Ancient Golem, Dragon, and Baron
- Timers will only start tracking a camp if you or a teammate directly witness a monster camp being fully cleared (similar to minimap icons)
- If you manage to snipe Baron or Dragon without vision, the timer will set itself off
- You can access jungle timers by pressing TAB (default key) through the scoreboard. They'll be at the top of the screen.
- We've also updated monster minimap icons! Check them out!
Champions
Ahri
Q does a little more damage and costs less mana.
Ahri's a cool fox gal that we'd like to see more of, but she's currently sitting just below the top-tier mid picks. That said, we don't think she needs too many buffs to keep up, so we focused on her ability to push the wave more efficiently so she can find more opportunities to roam.
Q - Orb of Deception
COST70/75/80/85/90 mana ⇒ 55/60/65/70/75 mana
ABILITY POWER RATIO0.325 (total: 0.65) ⇒ 0.35 (total: 0.7)
Alistar
Ali's mana costs are lower, and his ult now reduces tons of damage, even at lower levels. In exchange, Ali's jungling is weaker.
We really want to bring Alistar back up as a support, but our challenge has been to make sure he doesn't also take up his crown of jungling cow king from the days of old. Access to a 'mini' Malphite Unstoppable Force at level 2 (via his Headbutt + Pulverize combo), combined with guaranteed tower dives and the ability to punt people away from safety makes for a pretty oppressive gank-train from the jungle. We want to give Ali the things he needs to succeed but, like we did with Maokai, we also want to make sure he's in a healthy position to do so. There's a little concern that having 70% damage reduction at level 1 Unbreakable Will might make Alistar a little too good at tower diving (even as a support), but we'll see how these changes affect him first.
Passive - Trample
REMOVEDJUNGLE COWNo longer deals double damage to monsters
Q - Pulverize
STUNNING LANDINGPulverize now correctly matches its visuals by applying a 1.5 second knockup ⇒ 1 second knockup followed by a 0.5 second stun (functionally should remain the same)
COST70/80/90/100/110 mana ⇒ 65/70/75/80/85 mana
W - Headbutt
COST70/80/90/100/110 mana ⇒ 65/70/75/80/85 mana
R - Unbreakable Will
NEWYOU CAN'T MILK THOSEDamage reduction now applies instantly, rather than after the spell animation
DAMAGE REDUCTION50/60/70% ⇒ 70/70/70%
Caitlyn
And the Yasuos around the world rejoiced.
General
PSYCHIC BULLETSFixed a bug where Caitlyn's basic attacks were registering as attacks before they visually hit the target
Ezreal
Ezreal can now hit himself with Essence Flux if he can find a way to get ahead of it. Use with caution please.
Just E into it.
W - Essence Flux
NEWJUST E INTO ITEssence Flux can now hit Ezreal in addition to his allies
Garen
This one's for all you Garen junglers out there.
E - Judgment
AOE ON AOEGaren can now (again) use Tiamat / Ravenous Hydra while spinning
Kassadin
W's cooldown has gone up, Force Pulse slows for a lot but for a shorter period of time.
This guy. Again.
Currently, our focus is on Kass's super snowballing potential where, when he's ahead, he can help both himself and his team succeed by constantly slowing and punching people in the face. We still don't want to go after Kass's iconic Riftwalk (as that's clearly his core strength), but these changes mean Kass will have less offensive windows to go in.
W - Nether Blade
COOLDOWN6 seconds ⇒ 9 seconds
E - Force Pulse
SLOW DURATION3 seconds ⇒ 1 second
SLOW AMOUNT30/35/40/45/50% ⇒ 50/60/70/80/90%
Kha'Zix
We're doing a little follow-up for Kha'Zix, especially with our previous tanky jungler and marksman buffs.
Q - Taste Their Fear
PHYSICAL DAMAGE55/80/105/130/155 ⇒ 70/95/120/145/170
Lucian
Lucian's attack ranges have gone down, but E's cooldown will now get reduced with every hit from Lucian's passive. E also has no mana cost, so Lucian will be dashing quite a bit in the mid to late game.
Our design philosophy when approaching a strong champion is to highlight their strengths while also emphasizing their weaknesses (I told you we'd be repeating this a lot). This mostly relates to the concept ofmeaningful choices, where we want that champ to maintain their strategic value while also having some tradeoff that enemies can play against. Specifically for Lucian, his high generic power (a strong early and late game, high burst, high mobility, etc) meant he could just be blindly picked without much consideration for the enemy team. For a while, this is what made Lucian such a strong competitive pick - he could adapt to any team and could still perform well.
Ultimately our changes are focused on highlighting some of Lucian's strengths as a spell-slinging, mobile marksman, while also emphasizing new weaknesses - like having a lower range. At higher levels with some items (cooldown reduction!!!), Lucian can fluidly chain Es together as long as he has a target to hit with his passive. This also means Lucian will be one of the most mobile mid-range ADCs in teamfights (there are some concerns that he'll be... too mobile thanks to E removing all slows, but we'll keep a close eye here). Having a lower range, however, also means Lucian will need to take more risks in order to get E's cooldown back up, and he might have some tougher matchups during the laning phase (where before he could win almost any lane). This gives us a lot more space to emphasize Lucian's unique traits, and we'll be watching how he performs after these changes.
General
ATTACK RANGE550 ⇒ 500
BASE MOVEMENT SPEED330 ⇒ 335
BASE HEALTH470 ⇒ 500
BASE ATTACK DAMAGE49 ⇒ 52
Passive - Lightslinger
THE DOUBLE TAP RULEFixed a bug where sometimes Lightslinger would fail to kill a champion because it incorrectly predicted that the first shot would be enough and would use the second shot to last hit a minion. Lightslinger will now always follow the double tap rule by shooting a near-dead champion twice to secure the kill.
Q - Piercing Light
NEWFARMCIANPiercing Light now deals 75% ⇒ 100% damage to minions
CAST RANGE550 ⇒ 500
COST60/65/70/75/80 mana ⇒ 50/55/60/65/70 mana
E - Relentless Pursuit
NEWNOW WITH MORE RELENTLESSNESSCooldown is now reduced by 1 second per Lightslinger (passive) hit, doubles against enemy champions (2 second reduction per hit, 4 seconds total for a full passive proc)
NEWNOW WITH MORE PURSUIT60/45/30/15/0 mana ⇒ 0 mana at all ranks
NEWSMOOTH SHOOTERLucian now resets his basic attack timer upon dashing
COOLDOWN18/16/14/12/10 seconds ⇒ 14/13/12/11/10 seconds
REMOVEDCULLEDRelentless Pursuit no longer resets on kill during The Culling
Nautilus
Passive - Staggering Blow
SECRET STAGGERINGFixed a bug where Nautilus' enemies could see his countdown indicator
Quinn
Some bugfixes for Quinn to give her a little more consistency in play.
E - Vault
LOOK VAL, SNACKSNow always causes Valor to immediately mark the target, even if Valor is in the process of marking another nearby enemy
PROPER FORMFixed a bug where Quinn would sometimes propel herself in the wrong direction
Rengar
This bugfix might be a significant hit to Rengar's jungling effectiveness (he was proccing Madred's Razors twice), but we'll track his performance over time.
General
A FINE COLLECTIONRengar will now correctly say a line whenever he upgrades his Bonetooth Necklace
Q - Savagery
BUGFIXFixed a bug where Savagery was triggering on-hit effects twice
Vel'Koz
Q - Plasma Fission
KNOWLEDGE THROUGH DISINTEGRATIONPlasma Fission will now split after Vel'Koz has died
Yasuo
E - Sweeping Blade
BUGFIXFixed a bug where Sweeping Blade sometimes didn't count as a spellcast for various items and champion abilities
Ziggs
Passive - Short Fuse
SHORTER FUSEFixed a bug where Satchel Charge wasn't properly reducing Short Fuse's cooldown
Items
The Bloodthirster
Bloodthirster now gives even more life steal and the shield decays slower. The max shield, however, has been reduced, and Bloodthirster's life steal is now unique (to itself).
We made Bloodthirster a bit generic when we reworked the passive to a shield, because its other stats (life steal and AD) could be nabbed via other items just as easily. These changes are to push Bloodthirster as the sustain / defense item for anyone who wants to pick up AD along the way. As an aside, the UNIQUE life steal on Bloodthirster means you can't stack BTs for +40%/+60% extra life steal, but it'll still stack with any other life steal items like Vamp Scepter, Blade of the Ruined King, Ravenous Hydra, etc.
LIFE STEAL15% ⇒ 20%
NEWUNIQUENESSLife Steal is now UNIQUE
BLOODY SHIELD50 - 440 ⇒ 50 - 350
TIME BEFORE SHIELD DECAYS15 seconds ⇒ 25 seconds
Essence Reaver
Now builds out of B.F. Sword and gives 80 attack damage. We just re-stated the changes in a sentence.
We were a little safe with Essence Reaver because there are a few champions who can get crazy strong with a mana-focused item. After seeing it in the wild, however, Essence Reaver just wasn't giving enough of a power spike for anyone building it, so we're rectifying that to make it more attractive as a pickup.
RECIPEPickaxe + Vampiric Scepter + 975 gold ⇒ B.F. Sword + Vampiric Scepter + 1050 gold
TOTAL COST2650 gold ⇒ 3400 gold
ATTACK DAMAGE60 ⇒ 80
Ardent Censer
+10 AP. Literally.
We were also pretty conservative with Ardent Censer, given its high potential as an item (attack speed for everyone!). So... we gave it more AP.
ABILITY POWER30 ⇒ 40
Manamune
Now builds out of Pickaxe instead of Longsword, costs a little more and has slightly more AD.
Making this change lets us smooth out the build path for Manamune rather than front-loading it with cheap items and then waiting a full 1000g+ to upgrade.
RECIPETear of the Goddess + Longsword + 1040 gold ⇒ Tear of the Goddess + Pickaxe + 625 gold
TOTAL COST2100 gold ⇒ 2200 gold
ATTACK DAMAGE20 ⇒ 25
Sunfire Cape
Now with sunnier fire. Or fierier sun. BOTH?!
CLARITYDamage aura visuals are now more fiery and aggressive
Summoner Spells
Exhaust
Earlier in the season, we updated the visual and sound effects of our summoner spells. We're happy with the changes, but in Exhaust's case, we think combining the fidelity of our Exhaust update with the visual impact of old Exhaust gets us the best of both worlds.
CLARITYVisuals have been updated to improve readability
Howling Abyss
REMOVEDJungle Items
The following jungle items have been removed from the Howling Abyss:
- Hunter's Machete
- Spirit Stone
- Quill Coat
- Spirit of the Ancient Golem
- Spirit of the Elder Lizard
- Spirit of the Spectral Wraith
Twisted Treeline
Fixing some bugs we found with Twisted Treeline, along with a small balance tweak for the Ichors, which are statistically very strong so we wanted to trim just a bit of their power.
Jungle Monsters
UNHEALTHY MONSTERSFixed a bug where all monsters (not just the big ones) were giving a regeneration sigil
Ichor of Rage
DURATION4 minutes ⇒ 3 minutes
Ichor of Illumination
DURATION4 minutes ⇒ 3 minutes
Spirit of the Ancient Golem
REMOVEDWARDING ACTIVEWard active ability has been removed for Twisted Treeline
NEWUNIQUE PASSIVENow has UNIQUE passive Trap Detection: Nearby stealthed enemy traps are revealed
NEWUNIQUE ACTIVENow has UNIQUE active Trap Detection: Covers a target area in a stealth-detecting mist that grants vision for 5 seconds and reveals enemies that enter it for 3 seconds (60 second cooldown)
Twisted Treeline and Crystal Scar
R - Intervention
Twisted Treeline, Crystal Scar & Howling Abyss
We're buffing Grez's Lantern to help it keep up with the other jungle items on these maps. The newly revamped Lightbringer is to give marksmen a more enticing vision-focused item on the map.
NEW Grez's Spectral Lantern
This item has been remade - we will be listing only the new stats!
REMOVEDMAPSGrez's Lantern is no longer available on Howling Abyss and Crystal Scar
RECIPEMadred's Razors + Long Sword + Dagger + 180 gold (total cost: 1765 gold)
ATTACK DAMAGE+15
ATTACK SPEED+30%
UNIQUE PASSIVENow has UNIQUE passive Maim: Basic attacks against monsters deal 50 bonus magic damage and restore 8 health
UNIQUE PASSIVEOwner now gains +30% increased gold from monsters
UNIQUE PASSIVENow has UNIQUE passive Trap Detection: Nearby stealthed enemy traps are revealed
UNIQUE ACTIVENow has UNIQUE active Trap Detection: Covers a target area in a stealth-detecting mist that grants vision for 5 seconds and reveals enemies that enter it for 3 seconds (60 second cooldown)
NEW The Lightbringer
This item has been remade - we will be listing only the new stats!
RECIPEWicked Hatchet + Cloak of Agility + 350 gold (total cost: 2280 gold)
ATTACK DAMAGE+30
CRITICAL STRIKE CHANCE+30%
CRITICAL VISIONCritical strikes now cause the target to bleed for an additional 90% of your bonus attack damage as physical damage over 3 seconds and are revealed for the duration of the bleed.
Intro Bots
Intro Bots is a new difficulty of Co-Op vs. AI designed for players brand new to League of Legends. In addition to changes to bot AI, there are a variety of tutorial-style features designed to help new players pick up some of League's basic lessons over the course of a few games. Check out our dev blog to get the full scoop on how we're approaching the onboarding experience.
- Intro is now the default level of Co-op vs. AI for new players
- Players above Summoner Level 10 will receive reduced IP/XP rewards and can't earn their First Win of the Day bonus from the Intro Bots queue
New Audio Engine
Back in 4.7, we started a multi-patch process to ship files for our new audio engine. We're happy to announce that process is now complete and the engine will be going live with 4.12! Our new audio engine brings a few immediate improvements, but more importantly will help us focus on providing a more immersive and engaging League of Legends experience moving forward. Check out our earlier post for more details!
- Made improvements to stereo imaging and panning
- Added proper support for Surround Sound
- Made subtle improvements to audio clarity
Bugfixes
- Smoothed out a few small delays when the item shop, options menu and death recap are opened for the first time in a match
- Fixed a graphical bug with start-of-game tips
- Fixed a bug that occasionally applied duo queue restrictions to queues other than ranked solo/duo
- Players who have negative LP from dodging ranked queues can no longer automatically reset their LP to 0 with a single ranked win
- Fixed a bug that occasionally caused players with low LP to be demoted when losing a ranked match that would drop them to 0 LP
- Fixed an issue with ranked teams sometimes not being promoted after winning a promo series
- Fixed an issue with players sometimes being unable to join a new ranked team after leaving another
Source - Riot Games
