League of Legends Patch 12.12 nerfs Bel’Veth and Zeri; buffs Amumu and Heimerdinger

Another League of Legends (LoL) patch dropped on Thursday (23 June) and we’re already bracing for a couple of champion and item adjustments.

For one, the newest menace in the jungle, Bel’Veth, is getting nerfed one patch after her release, along with the once again too powerful bot laner Zeri.

We’re also seeing some buffs on tankier champions like Amumu and Yorick to help them catch up with the flurry of changes in the game since the Durability update, including the most recent update on Grievous Wounds in 12.11.

If you’re confused about what’s changed on the Summoner’s Rift for patch 12.12, read up on the changes and what it means for champions affected.

Champion Buffs

Amumu

The Sad Mummy has a 49.33% win rate and a 1.5% pick rate, and some buffs will hopefully help him become more popular on Summoner's Rift.

His Q's mana cost dropped, allowing him to cycle his abilities more frequently, while Curse of the Sad Mummy's damage was buffed.

This will strengthen Amumu's ganks and some players may try an AP Amumu build, though the effectivity of the build in question is not yet clear, of course.

Bandage Toss (Q)

Mana cost: 70 > 30/35/40/45/50

Curse of the Sad Mummy (R)

Damage: 150/250/300 > 200/300/400

Annie

Pets on the Summoner’s Rift haven't been adjusted since the Durability Update and this makes them squishier than usual, so Annie’s Tibbers gets some love to catch up with everyone else.

Watch out, because it’s quite a hefty buff that includes an increase in HP, armour, and magic resist.

On top of that, Annie’s AP ratio has increased.

Incinerate (Q)

AP ratio: 75% >80%

Summon: Tibbers (R)

Tibbers health: 1200/2100/3000 > 1300/2200/3100

Tibbers armour and magic resist: 30/50/70 > 30/60/90

Blitzcrank

Blitzcrank missed the buff list among the tanks last time, but he needed a bit of an adjustment to help catch up with the Durability Update.

Given that, the increase in damage for his Q and his R is quite significant, so we’re expecting he might top the support tier list pretty soon again.

Rocket Grab (Q)

Damage: 90/140/190/240/290 >105/155/205/255/305

Static Field (R)

Damage: 250/375/500 >275/400/525

Heimerdinger

Heimerdinger hasn't been on the buff list in a while, and his 0.5% pick rate is dismal.

The durability change helped him as he used to be easily burst down by other champions, but it didn't boost the Revered Inventor's popularity. Hopefully, these buffs will attract more players.

His turrets' health and damage have been increased, with the damage scaling pretty significantly in the late game.

Heimerdinger's E cooldown will also be lowered by one second, improving his teamfight abilities.

H-28 G Evolution Turret (Q)

Turret health: 150-575 >175-700

Turret base damage: 6/9/12/15/18 > 7/11/15/19/23

CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade (E)

Cooldown: 12 seconds >11 seconds

Ivern

Ivern also needed a buff to help him on solo queue.

The way he’s played on competitive play and solo queue are quite different — while Ivern in competitive play relies on the utility and shields that he provides with Daisy, solo queue focuses on damage instead.

Because Ivern can't 1v1 with Daisy, who wasn't impacted by 12.10, this has become an issue after the patch.

Passive base health and base mana costs have been reduced, and his shield has been increased, in order to aid solo queue.

Daisy gets a little love, too, with a boost in health and resistance to magic. In team fights, all of these will let Ivern live longer while still being balanced.

Passive: Friend of the Forest

Base Health Cost: 23% > 20%

Base Mana Cost: 34.5% > 30%

Triggerseed (E)

Shield: 70/100/130/160/190 > 80/115/150/185/220

Daisy! (R)

Daisy health: 1250/2500/3750 > 1300/2600/3900

Daily armour and magic resist: 15/52.5/90 > 20/60/100

Jarvan IV

The Heir Apparent to Demacia's throne received buffs to his mana per level and passive cooldown.

This enables him to spew higher physical damage later, when everyone's durability is high, making him more relevant later on.

Base stats

Mana per level: 40 >55

Passive: Martial Cadence

Cooldown: 6 seconds >6/5/4/3 seconds (levels 1/6/11/16)

Seraphine

Seraphine's E cooldown is lowered to 10 seconds, but her cc duration is increased by 0.5 seconds. We don't believe these modest upgrades will affect her much.

Beat Drop (E)

Cooldown: 11/10.5/10/9.5/9 seconds > 10 seconds

CC duration: 1 second >1.5 seconds

Yorick

Yorick's minions and Maiden received buffs. The Mist Walkers' health increased, which means they'll live longer on Summoner's Rift and land more auto-attacks. Maiden also gains health but loses 400 chase range.

But are these buffs to Yorick sufficient? Probably not, since there's a lot more to fix to help this champion.

Passive: Shepherd of Souls

Mist Walker health: 100-185 (+15% Yorick’s health) > 110-212 (+20% Yorick’s health)

Mist Walker move speed: 300 >325

Eulogy of the Isles (R)

Maiden health: 300/1000/3000 (+70% Yorick’s health) > 350/1100/3300 (+75% Yorick’s health)

Maiden chase range on E: 1600 >1200

Champion Nerfs

Bel’Veth

Bel'Veth's win rate is significantly better than other champions at 55% at low elo and 50% at elite play.

Lead Game Designer August Browning even said these rates were rising daily. Her attack range, health regen, passive, and void surge are being nerfed so she doesn't devour everything in her path.

A little tip: If you're having trouble with Bel'Veth in-game, shut her down early and don't let her scale so she's less frightening later on.

Base stats

Attack range: 125 > 175

Health regen: 8.5 > 7

Health regen per level: 0.85 > 0.7

Passive: Death in Lavender

Value of stacks: 0.25-1.25% attack speed (level 1-18) > 0.28-1% attack speed (level 1-13)

Can now gain stacks off large minions

Void Surge (Q)

Fixed a bug where Void Surge would case Endless Banquet’s true damage on-hit to deal double damage

Dr Mundo

The Madman of Zaun goes where he pleases too much on low MMR, so he received nerfs on his passive and his ultimate.

On top of the decrease in health regen from his passive, the base health increase from his ult is lower across levels, which will make it easier for top laners to deal with in the early game.

Passive: Goes Where He Pleases

Health regeneration: 1-2% > 0.8-1.6%

Maximum Dosage (R)

Base health increase: 10/15/20% missing health > 8/11.25/15% missing health

Fiora

This formidable duelist received some modest nerfs on her passive, but she’ll still thrive, especially in the early game. In the later game though, this tiny nerf will help other champions against her, but not by much.

Passive: Duelist’s Dance

Maximum health true damage: 3% (+5.5% bonus AD) > 2% (+5.5 bonus AD)

Janna

Janna has been one of the strongest champions since her rework got released in January, and these nerfs given to her are negligible since she’s still going to be really strong.

Some players on low MMR solo queue, however, may need to adjust a bit with these changes.

Zephyr (W)

Movement speed bonus: 6/7.5/9/10.5/12% > 6/7/8/9/10%

Slow: 24/28/32/36/40% > 20/24/28/32/36%

Eye of the Storm (E)

Shield: 75/100/125/150/175 (+60% AP) > 65/90/115/140/165 (+55% AP)

Lucian

Lucian’s base attack damage will decrease along with his Q’s damage, which is the first skill that players often max out first.

These nerfs will be more punishing if he misses his Q. Hopefully, this helps relieve a bit of pressure in the bot lane, especially with the popular Lucian-Nami combo.

Base stats

Attack damage: 62 > 60

Piercing Light (Q)

Damage: 95/130/165/200/235 > 95/125/155/185/215

Singed

The nerfs on Singed are an attempt to slow him down in the late game, but he’s still going to be formiddable unless some items that usually make his build strong in the mid and top lane are nerfed.

Mega Adhesive (W)

Slow: 60% > 50/55/50/65/70%

Insanity Potion (R)

Base stats increase: 30/60/90 > 20/60/100

Viego

Viego is pretty strong in both pro play and solo queue, so he’s getting some nerfs.

His passive’s heal has decreased, along with his ult’s bonus damage based on missing health’s scaling.

On top of that, Viego loses some utility from his W. This may not mean much in competitive play, but we suspect that low MMR solo queue win rates will drop.

Passive: Sovereign’s Domination

Heal on possession: 2.5% of target’s max health > 2% of target’s max health

Spectral Maw (W)

No longer instantly puts Viiego on stealth mode

Heartbreaker (R)

Bonus damage: 15/20/25% missing health > 12/16/20% missing health

Zeri

Looks like the devs haven’t found that sweet spot for Zeri, since she’s getting some nerfs once again after her mini-rework last patch skyrocketed her from D tier to S+ tier.

Zeri's base health regen has increased a bit but the regen growth has decreased.

Her W’s AD has decreased significantly, however. We’re crossing our fingers that she’ll be relevant enough to stay in the meta without outplaying all other champions.

Base stats

Health regen: 3.25 > 4.5

Health regen growth: 0.55 > 0.7

Ultrashock Laser (W)

Damage: 10/45/80/115/150 (+150% AD) (+70% AP) > 20/55/90/125/160 (+130% AD)(+60% AP)

Champion Adjustment

Katarina

The Noxian assassin’s adjustments are done (because of Divine Sunderer) to encourage a different build, specifically the on-hit Katarina build. Her AD ratio has decreased while her on-hit damage has increased.

Passive: Voracity

Dagger bonus AD ratio: 75% > 65%

Shunpo (E)

Damage: 15/30/45/60/75 (+50% AD) > 20/35/50/65/80 (+40% AD)

Death Lotus (R)

Bonus AD ratio: 16% + 12.8% per attack > 16% + 16% per attack

On-hit ratio per dagger: 25/30/35% > 28/33/38%

Shaco

Bruiser builds of Shaco have been rising in popularity. But with his def stats going down while his AD and AP ratios are going up, this encourages more of an assassin build, which is high risk, high reward.

At first glance, I think he’ll be a bit of a headache to deal with in the jungle, and I’m not looking forward to that.

Base stats

Armor growth: 4.7 > 4

Health growth: 103 > 99

Deceive (Q)

AD ratio: 25% > 40%

Jack In The Box (W)

AP ratio: 9% > 12%

Two-Shiv Poison (E)

AP ratio: 50% > 60%

AD ratio: 70% > 75%

Soraka

Soraka’s been performing exceptionally well for quite some time, so Riot has given adjustments to her R’s healing, which has increased, but it no longer removes Grievous Wounds. Early game Soraka will be more oppressive with her heals.

Wish (R)

Healing: 125/200/275 > 150/250/350

No longer removes Grievous Wounds

Yuumi

One of the most hated champions in-game is receiving adjustments that will increase her shields but decrease her heals.

This should force Yuumi mains to take more risks, meaning that she’d have to jump on and off her ally once in a while for some auto-attacks, so players won’t just ride along as a buff… while drinking coffee or doing something else entirely.

Passive: Bop ‘n’ Block

Shield: 56-360 > 60-380

Zoomies! (E)

Heal: 70/100/130/160/190 > 70/90/110/130/150

Which of these changes are you happy about? For full details on patch 12.12, check here.

Since there’s so many changes in the past three patches, we’ll be helping you figure out which champions are best at each role on the map next week. Keep an eye out!

Anna is a freelance writer and photographer. She is a gamer who loves RPGs and platformers, and is a League of Legends geek. She's also a food enthusiast who loves a good cup of black coffee.

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