Lux and LDR buffs highlight patch 12,23 hotfix

Riot have their hands full at the moment, trying to balance out the preseason as much as they can before Christmas. While the upcoming 12,24 patch should be the last one for 2022, their latest hotfix aims to lower the burden.

Mid-patch update

With the massive buffs he received on patch 12,23 Mundo is now completely over the top. He was decent before in both the top lane and jungle role. But reaching a 55% win rate with a 10% pick rate and ban rate, has forced Riot’s hand to include him in this hotfix update. With it he is losing health regeneration and his Q and E abilities now cost him a lot more health. His ultimate ability has a longer cooldown now, going from 110 to 120 seconds at all ranks.

Remember that one-shot Udyr build we recommended you guys tried out? Well, Riot have caught onto it and are now nerfing most of the damage numbers on his Q ability. The rest of his abilities are getting lower mana costs in exchange for this nerf, but his ultimate ability will now also do less damage. 

Champion buffs/ adjustments

Lux is one of Riot’s favorite characters, that’s why she has the most skins in the game. 17 skins might be enough reasons for casual players to pick her up. But she doesn’t help those interested in the ranked grind as you go up in ranks. She has been forced out of the mid-lane with newer and flashier champions taking over. Even Syndra is now a safer mid-lane pick after her rework, which Riot is scared to give to Lux. That’s why they are buffing the AP ratios on her E and R ability, hoping for a return to her former glory. 

Nilah on the other hand is downright busted, especially if you and your support know how to play with her. Assassin ADCs have had a great time recently since nobody can kill tanks anymore. In our bot lane preseason meta guide, we mentioned that Samira is a solid pick. Nilah falls under the same umbrella as an all-in engage ADC. A 54% win rate with a 10% ban rate shows that only a few players can find a way to deal with her.

That’s why Riot is lowering the base damage on her Q ability. Instead they are increasing the bonus damage on it scaling with Critical Chance. Her Q ability will also heal her for 5% more than previously but her ultimate ability will now do less damage over time.  The healing on her ultimate ability is also increased and now scales with critical chance. Which is kinda scary considering she rushes Shieldbow and Bloodthirster.

Champion nerfs 12,23B patch hotfix

Lilia’s change of classification from a range to a melee champion has helped her a ton these past few weeks. She was a strong candidate for our preseason jungle meta guide. But Riot nerfed every single champion we recommended on 12,23, it’s Lilia’s turn now. Her Q ability will now do less magic and true damage and her passive is also receiving a slap on the wrist. Her balancing has been a thorn in Riot’s sight for a long time. These small changes should take her down from the 54% win rate she holds as of now.

Janna’s passive will now give her less movement speed and her E ability will now also give less attack damage. This should help tune her down a bit. She has been contesting Nami as the best support champion this preseason. Zed is another victim of Riot’s tendencies to make an item broken and nerf the champions abusing it. Instead of admitting their mistake and fixing the item. Yes, First Strike Zed is a great pick for the mid lane this preseason. But it’s mostly due to Ravenous Hydra being overpowered. His Q and E abilities will now do less flat damage. On top of this his E will also have a longer cooldown by one second. Rammus’s W ability will now have a longer cooldown and give him less resistances but he should still be a solid pick.

Item changes on 12.23

Tiamat and Ravenous Hydra have been repeated offenders for the past few patches, and hopefully, this nerf brings them in line. The Cleave damage on both items is being reduced, for both ranged and melee champions. Ranged champions will now do 20% of their total AD instead of the previous 25, and mele champions are taking a hit of 10%, from 50 down to 40%. Also dying will now result in losing 60% of the Ravenous Hydra stacks, which is more than the previous 50%. This builds upon the removal of omnivamp that this item received on the previous patch. Hopefully is enough to stop Fiora from dominating our preseason top lane meta.

Jak’sho has also been overperforming, not just on tanks but on bruisers as well. That’s why it’s getting a 100 gold price increase and it will grant 2 armor and magic resist per stack, instead of the previous 3. The green jungle item has been dominating the role since preseason rolled around, and the shield it gives is now lower by 15-70 at all levels. Stormrazor has been one of the forgotten items in the game since the Mythic item update, so it’s receiving a 5 AD buff to make it more appealing. The main change of this patch is the help ADC are receiving in fighting tanks. Lord Dominik’s Regards wil now give up to 25% more damage if the target has 2500 health more than the user. This is up from the 15% and 200 health it used to be before, which makes fighting tanks with 7000 health much easier.

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