League patch 10.12 to buff Predator & Guardian, add Rift changes, more
Riot GamesRiot has revealed an early look at some of the major changes planned for Patch 10.12 – including changes to runes & Elemental Rifts, defensive ADC buffs, and more.
With the long-awaited bot-lane changes finally scheduled for the 10.11 patch, Mark ‘Scruffy’ Yetter, lead gameplay designer for League of Legends revealed that they still had some more tweaks in mind for the ADC role.
Along with even more buffs to marksman champions, Riot previewed many other changes that fans can expect to see in patch 10.12 such as tweaks to the Runes, Elemental Rift, and Summoner Spells.
Riot GamesElemental Rift, Rune & Summoner Spell changes in Patch 10.12
In the latest ‘Quick Gameplay Thoughts’ blog on May 15, Riot revealed that Elemental Rifts would be receiving some significant changes in the upcoming patch to “enhance their gameplay possibilities.”
They added that, while they were cautious to make major changes to the new feature, both the Infernal and Cloud Rift would be improved, including new pathing possibilities and speed buffs in the jungle, which could increase the mid/late game tempo.
It was also shared that some of the weaker runes would be receiving buffs in the next patch, with massive improvements to Predator and Guardian planned as well as minor runes like Unflinching and Approach Velocity.
There is only one summoner spell that is being looked at for the 10.12 patch; Ghost, and while it is not often seen in-game, Riot is still looking at different ways to make it more viable against the usual choices, with an idea to remove the “ramp up” being considered.
Predator’s reduced cooldown and cast time will likely make it a solid choice for ganking junglers after the 10.12 patch.
Defensive ADC buffs in Patch 10.12
Zeal items for ADCs will be receiving significant attack speed buffs in the next update, however, LoL devs feel as if there is a little more needed to help balance the bot lane role and have more buffs in store for the following 10.12 patch.
While ADCs are known for dealing high damage, their lack of survivability can be troubling for many bot lane mains, and Riot has shared some of the defensive buffs planned to make the role a little bit easier.
The 10.12 buffs will see a slight increase in movement speed on ADC items and for base HP overall, however, Scruffy later added that many of the marksman champs that can already be flexed into solo lanes would not be receiving these buffs, with Lucian, Vayne, Kalista and possibly Tristana, who is also being considered, all missing out.
Current plan for marksman base hp buffs is that they will apply to all bot laners except Lucian, Kalista, and Vayne.
Those three will get different changes that are more scaling focused to avoid the risk of them skewing solo lanes.
— Mark Yetter (@MarkYetter) May 15, 2020
As many of these defensive changes are already in the testing phase, Riot also revealed that they could possibly be seen in the 10.11 patch if they can be balanced in time.
League of Legends Patch 10.12 is expected to arrive on Wednesday, June 10. You can find the full patch preview below.
League of Legends Patch 10.12 preview notes
Elemental Rift Changes
Infernal Rift – Destruction of walls opens new pathing, doubling down on this idea.
- Additional Blast Cones spawn in the jungle and alcoves
Cloud Rift – Whirlwinds in the jungle enhance speed and rotations
- Additional Scryers Blooms spawn in the jungle
- Wind speed areas now have increased effect for champions out of combat
Runes and Summoner Spells for 10.12
Keystone Runes
- Guardian – the goal here is to ease up the usability of this rune significantly by making the area that you can protect allies much larger. Additionally, we’re changing the trigger from “any damage” to a significant burst of damage so that you have fewer cases where it triggers on tiny chip damage.
- Predator – Overall we’re simplifying and removing some restrictions like the long channel time, reducing the cooldown significantly and lowering the damage. The end result we hope is that this remains a strong option for ganking junglers, but also can find use with top fighters and supports.
Minor Runes – We’re looking to tune and tweak a handful of minor runes.
- Unflinching – Simplifying to a more available tenacity option. 10% tenacity increased to 30% at low health.
- Approach Velocity – Removing the ally element which hasn’t delivered on the intended core idea for CC heavy champs to capitalize on their picks. New direction – movement speed towards CCed enemies, doubled when the CC is applied by yourself.
Ghost – Ghost overall seems like a weak summoner, so we’re taking the opportunity to buff it but also look for ways to improve its satisfaction and differentiation from other summoners. We’re still iterating on this, but currently changes like removing the “ramp up” are on the table.
Defensive ADC Buffs
- Base HP +30 (across bot lane marksmen)
- HP per level +2
- Zeal MS: 5% >>> 7%
- PD MS: 5% >>> 7%
- RFC MS: 5% >>> 7%
- Shiv MS: 5% >>> 7%
- Hurricane MS: 7% >>> 9%