Here’s where we’ll explain everything that’s changing and being added with League of Legends Patch 12.6.
LoL Patch 12.6 has now concluded its stay on the PBE and arrived on live servers. A look at its patch notes reveals its release date alongside the addition of a set of new Anima Squad skins.
Accompanying them is the Ashen Knight Pyke skin, that heralds the game’s mythic content overhaul, whose Mythic Essence currency replaces Gemstones and Prestige Points.
Riot Games pushes out regular updates for its popular MOBA, which is why its patch schedule is necessary to keep track of when the next one’s due out. The LoL Patch 12.6 release date was set for Wednesday, March 30, which is when the changes that make it through testing hit live servers.
League of Legends Patch 12.6
On the PBE, players could try out the following seven new skins, including six from the Anima Squad skins: Ashen Knight Pyke (100 ME), Battle Bat Vayne (1350 RP), Battle Cat Jinx (1350 RP), Battle Cat Jinx Prestige Edition, Battle Bunny Miss Fortune (1820 RP), Battle Bunny Prime Riven, and Battle Wolf Sylas.
The LoL 12.6 maintenance schedule is always revealed closer to launch. Usually, it takes about 3 hours for patches to be deployed across different regions. Checking our League of Legends Server Status article is a good way to keep yourself informed on server downtime caused by patch deployment or other reasons.
League of Legends 12.6’s mythic content overhaul is quite significant for dedicated players who regularly hunt down the MOBA’s more special skins. You can read about it in depth over on the game’s website and check out a handful of updated Prestige Edition skins coming back in this video.
Before the developer shared any official list of upcoming League 12.6 balance changes, website Surrender at 20 has spotted several targeting both items and runes.
The first official changes coming in League of Legends patch 12.6 target Rengar and Zeri, both receiving tweaks to multiple skills.
A number of Swain adjustments were also detailed and added to the League 12.6 PBE. His passive no longer dealt magic damage, while the cooldowns of both his Q and R spells were reduced.
A few days later, developer Riot Games decided to pull Swain’s planned changes from the PBE, because they didn’t exactly hit the mark. They’re currently being reevaluated but there’s no word on when they might return for testing.
The League of Legends 12.6 patch preview was also shared, and it looks like buffs are on the way for the likes of Azir and Darius while Hecarim and Tryndamere are bound to receive a number of nerfs.
LoL 12.6 Champion Balance Changes
Azir - Buffed
Stats:
- Base health increased to 105 from 92
- Health at level 18 increased to 2337 from 2116
Darius - Buffed
Noxian Guillotine (R):
- Minumum true damage increased to 125/250/375 (+75% bonus AD) from 100/200/300 (+75% bonus AD)
Hecarim - Nerfed
Rampage (Q):
- Base damage decreased to 60/90/120/150/180 (+85% bonus AD) from 60/97/134/171/208 (+85% bonus AD)
Devastating Charge (E):
- Minimum total damage decreased to 30/45/60/75/90 (+55% bonus AD) from 30/50/70/90/110 (+55% bonus AD)
- Maximum total damage decreased to 60/90/120/150/180 (+110% bonus AD) from 60/100/140/180/220 (+110% bonus AD)
Illaoi - Changed
Leap of Faith (R):
- Now casts with Illaoi facing toward your cursor, allowing for more favorable Tentacle spawn locations
Bugfixes:
- When Illaoi attacks a Vessel while empowered by W - Harsh Lesson, nearby inactive Tentacles will now slam her target as soon as they become active (short delay removed)
- Spell queueing has been added to W - Harsh Lesson and R - Leap of Faith, so you can now buffer other spells while casting them
- W - Harsh Lesson's visual indicators have been fixed and will show the correct range of her empowered basic attacks
- Tentacles can no longer spawn on either team's base gates on Summoner's Rift
- Vessels no longer contribute to Illaoi's creep score when they expire or are destroyed
- Q - Tentacle Smash and E - Test of Spirit will now be visible to nearby enemy champions when cast from Fog of War
Jax - Buffed
Stats:
- Base health increased to 615 from 593
Empower (W):
- Magic damage increased to 50/85/120/155/190 (+60% AP) from 40/75/110/145/180 (+60% AP)
Nidalee - Buffed
Bushwack (W):
- Mana cost decreased to 30/35/40/45/50 from 40/45/50/55/60
Primal Surge (E):
- Mana cost decreased to 50/55/60/65/70 from 50/60/70/89/90
- Cast range increased to 900 from 600 (now matches W - Bushwhack)
Cougar Form - Pounce (W):
- AoE damage radius increased to 250 from 225
Rengar - Changed
Unseen Predator (Passive):
- Rengar's next leap will grant 1 Ferocity upon losing all Ferocity stacks (no matter how much Ferocity he gains before his next leap)
- Rengar will be able to leap after 0.35 seconds in brush or camouflage (or Senna's E - Curse of the Black Mist camouflage) consistently, rather than based on a 0.3-0.45 second timer (Leap range has been slightly increased to offset variability)
- New: Rengar now has a Ferocity resource bar that indicates how much Ferocity he currently has (Stacks generated by leaps will have a different color so you'll know if you'll gain Ferocity on your next leap)
- All Ferocity stack falloff time changed to 10 seconds out of combat from 8 seconds
- Bonetooth Necklace takedown timer changed to 3 seconds of damaging an enemy champion from within 1.5 seconds
Savagery (Q):
- New: Empowered basic attack is now always a critical strike. Instead of regular critical strike damage, each 1% critical strike chance increases this empowered attack's damage by 0.66% (0.99% with Infinity Edge's Perfection passive)
- Now also applies to basic attacks against towers
- No longer applies to basic attacks against plants
Bola Strike (E):
- Can be thrown instantly (with zero cast time) during leaps
- New: Now grants true sight and normal vision 150 units around the first enemy hit for 2 seconds
Thrill of the Hunt (R):
- Now grants not only true sight, but also normal vision 100 units around the nearest enemy
Tryndamere - Nerfed
Spinning Slash (E):
- Cooldown reduction per critical strike decreased to 0.75 seconds (1.5 seconds against champions) from 1 second (2 seconds against champions)
Undying Rage (R):
- Cooldown increased to 130/110/90 seconds from 110/100/90 seconds
LoL 12.6 Item Balance Changes
Blade of the Ruined King
- Life Steal decreased to 8% from 10%
Immortal Shieldbow
- Lifesteal decreased to 8% (12% ⇒ 10% for Ornn Masterwork item, Bloodward) from 10%
- Mythic Passive empowerment changed to 5 bonus AD and 70 health (same applies to Bloodward) from 5 bonus AD and 50 bonus health
Vampiric Scepter
- Lifesteal decreased to 8% from 10%
LoL 12.6 Rune Balance Changes
Ravenous Hunter (D4)
- Removed
Treasure Hunter (D4)
- New: Gain 70 gold when you claim a Bounty Hunter stack. This bounty is increased by 20 gold for each Bounty Hunter stack.
Fleet Footwork (Precision Keystone)
- Healing upon fully energized attack decreased to 10-100 (levels 1-18) (+30% bonus AD) (+20% AP) from 10-100 (levels 1-18) (+40% bonus AD) (+30% AP)
Legend: Bloodline (P3)
- Lifesteal per legend stack decreased to 0.4% (up to 6% at 15 stacks) from 0.6% (up to 9% at 15 stacks)
- After reaching maximum Legend stacks, your maximum health increases by 100
LoL 12.6 Bugfixes/QoL Changes
- Fixed a bug where Janna's W - Zephyr range had incorrectly reverted to edge-to-edge. It has been restored and now casts from center-to-center, and its range indicator has also been fixed (Note: This issue had considerable impact on Janna's 12.5 winrates, so we expect this to be somewhat of a nerf)
- Fixed a bug where, if Tahm Kench R - Devoured an allied Senna while she was inside her E - Curse of the Black Mist, both champions would disappear from enemies' view
- Fixed a bug where Lux's E - Lucent Singularity projectile would proc spell shields on all enemies it passes through, even though the projectile itself doesn't deal damage or cc
- Fixed a bug where, if a ward was placed on top of an existing ward, the new one would start dancing moving randomly around the older one
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