Here’s where we’ll explain everything that’s changing and being added with League of Legends Patch 12.9.
LoL Patch 12.9 is on its way to live servers after the usual two weeks testing period. A look at its patch notes reveals its release date alongside the addition of new skins from the EDG and High Noon lines.
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 12.9 release date was set for Wednesday, May 11, which is when the changes that make it through testing hit live servers.
League of Legends Patch 12.9
On the PBE, players could try out the following 11 new skins: EDG Aphelios (1350 RP), EDG Graves (1350 RP), EDG Viego (1350 RP), EDG Yuumi (1350 RP), EDG Zoe (1350 RP), High Noon Katarina (1350 RP), High Noon Leona (1820 RP), High Noon Mordekaiser (1350 RP) High Noon Talon (1350 RP), High Noon Talon Prestige Edition, and High Noon Varus (1350 RP).
The LoL 12.9 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.
Taliyah is on track to receive a mid-scope update in LoL Patch 12.9, receiving nerfs to burst damage, various usability improvements, and more. Olaf is also scheduled to receive a similar update unless plans change.
The first League of Legends patch 12.9 balance changes, as spotted by Surrender at 20, target Pyke and Sion.
League 12.9’s patch preview has now been shared, revealing upcoming buffs for champions like Varus and Hecarim while the likes of Ahri and Rengar are in line to be nerfed. Here are the full patch notes.
LoL 12.9 Champion Balance Changes
Ahri - Nerfed
Charm (E):
- Cololdown increased to 14 seconds from 12 seconds
Spirit Rush (R):
- Cololdown increased to 140/115/90 seconds from 130/105/80 seconds
Braum - Buffed
Concussive Blows (Passive):
- Per-target cooldown decreased to 8/6/4 seconds seconds from 8/7/6 seconds
Unbreakable (E):
- Damage reduction increased to 35/40/45/50/55% from 30/32.5/35/37.5/40%
Hecarim - Buffed
Rampage (Q):
- Physical damage increased to 60/90/120/150/180 (+90% bonus AD) from 60/90/120/150/180 (+85% bonus AD)
Spirit of Dread (W):
- Cooldown decreased to 14 from 18 seconds
Master Yi - Nerfed
Highlander (R):
- Bonus attack speed decreased to 25/35/45% from 25/45/65%
Nidalee - Nerfed
Stats:
- Base HP decreased to 540 from 570
Olaf - Changed
Stats:
- AD growth increased to 4.7 from 3.5
- AD at level 18 increased to 148 from 127.5
- Health growth increased to 105 from 100
- Mana growth increased to 50 from 42
Berserker Rage (Passive):
- Maximum attack speed granted changed to 40-100% (levels 1-18) from 99%
- New: Berserker’s Rage now provides 10-30% life steal (levels 1-18), based on Olaf’s missing health
- Bonuses now max out at 30% Health
Undertow (Q):
- Cooldown increased to 9 seconds from 7 seconds
- Damage decreased to 60/110/160/210/260 from 80/125/170/215/260
- Minimum range increased to 425 units from 300
- Mana cost changed to 40/45/50/55/60 from 60 at all ranks
- Picking up axes now fully refunds Q - Undertow's cooldown, but axes can only be thrown a maximum of once every 3 seconds. (Note: The 3 second limit scales with Ability Haste.)
- Included a quality of life buff to Olaf’s Q - Undertow so that it now grants ghosting more consistently to jungle monsters who he hits or are near him when Q is cast
Tough it Out (W):
- Changed name to Tough It Out from Vicious Strikes
- Cooldown changed to 16/14.5/13/11.5/10 seconds from 16 seconds at all ranks
- Attack speed decreased to 40/50/60/70/80% from 50/60/70/80/90%
- Ability duration decreased to 4 seconds from 6 seconds
- New: Now resets Olaf’s basic attack timer
- New: On activation Olaf now gains a 10/45/80/115/150 (+25% missing health, capped at 30% of his current HP) shield for 2.5 seconds
- No longer grants Life Steal
- No longer amplifies Olaf’s healing based on missing health
Ragnarok (R):
- Bonus attack damage changed to 10/20/30 (+25% AD) from 15/20/25 (+30% AD)
- Duration decreased to 3 seconds from 6 seconds
- Passive resists decreased to 10/25/40 from 20/30/40
- Ragnarok's passive bonus resistances are no longer lost for the duration of the ability
- New: Hitting a champion with a basic attack or E - Reckless Swing extends the duration of Ragnarok to 2.5 seconds. Olaf can refresh Ragnarok indefinitely.
Pyke - Changed
Gift of the Drowned Ones (Passive):
- Damage converted to grey health when near two or more enemies increased to 45% (+0.5% per Lethality) from 40% (+0.5% per Lethality)
Bone Skewer (Q):
- New: Bone Skewer now refunds mana upon hitting an enemy champion
- Mana cost increased to 74/78/82/86/90 from 50/55/60/65/70
- Mana Refund increased to 75% from 50%
Death From Below (R):
- Cooldown decreased to 100/85/70 seconds seconds from 120/120/100 seconds
- Pyke no longer receives “Your Cut” gold upon successfully executing enemy champions with his R (last assisting ally will still receive “Your Cut”)
- Pyke no longer receives additional “Your Cut” gold when allies kill enemies within Death From Below’s execution area
Renata Glasc - Changed
Stats:
- Base armor decreased to 27 from 29
Leverage (Passive):
- Marked damage changed to 1-2% (levels 1-9) (+2% per 100 AP) (damage against unmarked targets unchanged) from 1-3.5% (levels 1-13) (+1% per 100 AP)
Renekton - Changed
Stats:
- Health growth increased to 97 from 92
- AD growth increased to 4.15 from 3.75
- AD at level 18 increased to 139.55 from 132.75</ul>
Ruthless Predator (W):
- Total physical damage increased to 10/40/70/100/130 (+75% AD) from10/30/50/70/90 (+75% AD)
- Total physical damage when Empowered increased to 15/60/105/150/195 (+75% AD) from 15/45/75/105/135 (+75% AD)
- Cooldown changed to 16/14/12/10/8 seconds from 13/12/11/10/9 seconds
Dominus (R):
- Magic damage per second increased to 50/100/150 (+10% AP) from 40/80/120 (+10% AP)
Rengar - Nerfed
Battle Roar (W):
- Bonus monster damage decreased to 65-130 from 85-150
Shyvanna - Changed
Burnout (W):
- New: The area of effect zone from Shyvana’s E - Flame Breath now applies marks to enemies that enter the zone.
Sion - Nerfed
Glory in Death (Passive):
- New: Now does 40% reduced damage to structures while in his reanimated frenzy form (includes runes and items)
Taliyah - Changed
Stats:
- Base health decreased to 500 from 531
- Base health regen decreased to 7 from 6.5
- Health regen growth decreased to 0.65 from 0.7
- Base mana decreased to 425 from 470
- Base mana regen decreased to 8 from 9.34
- Mana regen growth decreased to 0.8 from 0.85
- Base armor decreased to 18 from 20
- Move speed decreased to 330 from 335
Rock Surfing (Passive):
- Out of combat bonus move speed decreased to 10/20/35/55% (levels 1/9/12/15) from 20-45% (levels 1-18)
- Fall off time when not near terrain increased to 2.5 seconds from 1 second
Threaded Volley (Q):
- Mana cost increased to 60/65/70/75/80 from 50/60/70/80/90
- Cooldown decreased to 6.5/5.5/4.5/3.5/2.5 seconds from 7/6/5/4/3 seconds
- 1-Rock damage changed to 38/61/84/107/130 (+50% AP) from 70/95/120/145/170 (+45% AP)
- Damage reduction from subsequent stone shards increased to 60% from 50%
- 5-Rock damage decreased to 98.8/158.6/218.4/278.2/338 (+130% AP) from 210/285/360/435/510 (+135% AP)
- Damage reduction from subsequent stone shards against monsters increased to 60% from 25%
- New: Each Stone Shard now deals an additional 30 (+10% AP) damage against monsters
- New: Stone Shards now deal damage in a 175 radius area of effect (approximately 1.6 Teemos)
- New: Now continues to cast while Taliyah is in Stasis
- New: Casting on Worked Ground now consumes the Worked Ground to fire a single Boulder that deals double damage 76/122/168/214/260 (+100% AP) and slows all targets hit in a 225 AoE radius by 30/35/40/45/50% for 2 seconds
- Mana cost on Worked Ground increased to 20 from 1
- Minimum cooldown on Worked Ground decreased to 0.75 seconds from 1 second
- Worked Ground duration increased to 30 seconds from 25 seconds
- Worked Ground radius increased to 400 from 300
- The size of Worked Ground on Howling Abyss now matches Summoner’s Rift
- Casts on Worked Ground now has new VFX, SFX, animation, and icon!
Sesmic Shove (W):
- Mana cost decreased to 40/30/20/10/0 from 70/80/90/100/110
- Cooldown decreased to 14/12.5/11/9.5/8 seconds from 16/15/14/13/12 seconds
- Knock Up radius increased to 225 from 200
- Time delay before knock up decreased to 0.75 seconds from 0.8 seconds
- Seismic Shove no longer deals damage
Unraveled Earth (E):
- Cooldown changed to 16/15/14/13/12 seconds from 16/14/12/10/8 seconds
- Damage on initial cast increased to 60/105/150/195/240 (+60% AP) from 50/75/100/125/150 (+40% AP)
- Slow strength changed to 20/22/24/26/28% (AP ratio removed) from 20% (+4% AP)
- Boulder detonation damage changed to 25/45/65/85/105 (+30% AP) from 50/60/70/80/90 (+30% AP)
- Damage reduction per subsequent boulder hit increased to 25% from 15%
- Maximum boulder detonation damage decreased to 62.5/112.5/162.5/212.5/262.5 (+75% AP) from 155/186/217/248/279 (+93% AP)
- Delay between casting and spawning first row of boulders decreaseded to 0 seconds from 0.1 seconds
- Delay between spawning rows of boulders after the first row increased 0.17 seconds from 0.1 seconds
- Now spawns 6 rows of boulders extending outwards from Taliyah with 4 boulders per row (previously spawned 4 rows of boulders with 6 boulders per row)
- New: Boulders now stun enemies that dash through them for the duration of the dash + 0.6/0.7/0.8/0.9/1 seconds. (Note: the max stun duration is 2 seconds and monsters are always stunned for the max duration).
- No longer detonates to deal additional damage after 4 seconds
Weaver's Wall (R):
- Range changed to 2500/4500/6500 from 3000/4500/6000
- Dash range when jumping off wall increased to 700 from 400
- Dash speed when jumping off wall to 1200 from 1000
- Moving Taliyah while she is riding the Weaver’s Wall now causes Taliyah to dash to the location clicked, up to the maximum dash range instead of dropping her perpendicular to the wall.
- Dashing when jumping off of the wall is now more forgiving when trying to dash through terrain
- New: Damage from enemy champions or structures now prevents Taliyah from casting R - Weaver’s Wall for 3 seconds
- Taking damage no longer knocks Taliyah off her wall
Thresh - Buffed
Damnation (Passive):
- AP & Armor per soul increased to 1 from 0.75
Dark Passage (W):
- Shield increased to 60/90/120/150/180 (+2 per Soul) from 60/90/120/150/180 (+1 per Soul)
Varus - Changed
Living Vengeance (Passive):
- Bonus attack speed on non-champion kills increased to 10/15/20% (+20% bonus Attack Speed) from 10/15/20% (+15% bonus Attack Speed)
- Bonus attack speed on champion kills increased to 40% (+40% bonus Attack Speed) from 40% (+30% bonus Attack Speed)
Blighted Quiver (W):
- On-hit bonus magic damage increased to 7/12/17/22/27 (+30% AP) from 7/10.5/14/17.5/21 (+30% AP)
LoL 12.9 Item Balance Changes
- Champion bonus resists while hunting alone (Melee) changed to 10 (levels 1-11), then 20/35/43/51/59/67/75 (levels 12-18) from 20-60 (levels 1-18)
- Champion bonus resists while hunting alone changed to 5 (levels 1-11), then 10/17.5/21.5/25.5/29.5/33.5/37.5 (levels 12-18) from (Ranged) 10-30 (levels 1-18)
- Now only attacks deal 20% bonus damage against structures
LoL 12.9 Bugfixes & QoL Changes
- Fixed a bug where Swain’s old ability descriptions were displaying in the Champion Details Page
- Fixed a bug where Swain could reactivate his E - Nevermove to pull enemies closer to him even if they had cleansed the Root effect
- Fixed a bug where Rengar could still deal damage with his Q - Savagery when blinded by Teemo’s Q - Blinding Dart
- Fixed a bug where Chaos (Red) side inhibitors would display blue icons when selected
- Fixed a bug where Kayle’s movement and attack VO lines were not playing correctly while Ascended
- Fixed a bug where Elise’s W - Volatile Spiderling was ignoring Baron and not exploding
- Fixed a bug where Nocturne’s R - Paranoia VO line would play louder than intended if players had visibility of more than 1 champion affected by nearsightedness
- Fixed a bug where Black Belt Udyr’s Bear Stance was not displaying the correct visual textures
- Fixed a bug where Irelia would only receive stacks of her Passive - Ionian Fervor for Champions hit when hitting Champions and minions/monsters simultaneously
- Fixed a bug where Lillia was not receiving the correct among of healing from her Passive - Laden Bough
- Fixed a bug where the sound effects for Ashe’s W - Volley would stop playing if it was leveled up to Rank 2 on-cast
- Fixed a bug where Gangplank’s R- Cannon Barrage would cancel allies’ auto attacks if it was upgraded with Raise Morale
- Fixed a bug where Ekko’s Q - Timewinder tooltip was displaying the incorrect AP ratio
- Fixed a bug where the damage from Janna’s Q - Howling Gale was not correctly factoring in the ability’s base AP ratio
- Fixed a bug where Wukong’s E - Nimbus Strike into Q - Crushing Blow combo would fail to stack Conqueror
- Fixed a bug where Turrets would prioritize and target enemies damaged by Kog’Maw’s Passive - Icathian Surprise
- Fixed a bug where Master Yi’s Q - Alpha Strike sound effects would sometimes be audible to the enemy team in the Fog of War
- Fixed a bug where Shaco’s Passive - Backstab was sometimes audible to the enemy team from the Fog of War
- Fixed a bug where Aphelios’ gun swapping and ability sound effects would sometimes be audible from the Fog of War
- Fixed a bug where the sound of Scuttle’s shield breaking would play through the Fog of War
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