LOL Patch 12.9 Preview: Reworks and Lots of New Skins

The new LOL patch 12.9 will come out strong on May 11th with two new reworks, some champion changes, and almost a dozen of new skins. Riot is planning to tone down some strong meta picks and revive two forgotten junglers with reworks; while also adding the new EDG champion skins and high noon ones.

LOL patch 12.9 preview: reworks and lots of new skins

Riot is planning to drop some serious changes for LOL patch 12.9, following the 12.7 and 12.8 update madness. Past patches have included an immense amount of changes following the start of MSI, and this patch won’t be different. However, patch 12.9 focuses on the reworks of some forgotten junglers, toning down some op picks, and introducing new skins. As such, there are not a lot of changes, but the ones made are important adjustments and exciting new inclusions.

LOL patch 12.9 champion nerfs

This patch focuses on toning down some overpowered mechanics that have dominated the stage. However, they are not game-changing adjustments (like the reworks we will speak of next); as Riot has pushed those ones to later patches to test them properly.

Pyke is set to receive nerfs after dominating solo Q mid lane with more than a 52% win rate; at last, Riot nerfs the “mid laner” with the best win rate of the game. However, it’s clear Riot doesn’t want to impact his support gameplay with these changes.

  • Q mana cost increased: 55-70 → 78-90
  • Q mana refund if interrupted increased: 50% → 75
  • New: Tap Q also slows the target
  • New: hitting a champion with Q refunds 75% mana
  • R no longer grants double gold when Pyke alone kills an enemy with it

On the other hand, Riot has noticed that some top laners are split-pushing way too easily. Yet, they have fixed their nerfs on Sion, which heavily benefits from pushing to death (and after it). Thus, they are trying to see if they will stop suiciding to get tower gold.

  • Passive now deals 50% reduced damage to towers.

Champion reworks

For patch 12.9, Riot has decided to try and bring back two forgotten junglers: Taliyah and Olaf. Currently, both champions hold less than a 2% pick rate and a pretty bad win rate; so, Riot wants to bring them back with some spicy buffs and changes in the form of a rework.

Taliyah once dominated the jungle and mid lane, but now almost no one plays her. However, these massive adjustments will mostly increase her play rate in both jungle and mid lane.

DISCLAIMER: these adjustments are subject to changes, as are still being tested on the PBE

Taliyah stats

  • Base armor decreased: 20 → 18
  • Base health decreased: 531 → 500
  • Mana regeneration per 5 seconds decreased: 9.34 +0.85/lvl → 8 +0.8/lvl
  • Base mana increased: 425 → 470

Taliyah passive

  • Out of combat movement speed increased in late game. Full movement speed gotten earlier: 20-45% (lvl1-lvl18) → 10/20/35/55% (lvl1/ lvl9/ lvl12/ lvl15)
  • Time before passive falls off after activating improved: 1s → 2.5s
  • Bug fix: Taliyah no longer loses passive permanently when spell shielded

Taliyah Q

  • New: deals damage in a 175 Aoe radius
  • Damage decreased: 70-170 (+45% AP) → 38-130 (+50% AP)
  • Extra rock hit damage reduction increased: 50% → 60%
  • Max Q damage reduced: 210-510 (+135% AP) → 98.8-338 (+130% AP)
  • Cooldown reduced: 7-3s → 6.5-2.5s
  • Mana cost reduced: 50-90 → 60-80
  • New: Q will continue to cast even if Taliyah is in stasis
  • New: worked ground Q cast is a single hit boulder which hits in an 225 Aoe radius and deals 2x damage (76-260 +100% AP) to the primary target. It also slows everything hit by 30-50% for 2s. Using Q on worked ground consumes the worked ground
  • Worked ground Q mana cost increased: 1 → 30 
  • Worked ground minimum cooldown increased: 1s → 75s
  • Radius of worked ground area increased (same on Howling Abyss): 300 → 400
  • Worked ground duration increased: 25s → 30s
  • New: Q deals 150% damage to jungle monsters, but the extra rock hit damage reduction is increased: 25% → 60%
  • Bug fix: Q worked ground now gets proper cooldown

Taliyah W

  • Damage removed
  • Delay before knock up decreased: 0.8s → 0.65s
  • Aoe radius increased: 200 → 225
  • Cooldown decreased: 16-12s → 14-8s
  • Mana cost decreased: 70-110 → 60-0

Taliyah E

  • New: mines now stun enemies that dash through them for 1s
  • Upfront damage increased: 50-150 (+40%AP) →60-240 (+60% AP)
  • Damage when disappearing removed
  • Mine detonation damage increased in late game: 50-90 (+30% AP) → 25-105 (+30%AP)
  • Damage reduction per mine hit increased: 15% → 25%
  • Max detonation damage reduced: 155-279 (+93% AP) → 62.5→262.5 (+75% AP)
  • Cooldown in late game increased: 16-8s → 16-12s
  • Number of rows increased (4 → 6), but mines per row decreased (6 → 4)
  • Mine spawn delay between rows increased: 0.1s → 0.17s
  • First row spawn time decreased: 1s → 0s
  • Field duration increased: 4s → 5s

Taliyah R

  • New: receiving damage doesn’t knock Taliyah off riding the wall
  • New: cannot cast the ability within 3s of taking damage from champions or structures
  • Increased range: 3000-6000 units → 2500 → 6500 units
  • New: moving while riding the wall causes Taliyah to dash to the location she clicked on, up to 700 range with 1200 speed. The jump-off dash is also more forgiving when trying to dash through another wall

(Video by Vandiril showcasing Taliyah’s post rework abilities)

Olaf is another of those champions that once run Ragnarok on every elo’s jungle. However, the introduction of the new season, along with the new items, hasn’t helped him much. Riot is trying to bring him back to the very top of the meta with these changes. Let’s hope the berserker comes back after LOL‘s patch 12.9 rework.

Olaf stats

  • Attack damage per level increased: 68 (+3.5/lvl)(127.5 AD at lvl18) → 68 (+4.7/lvl)(148 AD at lvl18)
  • Health per level increased: 575 (+100/lvl)(2275 at lvl18) → 575 (+105/lvl)(2360 at lvl18)
  • Mana per level increased: 316 (+42/lvl)(1030 at lvl18) → 316 (+60/lvl)(1336 at lvl18)

Olaf passive

  • Fixed to grant max attack speed when below 30% max health
  • Maximum attack speed granted now scales by level: 99% → 40-100%
  • New: now also grants a max 12-35% life steal (scales based on level), depending on Olaf’s missing health

Olaf Q

  • Damage decreased in the early game: 80/125/170/215/260 → 60/110/160/210/260
  • Minimum range increased: 300 units → 425 units
  • Mana cost decreased in the early game: 60 → 40/45/50/55/60
  • Base cooldown increased: 7s → 8s
  • Cooldown refund on axe pickup increased: 4.5s → 5s
  • New: now shreds 25/27.5/30/32.5/35% armor for 4s when hitting a champion

Olaf W

  • No longer grants life steal
  • No longer amplifies Olaf’s healing based on missing health
  • Attack speed decreased: 50/60/70/80/90% for 6s → 40/50/60/70/80% for 4 s
  • Cooldown decreased in late game; 16s → 16/14.5/13/11.5/10s
  • New: resets Olaf’s basic attack
  • New: Olaf gains 70/115/160/205/250 (+25% of missing health) as a shield for 2.5s

Olaf R

  • No longer loses the passive resistances (20/30/40 extra armor and magic resist) when R is used
  • Duration decreased: 6s → 3s
  • New: hitting a champion with a basic attack or E extends R’s duration for 2.5 extra seconds (stacks indefinitely)

Skins released

LOL patch 12.9 is going to be full of new skins, so most players will be pleased. Almost a dozen of them will be included next patch and they are pretty good ones too. 

Firstly, we have the EDward Gaming (EDG) skins. Riot releases skins commemorating the team that wins world championships every year, and this year would not be different. The Chinese team won the prestigious international trophy last year 3-2 against DAMWON Gaming, and has already selected their champions.

Graves, Viego, Zoe, Aphelios, and Yuumi EDG will hit the rift on patch 12.9

Graves, Viego, Zoe, Aphelios, and Yuumi EDG will hit the rift on patch 12.9

On the other hand, we have the big release, 6 new high noon skins. This is one of LOL’s most prolific skin lines, as it has 25 different skins released. It is also one of the most liked universes for fans, as the skins’ originality and style are quite appreciated and refreshing.

(Talon will also receive a prestige edition version of his new skin, for which we don’t have the splash art yet, video by SkinSpotlights)

All in all, this LOL patch 12.9 is full of new introductions, but what do you think of it? Do you believe the reworks will bring both junglers back to the top of the meta? Do you like the new skins? Don’t be scared to share your opinion in the comments!

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