Patch 12.6 Overview

Rilea -

After Riot took a small hiatus from updating the game, the latest patch has gone live and features a drastic reduction to the amount of healing from runes and items; let’s break the changes down.

Healing items and runes

Over the last couple of seasons, healing has become a systemic issue in the game with most champions having a plethora of options to sustain through large amounts of damage. Runes like Conqueror, Ravenous Hunter and Bloodline and items like Immortal Shieldbow, Blade of the Ruined King and Death’s Dance can be stacked to make some champions nearly unkillable. This has become a severe issue in the meta, as champions are living through fights they shouldn’t be able to and Grievous Wounds have become a mandatory purchase in most games rather than a niche counter.

Consequently, meaningful action has finally been taken as a slew of healing runes and items have been nerfed to reduce the overall amount of healing available:

  • Blade of the Ruined King - Life steal reduced to 8%, down from 10%
  • Vampiric Scepter - Life steal reduced to 8%, down from 10%

  • Immortal Shieldbow - Life steal reduced to 8%, down from 10%
  • Shield amount - 275-700 (levels 1-18), up from 275-650
  • Mythic passive - grants 5 AD and 70 bonus health per Legendary item, up from 5 AD and 50 health

  • Fleet Footwork - Healing reduced to 10-100 (levels 1-18) (+30% bonus AD) (+20% AP), down from 10-100 (+40% bonus AD) (+30% AP)

  • Legend: Bloodline - Life steal per stack reduced to 0.4% (6% when fully stacked), down from 0.6% (9% when fully stacked)
  • New effect - upon reaching max stacks, your maximum health increases by 100

These changes are primarily focused on reducing life steal so champions aren’t as deceptively sustainable during fights. The items and runes still make champions more durable, but by focusing on increasing health instead of life steal, champions can’t heal as much in the mid/late game when they’ve accumulated a lot of AD. Additionally, the durability of champions will be less deceptive.

Ravenous Hunter removed, replaced with Treasure Hunter

Ravenous Hunter was one of the most potent sources of healing, as it provided 6% Omnivamp at max stacks meaning champions would heal from basic attacks and abilities, and could be taken easily by multiple roles. Therefore, it has been removed from the game and replaced by Treasure Hunter:

  • Gain 70 gold when you claim a Bounty Hunter stack (scoring a takedown against a champion, up to one per unique champion). This bounty is increased by 20 gold for each Bounty Hunter stack.

This new rune will be great for snowballing leads, as you’ll be able to accelerate your build and use this acceleration to gain even more gold from the rune. However, it won’t be as effective in the late game once you’ve completed most of your items and gold becomes less valuable.

Hecarim, Tryndamere and Jax

Hecarim has once again risen in popularity thanks to his mobility, powerful AoE ultimate, and quick jungle clear. Consequently, he has received a couple of late game nerfs:

  • Q (Rampage) - base damage reduced to 60/90/120/15/180 (+85% bonus AD), down from 60/97/134/171/200
  • E (Devastating Charge) - minimum total damage reduced to 30/45/60/75/90 (+55% bonus AD), down from 30/50/70/90/110
  • Maximum total damage reduced to 60/90/120/150/180 (+110% bonus AD), down from 60/100/140/180/220

Tryndamere, another incredibly frustrating champion who has been running rampant in the top lane, has also been nerfed to make him less mobile and more vulnerable:

  • E (Spinning Slash) - cooldown reduction per critical strike reduced to 0.75 seconds (1.5 against champions), down from 1 second (2 seconds against champions)
  • Ultimate (Undying Rage) - cooldown increased to 130/110/90, up from 110/100/90

Finally, Jax has received a small early game buff after failing to have a meaningful impact in the meta for a while:

  • Base health increased to 615, up from 593
  • W (Empower) - magic damage increased to 50/85/120/155/190 (+60% AP), up from 40/75/110/145/180

Summary

The changes to healing runes and items will have a huge impact on the meta and may force several champions to adjust their builds. It may also have an impact on champions that would otherwise build Grievous Wounds in most games, such as enchanters with Chemtech Putrifier and mages with Morellonomicon.

-Rilea (Twitter)