Winners and Losers - Patch 12.2

Now that the changes from Patch 12.2 have settled, let’s take a look at some of the patch’s biggest winners and losers.

Zeri

The Rift’s newest champion has made an explosive debut, primarily due to the potentially infinite movement speed Zeri can gain from her ultimate. We’ve also seen some new builds emerge, such as taking advantage of the non-stop Q spam with Trinity Force procs or playing Zeri mid with an AP build. However, given her unorthodox playstyle, Zeri’s learning curve is quite steep and will require a lot of practice before she can be played optimally. Once she has been mastered, she can single handedly win games as demonstrated by Team Liquid’s Yeon.

Senna

Hyper carry ADCs have dominated the meta for the last few patches after the changes to Lethal Tempo, meaning Senna has struggled to find her place. 12.2 buffed her Q massively as it now slows enemies hit by at least 20%, which has now pushed Senna into being one of the best picks on the patch. She currently has a 52% win rate as a support and a 53% win rate as an ADC, but Riot have already confirmed she will be nerfed next patch so take advantage of this potent pick while you can.

Talon

For the last few months, Talon has been a dominant pick in the jungle after receiving several buffs to his damage against monsters and using his E to quickly roam around the map. He has finally received a large nerf, as his W now deals much less damage to monsters meaning his jungle clear speed is drastically worse. This has pushed his jungle win rate down to around 48%, though he still remains a strong pick in the mid lane with a 52% win rate in Platinum ranks and above.

Janna

Janna received a mini-rework in patch 12.2, which has made her much stronger and much more viable. Though she deals less damage in lane, she provides a ton of CC and utility outside of the laning phase with quicker Qs and stronger shields. Glacial Augment is a very strong keystone and can be procced with her Q and ultimate to provides an additional form of AoE CC. The changes have increased Janna’s win rate to 53% in Platinum ranks and above, meaning she is currently one of the best supports on the patch.

-Rilea