Advertisement

League of Legends Patch 12.11: Bel’Veth arrives, Zeri reworked

Composite image of League of Legend champions affected by the Durability Update. (Photo: Riot Games)
League of Legends patch 12.11 brings sweeping changes after the Durability Update, including the arrival of a new champion in Bel'Veth and a rework for Zeri. (Photo: Riot Games)

Riot Games is following up the huge durability update in patch 12.10 that changed the League of Legends (LoL) status quo last month with balance-focused tweaks in the recently-released patch 12.11.

In addition, the latest update also features the release of the game's newest champion, Bel'Veth, as well as a mini rework for Zeri.

Associate Game Designer Tim “Truexy” Liang emphasized in his tweet that they’re "not trying to revert all damage changes.”

He also said that the durability update was successful in lowering the “general burst in the game” but that “some champions should be able to threaten burst kills”.

The nerfs were also meant for late-game scalers that benefited much more from the higher base stats.

There's a lot to unpack in patch 12.11, so let's start with breaking down the changes to champions:

Bel’Veth arrives on the Summoner’s Rift

Illustration of Bel'Veth from League of Legends. (Photo: Riot Games)
The Void Empress is here and she's frightening. (Photo: Riot Games)

Runeterra’s deadliest threat yet is coming to the Summoner’s Rift and, unlike our other new champions released this year, she’s pure evil.

Bel’veth, the Empress of the Void, was previewed to players two weeks ago in the “All that Ever Will Be” cinematic and now she’s ready to wreak havoc in the jungle.

And as revealed in Bel’Veth’s ability kit from the Public Beta Environment late last month, her attack speed isn't capped.

This may make it hard for champions to escape her grasp, especially if she is able to snowball. To learn more about how her kit works, check here.

Zeri gets a mini-rework

Illustration of Zeri with Ocean Song skin. (Photo: Riot Games)
Zeri is getting a rework, along with a pretty Ocean Song skin. (Photo: Riot Games)

The Spark of Zaun dropped to the bottom of the champion tier list and even disappeared from the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2022 metagame due to multiple nerfs to her overpowered kit.

With the durability update hitting last month, Zeri needed a boost to bring her back to relevance.

This slightly addresses her movement speed issue in the past that makes it so hard to counter her. Adding back damage and crit will help her finish off kills in the game more.

If Zeri mains used to build for her movement speed, it’s best to shift to more damage or crit items like Essence Reaver.

Champion Buffs

Composite image of the fourteen Champions that were buffed in 12.11, including, Aphelios, Caitlyn, Gragas, Irelia, Lee Sin, Nunu & Willump, Ryze, Samira, Sylas, Tahm Kench, Taric, Tryndamere, and Xin Zhao. (Photo: Riot Games)
Fourteen Champions were buffed in 12.11, including, Aphelios, Caitlyn, Gragas, Irelia, Lee Sin, Nunu & Willump, Ryze, Samira, Sylas, Tahm Kench, Taric, Tryndamere, and Xin Zhao. (Photo: Riot Games)

Aphelios

While Aphelios is a favourite in pro play, he’s not really performing too well in lower ranks — probably because his kit is quite complex.

To help him out a little, the attack speed from his passive has increased among other buffs. While these changes may help him a little, Kraken Slayer nerfs will hit his build too, so we’ve yet to see if this will have enough of a dent.

Caitlyn

The Piltover Enforcer is a sure winner in 12.11.

Buffs to her Q will allow her to better dominate the laning phase and help her scale nicely in the late game. The damage from her E can make it easier for her to outplay her opponents in the bottom lane.

Gragas

Some minor buffs were given to Gragas.

Both his Q and his E will have lower cooldowns, making it easier for him to spam these skills, and the AP Ratio for his Barrel roll is also up by 10%, and hopefully, will help him keep up better in team fights.

Irelia

Irelia’s buffs are looking pretty good, and will most likely bump her current champion tier up by a level. One of her core items, Blade of the Ruined King, will get buffed too.

But with her other core item, Death’s Dance, getting nerfed on the same patch on top of the difficulty of playing her kit, we’ll have to see how Irelia will fare across solo queue.

With that said, she may do better in the mid lane.

Lee Sin

Lee Sin is another one of those champions that are popular in pro play but is just C-tier in solo queue.

The buffs on his kit aren’t that significant, and with a nerf on Death’s Dance on the way, we don’t think he’ll drastically improve.

Nunu & Willump

Nunu & Willump’s AP in their Q is getting bumped up by 20%.

This buff doesn’t look too significant, but since some of his usual items like Sunfire Aegis are getting buffed, this will help them be stronger on the Rift.

Rakan

Rakan’s buffs are quite significant, especially with his Q’s healing jumping up by more than 10 points per level, and the cooldown of his E and the cost of his E decreasing pretty decently too.

Add to that the buff on his E’s Base shield, Rakan can potentially be one of the strongest tank support picks after the Durability update.

Ryze

Players have long asked Riot to give Ryze some love, and while they kind of did by decreasing the mana cost of Spell Flux and increasing his AP, it’s not enough.

What Ryze needs is a full rework that will update his old kit, although Ryze experts may find more winnability with this champion, who currently has the lowest win rate in the game.

Samira

Samira’s buffs are pretty straightforward with her base attack growth damage increasing, and her Q’s AD ratio increasing by 5% as well, and will slightly help her keep up with the durability updates.

Sylas

Sylas hasn’t been feeling as Unshackled as he should be since the Durability update. Some buffs on his W and E are warranted, especially with the decreased cooldown

Tahm Kench

Buffs to Tahm Kench will go very well with the Durability updates from 12.10 and will be a scaling, tanky monster in the late game.

His passive’s on-hit damage received a slight buff, while his Q’s base heal and his ult’s shield have jumped quite significantly.

The Kench’s abilities in the late game will come in clutch when protecting his team’s carries.

Taric

Taric mains are rejoicing because the Shield of Valoran is getting great buffs to his Q and his E. This will help him be a more viable champion.

His Q and E will be easier to spam, and the .25 second difference on his E’s stun can come in handy when his teammates are landing skills.

This makes him quite an attractive support pick.

Tryndamere

The Barbarian King’s buffs to Q will feel pretty nice as it gives him more sustainability. With his ult’s cooldown decreasing as well, he can have some more unkillable moments.

This will help Tryndamere's gameplay a lot and make him a good pick, depending on the team’s draft and depending on the situation.

Xin Zhao

The Seneschal of Demacia is getting a significant buff on his passive, which will make him last longer in team fights, and while dealing more damage with his W getting buffed significantly.

Champion Nerfs

Composite image of the 11 champions that got some nerfs in 12.11 including Brand, Gwen, Kog'maw, Lillia, Senna, Master Yi, Rengar, Swain, Taliyah, Veigar, and Wukong. (Photo: Riot Games)
Eleven Champions get some nerfs in 12.11 including Brand, Gwen, Kog'maw, Lillia, Senna, Master Yi, Rengar, Swain, Taliyah, Veigar, and Wukong. (Photo: Riot Games)

Brand

Since the durability update, Brand has been setting the mid lane ablaze and countering him seemed almost impossible.

His passive’s burn and detonate per cent max health damage has been decreased.

Gwen

Gwen was MSI 2022’s fourth top pick with an 87.01% pick ban rate, dominating the tournament with a 66.67% win rate.

12.10 kept her in a good place in solo queue, due to her high resilience, mobility and damage.

The devs are snipping away some of her ability to easily spam her W with longer cooldowns especially in the late game, to prevent her from cutting through her enemies like paper in prolonged team fights.

Changes on her E done in 12.7 are also being reverted.

Kog’Maw

Another champion who seems to have benefited much from 12.10 is LoL's resident void puppy, shooting up to second place in the bot lane on solo queue.

With his voracious maw chewing through his enemies too much, the devs pulled back his Q’s Armour and Magic Resist shred, and passive bonus attack speed, as well his W’s per cent max health damage.

But with Lethal tempo’s nerf getting cancelled last minute before 12.11’s release, we think he’ll still be a force to reckon with.

Lillia

Lillia is another one of those champions who got indirectly buffed in 12.10 because of the health increase.

Her base health is going down by 25, although the scheduled nerf to her passive damage seems to have been cancelled for this patch.

Master Yi

Our Wuju Bladesman has been a patch favourite both on LoL and LoL: Wild Rift, hasn’t he? A tanky assassin like Master Yi can be quite a nightmare, especially with both durability and true damage getting buffed in 12.10.

The devs have done tweaks to his base stats and his E so he doesn’t overpower other champions too much. Do you think we’ll see him on the list again on 12.12 or 12.13?

Rengar

Rengar mains have been complaining about the Big Kitty in the first quarter of the year.

While they seem to be having the time of their life since his rework came out, lethality and fighter Rengars have been leaping through the Rift even more since 12.10. His base health has been nerfed and the cooldown for his ultimate has increased as well.

Since adjustments on some Lethality items have been postponed, so his lethality build might still persist. Players may need to experiment more after this patch to see which items would suit Rengar more.

Senna

I’m not sure what the devs mean by Senna being too strong since the Durability Update, since she’s been strong even before 12.10. They’ve released a hotfix for her in 10.10b to try to pull back some of her power.

For 12.11, while they’re nerfing the slow in her kit and with one of her usual items Umbral Glaive getting nerfed as well, the massive buff on her Passive’s Mist Wraith drop rate will keep her win rate pretty stable, especially as an ADC.

Swain

Swain received a hotfix in 12.10b when a bug prevented him from ranking up his ultimate, but apart from that, he’s been quite the bully in the top lane, but has also been "quickly rising to power in every lane".

He’s getting nerfs across the board, with the nerfs focused on pulling back top lane and mid lane Swain. His Passive healing has been decreased, as well as the magic damage from his W.

The healing per tick from Demonic Ascension has also been decreased. And with nerfs for Liandries already up this patch, the Noxian General will be less overwhelming, but probably still be a pretty good pick.

Taliyah

The Stoneweaver has been rocking the Summoner’s Rift since her rework, and she’s been dominating since 12.10.

While there was a hotfix to pull back her strength in 12.10b, in 12.11, the devs are introducing some "Elite-skewed nerfs that should erode some of her powers", with her Q, E and her R taking a hit.

Some bug fixes were done for her kit too.

Veigar

With a bit more durability, Veigar has become a headache once again, so decreasing access to his E only makes sense.

This means that he won’t be able to spam the skill as often, allowing for more counterplay in team fights.

Wukong

Another favourite at the 2022 MSI was Wukong in the jungle lane, ranking third overall.

He has a 96.1% pick/ban rate in the tournament with a 65.4% win rate. And 12.10 "pushed him over the edge", so his jungle clear speed and his early mobility have been nerfed.

These changes look pretty small, but with Death’s Dance nerfed, Wukong mains may feel a decrease in the Monkey God’s power.

Patch 12.11 is a lengthy patch, so we’ll be covering the item changes and how they’ll affect your champion builds another time. For detailed notes and values from Patch 12.11, check here.

Anna is a freelance writer and photographer. She is a gamer who loves RPGs and platformers, and is a League of Legends geek. She's also a food enthusiast who loves a good cup of black coffee.

For more gaming news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooGamingSEA. Also follow us on Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube, and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page!