It’s that time of the year when the dead begin restlessly roaming the lands of Runeterra to find and eradicate every sign of life standing in their way. This means that we can once again get our hands on Halloween-exclusive skins like Zombie Brand and Bewitching Nidalee in League of Legends. But that’s not all we are getting with Patch 12.20 since there are more than enough loose ends Riot Games needed to address like the repeatedly dominant performances from Aatrox and Maokai that have been breaking records for the most picked champions during Worlds 2022, and the most flexed champions at Worlds, respectively.
Other than well-deserved nerfs to Maokai and Aatrox, Patch 12.20 brought tons of buffs to champions like Jayce, Rammus, Elise, and Evelynn, who haven’t been a part of this versatile meta for a while. The balancing team has also been tampering with the meta items like Frozen Heart and Demonic Embrace that—to put it mildly—have been in a strong spot for several patches now on both ranged and melee champions.
So, let’s see which champions you should definitely pick or skip from now on if you want to secure that sweet, sweet LP.
Winners of Patch 12.20
Although Patch 12.20 has brought a whole series of buffs to forgotten champions like Elise and Evelynn, not many of these buffs will have a whole lot of impact on the current state of the meta since these champions will need more buffs to become once again relevant. Rammus and Jayce have, on the other hand, benefited handsomely from these buffs.
The balancing team increased the mana restoration on Jayce’s Lightning Field, meaning he’ll spend more time poking you down in both the laning phase and mid to late game. On top of that, Jayce’s Transform Mercury Hammer now gives him regular bonus armor and magic resist, and additional stats based upon 7.5 percent of his bonus AD. Thanks to these buffs, the lane Jayce will easily become a menace that simply can’t lose.
After years and years of having self-slow on his Defensive Ball Curl, Rammus is finally a free armadillo that can easily run your AD carry down. Besides that, his ultimate, Roaring Slam, also got some love since the dash speed is now increased to 110 percent. Since Rammus has already been in a strong spot as a tank jungler, these buffs will definitely skyrocket his win rate and help him find those couple of kills that have always been running away from him with five HP.
Lastly, the Sterak Gage buffs have been slowly stacking over the past months, and with these final buffs that will give bruisers and juggernauts more base AD and a bigger shield once procced, there’s no doubt the item is coming back to meta.
Related: League of Legends Patch 12.20: Full notes and updates
The honorable mentions of this patch are Akshan and Blitzcrank. Thanks to Riot allowing Akshan to spin around structures infinitely, Akshan will have an easier time in the top lane and mid lane kiting bruisers and assassins with only gap-closing ability.
Blitzcrank was lucky enough to receive more buffs with Patch 12.20, although Riot had already buffed him with the previous patch. Since the balancing team wasn’t happy with the results of jungle Blitzcrank, he received more buffs for the jungle role, so we’ll probably see jungle Blitzcrank rise in priority.
Losers of Patch 12.20
Patch 12.20 hit Maokai and Aatrox with a couple of nerfs. Although these nerfs will have a minor impact on their early game, they will still remain the powerhouses of top lane and jungle. The only losers of Patch 12.20 will be Demonic Embrace ranged users and Frozen Heart Abusers.
Even though the Demonic Embrace nerfs were initially targeting the creeping damage of tanks like Zac, Amumu, and Udyr, who oftentimes rush this item, only ranged users like Morgana, Malzahar, Vel’Koz, and Lilia will actually suffer from these nerfs since they reduced burn damage per tick only for ranged users.
Finally, Frozen Heart will become a more expensive item for 200 gold. Besides, Rock Solid Damage Reduction is getting hit, meaning champions like Nasus can’t rush it anymore but should rather build it as a second or third option.
