/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/55236863/Yasuo.0.jpg)
Riot just released the notes for Patch 7.12 and we are here to let you know what’s most important from this pretty huge update.
With patch 7.11 making changes to toplaners and trying to get in some final tweaks on the mid-season update, Patch 7.12 is all about the items with sweeping changes to everything supports build as well as some minor changes to bring the two standout Doran’s items -- Shield and Ring -- into line with their fellow starting items. Meanwhile, we also get some exciting out of game changes to things like Summoner Level and a newly revamped Honor System as well as some of the best skins Riot has ever released.
For a full list of the 7.12 changes, check out our post here.
1. Doran’s items are getting nerfed
The age of Doran’s Shield has once again come to an end after one of its most dominant times in the meta ever. Anytime it’s best for AD Carries to start defensive items something may be a little off in the balance department, a fact Riot quickly realized with Doran’s Shield being the best start in just about every lane as long as you weren’t a mage. So, in an attempt to curb the item’s power a little bit, Riot upped its price to 450 gold from 400 allowing the purchase of only one potion and making the shield a little less cost effective.
Meanwhile, in toplane, Doran’s Ring also received a nerf that should mean no more triple stacking on tanks in the early game. Now the ring’s passive — which returned mana on minion kills — will be unique meaning that a champion with more than one Doran’s Ring, top’s most popular strategy in the current meta, will only see the benefits of this passive from one of the rings instead of all of them.
2. The VS. event is starting soon
Riot has hinted at a new event coming soon. The VS. event will allow players to fight for the side of Chaos or Order, each represented by the new Nightbringer Yasuo and Dawnbringer Riven skins. The patch notes mention event-exclusive missions that players will be able to take on. Could these be the in-game quests that Riot has talked about before? Completing quests will award the players with tokens that can be forged into “event-only loot.” What does all that mean? Who knows. All of these mysteries will be revealed over the course of 7.12.
3. The honor system is getting a buff in OCE
After some teasing late last month, Riot is updating League’s extremely outdated honor system. This new honor system, straight out of Overwatch, will prompt players to honor their teammates at the end of every single game. This will contribute to a new honor level that can grant you all sorts of fun new goodies from key fragments to special Twitch and Warwick skins. For a full explainer on the new honor system, check this post out.
4. All the support items are changing
If you have played support this season you know that all you really need is a Redemption and a Locket of the Iron Solari on just about any support and you were good for the rest of the game. Well, with Patch 7.12 that is no longer the case, thanks to changes to just about every support item in the game. Headlining these changes are tweaks to Redemption and Locket themselves which make them better for Enchanter supports and tank supports respectively.
These two changes coupled with changes to items like Zeke’s Harbinger — now called Zeke’s Convergence — and the new damage friendly Athene’s Unholy Grail, support should be a little more fun to itemize after Patch 7.12!
5. Leveling a new account just got smoother
Riot has made some minor adjustments to the new player experience. Instead of increasing the experience required to level at specific intervals (mainly at levels 5, 10 and 20), the experience required will increase by a little bit every level. However, the actual time required to level a new account to 30 has been reduced, if only “very slightly.” Time to get a new friend (or your smurf) caught up!