In League of Legends , Riot Games has now outlined update 12.6, which is set to arrive on the live servers on March 30. The patch will tackle one of the biggest issues currently plaguing League of Legends: healing is too strong, especially through lifesteal. There will be nerfs for many items. A popular rune will be completely removed from LoL.
What is a current issue in LoL’s meta? LoL expert Doublelift already explained in October 2021 what the meta problem in League of Legends is:
- There is too much healing in LoL
- Because there is so much healing, champs need to deal an extreme amount of damage for anyone to be able to secure a kill
- This leads to players “falling from 100 to 0 very quickly,” but also recovering from “almost 0 to 100 very fast” – it’s like health bar ping-pong
According to Doublelift, this “ridiculous healing,” particularly from lifesteal items, defines the meta of LoL.
How is Riot Games addressing this in patch 12.6? Riot has introduced a whole series of nerfs for powerful lifesteal items.
- Lifesteal is consistently reduced from 10% to 8% on many items, including Vampire Scepter, Shieldbow, and Bork.
- For the “Blood-Thirster,” an iconic weapon, lifesteal will drop from 20% to 15%.
LoL removes strong rune with omnivamp
This is probably the most important change: A problematic rune is being completely removed from the game by Riot Games. The rune “Ravenous Hunter” grants the player 6% omnivamp at 5 stacks. Omnivamp is a particularly strong form of lifesteal.
As Dotesports knows, the rune was so strong that it was used by many players.
Instead, a rune is set to be introduced that promises gold when you take down an opposing champion for the first time.
Tanks with a lot of lifesteal should not deal a lot of damage as well
This is what Riot says about the changes: On reddit , an LoL developer explains the change:
- In general, there should be a cost to equipping strong “sustain” items, meaning the ability to survive longer and heal back up.
- Those who can deal a lot of damage must be prepared to fall quickly as well.
- Those who want to play as a tank with a lot of lifesteal should not also be able to deal a lot of damage.
The changes brought by the patch should be seen as a “re-evaluation” of the value of “sustain.”
How are the changes being received? The general direction of the change is well-received, as healing in LoL is viewed critically overall. The ability to fully heal from a wave of minions through enormous lifesteal is seen as a problem by some.
However, some users say: the changes mainly affect ADCs, but they are not the problem, rather tanks with high health pools.
Right now, the patch is only on the test server, so several changes may still occur before it goes live at the end of March.
One champion illustrates the current problem of LoL well:
A champion in LoL is so strong in 2022 that they were banned in every single match in Korea
