League of Legends is gearing up for the introduction of a particularly quiet new update. Knowing that once Worlds 2022 begins the pros may be forgotten, Riot Games has introduced some juicier new features in the latest version of the game. end of season 12. A situation which, despite everything, did not prevent us from finding an oddity in the adjustments made to the PBE which reveal the changes of patch 12.20.
A change that does not correspond with the future of League of Legends
Having received no changes since the second patch of the season, Riot Games decided it was time to weaken the Death Tempo rune. In a change that only affects ranged champions, the developers’ decision was to reduce the extra range champions get after attacking six times in a row by 25 units.. This change is bigger than it looks, as range is one of the most sensitive stats to small changes. However, what is really strange is that it didn’t seem necessary at all.
Surprised by this fit, we decided to conduct a small, simple study. We checked which rune was the most optimal (among the most played runes) for all ADCs choosing the bot lane, except for Nilah and Yasuo. The results were quite surprising and actually confirmed that, from a game balance point of view, this decision is almost inexplicable. Of the 13 ADCs with a win rate over 50% at Platinum ranks or above, only six use Death Tempo in the majority.
The rest of the champions use Sustained Attack, Blade Flurry, or even Dark Harvest. While Death Tempo is quite effective on many characters, there are some who use it without it even being their best option. A good example is Caitlyn. She has played over 188,000 matches so far in the patch. Of these, 70% (130,868) were played with the Death Tempo rune, even though it only wins 50% of games. Things would be better if the community went for the Footwork rune, chosen in only 28% of games (52,674), but with a 51.4% win rate.
Even with exceptions like Caitlyn, Riot Games seems to unnecessarily punish a whole bunch of champions for whom Tempo Mortel is the most effective and fun rune. Now that the developer has embraced a philosophy of giving League of Legends players more freedom to choose their favorite items, it seems strange that he decided to weaken and restrict the use of a rune that wasn’t too much of a problem in terms of gameplay.
In any case, it will be necessary to keep an eye on the results of the League of Legends champions most dependent on the aforementioned key rune of the Precision branch and on the future movements of the studio. With the 2023 pre-season fast approaching, the changes might end up being justified in one way or another.
After several teasers, Riot Games has therefore officially presented the 162nd champion to join League of Legends, Discover K’Sante, a tank intended for the top lane and fierce warrior of the city of Nazumah located in the desert region of Shurima.