Hello Summoner, the LoL Patch 11.23 brought new and beautiful changes to the game. So as to make all the information readily available to you, we will examine the significant changes one at a time. The first change we will cover is the one made to the Rune system.
Riot reworked a couple of Runes, added a new one, and removed another. The New Runes for League of Legends Season 12 promise loads of fun and action throughout every match. While these changes went live for the Preseason, the balance team continues to monitor and balance them.
We have got reworks for Lethal Tempo and Glacial Augment, the removal of Omnistone: Prototype, and the addition of First Strike.
New Runes for League of Legends Season 12 – Reworks
Like I mentioned earlier, Lethal Tempo and Glacial Augment got reworked. These runes were a bit underperforming compared to others and needed the change.
Lethal Tempo
This rune exists under the Precision Rune Tree and has gained popularity amongst Marksmen in League of Legends. However, it started falling behind other runes like Hail of Blades (HoB) because it just couldn’t offer as much benefit.
Champions like Jinx, Kalista, and Ashe enjoyed using Lethal Tempo but had to change to HoB. The reason is that they needed to trade and skirmish effectively early in the game. Lethal Tempo was underwhelming in this regard, and HoB shines in skirmishes.
Previous Lethal Tempo Effect
“After 1.5 seconds upon damaging an enemy champion, you gain bonus attack speed, and your attack speed cap is increased for 3 seconds. Attacking a champion while the effect is active extends the duration to 6 seconds.”
For the above description, you will notice that this rune shines in extended fights in the late game. However, games have become more skirmish-oriented especially, since teams needed to battle for Drakes. As a result of this factor, Marksmen who previously picked this rune had to look for more beneficial effects elsewhere.
The Balance Team had to find a way to bring Lethal Tempo back from being forgotten, hence the rework.
New Lethal Tempo Effect
“Gain (15% for melee/5% for ranged) attack speed for 6 seconds when striking at least one enemy champion with each auto-attack. This effect stacks up to 6 times. While this effect is at its cap, also gain (50 for melee/100 for ranged) attack range and increase your attack speed cap from 2.5 to 10.”
The reworked effect for this rune now adds extra attack range to the usual attack speed it grants. This effect now helps champions who benefit from auto-attacks perform better at all game stages. Another good advantage for the rune is that it retains its late-game performance.
Glacial Augment
You will find this under the Inspiration Rune Tree, and it was the second most picked rune in this category (behind Unsealed Spellbook). While you might not come across this rune often, champions like Senna and Veigar enjoyed using it.
The whole Inspiration Rune Tree has always been the least picked compared to other rune trees. However, the Balance Team decided to help the rune become more popular among players. This decision is why we now have one rework, one removal, and an addition.
Previous Glacial Augment Effect
“Basic attacks on-hit periodically slow enemy champions.”
“Slowing an enemy champion with an item active creates a frozen line that slows all enemies within.”
The previous effects allow champions with delayed crowd control to slow down targets enough to lock them down. For example, Veigar’s E and Senna’s W. However, beyond this impact, the rune was useless to almost every other champion in the game.
New Glacial Augment Effects
“Immobilizing an enemy champion will cause three glacial rays to emanate from them towards you and other nearby champions, creating frozen lines for a few seconds that slow enemies for 35% (+5% per 10% heal and shield power) (+2% per 100 AP) (+2% per 100 bonus AD) and reduce their damage by 15% against your allies (not including yourself). The frozen lines last for 3 (+100% of the final duration of the immobilizing effect) seconds.”
With its new passive effect, the rune has become helpful for a wider range of champions. Any champion with crowd control can utilize this rune for efficient setups for allies. The rune has become an offensive choice for engaging support champions asides from Aftershock.
New Runes for League of Legends Season 12 – New Rune
After removing the Omnistone: Prototype rune, we now have a new rune replacing it. Let us examine the First Strike rune.
First Strike
First Strike (Passive): Basic attacks or abilities against an enemy champion within 0.25 seconds of entering champion combat grants 5 gold and First Strike for 3 seconds, causing you to deal 10% extra damage against champions, and granting 100% (70% for ranged champions) of bonus damage dealt as gold. 25-15 second cooldown (levels 1-18).
Not Second Strike: If an enemy strikes you first, First Strike still goes on cooldown without providing any of its bonuses. (Unlike Banshee’s Veil, subsequent damage won’t keep restarting the cooldown).
Champions who can poke or jump on an opponent stand to benefit the most from this rune. This feature is why assassins like Rengar, Teemo, and Talon have found a good use for this rune. Bruisers like Jayce and Pantheon have also started picking it, while you will sometimes find it on poke supports.
Conclusion
Now, you understand all the changes to the runes for season 12. I hope you can employ these changes to enjoy the game better. Do not forget that the SenpAI LoL Desktop App can pick these runes for you at the right time.
Stay tuned for the New Dragons for League of Legends Season 12.
Thanks for reading!
