Patch 12.10 Meta Preview
League of Legends’ latest durability update (patch 12.10) has completely changed the way the game is played. This update will change the meta and it had impact within everything, including: teamfights, early game, laning, and champion pick priority. We’ll be going over all the changes made, and how this update has put an impact on every role within the game. It is important to recapitulate that when talking about roles, the discussion will be focused towards lanes themselves (top, mid, bot, jungle and support).
Before any discussion is done, please do keep in mind that all of this is simply based on the initial impression of the patch. 12.10 has been out for a day and League of Legends bets players are still experimenting with what works and what doesn’t. Thus, topics mentioned here can change thanks to players finding interesting interactions later on.
It has been a long time since a patch had this kind of impact within the game’s meta. Let’s remember that keeping up-to-date and understanding the changes that come with a new patch is very important if you are a league of legends betting fan because it helps you predict which teams will benefit the most, so let’s get to it!
Top Lane Champions & Meta
When it comes to the top lane, there is a vast array of changes as shielding and healing have been significantly nerfed overall. This has impacted certain early game abusive champions such as Tryndamere, Sion, Shen, Mordekaiser and Renekton. All of these are able to take early game trades without much consequences thanks to their healing or shielding.
Amongst the previously mentioned, Tryndamere especially feels weak right now as he had already been nerfed before and this update further damaged his kit. His most staple trading pattern was directly nerfed, as he can no longer focus on hard trading and then healing with his Q Bloodlust.
However, this also means champions like Ornn will now feel even stronger as the changes to durability make him even more tanky in the early game, while still having enough waveclear to survive dives. Nevertheless, bruisers like Gwen, Irelia and Camille, who rely a lot on having stable early games, will now be able to lane much more safely as champions like Graves and Tryndamere have received hard hits to their playstyle.
While the passive healing of Gwen and Irelia and the shield from Camille’s has been nerfed as well thanks to the patch, these champions have enough passive or active abilities that compensate for their lack of sustainability in the early game, as they can scale extremely well towards the end-game.
Jungle Champions & Meta
Jungle is probably the one role that feels least impacted amongst all the other lanes. The increase in champion durability means champions such as Vi, Lee Sin, Nocturne and others will now have a much easier time clearing their camps (as less total HP will be consumed).
Champions like Viego and Fiddlestick got their passive healing reduced, but it will not have much impact on early game farming as they have enough aoe damage to compensate. The change that jungle champions will need to get used to is ganking.
Since the latest update makes champions even tankier, early game junglers will have a much more difficult time diving under towers. Apart from that, tower damage has been increased as well, which means junglers will need to be decisive on when to gank and whom to dive on.
The chances of finding enemies at low health are less consistent now, therefore junglers will now have to focus more towards scaling for teamfights and gathering objectives in order to escalate their lanes properly.
Champions such as Wukong will be safer now as his passive along with the durability changes will make him a team fighting juggernaut.
Mid Lane Champions & Meta
When it comes to the mid lane, the changes have been quite rash. This latest update has practically killed assassins and burst champions. Highly popular picks like LeBlanc and Vex are now facing champions that are able to easily sustain their first couple of levels in the early game, as their burst damage has been negated by a high margin.
Players who love to play Katarina/Akali/Leblanc in Challenger elo now have to either compensate or change their mains directly. Thus, this leads to the statement on what it means in relation to the overall midlane meta. As mentioned before, assassins are out of the question, however scaling tank killer champions such as Azir, Viktor, and Yasuo will fight their way back into the meta once again.
Certain “assassins” within the meta will be able to survive thanks to having enough crowd control or setup for their teammates. For example, champions like Ahri/Diana/Lissandra are able to remain prevalent thanks to their overall teamfight proficiency. Lastly, do keep an eye on tanky mid laners such as Galio, who received tremendous buffs and also is prioritized often in professional play, so teams picking him in the 12.10 patch will skew the lol bets in their favor.
Bot Lane Champions & Meta
This is the role that has most likely benefited the most from the champion durability update in League of Legends’ newest patch. This is because, up until this point of the game’s cycles, ADCs had often been viewed as the weakest role due to survivability issues.
No matter how much an ADC farmed or killed, they would always get one-shotted by any assassin with low-quality items or even levels behind. Outside of that, ADCs always had to be aware of the threat of getting constantly dove by junglers who would ultimately farm them and make their laning phase miserable, as sadly most junglers like Graves, Lee Sin, and Viego were able to oneshot most ADCs in the previous meta.
However, after patch 12.10, ADCs can now farm much more safely and their impact in the game is much higher thanks to this, as they are able to scale better into the mid game. Considering burst assassins are kind of hard to play at this point, it means that bot lane players have a much higher scope for skill expression.
Champions such as Vayne, Kog’maw, Twitch, Jinx and others will be able to have a lot of impact in the game from now onwards. The previously mentioned champions depend on a one or 2 item power spike to be online, now it is easier to achieve these goals if the player is patient within the laning phase.
Support Champions & Meta
Coming to the support role, there are both positives and negatives that players should be aware of in this patch. Firstly, reduced healing does impact often seen supports in solo queue such as Lulu, Yuumi and Soraka. It will make their presence a bit weaker, though still effective in end game scenarios when paired with the ADCs mentioned above (thanks to their scaling).
Nevertheless, the durability changes mean that enchanter supports will now feel also much safer and will be able to be more aggressive against the prominent engaging supports such as Leona or Nautilus. Therefore, players should feel more confident with champions like Rakan,Lux,and Karma. As thankfully the possibility of getting one shotted is rather bleak compared to previous patches.
Now that we have talked about the overall impact within each lane, we are able to further improve and notice what’s best to play in the meta. Let’s talk about possible champions that will help you further push within the solo queue ranks.
Solo Queue Ranked Tips
Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold players will have an easier time against smurfs. Focus on keeping your champion pool related to the 12.10 changes, for example low elo team fighting champions such as Ornn, Rell, Viktor, Jinx, and Wukong. These champions will have a huge impact within the game as most of them will have easily available engaging tools, with minimum skill expression needed.
Platinum and Diamond players can look forward to upgrading their champion pool while still having a value within teamfights. Champions such as Kayle, Lillia, Cassiopeia, Vayne, and Rakan are able to have more skill expression while still killing tanks thanks to their passive or active abilities.
Lastly, Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger players will have to make an adjustment in this new patch. Most high elo players focused on high mobility and early impact within their games, as mentioned previously champions such as Leblanc and Tryndamenere will not be as prominent as before. What we recommend is to slightly adjust your playstyle towards bruisers with mobility which were buffed thanks to Patch 12.10.
For example Yasuo, Fizz, Kassadin are champions that still maintain their possible roam and mobility potential; if you want to transition towards tankier champions to learn a new playstyle, you can start practicing Swain, Galio, Ryze as possible swaps within midlane.
We might see future changes within a small hotfix or mini patches such as 12.10a or 12.10b. Keep in mind these hotfixes might change the meta once more if they directly attack what has already been implemented, as it is expected for the development team to make small adjustments if needed.
Hopefully all this information will help you climb up the ranks within League of Legends Patch 12.10 and also help you understand the meta in a more profound way, which will impact your esports picks in a positive way!
