Now that the League Of Legends ranked season is finally over, it’s time for some major changes on Summoner’s Rift. Patch 6.22 is dropping on Wednesday, bringing with it some of the most insane pre-season changes Riot has ever implemented. Nearly every bursty assassin got a rework, new plants are spawning all over the place and dozens of items and champions got nerfed or buffed.
I went through every little bit of patch 6.22 and narrowed it down to only the important stuff. Here are all the big changes coming in the pre-season to League Of Legends.
Assassin Reworks
Like the mague update we got in the middle of season six, all of League’s bursty, squishy destroyers are getting major overhauls. Riot has struggled to balance a lot of these champions, choosing to nerf them instead of fixing the root of the problem, their gameplay. Rengar , Leblanc, Talon and Katarina all got reworked for the pre-season.. For a full list of the major reworks and what has changed, click here.
Alongside these major overhauls, Riot has done some tinkering to most of League’s burstier champions. Fizz’s Urchin Strike costs less mana but deals less damage. Seastone Trident no longer empowers all attacks for six seconds, instead empowering one but gets its cooldown reset after Fizz kills a minion. Chum The Waters now summons different sharks depending on how far the fish travels, dealing more damage and applying a larger slow the farther it goes.
Kha’zix’s passive deals slightly less damage but to compensate, Taste Their Fear does a bit more damage. When evolved, his Q gets a 60 percent lower cooldown after used on an Isolated Target. Void Spike no longer slows unless used on an Isolated Target or after the ability is evolved. Void Assault has a new evolved passive altogether, granting the void bug invisibility and extra movement speed when entering a bush (lasts 1.25 seconds out of a brush.) The ability has a 10-second cooldown per brush.
Akali has a brand new passive. Her first auto attack heals her and her second deals bonus damage, scaling off her Attack Damage and Ability Power. Twilight Shroud teleports Akali to its cast location, allowing her to reposition or get out of some real trouble. Crescent Slash deals slightly more damage and gets 60 percent of its cooldown refunded if it kills a minion. Shadow Dance has a two-second cooldown at all ranks.
Why the hell did they make Zed more powerful? Living Shadow no longer grants bonus AD, but has 200 more range. Shadow Slash has a five to three second cooldown, depending on rank, and deals more damage early but less at later ranks. Death Mark gives a permanent AD of five plus five to 15 percent of the killed champions AD, increase for each champion he’s killed. That’s bonkers.
Goodbye tank Ekko. The boy stuck in time no longer slows enemies with his passive, Timewinder has a larger AP scaling ratio and if Chronobreak’s ghost travels through a Parallel convergence, the stun is triggered.
Shaco deals more damage, slows for longer and leaves a nest of boxes when his clone dies. Get ready to get cheesed at blue buff on your first clear a lot more.
Other Champions
In the middle of all this, they decided to rework Alistar. The cow’s passive grants stacks when a nearby enemy dies or an enemy champion gets crowd controlled. On seven stacks, Alistar heals all nearby enemies. His E now is Trample, which deals AOE damage around him. When Trample hits an enemy champion, the cow gains a Trample stack and at five, his next basic attack stuns an enemy for one second.
Twitch’s Venom Cask leaves a gas cloud in it’s wake.
Ivern has a shorter cooldown on Rootcaller.
Kled remounts faster and has less damage on Violent Tendencies.
Jungle Changes- Plants
One of the biggest changes this patch is to the jungle, with the introduction of plants. They are stationary, neutral units with one health that give buffs when attacked. Their first spawn is always predetermined.
Blast Cone knocks away anyone close to its center. They spawn near Dragon and Baron pit, one on the outside of the wall and one on the other.
Scryer’s Bloom grants vision for 12 seconds, revealing all enemies and wards. The pollen from the flower flies in the direction the attacker was facing. This plants spawns close to the river ramps on top and bottom lane.
Honey Fruit drops five small fruits that heal for 3.5 percent of max health. This plant spawns on the river walls near Baron and Dragon pit.
Jungle Changes- Smite And The Rest Of The Camps
Large monsters no longer grant bonuses when Smited. To compensate, smiting monsters now gives health and more bonus experience and gold.
Small Camps respawn every 150 seconds.
Red and Blue buff lost their little buddies.
Raptors now have five little birds, but have less health.
Krugs spawn more Krugs when killed. An Ancient Krug splits into two regular Krugs, which split into two mini Krugs
Rift Herald and Elder Dragon punch for less damage.
Items
Riot really went nuts this pre-season, they even changed wards. Vision Wards now grant 30 XP when you kill them and no longer prov lifesteal.
Flat armor penetration has been removed from the game, replaced with Lethality. Now, you get 40 percent of armor pen up front, with the other 60 percent scaling with level. It sounds complicated, but pretty much means you’ll hurt less in the early game and much harder later.
Serrated Dirk has five more Attack Damage and gives 20 movement speed out of combat.
Poacher’s Dirk is a new item that evolves into Serrated Dirk after killing three jungle camps in the enemies’ jungle. It builds out of a Long Sword and 400 gold and gives 15 AD.
Edge Of Night upgrades out of Serrated Dirk, combining with a Pickaxe, Null-Magic Mantle and 675 gold. It gives a Malzahar passive shield for 10 seconds after channeling for two seconds.
Duskblade of Draktharr has 10 less AD, gives you bonus true damage if you attack while unseen for one second and disables enemy wards for eight seconds after being spotted (90-second cooldown).
Youmuu’s Ghostblade costs 300 less gold but only grants 20 percent bonus movement speed on its active. This item’s trash now.
Maw Of Malmortius builds out of Caufield’s Warhammer.
Aegis Of The Legion and Locket Of The Iron Solari no longer grant auras, hallelujah. They both cost less and give armor, and Locket gives a larger shield.
Banner Of Command is now a tank item, giving armor, magic resist and mana and builds out of Glacial Shroud instead of Fiendish Codex.
Forbidden Idol costs 50 less gold and increases shields and heals by two percent less.
Now, Redemption is an insane new item. Costing 2100 gold and building out of Crystalline Bracer and Forbidden Idol, its active summons a beam of light that heals and damages enemies caught in it’s field. The craziest part is that it can be used while dead!
Ardent Censer doesn't give allies increased damage anymore, but causes their basic attacks to heal for 20 on each hit.
Knight’s Vow is another new item that costs 2100 gold and builds out of two Crystalline Bracers and a Cloth Armor. You designate an ally as a Partner and gain 15 movement speed and 40 armor when moving towards them. It’s passive heals your ally for 12 percent of the damage they deal and redirects 12 percent of the damage to take to you.
Abyssal Scepter makes enemies take 10 percent more magic damage.
Hextech Protobelt-01 and Hextech Revolver scale slightly less with AP.
That’s a lot of changes coming to League Of Legends.
