League of Legends Patch 12.16: Champion Buffs Spotlight Irelia and Kai'Sa

By Rohit George Published 08/24/22 EDT

League of Legends Patch 12.16 has finally made its way into the live servers. This and upcoming updates are going to address several issues at the highest level of play.

Here, we will focus on the buffs for Kai’Sa and Irelia.

Irelia

The developers found Irelia underperforming compared to other bruisers in the top and mid lane. So, they adjusted her base magic resist and increased her armor growth. This should help her win in a meta where it is focused on scaling laners.

Base Stats

Base Magic Resist: From 28 to 30.
Armor Growth: From 4.2 to 4.7.

With these improvements and building the Blade of the Ruined King, Irelia should prove a contender, especially in 1v1 situations.

Kai’Sa

Kai’Sa has been struggling in the past few patches, especially after the nerfs that targeted her AP builds. To help Kai’Sa come back into meta, developers improved her Passive, Icathian Rain (Q), and Killer Instinct (R). Don’t worry these buffs won’t bring back her AP build back completely to one-shot most enemies (at least, we hope it doesn't one-shot us).

Second Skin (Passive)

Kai’Sa’s passive is very important to let her melt through enemies. The plasma on-hit base damage and damage per plasma stack before application have increased to help her trade better against enemies.

Plasma on-hit base damage: From 4-16 (based on level) to 5-23 (based on level).
Caustic Wounds additional damage per Plasma stack before application: From 1-8 (based on level) to 1-12 (based on level).

Icathian Rain (Q)

Kai’Sa’s Icathian Rain ability combined with passive gives her a decent burst, and this update buffs her damage per missile in terms of AP scaling.

Damage per Missile: From 40/55/70/85/100 (+ 50% bonus AD) (+25% AP) to 40/55/70/85/100 (+ 50% bonus AD) (+30% AP)

Killer Instinct (R)

Kai’Sa’s ultimate allows her to reach her marked opponents and grants her a shield. This shield strength has increased but only in terms of AP scaling, which means you need significant AP to maximize the buff, like Nashor's Tooth to help you gain both attack speed and AP.