The new year means a new League of Legends season is upon us. Riot already gave several previews throughout the preseason about changes to expect in Season 12, including a reworked Teleport spell, Chemtech and Hextech dragons, and tuning down burst damage. Now, the first patch of 2022 will be going live in just a few days. Here's a rundown of all the changes, from champions to items, buffs and nerfs in League of Legends Patch 12.1.

Season 12 will begin on January 7, 2022. But while this patch rings in a whole new season for League, the changes themselves do not actually appear so drastic. Compared to previous seasons, where we got massive jungle map updates or changes to turrets or a revamp of the rune system, Season 12's first patch just brings few tweaks to help improve the state of the game.

Notably, the biggest change that will arrive is one we've already known about since preseason. The teleport rework will soon officially debut in League of Legends Season 12. The community already expects this update to bring about a bit of a meta shift in the game. We'll likely see the extent of this change competitively, too as pro play returns in various leagues around the world this month. Besides the summoner spell change, Patch 12.1 also marks the release of the mystical Elderwood skins for Gnar and Rek'Sai.

In terms of buffs and nerfs, only four champions will receive tweaks for better balance, so to speak. Diana and Gangplank have gotten stronger this patch, while the devs have toned down Rek'Sai and Sona's kits. A couple of Mythic and Legendary items have also been knocked down a bit, including the likes of Eclipse and Immortal Shieldbow often used by champions on the offensive.

League of Legends Patch 12.1 Rundown

Champion changes

Diana [buff]

  • Passive – Moonsilver Blade
    • Ability Power (AP) Ratio: 40 percent -> 50 percent
    • Monster Damage Ratio: 250 percent -> 300 percent

Gangplank [buff]

  • Q – Parrrley
    • Mana Cost: 60/55/50/45/40 -> 55/50/45/40/35
    • Cooldown: 5 seconds -> 4.5 seconds

Rek'Sai [nerf]

  • E – Furious Bite (unburrowed form)
    • Physical damage dealt: 50/60/70/80/90 (+85% bonus Attack Damage) -> 55/60/65/70/75 (+85% bonus AD)
    • *Only base damage numbers decreased, bonus stacking still applies.
  • E – Tunnel (burrowed form)
    • Cooldown: 26/23/20/17/14 seconds -> 26/24/22/20/18 seconds

Sona [nerf]

  • Base Stats
    • Armor growth (how much armor is added per level): 3.3 armor -> 3 armor
  • E – Song of Celerity
    • Cooldown: 12 seconds -> 14 seconds

Item changes

  • Eclipse [nerf]
    • Ever Rising Moon Cooldown (melee): 6 seconds -> 8 seconds
    • *Syzygy (Ornn's Masterwork version of Eclipse) also received the same nerfs
  • Force of Nature [buff]
    • Absorb stack duration: 5 seconds -> 7 seconds (This will make it easier to stack since it lasts longer.)
    • Dissipate magic damage reduction: 20 percent -> 25 percent
  • Immortal Shieldbow [nerf]
    • Attack Damage (AD): 55 -> 50
    • Lifeline Shield: 300 to 800 (depending on level) -> 275-650 (depending on level)
    • *Bloodward (Ornn's Masterwork version of Shieldbow): 65 AD, 275-650 Lifeline Shield (depending on level)
  • Wit's End [nerf / build path rework]
    • Magic Resist (MR): 50 -> 40
    • Old Build Path: Hearthbound Axe + Negatron Cloak + Long Sword + 750 gold
    • New Build Path: Hearthbound Axe + Null-Magic Mantle + Pickaxe + 675 gold
    • *Total cost unchanged, but component costs now reduced the MR item (negatron cloak -> null-magic mantle) but strengthened the AD item (long sword -> pickaxe)

Teleport summoner spell rework

  • Addition of “Unleashed Teleport” feature
    • The use of ‘Regular' Teleport is limited to only your own team's towers at the start of the game.
    • At 14 minutes, once turret plating falls, Teleport will transform into Unleashed Teleport.
    • Unleashed Teleport can now be used on your own team's towers plus minions, wards, and other allied constructs. This is similar to how the actual Teleport spell worked in Season 11 (2021).
  • [Regular/Tower-only Teleport] Cooldown: 420 to 210 seconds (depending on level) -> 360 seconds (6 minutes) at all levels
  • [Unleashed Teleport] Cooldown: 240 seconds (4 minutes) at all levels, once unlocked

Players already expected the Teleport changes, ever since the reworked spell was launched on the PBE. Essentially, the Unleashed Teleport acts as what Teleport had been in Season 11. Because its cooldown was quite short, players from all laning positions (top, mid, and bot) were keen to take the spell.

This not only pushed out other spells like Exhaust, Heal, and even Ignite, but also often resulted in, well, parties down bot and very early 3-on-3s or 4-on-4s. With this update, players will now have to be more selective about their use of TP in the early game, but at the same time, it will still be a powerful spell especially for teamfights around objectives later on in the game.

Ranked system update

Exclusive rewards for Ranked Split 1 (beginning January 7, 2022, 4 AM PST)

  • Vex Summoner Icon
  • Vex Emotes
  • Vex Champion Permanent
  • Series 1 Eternals Capsule

Apex tiers decay

Riot is changing the decay system in Ranked, but only for the Apex tiers—Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger. These changes, according to the game designers, are meant to “correct misplacements” as well as “improve the matchmaking experience” overall for those higher tiers. It's perhaps a welcome update for players in the higher ranks of League, especially when trying to climb up the ladder or for pros who might take breaks or go to another region only to see their accounts demote very quickly.

Effectively, the new changes will slow down the decay. However, it takes the “floor” or lowest possible rank down a notch, so players can drop farther down the ladder but at a slightly less rapid pace.

  • Banked days for Apex tier players (how long you can keep your LP before the decay starts): 10 days -> 14 days
  • Decay rate: 250 LP per day -> 75 LP per day
  • Apex decay floor: Diamond I -> Diamond II

Visual update

league of legends, lol season 12, lol patch 12.1, season 12 ranked, lol season 12 loading screen

While this update does not affect the balance of the game, players can look forward to a fresh new look for Ranked Crests. These fancy graphics and animations appear on the player profile to showcase your rank in-game. At the same time, the loading screen borders have also received cool and dazzling new visuals to match the Ranked Crests designs.