Riot Games is targeting several League of Legends champions with buffs and nerfs in Patch 12.7, with changes specifically coming to Wukong, Lee Sin, Ryze, and others. But while there are over a dozen champions set to see their power levels increased and decreased in Patch 12.7, no champion is receiving a heavier set of changes in the patch than Zeri.
With nerfs coming to all four of her active abilities, as well as her base stats, the Spark of Zaun is on deck to be practically gutted by Riot as the 2022 League season nears the halfway point. In an update released by League’s lead champion designer August Browning, the details of Zeri’s upcoming round of nerfs were revealed.
First and foremost, Zeri’s base attack damage and attack damage per level are both being decreased in Patch 12.7. Her defensive prowess is also being targeted since her base armor is being decreased from 22 to 20, while her HP per level is being slightly increased from 90 to 95.
Zeri’s signature ability, Burst Fire (Q), is having its base damage reduced at all ranks in Patch 12.7, with the ability only applying on-hit effects once per cast. Additionally, the base damage of her Ultrashock Laser (W) is being nerfed at all ranks, but its scaling properties via her AD and AP are being increased as a countermeasure.
The upcoming changes to Zeri “hit all builds, but should hurt bruiser more than crit,” according to Browning. Zeri’s ultimate will stack “slower and more consistently” in Patch 12.7, according to Riot, since the champion will no longer receive multiple stacks via Burst Fire when striking multiple enemies with the ability—although critical strikes will grant double the amount of stacks moving forward.
Beyond nerfs to Zeri’s raw damage in the upcoming patch, the cooldown of her dash, Spark Surge (E), is being increased from 23 seconds at all ranks to 28 seconds at rank one and eventually scaling down to 22 seconds at its max rank. Zeri’s cooldowns are also being targeted in the form of her ultimate ability, Lightning Crash, which is set to be increased by 20 seconds at rank one but decreased by 10 seconds in the later stages of a game.
Since her release earlier this year, Zeri has been one of the strongest, most widely contested champions in professional League. The champion’s pick/ban rate of 69 percent is the third-highest among all champions across the game’s four major regions of professional play this season, according to League stats site Games of Legends.
These changes to Zeri are scheduled to go live with League Patch 12.7, which is set to be released on April 13, according to the game’s patch schedule.
