League of Legends preseason is notorious for balance issues. But it’s to be expected as Riot’s balance team rolls out extensive changes to try and wrangle the game’s ever-expanding roster of champions in line and massage them through the peaks and troughs thanks to the immense breadth of offseason changes.
Tanks in general have fallen by the wayside as bruisers have become the dominant class as of late. In a tweet on Nov. 29, lead designer on League balance Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison detailed the myriad buffs coming to tanks in the game’s next patch.
Iconic bulky League champs like Sion, Cho’Gath, Amumu, Maokai, Zac, Tahm Kench, and Malphite, along with Blue Kayn, are all getting some love.
Sion is getting a whopping 70 base mana added onto his stats, plus an additional 10 mana per level, topping out his level-18 mana pool at 1,224 instead of 1,044.
Amumu is gaining an additional 11 health per level, and increased damage on his Despair (W) and Tantrum (E) late.
Jungle Maokai’s Bramble Smash (Q) is getting a big damage bump, and Tahm Kench is getting sizeable buffs to the AP ratios in every part of his kit that it appears along with a change to his ultimate’s shield duration which now sees it become unlimited in duration and decaying off.
And finally, Blue Kayn’s passive’s damage is getting a significant bump.
Cho’Gath, Zac, and Malphite are also receiving buffs, with the latter of the three getting some help in the damage department by way of base values and the quintessential armor scaling he has in his kit. Specifically, the buffs are coming to Thunderclap (W) and Ground Slam (E).
As far as items are concerned, just Sunfire Aegis is receiving buffs, coming in the form of a 100-gold cheaper combine (and total) cost, and an additional 100 health.
Related: Riot to continue sweeping jungle changes in League Patch 12.23
Additionally, Zeri buffs are on the docket. Riot “TheTruexy”, a Game Designer on the Summoner’s Rift Team, tweeted out some of her changes two weeks ago that have been on the PBE ever since in an extremely detailed thread. Everything from her base movement speed to her ultimate has been tweaked.
Whether or not this will make one of League‘s more problematic champions in recent memory even more frustrating amidst the flux of Preseason remains to be seen.
League Patch 12.23 is scheduled to hit live servers on Wednesday, Dec. 7.
