Big Changes Coming to LoL in 2022 [Update]

League of Legends has changed quite a bit over the last few years. With Rise of the Elements, we got a whole new way of looking at the rift with dragon souls, and last year, the item shop was taken under the microscope with mythic items. But changes of this magnitude probably won't be coming to LoL this time around. Instead, they want to improve existing systems. Does this mean we're getting more drakes?

• Let's not look too far ahead into the future and see what LoL Patch 11.20 has in store for us.

What Changes will Come to the Drakes?

Due to the terrain changes that came with Rise of the Elements and the drakes, players had to maneuver differently, depending on which drake spawned third. It created a unique and interesting playstyle, which made every game memorable and unique. That's exactly why Riot wants to further the rift with a few changes.

• Creating new terrain features that contribute to unique matches and alter how the game plays out after the map transforms
• Expanding the thematic possibilities of what empowers a dragon and how that empowers champions on the Rift

Riot Games also has more changes planned, which will be revealed a bit later on in the current season.

[Update: October 8, 2021]

The official League of Legends YouTube Channel released a video about the preseason 2022 in which they introduced new dragons coming to League of Legends in 2022. Two new dragons – Hextech and Chemtech dragon – are joining the others, bringing the number of dragons up to six.

Both dragons will have unique buffs. The Hextech dragon will grant you ability haste and attack speed, while the Chemtech dragon will grant you extra damage based on your missing health.

A cool feature that claiming the Hextech dragon will give, is that multiple Hextech gates will spawn throughout the map, teleporting you from one to another. Much like what Bard's portals are doing now. As for the Chemtech dragon, players will turn into zombies for a few seconds after dying when claiming the Chemtech dragons' soul, so you'll be able to stay alive a little longer and might just get that kill that you would have missed otherwise.

What Changes are Coming to Items?

Through last year's introduction of mythic items, Riot Games wanted to give us an opportunity to better choose our item builds. Basically, they thought they'd give us more choices depending on in-game situations. That clearly didn't pan out the way they wanted it to, since everyone just builds the meta items and nobody tries to 'adapt' to the in-game situations.

While we continue to think this is the right goal, we've heard your feedback that having to make a strategic decision about every item in your inventory isn’t always desired or possible, especially in high tension games.

It's good that Riot is listening to the community and taking their feedback into account while making changes for the Season 12 preseason.

Some Legendary items should be perfect for a few champs, instead of being okay for a lot of them.

This is what Riot wants to change for the 2022 season:

• More Mythic options for support champs
• Improved Legendary item options for mages, assassins, and tanks

So, we're probably going to be getting more items, but some of which are only going to fit specific champions. Season 12 might have more in-store for us than Kraken Slayer on every auto-attack ADC out there.

• Everything you need to know about LoL Patch 11.19 is right here on EarlyGame.

Anathema’s Chains and Hullbreaker have given the top laners some more variation in builds, so it's about time that other lanes also get some love from Riot!

New Mage, Assassin and Tank Items Planned for 2022

In the most recent post regarding the 2022 pre-season, we now know what the new items are and what stats Riot has planned for them. We will be getting new Mage, Tank and Assassin items.

Here are all the new items that are being tested out on the PBE Patch 11.22 and 11.23:

Crown of the Shattered Queen

• 70 Ability Power
• 250 Health
• 600 Mana
• 20 Ability Haste
  • You are Safeguarded, reducing incoming damage by 50%. Safeguard persists for 1.5 seconds after taking champion damage.
  • While Safeguarded, gain 10-40 Ability Power (by level)
  • (Regain Safeguard if you haven’t taken champion damage for 40 seconds).
  • Mythic Passive: 1% Move Speed & 50 Health

Evenshroud

• 200 Health
• 20 Ability Haste
• 30 Armor
• 30 Magic Resist
  • Repentance: After Immobilizing champions or being immobilized, cause that target and all nearby enemies to Repent increasing the damage they take by 12% for 5 seconds
  • Mythic Passive: Grants all other Legendary items 5 armor and Magic Resist

Winters Approach

• 400 Health
• 500 Mana
• 15 Ability Haste
  • Awe: Gain bonus health equal to 8% mana
  • Mana Charge: Strike a target with an Ability or Attack to consume a charge and gain 3 bonus mana, doubled if the target is a champion. Grants a maximum of 360 mana at which point this item transforms into Fimbulwinter

Fimbulwinter

• 400 Health
• 860 Mana
• 15 Ability Haste
  • Awe: Gain bonus health equal to 8% mana
  • Everlasting: Immobilizing or Slowing (melee only) an enemy champion consumes 3% of current mana and grants a shield for 3 seconds, absorbing damage. The shield is increased by 80% if more than one enemy is nearby

Axiom Arc

• 55 Attack Damage
• 10 Lethality
• 25 Ability Haste
  • Refresh: Whenever a Champion dies within 3 seconds of having a damaged them, refund 25% of your Ultimate Ability’s total cooldown

Shadowflame

• 80 Ability Power
• 250 Health
  • Damage to champions benefits from 10-20 Magic Penetration based on the target’s current Health. (Max value at 1000 or less health, Min value at 2500 or more Health)
  • Gain the max Penetration if the target was recently affected by Shields.

These are all the new items that are going to hit the rift in Season 12.

What Rune Changes are Coming in 2022?

Here, Riot Games has analyzed which rune paths are being played, and they've decided that some changes are in store. Especially the Inspiration Keystone seemed to have been neglected by players. Sure, Sylas could make use of it, but other champs just don't fit with these runes.

Most obviously, we feel the Inspiration tree’s identity has been fairly unclear, and we’d like to broaden its keystone use cases.

Three runes are being looked at for the pre-season, the most notable being Glacial Augment, which is part of the Inspiration rune path. These are the new stats Riot wants to implement:

Immobilizing an enemy champion will cause 3 glacial rays to emanate from them towards you and other nearby champions, creating frozen zones for a few seconds that slow enemies for 40% and reduce their damage by 15% against your allies (not including yourself)

Also, Lethal Tempo is also getting a few changes that are going to be tested on PBE Patch 11.22:

• Gain attack speed for 6 seconds when striking at least one enemy champion with each attack. This effect stacks up to 6 times
• While this effect is at its cap, also gain attack range and increase your attack speed cap to 3.0

Finally, First Strike is also being introduced to League of Legends on the Inspiration rune path.

Damaging an enemy champion with an attack or ability before they do so grants 5 gold and First Strike for 3 seconds, causing your attacks or abilities to deal 12% extra damage against champions, and granting 100% (70% for ranged units) of that damage dealt as gold

This rune will benefit any champion who is quick to dish out damage, like artillery champions or even assassins. Getting the most out of the First Strike rune means you need better reactions and better follow-up to dish out as much damage as possible in those 3 seconds while you're buffed.

First Strike will replace Prototype: Omnistone which was barely used according to Riot. The rune was too difficult to maintain and handle and the balance team also had no way of buffing it safely without it becoming a problem in the pro scene, hence why they've decided to replace it in the upcoming season.

These are a few of the changes which Riot is focusing on for this year's preseason. More information will come in the next few months before the start of LoL season 12 and the 2022 ranked season. We're just glad that Riot has decided to listen to the community to fix some of the current problems. For a full rundown of what is in store for us, just check the official League page.

What do you guys think of these changes? Do you think Riot is doing a good job of listening to the community, or are you still waiting on those Season 2 AP Master Yi changes?

The guides, the videos, the lore, it's all here! EarlyGame will help you become Challenger!