"We're kicking off the new Ranked season with a soft reset, changes to decay, and some visual updates. We also have a few champion and item balances, changes to Teleport, plus a couple of beautiful new Elderwood skins."
You can view a quick snapshot of patch 12.1 just below, but we've detailed all the confirmed changes further down the page in their relevant sections. You'll find everything we know about the next update - LoL patch 12.2 - on the link.
click to enlargeORIGINAL STORY CONTINUES: League of Legends might have called time on 2021, but they're already gearing up for the game's next patch - because there's always another patch. The first update of 2022 is already live on the game's PBE to prepare for its official release early next year.
If you're new to the game, then welcome, have a quick read of our League of Legends Beginners Guide, to get up to speed. You might also want to make time to read our guide detailing the Best League of Legends Champion For Beginners. You might also want to get up to speed on the major Season 12 changes.
If you've played the game before, you likely know what to expect with a new patch. For those who don't know, we'll give you a full rundown of what you need to know about the next patch; including the latest news, early PBE patch notes, champion changes, new skins and much more.
Without further ado, here's everything we know about Patch 12.1
Latest News
3 January 2022 -
The next major champion buffs and nerfs have been announced for League Of Legends 12.1 patch. These were outlined by Riot Games developer @Phlox on Twitter. Speaking about the game's latest update, Phlox said:
"This was a bit of a unusual patch since most of it was prepped before the holiday break but we did micropatch in a few changes to outlier champions."
You'll find the full run down of changes in our patch notes section further down the page.
13 December 2021 -
Riot Games have confirmed their intentions to not release the Firelight Ekko skin with 12.1 so that the team can work on the skins lack of SFX. You can read the full developer comments, just below:
League of Legends Patch 12.1 Release Date
At the start of LoL Season 12 Riot Games revealed a full League of Legends patch schedule.
It means we're already up to speed for exactly when the developers intend to release the next patch for the game. For the most part, they've stuck to every date. If you want to know when everything else is coming in 2022, follow that link above.
As for the next update, League of Legends 12.1 Patch has a confirmed release date set for Tuesday, January 4, 2022.
League of Legends Patch 12.1 Downtime
Maintenance times haven’t yet been confirmed by Riot Games, but we typically see new game updates released at the following times on the main LoL servers:
- 3 am PT (NA servers)
- 5 am GMT (WEU servers)
- 3 am CET (EEU servers)
League of Legends Patch 12.1 Balance Changes
For now you'll find all confirmed changes for Patch 12.1, just below. Some of these could change in between PBE testing and the official release on live servers.
Champion Changes
Champion Buffs
Diana
- Passive AP ratio increased from 40% to 50%
- Passive damage against monsters changed from 250% to 300%
Gangplank
- Q cooldown reduced from 5 seconds to 4.5 seconds
- Mana cost reduced from 60-40 to 55-35
Champion Nerfs
Rek’Sai
- E – Furious Bite Physical damage changed from 50/60/70/80/90 (+85% bonus AD) to 55/60/65/70/75 (+85% bonus AD)
- E – Tunnel cooldown changed from 26/23/20/17/14 seconds to 26/24/22/20/18 seconds
Sona
- Base Stats: Armor growth reduced from 3.3 to 3
- E – Song of Celerity Cooldown increased from 12 seconds to 14 seconds
Item Changes
Eclipse
- Cooldown for Melee Champions increased from 6 to 8 seconds
Immortal Shieldbow
- Attack Damage lowered from 55 to 50
- Passive shield strength lowered from 300-800 to 275-650
Wits End
- Magic resist reduced from 50 to 40
- New build path: Hearthbound Axe + Null Magic Mantle + Pickaxe
Summoner Spells
Teleport
- Can no longer target allied minions or wards
- Cooldown changed from 420-210 seconds (based on level) to 360 seconds flat
- No longer grants movement speed after teleporting
- Changes to Unleashed Teleport after 14 minutes
- Same targeting as current Teleport
- Same movement speed as current Teleport
- Cooldown 270 seconds flat
Bugfixes and QoL Changes
- Updated – Behavioral Systems: Intentional Feeding Detection has been improved to evaluate more variables and will go live to all regions this patch.
- New – Objective Bounties: Targets with active Objective Bounties now have different health bars to indicate their bounty status
- Fixed a bug where Kled would sometimes respawn with an incorrect amount of health
- Fixed a bug where Kled could sometimes get hit by missiles immediately before or while dismounting, even though he should be untargetable in those moments
- Attacking an enemy marked by her W – Yordle Snap Trap or E – 90 Caliber Net will no longer incorrectly grant stacks toward Caitlyn’s Passive – Headshot
- Fixed a bug where Caitlyn would sometimes be able to change her Headshot target while casting E – 90 Caliber Net
- Fixed a bug where, if a champion got caught in Caitlyn’s W – Yordle Snap Trap at the same time as her E – 90 Caliber Net, Caitlyn’s extended Headshot range would get canceled
- Axiom Arc’s ultimate cooldown reduction passive will now scale correctly with the Ultimate Hunter rune
- Fixed a bug where, at maximum stacks, Lethal Tempo’s bonus attack speed would sometimes persist against non-champion targets
- Fixed a bug where Bard’s Meeps would become targetable after he traveled through Hexgates
- Fixed a bug where Bard’s R – Tempered Fate did not interact with Glacial Augment correctly
- Watchful Wardstone and Vigilant Wardstone’s tooltips will now include the number of wards they currently have placed
- Vi’s Passive – Blast Shield will now activate properly on all structures
- Fixed a bug where Kindred’s R – Lamb’s Respite would heal champions more than it was supposed to
- Fixed a bug where, if Lucian was silenced, his basic attacks would not have Passive – Lightslinger effects
- Fixed a bug where Pantheon’s Q – Comet Spear would incorrectly go on full cooldown if interrupted within its tap-cast time
- Pantheon’s Q – Comet Spear range indicator has been fixed and will change between its tap-cast and hold-cast versions accurately
- Fixed Sylas’ interactions with Lux’s stolen R – Final Spark and Miss Fortune’s stolen R – Bullet Time
- Fixed a bug where, if Vex died while casting a consecutive R – Shadow Surge, its cooldown would not reset
- Fixed a bug where Talon’s Q – Noxian Diplomacy could sometimes hit untargetable enemy champions
- Consuming Skarner’s Crystal Venom mark from his E – Fracture will correctly deal bonus damage
- Heimerdinger’s Q – H-28G Evolution Turret’s deactivation sound effects have been restored for several of his skins
- Heimerdinger’s E – CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade’s explosion sound effects will no longer play multiple times upon hitting an enemy
League of Legends Patch 12.1 New Champion Skins
League of Legends is once again adding plenty of new champion skins with the game's next update. You can see all skins in action on the below videos from SkinSpotlights, a YouTube channel dedicated to sharing the latest Skins coming in League of Legends. We've also got the splash art further down the page.
Firelight Ekko - 1350 RP
This skin is no longer shipping with patch 12.1 but should become available in the near future.
Elderwood Gnar - 1350 RP
“Stories have long been told of a monster that stalks the wood, rending massive oak trees asunder bare-handed – but few realise this titan is also the small, curious creature that collects baubles and bones and chitters through the treetops. The wise leave both to their devices. The foolish? Well, it depends which Gnar they meet”
Elderwood Rek’Sai – 1350 RP
“Spore-fiends stalk the deepest reaches of the forest, and Rek’sai is the broodmother from which all others spring. Those who see her hulking form of bloom and bark swimming through the trees rarely live long enough to tell the tale”
League of Legends Patch 12.1 - New Splash Art
Here's a look at all the new splash art released for League of Legends 12.1 Patch.
click to enlarge
For now, this is all the information available regarding update 12.1 in League of Legends. We will keep updating this page as more information is made available on the PBE servers.
For more articles like this, take a look at our League of Legends and Gaming News page.