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LoL – Objectives, new runes & dragons coming in season 12

In our previous article, we covered all of the item changes that are being implemented in the preseason. Besides... | 15. November 2021

In our previous article, we covered all of the item changes that are being implemented in the preseason. Besides those, there are many more changes coming in the form of new dragon elements, objective bounties, updating existing, and adding new runes.

Hextech and Chemtech dragons take over the Rift

The dragon elements in League bring a lot of diversity to each game ever since they were introduced, often influencing the outcome of the game. Creating and altering terrain, giving powerful buffs, and adding more strategy through creating more win conditions are some of the benefits they bring. And Riot has already stated that they like how dragons impact the game, so that’s why this preseason they’re adding two more.

The first one is called the Hextech Drake and the team that slays it gets 5 ability haste and 5% attack speed for each dragon. When a team acquires the Hextech Dragon Soul, they get an ability that bounces off of their basic attacks and spells and slows nearby enemies similar to Statik Shiv’s passive.

The terrain change this dragon brings is the most exciting part as it opens up Hex-gates across the map that allow champions to travel from one location to the paired counterpart. They work similarly to Bard portals but over a greater distance, and they have a short cast timer that can be interrupted by damage or immobilization.

The other new dragon is called the Chemtech drake. Slaying this dragon gives 5% more damage against enemies with more current health than the user. This can be crucial in turning around close fights and making cooldown management a strategic part of the game. When a team claims the Chemtech Dragon Soul, it grants them a buff that allows them to attack and use their abilities for a short period after they die.

This is very similar to the Sion passive except your spells aren’t altered, which makes this a possible game-changer. When the Chemtech dragon takes over the rift, it creates four gas zones in each part of the jungle. Champions in it are camouflaged and are not revealed by regular vision wards, but are revealed by Control Wards, Scryer’s Blooms, and other things that reveal invisible units. Twisted Fate and Rengar Ultimates are the first things that come to mind.
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Objective Bounties introduced to League

A new addition to the game this preseason will be objective bounties. Champion bounties already exist and they present an opportunity for teams to get back in the game without them being a straight win condition. So they want to introduce another way that this can be implemented.

Objective Bounties are only activated when the losing team is behind by an estimated threshold. The bounties are highlighted for both teams on the minimap, and if the losing team takes an objective with an active bounty, every member of the team receives a share of the total bounty gold. Which objective will gain a bounty is determined by calculating factors such as XP lead, Gold lead, Dragon lead, and Turret lead.

The base gold these bounties will provide is dependent on which objective is the target, and if the losing team falls further behind these gold values can increase by 60%. Rift Heralds, Barons, and every drake including the Elder, will each give 500 gold to the losing team. Outer turrets will give 250 more gold if they have a bounty and inner and base turrets will give 400 gold.
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That means that a successful Baron stealing or sneaking from the losing team can give them an additional 800 gold apart from the 1500 gold bonus for slaying it in the first place. And with the recent changes to inner turrets giving 600 gold to those who take them down, after bounties teams can earn up to 1250 gold by taking a single inner tower. There will be a 15-second warning period before an objective gains a bounty and a 15-second extension period after the bounty was supposed to fall.

This period can be extended if the losing team is in combat to secure an active Objective Bounty.The Rift Scuttler is also receiving changes because the first spawn is seemingly too impactful in deciding the outcome of the early game. By reducing its health by 35% and reducing the experience it gives by 80%, the first Rift Scuttler will now be a squishier objective that you can defeat or defend more easily before returning to the safety of your side of the map.

Glacial Augment and Lethal Tempo changes

For this preseason, Glacial Augment and Lethal Tempo are set to receive changes that will improve their viability and impact. Since the removal of Hextech GLP and Twin Shadows last preseason, and their replacement in Everfrost having a much smaller range, Glacial Augment has felt lackluster to use.

Currently, the only champion that uses it regularly is Senna. So from this preseason, immobilizing an enemy champion while using Glacial Augment, will spread three glacial rays from them to nearby champions. These rays will create frozen zones that exist for a few seconds while slowing enemies by 40% and reducing their damage by 15% against your allies, but not yourself. Looks like Neeko support will come back in the meta with this change and her engagement potential.

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The issue with Lethal Tempo was that it was too easy to trigger unintentionally and having it on cooldown for fights when it’s needed. That’s why they’re changing it to give attack speed for six seconds after attacking an enemy champion, with each attack giving one stack going up to six stacks. While at six stacks the user also gains attack range and the attack speed is capped at 3.0.

Introducing First Strike

Riot is also introducing a new rune called First Strike to the Inspiration tree that will replace the Prototype: Omnistone rune. Damaging enemies with attacks or abilities before they damage you gives you five gold and enhances your attacks and abilities in the next three seconds by 12% while giving you the bonus damage you do as additional gold(100%mele/70%ranged).

The cooldown on this rune is 25 to 15 seconds depending on your level. Unlike Kleptomancy, this rune forces you to engage and continue combat after dealing the first blow, rather than mindlessly spamming spells and poke. Omnistone, on the other hand, is getting removed because it could never get buffed enough to be viable because it could dominate Pro Play with its steep learning curve, while most average players wouldn’t invest enough time to understand it.