League of Legends patch 12.22 official notes: Pre-season 13 goes live with massive jungle updates, Chemtech Drake, new items, and more

League of Legends pre-season 13 will finally go live with patch 12.22 and Riot Games will introduce a complete overhaul of the entire jungling system alongside.

Jungling in League of Legends is set to change completely with the introduction of companions, camp gold, and experience changes. New items will also be hitting the rift, with some of the older ones receiving a significant amount of updates.

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The Chemtech Drake will also make a return while only a couple of champions will be up for some tweaks in 12.22.

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League of Legends fans looking for a detailed description of the patch can check Riot’s official website. However, for a brief overview, here are all the major highlights.

League of Legends patch 12.22 official notes

1) The Return of Chemtech

Chemtech Drake

Chemtech Drake: When the Chemtech Drake is below half health, it gains 33% damage resistance and deals 50% more damage. This drake will deal 100% total AD + 4% of its target’s health as physical damage with each attack.
Chemtech Buff: When your team kills a Chemtech Drake, they will gain a stacking buff that grants 5% Tenacity and 5% Healing and Shielding power.
Chemtech Soul: Upon receiving the Chemtech Soul, players will receive a buff that gives them 10% damage resistance and 10% more damage while below 50% health.

Chemtech Rift

Stim Fruits: Honeyfruits will upgrade into Stim Fruits and provide the usual heal plus a bonus shield in addition to no longer slowing champions that consume it.
Blast Cones: Blast Cones will now blast units within their range twice as far when they explode.
Firelight Bloom: Scryer’s Bloom will upgrade into Firelight’s Bloom, which will reveal a small area around the plant when broken, in addition to the usual cone in the opposite direction it was broken from. Allies tagged will also gain movement speed towards that direction for a short duration, and enemy wards revealed will be taken to 1 health.

2) Jungle changes

Camp mechanic changes

[NEW] Marked for Death: When a large monster dies, all small monsters in their camp will be marked for death. After 10 consecutive seconds of not being in combat with a champion, monsters that have been marked for death will die.
[NEW] Own-Side Clearing Strength: Junglers now deal 20% more damage from non-true damage sources to monsters on their own side of the jungle. This increased damage will not apply when invading and dealing damage to the enemy’s camps.
[NEW] Parting Gifts: All large monsters will now heal [27+3/level (increased by up to 2.25x based on missing health) health and restore 15+2/level (increased by up to 2.25x based on missing mana) mana upon takedown if you have a jungle companion. This heal/mana restoration will take the form of a projectile that will be fired towards the champion that last-hit the monster after a 0.3 second delay.

Camp gold and experience changes

Lane Minion Experience: Junglers will only gain 75% experience from lane minions before their first pet evolution unless the jungler is behind the average game level.
Large Monster Gold: All large monster gold given to non-junglers has been reduced by 15 gold.
Large Monster Experience for Non-Junglers: All large monster experience given to non-junglers has been reduced by 15 experience except for the Ancient Krug, which has been reduced by 12 experience.
Large Monster Experience for Junglers: All large monsters now give an additional 15 experience if you have a jungle companion.

Blue Sentinel

Health: 1850 ⇒ 2300
Attack Damage: 78 ⇒ 66
[NEW] On-Hit Damage: Blue Sentinel now deals 5% of its target’s current health on hit.

Gromp

Health: 1650 ⇒ 2200
Attack Damage: 74 ⇒ 70
Attack Range: 200 ⇒ 175
[NEW] On-Hit Damage: Gromp now deals 5% of its target’s current health on hit.
[REM] Parting Gift: Gromp will no longer heal the champion that killed it upon dying.

Krugs

Ancient Krug Health: 1050 ⇒ 1350
Ancient Krug Attack Damage: 74 ⇒ 57
[NEW] On-Hit Damage: Ancient Krug now deals 3% of its target’s current health on hit.
Krug Health: 500 ⇒ 650
Ancient Krug and Krugs Death Animation/Smaller Krug Spawn Time: 1.3 seconds ⇒ 1 second
[REM] Keeping It Together: Ancient Krug no longer spawns 2 Krugs when killed and instead spawns 4 mini Krugs.
[NEW] 1=2: Ancient Krug is now counted as 2 CS (Note: The Krugs camp as a whole will still be counted as 4 CS.)

Murk Wolves

Greater Murk Wolf Health: 1200 ⇒ 1600
Greater Murk Wolf Attack Damage: 35 ⇒ 30
[NEW] On-Hit Damage: Greater Murk Wolf now deals 3% of its target’s current health on hit.
Murk Wolves Health: 480 ⇒ 630

Raptors

Crimson Raptor Health: 800 ⇒ 1100
Crimson Raptor Attack Damage: 20 ⇒ 17
[NEW] On-Hit Damage: Crimson Raptor now deals 3% of its target’s current health on hit.
Raptor Health: 425 ⇒ 500
Raptor Attack Damage: 10 ⇒ 7

Red Brambleback

Attack Damage: 78 ⇒ 66
Health: 1850 ⇒ 2300
[NEW] On-Hit Damage: Red Brambleback now deals 5% of its target’s current health on hit.

Rift Herald

Experience Given to Champs within 600 units: 200 ⇒ 300
First Spawned Rift Herald Charge: 2000 ⇒ 1500 (Note: Actual damage done will be higher than this value.)

Rift Scuttler

Spawn Time: 3:15 ⇒ 3:30
Health at Level 1: 1050 ⇒ 1550
[REM] See Ya Shield: Rift Scuttler no longer has a shield

3) Jungle companions

Companion attacks

Companions will deal 20(+4% base HP)(+15% AP)(+10% AD) and will attack at a rate of 1 attack per second. After their owner has stopped attacking, they will attack two more times and then stop.
Companions will heal their owner for 70% of the above number every time they attack.
Damaging a camp from a distance will cause companions to leap attack towards the camp, dealing the same amount of damage.

Companion mana regeneration

Companions will provide their owners with an increase to mana regeneration equal to [(8*percent missing mana) + (8*percent missing mana)*(level/1.3)*0.1] while in the jungle (including your jungle, the enemy jungle, and the river).

Companion progression

1 treat per large monster/champion takedown
1 bonus treat is stored every 60 seconds before reaching the companion’s final evolution form.
1 bonus treat is stored every 90 seconds after reaching the companion’s final evolution form.
When a large monster is killed with bonus treats available, players will receive 2 treats and 50 bonus gold. 1 bonus treat stack will also be removed.

4) Companion evolutions

First evolution

Smite damage will be increased to 900 true damage against monsters.
Smite is now castable on enemy champions, dealing 80-160 (based on level) true damage and slowing the target by 20% for 2 seconds.
The jungle item will remain in your inventory.
Companion will visually evolve.
Smite’s icon will upgrade.

Final evolution

Smite damage will be increased to 1200 against monsters and will do 50% of its damage as AoE damage against nearby monsters.
Players will become empowered and receive buffs depending on their chosen companion.
The jungle item will be removed from your inventory.
Companion will visually evolve.
Smite’s icon will upgrade.

Mosstomper

Mosstomper’s Courage: Gain a 75-330 (based on level) health shield after killing a monster camp or after 10 seconds out of combat. This shield will remain indefinitely. Players will gain 20% Tenacity and slow resist while the shield is present and for 3 seconds after it has been broken.

Protection Buff: Take 30% reduced damage from monsters while at least 2 allies are within 1300 units.

Scorchclaw

Scorchclaw’s Slash: Scorchclaw will accumulate Ember stacks at a rate of 3 stacks per 0.5 seconds or 100 stacks upon killing a large monster. At 100 Ember stacks, your next instance of damage against an enemy champion will slow all enemies in a 250 unit radius by 30% (decaying over 2 seconds). It will also deal burn damage equal to 5% of the target's maximum health in true damage over 4 seconds to the primary target.

Protection Buff: Take 30% reduced damage from monsters while at least 2 allies are within 1300 units.

Gustwalker

Gustwalker’s Gait: Gain 45% bonus move speed when entering a brush that decays over 2 seconds after leaving the brush. This is increased to 60% for 2 seconds after killing a large monster.

Protection Buff: Take 30% reduced damage from monsters while at least 2 allies are within 1300 units.

5) Leashing range updates and indicators

[NEW] Soft Resets: After losing all patience, instead of fully resetting, the monster will ‘soft reset’ for 6 seconds. While soft resetting, the monster will path towards its camp center, regenerate 6% of its max health per second, and ignore attackers outside of its leash range. Attacking a monster while the attacker is within its leash range will end the soft reset and restore some patience. After these 6 seconds have passed without the monster being attacked, the monster will ‘hard reset’ and ignore all attackers, rapidly heal, and return to its original position.
[NEW] Soft vs Hard Reset Speed: Monsters will move more slowly while soft resetting and faster once they hard reset
[NEW] Patience is Key: Monsters will not lose patience for 1.5 seconds after being attacked by a champion within the leash radius.
[NEW] Patience Regeneration: Camps will now begin to regenerate lost patience after 2 seconds of being back within their leash range.

Patience display

Small Monster Patience: Small Monsters will match the patience of their respective large monster as long as it is alive and within 700 range.

Blue Sentinel: 1000 ⇒ 650
Gromp: 700 ⇒ 450
Krugs: 900 ⇒ 650
Murk Wolves: 800 ⇒ 650
Raptors: 800 ⇒ 650
Red Brambleback: 1000 ⇒ 650
Rift Herald: 1200 ⇒ 1100

6) New communication tools

Expanded Tactical Wheel

Returning Pings (clockwise): Retreat (formerly Danger), On My Way, Assist Me, Enemy Missing
New Pings (clockwise): Push, All-In, Hold, Bait

Vision Wheel

Extra Feature: The Need Vision ping will leave a small persistent indicator for a minute, or until a ward is placed nearby. You may only have one of these indicators active at any given time. Pinging again will replace your previous one.

Other features

Returning Pings: Caution
Objective Planning
Vision System Updates
Allied Ward Tracking
Enemy Ward Timers
Ability Recommendations
Suggested Ability Level Ups
Top Lane Oriented Updates
Lane Gold And Experience Changes
New and Updated Items

7) New items and updates

Jak’Sho, the Protean

Gold Cost: 3000
Health: 400
Armor: 30
Magic Resist: 30
Ability Haste: 20
Build Path: Aegis of the Legion + Kindlegem + Ruby Crystal
Passive - Voidborn Resilience: For each second in champion combat, gain a stack granting 2 armor and MR, up to 8 max. At max stacks become empowered, instantly draining enemies around you for 3% of your max health (reduced to 30% against minions and monsters) and increasing your resists by 10% until end of combat.
Mythic Passive: Grants all other Legendary items 5 armor and 5 magic resistance.

The Unspoken Parasite

Health: 550
Armor: 40
Magic Resist: 40
Ability Haste: 25
Passive - Voidborn Resilience: Passive is identical to base version.

Radiant Virtue

Gold Cost: 3000
Health: 400
Armor: 30
Magic Resist: 30
Ability Haste: 20
Build Path: Aegis of the Legion + Kindlegem + Ruby Crystal
Passive - Guiding Light: Upon casting your ultimate, you Transcend, increasing your max health by 10% for 9 seconds. While Transcended, you and allies within 1200 range of you gain 15 non-ultimate ability haste and heal for 1% of your max health every 3 seconds, increased by up to 100% based on that champion's missing health. 60-second cooldown.
Mythic Passive: Grants all other Legendary items 100 health.

Primordial Dawn

Health: 550
Armor: 40
Magic Resist: 40
Ability Haste: 25
Passive - Guiding Light: Passive is identical to base version.

Heartsteel

Gold Cost: 3200
Health: 800
Health Regen: 200%
Ability Haste: 20
Build Path: Kindlegem + Crystalline Bracer + Giant’s Belt
Passive - Colossal Consumption: Charge up a powerful attack against a champion over 3 seconds while within 700 range of them. The charged attack deals 125 +6% of your max health as bonus physical damage, and grants you 10% of that amount as permanent max health. 30-second cooldown per target.
Mythic Passive: Grants all other Legendary items 1% bonus health and 6% champion size.

Leviathan

Health: 1050
Health Regen: 300%
Ability Haste: 25
Passive - Colossal Consumption: Passive is identical to base version.

Iceborn Gauntlet (formerly Frostfire Gauntlet)

Gold Cost: 2800 ⇒ 3000
Health: 450 ⇒ 400
Armor: 25 ⇒ 50
Magic Resist: 25 ⇒ 0
Ability Haste: 20 (unchanged)
Build Path: Bami's Cinder + Null-Magic Mantle + Cloth Armor ⇒ Sheen + Kindlegem + Chain Vest
Passive - Spellblade: After using an ability, your next attack is enhanced with an additional 100% base AD physical damage and creates a frost field for 2.5 seconds. Enemies that move across the field are slowed by 15% +.004% bonus health (halved for ranged users). Your primary target is crippled, applying a 100% stronger slow on them and reducing their damage by 10% against you for 2.5 seconds. 1.5-second cooldown.
Mythic Passive: Grants all other Legendary items 50 health, 5% Tenacity, and 5% slow resist.

Frozen Fist

Health: 550
Armor: 70
Ability Haste: 25
Passive - Spellblade: Passive is identical to base version.

Rod of Ages

Gold Cost: 3200
Ability Power: 60
Health: 300
Mana: 400
Build Path: Catalyst of Aeons + Blasting Wand + Amplifying Tome
Passive: This item gains 20 health, 20 mana, and 4 ability power every minute, up to 10 times, for a maximum of 200 health, 200 mana, and 40 ability power. Upon reaching max stacks, gain a level and all effects of Eternity are increased by 50%. (Note: this will not increase the level cap of 18.)
Unique Passive - Eternity: Restore mana equal to 8% of premitigation damage taken from champions, and health equal to 20% of mana spent, up to 15 health per cast. Toggled abilities can only heal for up to 15 per second. For every 250 health or mana restored this way, gain 25% decaying move speed for 2 seconds.
Mythic Passive: Grants all other Legendary items 5 Ability Haste.

Infinite Convergence

Ability Power: 80
Health: 450
Mana: 550
Passive/Unique Passive - Eternity: Passives are identical to base version.

Catalyst of Aeons

Gold Cost: 1100
Health: 225
Mana: 300
Build Path: Ruby Crystal + Sapphire Crystal
Unique Passive - Eternity: Restore mana equal to 8% of premitigation damage taken from champions, and health equal to 20% of mana spent, up to 15 health per cast. Toggled abilities can only heal for up to 15 per second.

Abyssal Mask

Gold Cost: 2700 ⇒ 3000
Health: 450 ⇒ 500
Mana: 0 ⇒ 300
Magic Resist: 35 ⇒ 40
Ability Haste: 10 (unchanged)
Build Path: Kindlegem + Spectre's Cowl ⇒ Catalyst of Aeons + Spectre's Cowl
[NEW] Passive - Eternity: Restore mana equal to 8% of premitigation damage taken from champions, and health equal to 20% of mana spent, up to 15 health per cast. Toggled abilities can only heal for up to 15 per second.
Passive - Unmake: Curse nearby enemy champions, reducing their magic resist by 5 + 1.2% bonus health (max 25). For each Cursed enemy, gain 9 magic resist.

Randuin’s Omen

Gold Cost: 2700 ⇒ 3000
Health: 250 ⇒ 400
Armor: 90 ⇒ 60
Ability Haste: 10 ⇒ 0
Build Path: Warden's Mail + Cloth Armor + Ruby Crystal ⇒ Warden's Mail + Giant's Belt
[NEW] Active - Humility: Briefly slow nearby enemies by 55% for 2 seconds (60-second cooldown).
[NEW] Passive - Critical Resistance: Critical strikes deal 20% less damage to you.
Passive - Rock Solid: Reduce incoming damage from attacks by up to 5 +0.35%, capped at 40% of attack's damage.

Sunfire Aegis

Item Tier: Mythic ⇒ Legendary
Gold Cost: 3200 ⇒ 2800
Health: 450 ⇒ 400
Armor: 35 ⇒ 50
Magic Resistance: 35 ⇒ 0
Ability Haste: 20 ⇒ 0
Build Path: Bami’s Cinder + Aegis of the Legion ⇒ Bami's Cinder + Chain Vest
[REM] Unique Passive - Flametouch: Flametouch has been removed.
Passive - Immolate: Immolate damage is no longer increased by 150% against monsters.

Turbo Chemtank

Item Tier: Mythic ⇒ Legendary
Gold Cost: 3200 ⇒ 2800
Health: 450 ⇒ 500
Magic Resist: 25 ⇒ 50
Armor: 25 ⇒ 0
Ability Haste: 20 ⇒ 10
Build Path: Bami’s Cinder + Cloth Armor + Null Magic Mantle ⇒ Kindlegem + Negatron Cloak + Ruby Crystal
[REM] Passive - Refuel: Refuel passive has been removed.

Aegis of the Legion

Gold Cost: 1400 ⇒ 1200

Ravenous Hydra

Attack Damage: 70 ⇒ 65
Unique Passive - Cleave: 60-12% total AD (based on distance) ⇒ 60% of total AD for melee champions and 30% of total AD for ranged champions to all enemies around them.
[NEW] Unique Passive - Carnivorous: Gain 0.6 AD and 0.1% Omnivamp on minion kills, increased to twice that amount for champions, large/epic monsters, and siege minions. Stacks up to 24 AD and 4% Omnivamp. Lose half of these stacks on death.

Tiamat

Unique Passive - Cleave: 60-12% total AD (based on distance) ⇒ 50% of total AD for melee champions and 25% of total AD for ranged champions to all enemies around them

Spear of Shojin

Gold Cost: 3400
Attack Damage: 65
Health: 300
Ability Haste: 20
Unique Passive - Dragonforce: Non-ultimate spells gain an extra [8 (+8% base AD) Ability Haste for melee champions | 6 (+6% base AD) Ability Haste for ranged champions], reduced to [4 (+4% base AD) Ability Haste for melee champions | 3 (+3% base AD) Ability Haste for ranged] for spells with immobilizing effects
Unique Passive - Exigency: Gain up to [15% melee | 10% ranged] move speed, based on your % missing health (maxed out while below 33% health).
Build Path: B.F. Sword + Kindlegem + Caulfield’s Warhammer

8) Champions

Cho'Gath

R - Feast

Damage to Non-Champions: 1000 (+50% AP)(+10% Bonus HP) ⇒ 1200(+50% AP)(+10% Bonus HP)

Lillia

Base stats

Attacks: Ranged ⇒ Melee
Base Health: 625 ⇒ 605
Health Growth: 104 ⇒ 105
Passive - Dream-Laden Bough
Healing vs Champions: 10.5-124.5 (based on level)(+18% AP) (Note: linear scaling) ⇒ 6-120 (based on level)(+18% AP) (Note: Now uses stat growth multiplier.)

Nunu & Willump

Q - Consume

True Damage to Non-Champions: 340/500/660/820/980 ⇒ 400/600/800/100/1200

Rakan

Base Stats

Attacks: Ranged ⇒ Melee

9) Summoner Spells

Smite

Smite Damage: 450 (Base)/900 (Challenging/Chilling Smite) ⇒ 600/900/1200 (0/20/40 companion stacks)
[UPDATED] New Smites New Names: Smite/Challenging Smite/Chilling Smite ⇒ Smite/Unleashed Smite/Primal Smite

10) Turret Adjustments

Turret Plating
Gold Given per Plate: 160 ⇒ 175
Armor and MR per Turret Plate: 35 ⇒ 40

11) ARAM Balance Adjustments

Champion Buffs

Akali: +20% Tenacity, +20% Energy Regeneration
Ekko: +20% Tenacity
Elise: +20% Tenacity
Evelynn: +20% Tenacity
Fizz: +20% Tenacity
Kassadin: +20% Tenacity
Katarina: +20% Tenacity
Kayn: +20% Tenacity
Kennen: +20% Energy Regeneration
Kha’Zix: +20% Tenacity
Le’Blanc: +20% Tenacity
Lee Sin: +20% Energy Regeneration
Pyke: +20% Tenacity
Qiyana: +20% Tenacity
Rek’Sai: +20% Tenacity
Rengar: +20% Tenacity
Talon: +20% Tenacity
Zed: +20% Tenacity, +20% Energy Regeneration

Champion Nerfs

Ashe: -20 Ability Haste

Champion Base Stat Cleanup

Base AD, Base HP, Base Mana, Base MR, Mana Growth: Rounded to the nearest 1
AD Growth, Base Mana Regeneration, Mana Regeneration Growth: Rounded to the nearest 0.05.
Attack Speed Growth: Rounded to the nearest 0.005.

12) Bugfixes & QoL changes

Fixed a bug where Live Chat Moderation mute prevented players from DMing their friends in the League Client.
Fixed a bug where rebuying Night Harvester after selling it would cause its effect to become non-functional.
Fixed a bug for Maw of Malmortius/Sterak’s Gage where if damage was inflicted that was greater than Lifeline’s shield then the shield would do nothing.
Fixed a bug where Syndra’s E would appear as its own unit in the enemies death recap.
Fixed a few inconsistencies in Dr. Mundo’s tooltips.
Fixed a bug where Blitzcrank’s tooltips did not display the Passive Shield’s mana and level scaling.
Fixed a bug that caused Kalista’s W passive indicator to be barely visible depending on the camera’s position.
Fixed a bug that would sometime cause the last tick of Zac’s R to sometimes do no damage.
Fixed a bug that was causing Sylas to steal K’Sante’s R - recast if he was in All Out form.
Fixed a bug where K’Sante could sell and rebuy his items to greatly reduce his gray HP threshold while in All Out form.
Fixed a bug where some champion’s VFX would persist for a period of time after being release from Tahm Kench’s R.
Fixed a bug for Kalista where killing a unit while casting Rend would cause Rend’s cooldown to reset.
Fixed a bug that would cause Kindred’s marking passive to be audible through the fog of war.
Fixed a bug where Syndra’s E could move unstoppable units.
Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause the client to freeze if clicking on specific items in the Collections tab.
Fixed a bug where K’Sante’s R would not remove Dr. Mundo’s passive spellshield.
Fixed a bug where K’Sante’s R bonus AD would not account for temporary armor and magic resist bonuses from items and runes.
Fixed a bug where Pantheon would be locked out of casting spells for a few frames after his R ended.
Fixed a bug where K’Sante’s E would not cancel his recall if he was currently channeling his back.
Fixed a bug where Kalista’s spear would be temporarily displaced on top of her when she uses her Q.
Fixed a bug where K’Sante could redirect/extend his W knockback distance/direction with Flash.
Fixed a bug where Rapid Fire Canon could extend Rengar’s leap range during his ultimate.
Fixed a bug where Master Yi’s Q would sometimes cause jungle monsters to attack him but deal no damage.
Fixed a bug that caused Rell’s R to deal one less pulse of damage.
Fixed a bug that caused Ahri’s Orb to stay with Viego after he ended possession of her.
Fixed a bug that caused K’Sante E to not proc Spellblade effects.
Fixed a bug where smaller sized champions could slip between the gaps in Maokai’s R.
Fixed a bug that cause Viego to repeatedly play Spirit Guard Udyr’s Q SFX after ending his possession of Udyr.
Fixed a bug where enabling Auto Attack would sometimes cancel channeled abilities.