League of Legends patch 12.8 preview: Buffs to Ezreal and Zoe, Pyke nerfs, and more

With League of Legends patch 12.8 set to go live in a week’s time, Riot Games have provided a small peek into the changes that players will be able to expect in the upcoming update.

There will be many champion updates scheduled for this patch as Riot will be looking to introduce several tweaks to the existing meta, and picks like Ezreal, Zoe, Mordekaiser, and Vladimir will be getting some quality-of-life updates.

These champions were not exactly having a good time in Season 12. Hopefully, with the upcoming patch, they might be able to make their way back to the competitive and solo-queue meta.

Additionally, there will be a fair bit of nerfs this time as well as Pyke, Soraka, Jinx, and Xayah will be the main focus.

Listed below are all the champions who are expected to receive an update in League of Legends patch 12.8.

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League of Legends patch 12.8 preview

Before moving on to the list, it's important to note that the champions mentioned below for League of Legends patch 12.8 are tentative. The entirety of it may not be carried over to the official patch due next week.

Riot Games will first test the changes out in the PBE test server and will only ship the updates out when they have performed satisfactorily.

1) Champion Buffs

• Moredekaiser
• Aatrox
• Vladimir
• Poppy
• Sejuani
• Fiddlesticks
• Zoe
• Kassadin
• Vel’Koz
• Xerath
• Sylas
• Ezreal
• Tristana
• Jhin
• Bard
• Seraphine

There will be several champion buffs in League of Legends patch 12.8 as the developers are looking to make some of the picks more viable heading into the mid-season.

These champions have had a rough time in Season 12 and have hardly seen a good win rate and pick in both pro-play and standard matchmaking. Riot will be looking to improve that in the upcoming patch.

2) Champion Nerfs

• Pyke
• Soraka
• Jinx
• Xayah

A new Pyke-mid strategy has emerged, which has been taking over solo-queue off-late. The support champion had been tough to deal with in the lane, and the developers will look to nerf him in the lane and pivot him more towards the support role.

3) Champion Adjustments

• Ap Kai’Sa
• Swain

The Swain mini-rework will be one of the biggest highlights of the patch, and almost the entirety of his kit will be focused on this time around.