She arrives, but for once does not intend to upset things too much. Preseason is back for 2022. That time of year when Riot decides to refresh the game, introducing new mechanics or, like last year, completely redesigning an aging system. It's this process that keeps LoL fresh after almost 12 years. Today, Riot presents the changes that will take place for this 2022 preseason. And if there will not be a huge revolution, some things will change. All of this will be available on the PBE for 4 weeks.
Two new dragons
Elemental dragons have been working well since their introduction. And the arrangement of the map according to an element contributes to the diversity of the parts. This is why in 2022, two new dragons will appear.
Tech-Chemical Dragon
- Buff standard
- Grants bonus damage against enemies that have more HP than you (up to +5% damage per stack).
- dragon soul
- When a team obtains the Tech-Chemical Dragon Soul, all their champions receive a bonus that grants them a short second life when they die.
- Terrain
- When the terrain changes for the Tech-Chemical Dragon, gas zones emerge in four jungle locations. Gas zones cloak all champions in the zone. Stealthed enemies are not revealed by normal Vision Beacons, but are revealed by Control Beacons, Flowers of Vision, and other things that reveal invisible units.
Dragon Hextech
- Buff standard
- Grants attack speed and skill haste to the finishing team (+5 skill haste and 5% attack speed per stack).
- dragon soul
- When a team obtains the Hextech Dragon Soul, they gain a unique skill that adds chain lightning to their basic attacks and abilities that slows targets, with a moderate cooldown.
- Terrain
- When the terrain transforms for the Hextech Dragon, pairs of Hextech Portals appear throughout the map that allow champions to quickly move from point to point to its linked point. Portals are activated with a short channel (which can be interrupted by stuns or damage) before quickly transporting a player to the corresponding portal.
There's a lot to remember about these dragons. Good, as well as questionable. The techno-chemical soul that grants Sion's passive (or rather the buff present in Ultimate Spellbook) is a nice touch. But camouflage zones all over the map? Not necessarily.
The return of objective bonuses
They ruled LoL in the past, and now they're back. Goal bonuses are one of the major changes for the 2022 preseason. But there's a slight twist. Now these will only activate when one team is far enough behind the other. Think of it as a bounty, but not for champions.
The goal is obviously to allow a late team to recover, by recovering a sum of PO divided to all. They will be visible highlighted on the minimap for both teams. Their appearance is conditioned by four elements: advance of XP, advance of PO, advance of dragon and advance of turrets. Here is the list of bounties that will be available:
- Baron/Dragon ancestral – 500 PO
- Dragon/Rift Herald – 500 gold
- Outer Turret – 250 gold
- Interior or base turret – 400 gold
The amounts may increase up to 60% depending on the delay of the losing team. These bounties will have a 15 second warning period before and after they are activated.
New items for the 2022 preseason
While the item system has evolved for 2021, it's still far from perfect. Riot is aware of this, and wants to provide alternative solutions for certain champions whose build is always linear. We don't want to live in a world where the Axiomatic Arc and Zed cohabit, but obviously all of that still has plenty of time to change.
Mythical Items
Crown of the Broken Queen
- 70 power
- 250 PV
- 600 mana
- 20 skill boost
- You have a Rampart, which reduces damage taken by 50%. Bulwark persists for 1,5 seconds after taking champion damage.
- Behind the rampart, you gain 10-40 power (per level).
- (You recover Bulwark if you don't take champion damage for 40 seconds).
- Mythic Passive: +1% Movement Speed and 50 HP
Shroud of Equality
- 200 PV
- 20 skill boost
- 30 armor
- 30 magic resistance
- Repentance: After rooting champions or being rooted, the target and all nearby enemies Repent, increasing their damage taken by 12% for 5 seconds.
- Mythic Passive: Grants all other legendary items +5 armor and magic resist.
Gantelet cryopyrique
- 350 PV
- 25 armor
- 25 magic resistance
- 20 skill boost
- Immolate: Taking or dealing damage causes you to deal 12 + 1% magic damage per second to nearby enemies (+25% against minions and +150% against jungle monsters) for 3 seconds.
- Snowfall: Attacks create a field of frost for 1,5 seconds and deal magic damage to all enemies in the area. Enemies that cross this frost field are slowed.
- Mythic Passive: Grants all other legendary items +100 HP and +6% size.
Chemist-scaphandre turbo
- 350 PV
- 25 armor
- 25 magic resistance
- 20 skill boost
- Active - Dynamization: You gain +40% movement speed for 4 seconds towards enemies and enemy turrets. When near an enemy (or after 4 seconds), you emit a shockwave that slows nearby champions by 50% for 1,5 seconds (90 second cooldown).
- Supply: Moving and dealing damage fills the tank. At 100 stacks, your next basic attack deals magic damage per second to all nearby enemies (+25% against minions and +175% against jungle monsters).
- Mythic Passive: Grants all other legendary items +5 skill haste and 50 HP.
New options in the store
approach of winter
- 400 PV
- 500 mana
- 15 skill boost
- Dread: You gain bonus HP equal to 8% of your maximum mana.
- Mana Charge: When you hit a target with an ability or attack, you consume a charge and gain +3 mana. Mana gain is doubled if the target is a champion. Grants you a maximum of +360 mana, then transforms into Fimbulvetr.
Fimbulvetr
- 400 PV
- 860 mana
- 15 skill boost
- Dread: You gain bonus HP equal to 8% of your maximum mana.
- Persist: Immobilizing or slowing (melee only) an enemy champion consumes 3% of your current mana and grants you a shield for 3 seconds that absorbs damage. The shield increases by 80% if there are several enemies nearby.
Axiomatic arc
- 55 attack damage
- 10 lethality
- 25 skill haste
- Refresh: Whenever a champion dies within 3 seconds of you damaging them, they refund 25% of your Ultimate's total cooldown.
shadow flame
- 80 power
- 250 PV
- Damage dealt to champions benefits from 10-20 magic penetration based on the target's current HP. (Maximum value at 1 PV or less, minimum value at 000 PV or more)
- You gain maximum penetration if the target has recently been affected by shields.
cosmic will
- 60 power
- 250 PV
- 30 skill boost
- 5% movement speed
- After damaging champions with 3 different attacks or spells, win 30% movement speed (which drops to 15%) and 40 power after leaving the fight.
Distant Focus
- 110 power
- 150 PV
- Also includes slowdowns to trigger Distant Focus. (Rylai's Scepter also works)
Demonic Embrace
- 60 power
- 450 PV
- Dealing skill damage to a champion burns them, causing them to lose 2/1,2% of max HP dealing magic damage every second for 4 sec.
- Converts 2% of your bonus HP into power
Seraph's Embrace
- 80 power
- 860 mana
- 250 PV
- You gain skill haste equal to 1,3% of bonus mana
- You recover HP equal to 40% of the mana spent, up to 25-50+10% power per throw.
- (Skills that remain enabled can return the same amount per second)
Force of nature
- 350 PV
- 70 magic resistance
- 5% movement speed
- Absorption: Taking magic damage from enemy champions grants a stack of Immutable (max 6). Effects that immobilize enemies grant 2 additional charges.
- Dispel: At 6 stacks of Immutable, you take 20% reduced magic damage and gain 10% movement speed.
Knight's Vow
- 400 PV
- 10 skill boost
- 150% base HP regen
- Active – Oath: You designate an ally who is worthy.
- Sacrifice: When the worthy ally is near, you redirect 10% of the damage they take to you and heal 8% of the damage your worthy ally deals to champions. If the worthy ally is below 30% HP, the damage reduction is increased to 20%.
Abyssal Mask
- 400 PV
- 30 magic resistance
- 10 skill boost
- Destruction: Curse enemy champions, reducing their magic resistance. For each cursed enemy, you gain 7 magic resistance.
A new rune and two changes in preseason 2022
Some primordial runes aren't widely used, or are only suitable for a small handful of champions. This is why the following changes will happen:
mortal time
- You gain attack speed for 6 seconds when the champion hits at least one enemy champion with each attack. This effect stacks up to 6 times.
- When this effect reaches its limit, you also gain attack range and increase your attack speed limit to 3.0.
Icy Optimization
- Immobilizing an enemy champion will cause 3 freezing beams to shoot out towards you and any nearby champions, creating frozen areas for a few seconds. These will slow enemies by 40% and reduce the damage they deal to your allies (but not to yourself) by 15%.
New Rune: First Strike
- Damaging an enemy champion with an attack or skill before they harm you grants you 5 gold and First Hit for 3 seconds. While under the effect of First Strike, your attacks or abilities deal 12% more damage to champions, and grant you 100% (70% for ranged units) of the damage dealt as gold.
Is First Shot a good idea? On paper, this looks like another balancing hell. But the rune will arrive a little later on the PBE, and we will have to wait before seeing it in action. Either way, Ezreal seems like the perfect candidate to abuse it like Kleptomancy.
The 2022 preseason: 4 weeks on the PBE
One last major change is planned. The first Scuttler, deemed too impactful, will be scaled down. It will have 35% less HP, give 80% less XP, and be smaller. It should therefore no longer be a point of confrontation from 3 minutes into the game.
For the next 4 weeks, the developers will be testing things. And a lot. This is the principle of the preseason. Send changes that seem surreal, and see their impact. Some will not see live servers. Others will go as far as the first patch of 2022 before being caught up. And some will be there to haunt you for years to come.
