League of Legends Patch 25.S1.2 Notes: Atakhan Nerfs, ADC Buffs

League of Legends Patch 25.S1.2 is here to smooth out 2025's in-game mechanics and fine-tune Atakhan and Feats of Strength. Here's a quick summary.
Mel Medarda is making a long-awaited entrance to League of Legends in Patch 25.S1.2, and Atakhan will receive significant nerfs.
Mel Medarda is making a long-awaited entrance to League of Legends in Patch 25.S1.2, and Atakhan will receive significant nerfs. / Riot Games

As gamers worldwide are settling into the new year, League of Legends is introducing some fresh fine-tuning and in-game changes. In this upcoming update, players can expect Atakhan nerfs, assassin and ADC buffs, a wildfire relief fundraising effort and more. Plus, Mel Medarda will finally join the Rift after her hit appearance in Arcane. Here's a quick summary of everything to know about League of Legends' Patch 25.S1.2.

Overall Summary:

  • Buffs prioritizing Assassin and ADC Champions
  • Mel Medarda arrives as a playable Champion
  • Firefighter Tristana arrives in the Shop to fundraise for LA Wildfire relief
  • Atakhan nerfs
  • Homeguard changes
  • Blue Essence changes
  • Item Buffs to prioritize late-game play and armor penetration

LA Wildfire Relief Fundraising

In Patch 25.S1.2, Riot Games will raise funds for areas affected by the recent California wildfires. Riot Games is headquartered in West Los Angeles and hosts many events in the city at its Riot Games Arena, so the fires had a deeply personal impact on many in the Riot Games community.

In the official patch notes, the company states:

As a company rooted in Los Angles we wanted to share how we're directly responding—from supporting those impacted, to launching in-game fundraisers for natural disaster relief and prevention efforts.

Riot Games

In League of Legends, Riot Games is bringing Firefighter Tristana back from the vault and donating 100% of the skin's cosmetic proceeds plus a three-time matched donation to the Riot Games Social Impact Fund. This fund will directly support those affected by the wildfires and disaster recovery worldwide. Players can purchase the skin from January 23 to February 5 2025.

Mac and Windows Systems Changes

In an effort to improve outdated software, Riot Games is changing MacOS' OpenGL technology to Metal Graphics. Notably, OpenGL will phase out gradually so players have time to adapt. After OpenGL is permanently removed, system requirements will update and players won't be able to run the game without Metal Graphics capability. Vanguard will also become operational on Mac in Patch 25.S1.2. This form of Vanguard will run directly in the game's client, so users don't have to install any additional programs to play.

Windows users can expect to utilize DirectX 11 feature level 11_0 instead of 10_0. Some users may need to upgrade their computer's hardware if their device only supports up to 10_0.

In-Game Mechanics

League of Legends Voracious Atakhan
Both of Atakhan's forms will be nerfed in Patch 25.S1.2. / Riot Game

Account Progression; Blue Essence

The League of Legends team is making a slew of changes primarily involving Blue Essence and Account XP. Some of these changes address previous errors. Riot Games notes that as some players have already claimed Pass milestones for fewer rewards before this update, they are adding a 4,250 BE mission to compensate for the reward gap. Here's a quick summary — for a full list, check the official Patch Notes here.

  • Total Blue Essence/Milestones: 4,750 > 9,000 BE
  • Post-50 repeatable Epilogue milestones: 50 > 750 BE
  • The final Champion capsule in the Pass will be a Glorious Champion Capsule starting in Act 2.
  • Account XP earned will increase by 40%.

Homeguard

Homeguard's range will now cover the entire spawn platform. According to developers, this is intended to "remove any friction around where one should position while waiting in the spawn with a nerf to the duration to retain overall travel time to lanes."

  • Homeguard Duration: 7 seconds > 6 seconds.

Feats of Strength

As of 25.S1.2, League of Legends replaced its early-game gold incentives with three Feats of Strength buffs. The League of Legends team has found that the new Feat of First blood is causing issues and encouraging invades, so they are replacing it with a new Feat of Warfare.

  • Feat of First Blood is removed.
  • Feat of Warfare: buffs delivered to the first team to kill three Champions.

Atakhan

Riot Games has been keeping a close eye on Atakhan's data since his recent introduction to the game, and several noticable issues with the boss have emerged. First, the team is adjusting Atakhan's Ruinous and Voracious spawn rates to occur more evenly. In addition, both of Atakhan's forms (and his related Bloody Roses) will see significant nerfs.

  • Atakhan's threshold has been reduced by 20%.
  • Voracious form gold granted for triggering withdraw: 100 > 200.
  • Bloody Roses: XP per rose 25 > 23; adaptive force per rose "decays slightly faster"

Ranked Restrictions

Apex Duo MMR restrictions will return in this patch.

New Champion: Mel Medarda

League of Legends Mel Champion
Arcane original character Mel Medarda is stepping onto the League of Legends battlefield after an appearance on the big screen. / Riot Games

Fans around the world enjoyed watching Mel Medarda's character development journey from a Piltover politician to a powerful mage and leader. On January 23 2025, Mel will arrive to League of Legends as a Champion. Her in-game powers are solar-themed, and her W allows her to reflect incoming abilities. For a full rundown of Mel's addition to League of Legends, check the related article below.

Related Article: Mel Medarda comes to League of Legends Soon! Release Date, Abilities

Champion Buffs

League of Legends Evelynn
Evelynn will receive a buff in League of Legends Patch 25.S1.2. / Riot Games

Patch 25.S1.2 focuses on improving assassin and ADC champions while streamlining their abilities. Evelynn, Kayn, Malzahar, Master Yi, Smoulder and Yuumi will all see buffs.

Evelynn

Heavy Evelynn buffs will improve her late-game effectiveness and better ensure Ultimate kills. They will also improve her burst damage and move speed.

  • Whiplash (E): Move speed 30 > 30/35/40/45/50%
  • Last Caress (R): Unempowered AP Ratio +65% AP > +75% AP; Empowered AP Ratio +156% AP > +180% AP

Kayn

Changes to Kayn's Darkin form will also heighten his effectiveness as an assassin.

  • The Darkin Scythe (Passive): Shadow Assassin Bonus Magic Damage 15-45% > 25-45%

Malzahar

  • Void Swarm (W): Voidling damage now updates when Malzahar levels up
    ; Updated tooltip to show total Voidling attack damage

Master Yi

  • Attack Damage Growth: 2.5 > 2.8
  • Wuju Style (E): On-hit True Damage: 20/25/30/35/40 (+30% Bonus AD) ⇒ 20/25/30/35/40 (+35% Bonus AD)

Smoulder

Smoulder has been consistently adjusted since his introduction. This minor buff will allow for Infinity Edge benefits.

  • Damage scales up to Critical Strike Multiplier based on Critical Strike Chance, allowing Smolder's Q to benefit from Infinity Edge.

Yuumi

  • Feline Friendship (Passive): Heal: 25-110 (based on level) (+15% AP) > 25-110 (based on level) (+25% AP); Cooldown 20-10 (based on level) (by level 11) ⇒ 20-8 (based on level) (by level 13)

Champion Nerfs

Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia changes will slightly nerf her move speed while slithering.

  • Serpentine Grace (Passive): Triumphant Move Speed per level 6 > 5;
    Default Move Speed unchanged.

Irelia

Irelia changes will "preserve how good she feels as a fast-moving auto-attacker with the tools to survive melee combat" while "peeling out damage from places that she isn't very reliant on."

  • Defiant Dance (W): Minimum Damage 10/25/40/55/70 (+40% Total AD) > 10/20/30/40/50 (+40% Total AD)
    ; Maximum Damage 30/75/120/165/210 (+120% Total AD) > 30/60/90/120/150 (+120% Total AD)
  • Flawless Duet (E): Damage 80/125/170/215/260 (+80% AP) > 70/110/150/190/230 (+80% AP)
  • Vanguard's Edge (R): Damage 125/250/375 (+70% AP) > 125/200/275 (+70% AP)

Tahm Kench

  • Tongue Lash (Q): Damage 80/130/180/230/280 (+Passive) > 75/120/165/210/255 (+Passive)

Viktor

  • Siphon Power (Q): Empowered Attack Bonus Damage 20/45/70/95/120 (+100% AD) (+60% AP) > 20/45/70/95/120 (+100% AD) (+50% AP)
  • Arcane Storm (R): Damage/tick 65/105/145 (+45% AP) > 65/105/145 (+35% AP)

Item and System Buffs

Patch 25.S1.2 will prioritize assassin Champions and change several in-game items, systems and runes.
Patch 25.S1.2 will prioritize assassin Champions and change several in-game items, systems and runes. / Riot Games

Several items will be adjusted to benefit assassin and ADC champions. These items will focus on late-game play and heavy armor penetration.

Lord Dominik's Regards

  • Total Cost 3000 Gold > 3100 Gold
  • Armor Penetration 35 > 40%

Mortal Reminder

  • Total Cost 3200 Gold > 3300 Gold
  • Armor Penetration 30 > 35%

Yun Tal Wildarrows

  • Attack Damage 50 > 55
  • Attack Speed 25 > 35%
  • Total Cost 2900 Gold > 3000 Gold

Rune Changes

Deep Ward

  • Yellow Trinket Duration 30-120s (based on average champion level) > 45-150s (based on average champion level)

Grisly Mementos

  • Trinket Haste for each Memento 4 (2 for Summoner Haste) > 6 (3 for Summoner Haste
  • Max Mementos 25 > 18

Sixth Sense

  • Cooldown 300s Melee / 360s Ranged > 275s Melee / 350s Ranged

Swiftplay Changes

Swiftplay changes will balance the mode separately from regular ranked play. This will encourage experimentation with a wider Champion pool and affect Champions including Gangplank, Pyke, Akshan, Draven, Twisted Fate, Senna, Kayle, Malzahar, Nilah, Qiyana, Rengar, Singed, Sivir, Teemo, Trundle, Urgot, Yorick and Zyra.

ARAM Changes

Sett, Sona, Kai'Sa, Karma and Soraka will be adjusted.

For a full list of ARAM and Swiftplay ability changes and Patch 25.S1.2 bug fixes, check Riot Games' official League of Legends Patch Notes here.


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