Following a huge revamp surrounding the marksmen role on League of Legends’ Patch 8.11, the next batch of changes in anticipation of Patch 8.12 has already hit the game’s Public Environment Beta server. This time, however, the focus will be shifted towards some of the most popular support champions, who will receive a significant nerf on their shielding abilities.

Among the changes included on Monday’s PBE update, Janna, one of the most dominant supports in the current meta – in part thanks to her almost unmatchable sustain capabilities -  will undergo a big change to her shield, Eye of the Storm. The change causes Eye of the Storm's potency to decay over 5 seconds instead of remaining constant during that period.

Furthermore, two other frequently picked supports will receive significant nerfs. The duration of Karma’s Inspire will be reduced from 4 seconds to 2.5 seconds, and shields applied on allied champions by Lulu’s “Help, Pix!” will be cut by more than 50% - from 6 seconds to 2.5 seconds.

Finally, Orianna, despite not being a champion commonly played in the bot lane, will also receive a nerf to her own shielding ability, with Command: Protect’s duration being reduced from 4 seconds to 2.5 seconds as well.


Expected changes

These changes, despite catching some unaware, shouldn’t come as a big surprise: ina post on the official game boards last month, Lead Designer Andrei “Meddler” van Roon claimed that such shielding abilities are relatively risk-free "are significantly more reliable/forgiving than offensive tools used against their team.” He also added by saying that the balance team was considering changes such as reducing its duration or adding “contextual demands” to some abilities.

Well, it seems that one part of the balance teams plans has already started. The big question now is whether these shielding abilities will see even more changes before we wrap up with the current testing cycle. If Riot continues its trend of bi-weekly patches, Patch 8.12 will hit the live servers on June 13th.

Photo courtesy of Riot Games