10 Things To Look Forward to In LoL Season 12

League of Legends’ Season 11 has been very eventful and left us with a ton of memories that we’ll carry until the following years. However, as the holiday season gets underway, it reminds us that this season is officially coming to an end with the arrival of 2022. Luckily, not everything about the arrival of LoL season 12 is gloomy because there’s a ton to be happy about in the following season and we’ve listed the things we’re most excited about once we get to see the official changes come to light!

The Best Things in LoL Season 12

The LoL season 12 pre-season has given us a sneak peek of the things we can expect from the game in the following year. We’ve already seen the changes to the state of the game which may not be as huge as the ones that came before it but the additions are definitely enough to rebuild how the game is played. While we’d like to talk about the game exclusively, there’s also a ton of content that includes esports that we know a lot of you are also interested in coming into the season.

While we may feel like the past few years have changed the way we play and watch video games and esports, the situation around the world is starting to loosen up. The greatest part about the year 2022 is that Riot Games has confirmed some events and news that has left us hopeful that everything will revert back to the way it is. In this case, LoL season 12 has so much that gets us excited and so we’re sharing those things with you, in case you haven’t heard about it yet!

10. The Return of Uzi

The LPL superstar AD Carry and the unofficial greatest bot laner in the history of League of Legends is making a grand comeback to esports in 2022. As one of the craziest roster moves this pre-season, Bilibili Gaming announced that they’ll have Uzi, who has spent the past two years in retirement. This has left so many people devastated, especially pro-players who has looked up to him since the early days of the esports scene. Now, he’s finally going back on stage to pick up where he left off.

It’s surprising to see that Uzi didn’t choose to re-sign with Royal Never Give Up, who has built his brand up. However, with the organization finding a formula that works for them, it’s no wonder that they are satisfied with what they have. One problem about this news is that we probably won’t see much of Uzi play in the regular season for two reasons: The first being that, historically, he rarely plays in the regular season due to his injuries and that coming out of retirement means that he may be on trial first. (The same situation with Clearlove)

9. The LCS’ Mini Worlds!

The LCS has always been seen as the place overflowing with LoL imports. This year, that image has become even more clear because the rosters have decided to aggressively pursue overseas players to fill up their rosters which has significantly reduced the number of North American players in the league. This time, it’s not really sad to see this happen because this has caused an unintentional patter in the current lineup that actually makes people excited – mini worlds!

The three biggest names in the LCS has filled their rosters with players from specific regions. Team Liquid has built the team primarily with European veterans which has earned them the title of being the LEC team in NA. Cloud9 also pursued Korean talent and with LS as coach, they are the LCK representatives of NA. Finally, TSM FTX recruited up-and-coming players from China’s LDL and with Spica being Chinese himself, they have become the LPL representatives of NA.

8. Hextech and Chemtech Drakes

The biggest change in LoL Season 12 is the addition of Hextech and Chemtech Drakes to Summoner’s Rift. While we’ve already tasted how it feels to play as or against these dragon souls, we’ve yet to see them in action on the professional scene. The two dragons have such game-breaking effects in the game that it’s really exciting to think about what the pros can do when they are faced in a situation that involves the use of these dragon souls in a high-pressure match.

The dragons have received so much negative feedback from the community, especially the Chemtech Drake since it’s absolutely broken. The League of Legends balance team has been busy trying to fix the problems that these mechanics bring to the game and are nerfing them before the season officially starts, which is nice because we don’t have to deal with it when we’re trying to climb for our Ranked Matches. Let’s just hope the right fix arrives before the season actually begins.

7. The Burst Damage Meta!

The arrival of new runes and items in LoL Season 11 has set up the stage for the burst damage meta, which highlights burst mages and assassins. Items like Axiom Arc make assassinating enemies a lot easier and so much more rewarding compared to the previous seasons where the impact is subject to the state of the game. Assassins have seen more play in the later stages of season 11 but this time around, they’ll sure become more relevant because of their access to the new stuff.

Seeing a champion instantly delete another champion is probably one of the funniest things you can see in League of Legends. This assures us that, at the very least, the extremely boring tank meta won’t be making a grand return in LoL Season 12. We’re looking forward to more champions seeing more play both in solo queue and esports. However, this news might not bode well for ADCs and players that like to use squishy champions in the game.

6. New Champions!

While there aren’t any solid announcements just yet, the best part about a new season is that there are surely new champions that will be joining the lineup. A lot of people were really dissatisfied with the recent releases with some causing a lot of uproar despite the champions turning out just fine. Hopefully, Riot Games manages to design good champions in the following seasons that are both fun to use and play against without it feeling like they were made without any thought.

LoL season 12 is looking bright with the story focusing a bit on Piltover & Zaun as well as the continuation of the Ionian sage, which we hope will translate to the release of champions from these regions. There are also the champion reworks that are planned which includes Sona and Udyr (finally). A lot of things will be changing on the rift this coming season with new faces entering and contributing to the Runeterra storyline either as key characters to the story or minor characters with in-depth storylines.

5. More Cinematics

Cinematics are one of the best parts of the League of Legends universe. Seeing our favorite characters come to life is always exciting and the release of Arcane made us want to explore the universe even more. While we won’t be having any TV series releasing any time soon, cinematics are enough to satisfy our need to see more of the world of Runeterra and the characters that inhabit it. Riot Games has surely more content in store for the fans and will release it during big events.

Looking back at the past cinematics, we are confident that the quality of the content that will arrive will only improve even more in terms of storytelling and animation. Riot Games isn’t a company to skimp out on releasing quality content for the community so when they release the next cinematic, you can expect it will be on a whole different level. We just hope that they aren’t simply shorts or teasers. A music video-style cinematic like Warriors would also be really nice.

4. Awesome Game Comebacks

One of the changes in LoL season 12 is the addition of objective bounties, which is a mechanic to help teams that are behind come back from the deficit that they are facing. This means that we’ll see more games come back from the depths of hopelessness and make the games more exciting for both solo queue and competitive play. No more feeling hopeless when your team falls behind in the early game because you’ll be able to play around the map to get back into the game.

Objective bounties are a great addition to the game because they allow the players to find alternate ways to come back aside from trying to take bounties from fed opponents. The macro will be prioritized heavily in the coming season and you’ll see some annoying strategies like relentless split-pushing and sneaking dragons more frequent than before. Whether or not these make you excited, it’s important that these mechanics exist for the sake of the game’s competitive future.

3. Tournaments with Live Audiences?

The worldwide pandemic has been tough on the League of Legends community and the people around the world, in general. However, Riot Games has made sure that a semblance of normalcy remained by being able to broadcast their esports game to the fans worldwide so that they can still watch their favorite teams play against each other while they watched at the comfort of their home. Despite not being able to watch it physically, it was enough to keep us sane through months of isolation.

In the coming LoL season 12, there are plans for esports events to start introducing live audiences again in most parts of the world. While this has already been implemented in the LPL and LCK, the west and other minor regions have yet to hold a live event featuring crowds. We home that we can get back to watching our favorite teams on-stage while hearing the roar of the crowd in the arena just like how it was before the whole pandemic thing started.

2. Rise of Minor Leagues

No, we’re not talking about minor regions, we’re talking about minor LEAGUES. Minor leagues refer to the tournament scene below the official League of Legends circuits such as France’s LFL, LCS Academy, and other minor tournaments that feature up and coming players who are looking to make it into the main stage. It can be boring waiting every week just to watch our favorite teams during the weekend but the rise of minor leagues make it so that we still have competitive games to cheer on after the main broadcast.

The minor leagues have made themselves heard in 2021 and they are finally getting the recognition they deserve coming into LoL season 12. With big-name players like Rekkles joining the LFL, the minor leagues aren’t just promotional tournaments since they are really close to being on the same level as the main circuits. We’re excited to see what these teams, who most of us have never heard of before, can do when the season begins.

1. Worlds 2022

Of course, Worlds 2022 is still the biggest highlight of LoL season 12. Even though the events of Worlds 2021 is still fresh, we already can’t wait for the next world championship tournament to get underway since there’s simply a lot of things we want to see such as proving that our region is the best in the world. With the off-season looking the way it is, there’s a chance that an underdog region might finally win the title after being monopolized by eastern regions for so long.

Since there are rumors that the tournament will include crowds, it becomes even more exciting to think about. A lot of heartbreaks happened in Worlds 2021 and the return of big names make it even more hype as we might see redemption arcs or continued traditions make its way to worlds. When it comes to seeing which region is the best, there’s no better platform to prove it on than the League of Legends World Championships.