As League of Legends‘ preseason has rolled on, bruisers have dominated the meta thanks to some key item changes. Their tankier top-lane cousins have been left in the dust, however.
According to a tweet posted by League balance team and preseason lead designer Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison last night, many tanks are in line to receive buffs, although we don’t exactly know yet what they’ll be. These tanks include Sion, Cho’Gath, Amumu, Maokai, Zac, Tahm Kench, and Malphite.
All true frontliners without viable off-meta builds to vault them into the potency that bruisers have found thus far, they should be stronger in a week’s time. And with preseason itemization optimization far from figured out, nothing but change is on the horizon before Season 13 kicks off in a month.
In a potentially eyebrow-raising line of text, Zeri is also expected to receive buffs. After terrorizing professional and casual play alike not long ago, the Spark of Zaun fell off the face of the earth after repeated nerfs from Riot. She might have her day back in the sun yet amid the chaos of preseason. Also slightly off the theme, Blue Kayn will receive some love in Patch 12.23.
Something to potentially watch is, given the lack of Heartsteel nerfs, whether some champions will dominate disproportionately with these buffs, or whether things like the Ravenous Hydra nerfs will keep tanks in line enough to not function as true dual-threat champions.
Patch 12.23 is scheduled to hit live servers on Wednesday, Dec. 7.