The League of Legends 12.8 patch notes have been released, and there’s a lot of changes to consider as the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational approaches on May 10.

Multiple champions received changes, but the clear winner of patch 12.8 is Swain, the Noxian Grand General. All of Swain’s moves received an enhancement of some kind, from Death’s Hand dealing additional damage to Vision of Empire decreasing in mana cost. His ultimate Demonic Ascension has also been reworked, becoming a more potent move in the later stages of a match.

A quick look at the League of Legends 12.8 patch.

Other champion changes include Jinx losing 50 points of base health–dropping from 610 to 560–while Vladimir has his base armor stat increased from 23 to 27. The full League of Legends 12.8 patch notes are below.

The 12.8 patch will be the patch used in the 2022 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational, bringing the top teams from around the world to Busan, South Korea for an international competition. The tournament begins May 10 and runs until May 29.

League of Legends is a 5v5 multiplayer online battle arena with over 150 champions to take into battle, each with their own ability sets. The game is available now on PC.

League of Legnds 12.8 Patch Notes

Champions

Swain

Passive – Ravenous Flock

Healing From Soul Fragments

Increased from 4/5.5/7% of maximum health to 4/5.5/7%/9% of maximum health (at levels 1/6/11)

Maximum Health Increase Per Soul Fragment

Increased from 5 to 12

Swain can no longer use Passive – Ravenous Flock to pull and rip out Soul Fragments from immobilized enemies (see E – Nevermove)

Q – Death’s Hand

Damage

Increased from 55/75/95/115/135 (+40% AP) to 60/80/100/120/140 (+38% AP)

Bonus Damage Per Additional Bolt increased from 8.25/15/23.75/34.5/47.25 (+6/8/10/12/14% AP) to 12/22/32/42/52 (+8% AP)

Maximum Damage (5 Bolts) increased from 88/135/190/253/324 (+64/72/80/88/96% AP) to 108/168/228/288/348 (+70% AP)

Cooldown

Decreased from 9/7.5/6/4.5/3 seconds to 7/6/5/4/3 seconds

Mana Cost

Decreased from 65/70/75/80/85 to 45/50/55/60/65

W – Vision of Empire

Mana Cost

Decreased from 70/80/90/100/110 to 60/65/70/75/80

Pinging W – Vision of Empire will now display a list of visible enemies within range in team chat (similar to Twisted Fate and Nocturne ults)

E – Nevermove

Can now be recast to pull all champions rooted by E – Nevermove, ripping out 1 Soul Fragment from each of them

Swain’s pulls no longer deal damage

Now grants vision of all rooted targets

E – Nevermove’s cooldown is reduced by 20% during R – Demonic Ascension

R – Demonic Ascension

Cooldown

Decreased from 120 seconds to 100/80/60 seconds

Drain Damage Per Second

Decreased from 35/50/65 (+14% AP) to 20/40/60 (+10% AP)

Drain Heal Per Second

Decreased from 20/35/40 (+16% AP) to 15/40/65 (+25%)

No longer grants Swain 125/200/275 bonus health

Active Duration changed from 12 seconds to being based on Demon Power

Activating Demonic Ascension grants Swain 50 Demon Power, which decreases at an initial rate of 10 per second. After 5 seconds of Demonic Ascension, Swain’s Demon Power decreases faster at a rate of 15 per second

Swain gains 20 Demon Power per second while draining enemy champions

After 2 seconds of Demonic Ascension, Swain can recast his ultimate as R – Demonflare. R – Demonflare can only be cast once and does not end Demonic Ascension

R – Demonflare

Damage

Increased from 100/150/200 (+50% AP) to 150/225/300 (+60% AP)

Demonflare now slows enemies by 60%, decaying over 1.5 seconds

Demonflare no longer deals additional damage based on health drained

Bard

Passive – Traveler’s Call

Bonus Magic Damage On Attack

Increased from 30 (+12 per 5 chimes) (+30% AP) to 35 (+14 per 5 chimes) (+30% AP)

W – Caretaker’s Shrine

Maximum Heal

Increased from 55/95/135/175/215 (+60% AP) to 60/105/150/195/240 (+60% AP)

Ezreal

R – Trueshot Barrage

Cooldown

Changed from 120 seconds at all ranks to 120/105/90 seconds

Fiddlesticks

W – Bountiful Harvest

Heal Percentage Against Champions

Increased from 30/35/40/45/50% to 30/40/50/60/70%

Heal against minions remains at 15%

Jhin

W – Deadly Flourish

Root Duration

Increased from 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 seconds to 1.25/1.5/1.75/2/2.25 seconds

Damage against monsters no longer reduced by 25% (damage against minions unchanged)

E – Captive Audience

Trap Recharge Rate

Decreased from 28/25/22/19/16 seconds to 24/21.5/19/16.5/14 seconds

First Lotus Trap damage no longer reduced by 35% against monsters and summons (damage against minions unchanged)

Jinx

Base Health

Decreased from 610 to 560

Kai’Sa

Passive – Second Skin

Bonus Magic Damage Upon Consuming Full Plasma Stacks

Increased from 15% (+2.5% per 100 AP) to 15% (+5% per 100 AP) of target’s missing health

W – Void Seeker

Magic Damage

Decreased from 30/55/80/105/130 (+ 130% AD) (+70% AP) to 30/55/80/105/130 (+130% AD) (+45% AP)

R – Killer Instinct

Shield Strength

Increased from 75/100/125 (+100/150/200% AD) (+75% AP) to 75/100/125 (+100/150/200% AD) (+100% AP)

Kassadin

Q – Null Sphere

Magic Shield

Increased from 40/70/100/130/160 (+30% AP) to 60/90/120/150/180 (+40% AP)

E – Force Pulse

Magic Damage

Increased from 80/105/130/155/180 (+80% AP) >to 80/105/130/155/180 (+85% AP)

Mordekaiser

Passive – Darkness Rise

Bonus Move Speed

Increased from 3% at all levels to 3/6/9% at levels 1/6/11

Poppy

W – Steadfast Presence

Cooldown

Decreased from 24/22/20/18/16 seconds to 20/18/16/14/12 seconds

R – Keeper’s Verdict

Uncharged Knock Up Duration

Increased from 0.75 seconds to 1 second

Charged Missile Speed

Increased from 2000 to 2500

Charged Knock Back Distance

Increased from 2400 to 3400

Cooldown Refund Upon Canceled Charge

Decreased from 30 seconds to 15 seconds

Sejuani

Passive – Fury of the North

Frost Armor Timer

Changed from “Sejuani receives Frost Armor after 12 seconds” to “12-6 seconds (levels 1-18)” of not taking damage from enemy champions or monsters

Soraka

W – Astral Infusion

Heal

Decreased from 100/135/170/205/240 (+70% AP) to 100/130/160/190/220 (+65% AP)

Sylas

R – Hijack

Cooldown

Decreased from 100/70/40 seconds to 80/55/30 seconds

Tristana

Base Stats

AD Growth

Increased from 3.3 to 3.7

AD at Level 18

Increased from 115.1 to 121.9

Vel’Koz

Q – Plasma Fission

Magic Damage

Increased from 80/120/160/200/240 (+80% AP) to 80/120/160/200/240 (+90% AP)

W – Void Rift

Initial Magic Damage

Increased from 30/50/70/90/110 (+15% AP) >>> 30/50/70/90/110 (+20% AP)

Vladimir

Base Stats

Base Armor

Increased from 23 to 27

Xayah

Q – Double Daggers

Damage Per Blade

Decreased from 45/65/85/105/125 (+50% bonus AD) to 45/60/75/90/105 (+50% bonus AD)

Cooldown

Increased from 10/9/8/7/6 seconds to 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 seconds

Xerath

E – Shocking Orb

Stun Duration

Increased from 0.5-2 seconds (based on distance) to 0.75-2.25 seconds (based on distance)

Zoe

Q – Paddle Star

Mana Cost

Decreased from 50/55/60/65/70 to 40/45/50/55/60

R – Portal Jump

Mana Cost

Decreased from 50 to 40

Items

Stopwatch

Stopwatch will no longer be purchasable if you already own Guardian Angel or Zhonya’s Hourglass

Mythic Content Overhaul

Showcase Milestones

Like Masterwork Milestones last patch, Showcase Milestones grant bonus rewards for purchasing event capsules, though the Showcase Milestone track can only be completed once. We’ve made significant changes to Showcase Milestones since they were originally announced! Showcase Milestones are now the best way to collect content from new Showcase releases.

We won’t document Showcase Milestone tracks in patch notes moving forward, but since this is the first one it’s worth walking through how the system works. To celebrate the occasion, the rewards for Eclipse Knights are a little sweeter than what future showcases will have on offer.

LAUNCH PARTY: When the Showcase begins, everyone will get a mission that rewards 1 Eclipse 2022 Capsule (which counts toward the reward track!) and 1 Eclipse 2022 Grab Bag! This is in addition to the normal free mission chain that launches during Showcase events.

1 CAPSULE :: Eclipse Knight 2022 Icon

3 CAPSULES :: Prestige Eclipse Knight Senna Emote + 5 Mythic Essence

5 CAPSULES :: Random Eclipse 2022 Epic Skin Permanent (Lunar Eclipse Aatrox, Lunar Eclipse Senna, Solar Eclipse Sejuani, Sun-Eater Kayle) + 15 Mythic Essence

10 CAPSULES : Random Eclipse 2022 Epic Skin Permanent + 20 Mythic Essence 15 CAPSULES :: Random Eclipse 2022 Epic Skin Permanent + 25 Mythic Essence

20 CAPSULES :: Random Eclipse 2022 Epic Skin Permanent + Eclipse 2022 Grab Bag + 30 Mythic Essence

25 CAPSULES :: 2 Eclipse 2022 Grab Bags + 30 Mythic Essence

TOTAL REWARDS :: 25 Eclipse Capsules + Eclipse Knight 2022 Icon + Prestige Eclipse Knight Senna Emote + All four Eclipse 2022 Epic Skin Permanents + 3 Eclipse 2022 Grab Bags + 125 Mythic Essence

Prestige Lunar Eclipse Senna

Prestige Lunar Eclipse Senna will be available in the Mythic Shop for 125 ME for the duration of the Eclipse Knights Showcase. (Conveniently, completing the Eclipse 2022 Showcase Milestone track grants 125 ME.) After that, she’ll be unavailable for direct ME purchase but will be added to loot drop and reroll pools without her debut loading screen border.

Adjustments to Masterwork Milestones

Our pre-launch tuning adjustments to Masterwork Milestones slightly undershot longterm Mythic Essence rates. We buffed the final milestone reward a few hours after activation last patch and are documenting it here for visibility.

25 MASTERWORK CHESTS :: 5 Mythic Essence and one 1350+ RP tier skin shard >>> 10 Mythic Essence and one 1350+ RP tier skin shard. We’re also shipping a couple more things this patch to make up for missing the mark.

RETROACTIVE REWARDS :: Players who completed the 25 Masterwork Chest milestone before the update will get 5 Mythic Essence for each time they completed it

FREEBIE :: Everyone will receive a mission granting 10 Mythic Essence

Piltover Clash

Team formation for the second weekend of Piltover Clash began on April 25, and the tournaments will be on April 30 and May 1.

Bugfixes & QoL Changes

Nexus turrets with active Objective Bounties will now correctly have bounty healthbar indicators and display bounty information in chat when pinged

Fixed the bug where Nexus hitboxes were unintentionally larger than they appeared

Fixed a rare bug that would permanently reduce a turret’s resistances if certain conditions were met when plating fell

Being in an enemy turret’s range with an enemy Sion, Kog’Maw, or Karthus passive zombie as it dies will no longer make that turret’s aggro switch to you

Ghost Poros have been restored and will once again grant normal vision, NOT true sight

QoL Change: Illaoi’s E – Test of Spirit will now grant assist credit, even if the Vessel does not take any damage

Fixed a bug where, if you casted Illaoi’s Q – Tentacle Smash during her E – Test of Spirit animation or while she was locked out of her abilities (e.g. in stasis), she would instantly change direction to face your cursor

Fixed a bug where Vessels spawned from Illaoi’s E – Test of Spirit would be invisible if the tethered champion was camouflaged and being revealed by a control ward

Fixed some strange Vessel interactions that would sometimes benefit Illaoi’s enemies upon expiring, like healing them if they had Omnivamp… :3

Fixed a bug where Illaoi’s W – Harsh Lesson-empowered basic attacks would not trigger nearby Tentacles to slam her target if she had an active spell shield

Fixed the bug where Taliyah would not be able to use her Passive – Rock Surfing for the rest of the game if someone broke her Banshee’s Veil spell shield while she was Rock Surfing again

Fixed a bug where, if an enemy champion got DUNKED by Sett’s R – The Show Stopper into Tahm Kench’s R – Devour, they would first reappear at the original Devour point before quickly sliding to the actual Regurgitate destination

Fixed an uncommon bug where Viego could become permanently attached to an ally champion if he possessed Yuumi under certain conditions

Sona will no longer be able to reset her basic attacks against wards by casting an ability while at full stacks of Passive – Power Chord

Fixed a bug where, if Elise casted E – Rappel on herself while an enemy champion was right next to her, she would ascend and immediately descend upon on them despite not having recasted the ability

Fixed a bug where, if you spammed Pantheon’s Q – Comet Spear or Sett’s E – Facebreaker while the ability was on cooldown, it would sometimes cancel your attacks and movements

Black Cleaver’s passive interactions have been fixed so that you will correctly gain only one stack of Carve per basic attack, even if you purchased Titanic Hydra first

Lulu’s interactions with Spellthief’s Edge and Spectral Sickle have been fixed so she will once again receive a stack of Tribute whenever Passive – Help, Pix! damages an enemy champion, too

Rengar will no longer receive a Navori Quickblades stack upon hitting a plant with a Q – Savagery- empowered basic attack

Axiom Arc’s passive has been fixed and will correctly grant Tahm Kench partial refunds on his R – Devour for scoring takedowns

Fixed a bug where Teemo couldn’t gain Manamune stacks if he had ranked up E – Toxic Shot at least once.

Fixed a bug where the Ornn Masterwork items Caesura and Eternal Winter did not grant the correct amounts of AP

Fixed a bug where certain skillshots would not play their hit confirmation SFX if they hit a target in Fog of War

Nocturne’s R – Paranoia VO volume has been fixed and is no longer much louder than intended

Ivern and his jungle friends are on speaking terms again. In other words, his jungle camp interaction VO lines have been restored.

Upcoming Skins & Chromas

The following skins will be released in this patch:

Lunar Eclipse Aatrox

Sun-Eater Kayle

Lunar Eclipse Senna

Prestige Lunar Eclipse Senna

Solar Eclipse Sejuani

Solar Eclipse Sivir

Gangplank the Betrayer

Sea Dog Yasuo

The following chromas will be released this patch:

Lunar Eclipse Aatrox

Lunar Eclipse Senna

Solar Eclipse Sejuani

Solar Eclipse Sivir

Sun-Eater Kayle

Gangplank the Betrayer

Sea Dog Yasuo

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

Trek to Yomi doesn’t just look like an authentic samurai game: It happens to sound like one too. Developer Flying Wild Hog recruited composers Cody Matthew Johnson and Yoko Honda to helm the score for the game, with the duo developing a unique sound that incorporates ancient Japanese folklore with the musical culture of Japan.

One such track is Toryanse, which is based on a popular children’s song that can be traced back to Japan’s Edo period. A warning for children to be safe and not to stay out too late at night, Toryanse contains lyrics that caution children not to cross a certain bridge that leads to the other side of the world, or they’ll never return to the land of the living.

Ahead of its release, GameSpot can exclusively reveal the track, which you can listen to below:

“During the Edo period, people believed there to be mystic tunnels connected to the afterlife that were revealed during dawn and twilight,” Johnson and Honda explained. “Toryanse is a warning for children to be safe and not to stay out too late at night. There are some deeper interconnected reason this song appears when it does during Trek To Yomi, but that is for the players to venture forth and find out. Beautiful, evocative, and delicate koto expressions on this track tie closely to the Trek To Yomi heroine Aiko’s purpose and emotions.”

Trek to Yomi’s score features only instruments available during the Edo period–flutes, taiko drums, and kokyu–performed by Gagaku, a traditional Japanese orchestra. As the player fights deeper into Yomi, the music becomes more abstract and atmospheric as the player progresses. The overall goal according to Johnson and Honda was to create a soundtrack that serves as an exploration of Japanese cinema, Japanese music, Edo period culture, and Gagaku.

Trek to Yomi launches on May 5 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One. Xbox Game Pass subscribers can also play it from day one, just like Devolver Digital’s other recently-released game Weird West. To see how sharp the game looks, you can check out a lengthy gameplay video of Trek to Yomi in action.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

As part of its evolution for its PS Plus, Sony has reportedly begun to ask developers to provide timed game trials for the Premium tier of the subscription service.

Sources speaking to Game Developer claim that developers will be required to create time-limited game trials of their games if they cost more than $34, and that these trials must be at least two hours long. Games that fall under that price won’t be required to provide a playable trial, and the policy won’t retroactively apply to older games or PlayStation VR titles.

The news, which was allegedly uploaded to Sony’s developer portal, also added that the company will be flexible with this new requirement as developers have up to three months after their games launch on the PlayStation Store to release a timed trial. Additionally, these trials need to be available to PlayStation Plus Premium users for at least 12 months.

These new slices of gameplay aren’t meant to replace demos either, as developers will still reportedly be free to release that content and free weekend sessions of their games for all PlayStation users. Few games retail for $34 at launch and this new rule from Sony will likely impact AA games and above, and titles such as Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Evil Dead: The Game, and Sniper Elite 5 are examples of the type of gaming scope that will be impacted.

The nearest comparison to this idea of video game trials would be Steam’s system, which allows for full refunds on games if they have been played for less than two hours or owned for under two weeks. The new PS Plus subscription service launches in June, and includes three separate tiers: PlayStation Plus, PlayStation Plus Extra, and PlayStation Plus Premium.

You can read more about each one in our PS Plus guide, as well as GameSpot’s analysis on why the overhauled subscription is still underwhelming in comparison to Xbox Game Pass.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

A new LinkedIn listing has provided more clues to the unannounced remake of The Last of Us. Credits for “QA testing and development support + Level Point of Contact for unannounced remake project” were found on the resume of a Naughty Dog QA employee.

As spotted by Eurogamer, the page also has “QA testing and development support on environment design for unannounced multiplayer project” listed on the page, another sign that the remake could feature an online component.

This isn’t the only Last of Us project in development, as leaks from earlier in the year uncovered the apparent existence of a director’s cut of The Last of Us: Part II, while Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann said at CES 2022 that the studio was “dying” to show off the multiple games it has in development.

Naughty Dog’s next major release will be Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection for PC, which is reportedly coming out on July 15 according to leaks. Meanwhile, The Last of Us TV show continues to film episodes. Fans have managed to capture footage of characters Sam and Henry ahead of the 2023 release of the series.

The Last of Us is just one of several TV shows and films based on Sony properties that are in development. A Twisted Metal TV show starring Anthony Mackie is also on the way.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

Every new gaming PC has to answer an age-old question after it is first revealed: Can it run Crysis? For Valve’s new Steam Deck handheld system, I’d say the answer is yes, sort of.

In a new report by Digital Foundry, the video game benchmarking group installed Crytek’s classic–and originally badly optimized for PC–2007 first-person shooter, discovering that it was virtually unplayable on the handheld. Testing saw the game boot up into an infinite loading screen, keeping the game stuck in limbo for eternity or until the Steam Deck battery runs dry.

For Crysis Remastered, it’s a different story. Digital Foundry ran the latest edition of the game at almost 60 frames-per-second under handheld-optimized settings. The team wanted to put the Steam Deck through the Crysis crucible though and applied the optional “Can It Run Crysis” graphical setting to see how the hardware performed. That naturally dropped frame rates down dramatically, while other visual compromises popped up on the resource-constrained hardware.

Digital Foundry’s attempts to find a sweet spot for the optimal balance of image quality, performance, and fidelity eventually led the group to discover that the best graphical settings for the game are the standard 1280×720 resolution and 30fps mode.

“The medium preset is closest to the original Crysis at very high, with additional tweaks higher to surpass the OG rendition of the game,” Digital Foundry explained, via Eurogamer. “Set post-processing to high to allow access CryEngine’s really nice per-object motion blur, which greatly enhances the flow of the 30fps experience. This also gives access to other enhancements such as screen-space reflections, which really help out the fewer shinier surfaces in the game. I’d also recommend the high vegetation setting, which gives us far better foliage coverage than the original Crysis.”

The final verdict is that the Steam Deck can run Crysis (Remastered) in a way that’s both visually impressive and won’t hit the device’s battery life too hard, but there are some caveats attached to this. An upcoming 40Hz update for the Steam Deck shows the potential to increase performance, but the more extreme solution is to mod the unit with an external GPU. If you don’t mind losing portability, that is. As for Crytek’s signature FPS franchise, a teaser trailer for Crysis 4 was released back in January.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News