Riot to buff Mordekaiser and Jhin on the MSI 2022 patch

Riot will be launching some big buffs in the upcoming patch 12.8, the official patch for the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational. 

Fans discovered some impactful changes in the latest patch preview, where Riot gave some insight into the updates that will be available for testing on the Public Beta Environment (PBE) in the upcoming days. In an attempt to potentially shake up the meta for the first international event of the year, Riot has brought out some interesting changes. 

The most notable ones are in the buff section, with Riot giving some big boosts to both Mordekaiser and Jhin. While other champions will also receive big changes, these two seem to stand out and could potentially make a mark on the MSI 2022 meta.

Mordekaiser and Jhin buffed on MSI 2022 patch

Mordekaiser is a champion that is rarely seen in professional play, but patch 12.8 might change that. The Iron Revenant will see a big buff in the movement speed on his Darkness Rise passive. The movement speed gained from triggering the passive will remain the same at the first levels of the game but rapidly increase with these changes as Mordekaiser hits levels six and 11 respectively. 

Up until now, Darkness Rise has only given Mordekaiser a 3% movement speed buff but the patch preview stated that the champion will get a 9% increased movement speed at level 11 and above. 

Even though this is a simple change on paper, it will likely be the change it takes to finally boost Mordekaiser’s viability. As a champion without any mobility currently, Mordekaiser depends on sticking to targets to dish out the damage that he has in his kit. With this new movement speed buff, it will be much easier for Mordekaiser to lock down targets and stick onto them for a while. 

For Jhin, Riot will be doing several kit changes with the goal of making him viable when compared to the hyper carries that have currently taken over the meta. First, Riot intends to buff the crowd control duration of Jhin’s Deadly Flourish (W), giving Jhin the ability to lock down targets better as the game goes on. 

Jhin’s Captive Audience (E) will have a lowered cooldown and, maybe most importantly, have his damage reduction towards monsters removed for his W and E abilities. This will suddenly make Jhin’s jungle clear much faster, bringing into question if jungle Jhin will become a thing. 

While this is unlikely to happen on the professional stage, there’s a chance that some jungle Jhin players will be experimenting in solo queue or normal games in the near future.

When is LoL patch 12.8 released?

The upcoming LoL patch 12.8 is scheduled to hit the live servers on Wednesday, April 27. Until then, players will be able to test the changes on the PBE but should be aware of things getting adjusted further before going live. 

MSI 2022 will start on Tuesday, May 10, which means that all the teams participating will have a few weeks to practice on the tournament patch.