Massive Zeri changes hit League of Legends PBE to make her viable in the meta again

On November 16, 2022, League of Legends developers released a complete list of Zeri changes that are set to arrive in the PBE for the 12.23 patch cycle. These changes will make her more viable in the meta yet again.

Zeri, for quite a significant part of 2022, has been a menace within the summoner's rift. She became a terror in professional play, which prompted the developers to nerf her to such an extreme that she completely lost her footing and disappeared from the meta.

The efforts to nerf her impact in professional games hurt her impact in the solo queue, and the champion became useless. These changes will create a balance where she becomes viable once more, but not at the cost of destroying the players' sanity.

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Unpacking Zeri changes in League of Legends

League of Legends developers very recently released a massive set of changes for Zeri in the PBE version of the game. The changes that are being brought forth to Zeri have been provided below.

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Upcoming Zeri changes in League of Legends

All the updates to Zeri that are being brought forth in League of Legends' PBE are as follows:

Base Stats

• Move Speed: 325 >> 330
• Base AD: 50 >> 53
• Base Armor: 20 >> 24
• Base Health: 600 >> 630
• AS Ratio: 0.568 >> 0.625
• HP Per Level: 109 >> 115

Base Attack

• Fully Charged Damage: 90-200 (+90% AP) (+1 - 15% target Max Health) >>> 90-200 (+110% AP) (+1 - 15% target Max Health)

Living Battery (P)

• Gotta Zip Shield Bonus: 10% multiplicative MS >>> 10% MS
• Duration: 3s >>> 2s

Burst (Q)

• Range: 825 >>> 750
• Excess AS to AD Ratio: 60% >>> 70%
• Base Damage: 8/11/14/17/20 >>> 15/18/21/24/27
• AD Ratio: 100/105/110/115/120% AD >> 104/108/112/116/120% AD

Ultrashock Laser (W)

• Damage Type: Magic >>> Physical
• Damage: 20/55/90/125/160 (+100% AD) (+40% AP) >>> 20/60/100/140/180 (+130% AD) (+0% AP)
• Cast Time: 2.5x Attack Time >>> 0.55s - 0.3s (based on AS)
• Missile Speed: 2200 >> 2500
• Beam Cast Time: 0.75s >>> 0.85s

Spark Surge (E)

• Mana Cost: 80 >>> 90/85/80/75/70
• Cooldown: 24/22.5/21/19.5/18s >>> 22/21/20/19/18s
• [NEW EFFECT] For the next 5s, Zeri's Burst Fire does additional magic damage to the first enemy hit and pierces targets
• Bonus Magic Damage: 20/22/24/26/28 (+20% AP) (+12% bonus AD)
• [NEW] Deals up to 65% bonus damage based on Critical Strike Chance
• Pierce Damage Falloff: 60/70/80/90/100% >>> 80/85/90/05/100%
• Ability/attack damage reduces the cooldown of Spark Surge (E) by 0.5s (1.5s of critical strikes)
• Reveal Range Through Walls: 850 >>> 1100

Lightning Crash (R)

• [REMOVED] Bonus Magic Damage
• Chain Lightning Range: 450 >>> 650
• On Cast Magic Damage: 150/250/350 (+80% AP) (+80% bonus AD) >>> 175/275/375 (+110% AP) (+100% bonus AD)
• If R hits at least one champion, Zeri gains 10% Movement Speed, 30% AS, and chain shots for 5s. Hitting champions refreshes this buff by 1.5s (up to 5s total)
• Hitting champions grants Zeri 1 stack (3 per crit) of Overcharge for 1.5s. Zeri gains 0.5% MS for each stack of Overcharge (stacking infinitely)

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Thus, it is pretty clear that Zeri is getting some significant buffs with patch 12.23 in League of Legends. She seems to have been buffed all around with a few changes to her ultimate.

Her E ability also seems to have two new additions to it. Apart from that, how the infinite stacking in her ultimate will work will be interesting to witness.

In any case, the full impact of Zeri's changes will become clear once the updates are officially released, along with the upcoming patch.