Riot Games has introduced patch 25.5, which brings significant changes targeting the pro scene before the First Stand 2025 tournament. The update enhances weak runes, nerfs overly strong champions, and introduces new penalties for lane swapping to prevent misuse. Developers focused on balance to maintain a competitive environment in both professional play and Solo Queue.

Atakhan Changes

In patch 25.4, Riot increased the occurrence of Ruinous in the pro scene, which yielded good results. In the LPL, the only major region using this patch, Ruinous was seen in half of the matches. Developers plan to raise this figure to 60% but are not planning to remove it entirely from Solo Queue.

Lane Swapping

The update addresses extreme cases like deep proxy farming and unconventional lane swap strategies. Riot has added a warning system to prevent players from accidentally incurring penalties. Now, a notification will appear before entering the penalty zone, and the warning itself will be loud and noticeable.

The penalty for mid-lane swapping has been increased to 3:30 minutes to prevent abuse during First Stand. In the future, Riot may relax this restriction if the changes prove effective. Developers also emphasized that attempts to intentionally disrupt other players in Solo Queue will be identified and penalized.

Pro Play Balance

Riot focused on weakening certain champions, particularly Ashe, who was too strong in the previous patch. Changes will also affect Aphelios, but overall, developers do not plan to radically change the ADC meta, as it is already transforming due to adjustments in lane swapping.

Some highly popular champions in the pro scene will also receive nerfs to make the meta more diverse before First Stand. Overall, Riot is satisfied with the current state of the game before the tournament, but will continue to monitor the balance.

Rune Changes

Some weak runes, such as Sixth Sense and Unflinching, will be strengthened, while Axiom is nerfed due to its excessive power, especially in optimal scenarios. Riot is also conducting internal discussions regarding pure damage mechanics, damage amplifiers, and their impact on balance. Specifically, intersections between systems and content, such as Garen's ultimate ability, are being addressed.

Developers noted that they will either change the game's base mechanics or adjust individual elements, but they do not want to balance the game solely around rare but strong interactions.

Patch 25.5 will lay the foundation for First Stand and further improvements in the pro scene. Riot will monitor the changes and make adjustments as needed. Future updates will include additional discussions on balancing pure damage and runes, as well as possible adjustments to lane swapping penalties.