LoL early Patch 25.5 notes

The first splits of major League of Legends competitions are slowly ending, which means the 2025 First Draft is right around the corner. In preparation for the first international event of the year, Riot Games is making pro-focused balance changes in Patch 25.5.

The 2025 LTA Split One, 2025 LCK Cup, and 2025 LCP Season Kickoff have already concluded at the time of writing. As a result, Team Liquid, Hanwha Life Esports, and CTBC Flying Oyster are preparing for the First Stand, and if they want to win the whole thing, they need to adjust to League Patch 25.S1.5. The official notes have yet to be revealed, but we can take an early look thanks to Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison, the lead game developer.

When does LoL Patch 25.5 release?

League updates are usually released on Wednesdays, and the case is no different with Patch 25.5. It’s scheduled for a March 5 launch. While the official time of when it goes live remains a mystery for now, based on the previous updates, we can expect it to ship in the following hours:

• 3pm CT (NA)
• 5am GMT (EU West)
• 3am CET (EU North East)
• 8am KR (Korea)

What’s in LoL Patch 25.5

A handful of changes are coming to the game with Patch 25.5. These are mostly nerfs to the champions that are currently a bit too strong in solo queue and competitive play. At the same time, Riot is making massive adjustments to the lane swap meta, which has been dominating the pro play so far this year.

Pro balance

The developer is swinging the nerf hammer left and right this patch, targetting eight champions. “We’re going a little heavier on nerfs this patch; we overshot on Ashe so pulling some of that back… Some of the high presence Pro options we’re also tapping down to make the meta a bit more vibrant for First Stand,” Phroxzon wrote.

However, he underlined how the balance team is “overall pretty happy” with what the meta looks like so far. If that stays true after the First Stand, maybe there’ll be fewer tweaks for champions in the future.

Lane swap is cancelled

Lane swaps are the major issue for pro and high-ranked League players in 2025. Many of them voiced their concerns about the lane swap meta, pointing out it’s simply not fun. Luckily for them, Riot is listening.

On Feb. 22, Phroxzon revealed a lengthy list of changes coming to the game’s lane swap mechanics. These are meant to protect the champions playing against a duo from the enemy team, so it’s mostly for top and mid laners. They should be enough to change how the game is played, but we’ll see for ourselves soon enough. Some of these tweaks might be reverted after the First Stand “if the changes are proven to work, to avoid overly hitting solo queue.”

Minor rune buffs

Riot is also making adjustments for Sixth Sense and Unflinching while pulling some power out of Axiom Arcanist. While we don’t know much about the exact changes to them at the moment, they are subject to change in the coming days. “We’re still discussing internally the interaction of things like true damage, damage amps and better defining our principles around them… Will let you know when we have more to share,” Phroxzon wrote.

Champions

Thirteen champions are receiving changes, but we don’t know anything more about them just yet. However, we will learn more soon since Phroxzon always follows his early preview with detailed patch notes.

Ambessa

Aphelios

Ashe

Aurora

Cho’Gath

Elise

K’Sante

Dr. Mundo

Poppy

Seraphine

Skarner

Yorick

Zed

Items and systems

Axiom Arcanist

Lane swaps

• Lane swap detection introduced.
• Two enemy champions, both of whom don’t have jungle item, are in the offending lane or surrounding area.
  • Timer is 1:30 – 3:30 for top lane and 1:30 – 3:30 for mid lane.
  • If the team has no junglers, this rule is disabled.
  • If the team has two or more junglers, junglers are included in the check.
• While detected
  • Defending turret has 95 percent damage reduction.
  • Defending turret one-shots minions.
  • Defending turret and minions give gold and experience from their kills to the nearest allied champion in the lane.
  • Offending champions gain 50 percent less gold and experience from minions.
  • This lingers for 25 seconds in the top lane, six seconds in the mid lane.
• Top exclusive changes
  • Defending turret one-shots champions.
  • Defending champion has 50 percent damage reduction under their turret (around 300 units range).
• A warning area to inform players that they will enter the zone right before they’re penalized will be added.

Sixth Sense

Unflinching