Riot sneak in Akali buff ahead of Worlds 2022 with League of Legends hotfix

There’s been one final change ahead of Worlds 2022 in League of Legends ⁠— and it’s good news for Akali. The Fist of Shadow has received a buff in a LoL patch 12.18 hotfix which will be active for the championship.

Worlds 2022 is approaching, and players now know what the game will look like for the big event with League of Legends patch 12.18 now on live servers. 

While the World Championship will be played with the Udyr rework disabled, everything else is fair game. This includes a number of recent changes like a big Maokai overhaul and small shifts to the meta in about every lane.

However at the final hour Riot has pushed one final hotfix buff for one champion: Akali. The Fist of Shadow has been in a decent spot in the meta, but Riot are giving her a slight tweak before Worlds 2022.

It’s only a small change for Akali: she will now apply True Vision to enemies hit with her Shuriken Flip. This will apply for three seconds, where Akali can then dash back and start fighting back against opponents.

We have some post-patch corrections for Akali and Nasus coming out soon:
-Akali's E will now apply True Vision to enemies hit
-Clarifying that Nasus changes were pulled from the patch pic.twitter.com/eORUl5MWJv

— Riru (@RiotRiru) September 22, 2022

This is a small but significant change to how Akali battles against the likes of Teemo, Evelynn, Shaco, and Akshan. She can more reliably go in for combos when she can see her target’s exact position through stealth.

It’s not a massive numbers change, and it’s only matchup-specific, but it could make the difference in those certain situations.

Does the buff mean we will see Akali picked at Worlds 2022? It remains to be seen. Globally Akali had a 19.8% presence in pro play in Summer ⁠— not the worst, but definitely far from being a meta staple. This slight change, however, could come in clutch if the matchup calls for it.