If you’ve noticed, during the Pre-Season 2022, Marksmen were the group of champions with the least changes as there were no champions or items reworked. Instead, Riot adjusted the Deadly Tempo rune, which suddenly made a few champions extremely powerful. The three standout names are Caitlyn, Jinx, and Aphelios, who utilized this rune exceptionally well in both solo queue and professional tournaments.
However, when we moved to patch 12.2, the popularity of the three champions mentioned did not decline, but the Deadly Tempo rune was completely “abandoned.” While Caitlyn and Jinx opted for a safer playstyle with Fleet Footwork, Aphelios leaned towards a more aggressive approach with Conqueror or Press the Attack. Why did the rune build of top-tier Marksmen change so drastically after just one patch? Let’s find out.
First, we need to look at the changes in patch 12.2 for the Deadly Tempo rune, where the attack speed it provides scales with the champion’s level. At first glance, this seems like a fair change since this rune was designed for champions who gain strength towards the late game. However, the significant reduction in attack speed (especially for ranged champions) means that Marksmen using Deadly Tempo become very weak in the early game.
We must remember that League of Legends is a game with a very heavy snowball effect, and falling behind early can leave you extremely weak and struggling to “comeback.” This can make your team composition very weak in a position, leading to a loss of vision control and resources around a specific area (specifically the Bottom Lane). Clearly, when your opponents control the map, you will have reduced resources, and farming will not help you become stronger than your opponents.
To address this issue, the only way is to utilize runes that provide offensive or defensive bonuses early game to ensure that you at least don’t lose your lane. Even with minor runes, you need to choose those that enhance your laning ability rather than those that scale better for the late game. After the nerf, the Deadly Tempo rune fails to meet this requirement and has gradually been overlooked by professional players.
Of course, the Deadly Tempo will not become “useless” due to Riot’s changes. It has merely returned to the role it was intended for, serving strong late-game champions rather than being abused as an incredibly powerful laning tool as it was before. Champions like Vayne and Kog’Maw continue to utilize this rune effectively, which is evidence of this.
