The Next League of Legends Patches Will Affect Gifted Heals and Shields

League of Legends' many healing and shielding abilities will soon be adjusted in upcoming patches that look at the way these effects are gifted to allies.

Work on shields and heals that come from other champions is something that's been talked about for a while now, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that the time to work on these effects is just about here. The post from Riot Games that mentions the upcoming work on shields specifically mentions "gifted" shields and heals as the ones that'll be worked on. This refers to the shields that champions put on their teammates, so if your favorite champion uses a self-heal or shield, there shouldn't be as much to worry about.

Within a list of what Riot Games wants to look into during Patch 8.12, the patch after the one that should be dropping this week, Riot Meddler listed the gifted heals and supports as the first thing that's being investigated. Giving a bit of insight into what they have planned, the Rioter said that the duration of these shields may be lowered in the upcoming patch.

"Over the next few patches we'll be looking at Heals/Shields champions put on others," Riot Meddler said. "First thing we'll be testing, for possible inclusion in 8.12, is lowering the duration on some shields so that waiting them out's more feasible and timing for the user matters more."

The Rioter also commented on why gifted shields are being looked at as opposed to all shields. When a player replied to the post and suggested that the shield changes shouldn't differentiate between gifted and personal shields, Riot Meddler responded to say they're looking specifically at gifted shields "because that's where shield stacking most occurs, which tends to be one of the bigger issues."

Another change that's been suggested in the past by players is a decaying shield system that would allow the shield to be gifted at full strength before whittling down to nothing, much like Tahm Kench's grey health would work. That method is one that Riot has considered, but it's unclear if that's the route that they'll take.

"Decaying shields are one of the tools we've been considering," Riot Meddler said. "Likely we'll test one or two on a decaying model (internally/PBE, not necessarily in a live patch). Somewhat doubtful it's the correct approach for most shields, but could be a good match for some circumstances."

The shield and heal changes should be added to the PBE first before going live in the next few patches, so look for them there to test them out.