League of Legends Patch 13.1 B Breakdown

The preseason serves as the best time to implement changes to the game. And while Riot Games did a good job of reshaping the meta, the second patch of the season did even more. Professional players might not like that the rug is being pulled from under their feet, but these are the changes coming with patch 13.1 B. 

Item Changes

A lot of items found themselves serving a new purpose with this update. The meta is bound to be reshaped, especially for the bot lane role. Antiheal items are getting some love while fighter items are focusing on damage rather than sustain.

Eclipse was the first item to end up on the chopping block, losing the 7% omnivamp it used to give. Now it will give 15 ability haste and it will be built out of a Serrated Dirk and Caulfield’s Warhammer. Gone are the Long Sword and Vampiric Scepter from the build path. The shield passive is being buffed, going from an 8 to 6 second cooldown for melee champions. Ranged champions can now activate it every 12 seconds instead of the previous 16. The Mythic passive on Goredrinker is also getting reworked. Instead of giving 7 ability haste for each Legendary item completed, it will now give 50 Health and 3 Ability Haste.

Ravenous Hydra dominated the preseason top lane meta before suffering several nerfs. Now instead of giving 10% omnivamp, the item will give 10% life steal. The life steal will also function on the cleave damage from Tiamat. To compensate further, the item will now give 25 ability haste instead of the previous 20.

Maw/ DD changes on patch 13.1 B

Maw of Malmortius is also getting its passive changed. Instead of granting 10% omnivamp when the Lifeline passive and shield activates, the item will now give 12% lifesteal.  To compensate, the item will now give 65 attack damage, which is 10 more than the previous 55. But it will lose the 20 ability haste it used to give. The build path has also been changed, switching out the Caulfield’s Warhammer for a Pickaxe and a Long Sword, as the total cost remains unchanged.

Another fighter item in Death’s Dance is also receiving 10 attack damage more, going to 65 in total.  It will also give 50 armor instead of the previous 45 but the healing passive has taken a major hit. Instead of healing for 120% of the user’s bonus AD on a takedown, the healing will now be 50% of your bonus AD. The build path is also being changed to include two Pickaxes instead of Caulfield’s Warhammer. Black Cleaver is getting straight buffs, going from 45 attack damage and 350 health to 50 and 400 respectively. 

Antiheal items

The preseason changes made tanks and bruisers a lot stronger than they were. Building off the durability update that happened in season 12, it completely reshaped the meta. With this in mind, Riot didn’t want to make antiheal items powerful in only one aspect. Instead of buffing the antiheal effect, they have buffed the items, in general, to make them more viable to build.  Instead of upgrading the items to receive larger antiheal benefits, now even the base components will offer the same effect. 

AP antiheal items in League of Leggends

Obliviion Orb is losing 5 ability power and will now give 30 in total. But instead of offering a 25% antiheal effect, it will now be 40%. The two mage items that build out of it are also receiving changes. Chemtech Putrifier is losing 20 ability power and 5 ability haste, going down to 40 ability power and 15 ability haste in total. The items will now apply a 40% antiheal effect when damaging enemies, instead of the previous passive that granted the buff when empowering allies. This is a big change for support players who were building this item. 

The item is now 200 gold cheaper, costing 2300 gold in total with a changed build path. Another major change is the added effect that increases healing and shielding on allies by 8%. Morellonomicon is also losing 100 health but its gaining 10 magic penetration, applying a 40% antiheal effect at all times. The build path has also been changed to include a Hextech Alternator, taking the total price of the item to 3000 gold. 

Mortal Reminder changes on patch 13.1 B

Executioner’s Calling which is the AD antiheal item, is losing 5 attack damage but will now apply a 40% antiheal effect. Chipmunk Chainsword, which builds out of it, is having its passive removed which benefited from targeting low health targets. Mortal Reminder is undergoing major changes and will no longer build out of a Zeal item. The Executioner’s Calling remains, but it will now be built out of a Last Whisperer and Cloak of Agility. That means that the item is losing its 20% attack speed and 7% movement speed. But in return, it receives 30% armor penetration. 

The other item providing armor penetration called Lord Dominik’s Regards is also getting buffed, having its attack damage increased by 5. The antiheal item for tanks called Bramble Vest is also getting buffed, and will now do more damage to enemies who damage the carrier. It will also give 40% antiheal and increase the damage from Thornmail for 5% of the bonus armor. 

ADC changes in season 13

Both the champions in that class and their items are receiving major changes in patch 13.1 B. A lot of ADCs that rely on Presence of Mind for their mana consumption have been buffed. But some that will benefit from the Essence Reaver buff are also getting toned down in advance.

The elephant in the room here is Blade of the Ruined King, which will only continue dominating the meta. The item now does more damage when used by ranked champions (ADCs), with the bonus on hit damage going from 8 to 9% of the target’s maximum health.  The passive is having its cooldown increased but will now do more damage. Essence Reaver is also receiving a significant buff, having its attack damage increased by 10 and its price for 100 gold. 

Meanwhile, in the bot lane, Ashe, Caitlyn, Ezreal,Kai’sa, Miss Fortune, Senna, Twitch, and Xayah will regenerate more mana per each level.  Twitch, Kai’sa, and Jinx will have more base mana on level 1. Jhin’s, Jinx’s, and Sivir’s W abilities will also cost less mana.

Infinity Edge/ Navori Quickblade changes on patch 13.1 B

Infinity Edge and Navori Quickblades are two crit items that serve as damage multipliers for the ADC class. While IE makes your auto attacks do more damage, Navori boosts the damage to your abilities. But so far in their current state, the damage multiplier they gave was gatekept behind the 60% crit chance threshold. Now that is reduiced to 40%, meaning you can build them as your second item instead of third and still obtain the bonuses.  Bloodthirster also received some changes, losing 3% lifesteal for a bigger shield. The price has also been reduced by 200 gold, making it more viable as a second and even first item. 

 Patch 13.1 B Hero Buffs

These are minor buffs that should improve the quality of life when playing these champions but only a few champions received real major buffs.

Lilia is one of those champions, as her place in the meta has been uncertain for a while. Riot Games officially made her a melee champion in the preseason. Since then she has started abusing items and has been nerfed multiple times. Now they are trying to promote her damage build by increasing the AP ratios on 2 of her abilities and her passive. 

Her passive will do 0,3% more damage per 100 ability power purchased. At the same time her Q ability received a 5% damage increase at all points of the game. Meanwhile, her E ability is having its fixed cooldown reduced from 16 to 14 seconds, as well as a 15% AP ratio increase. Another champion famous for putting her opponents to sleep is Zoe. Her E ability which sleeps the enemy, will now also reduce their magic resist by 20 to 30% depending on its rank. 

Orianna adjustments on patch 13.1 B

Orianna is also having it’s entire kit buffed, starting out with her passive ability. The clock lady will still do the same amount of damage with her auto attacks. But now, it will grow linearly per level instead of exponentially every 3 levels. Her W ability is having its mana cost reduced at higher ranks. Meanwhile her ultimate ability will have higher base damage and do 10% more damage based on her AP ratios. To compensate for this, her Q ability will now do less damage to every target hit apart from the first one. This should tone down her harass potential in the laning phase so she doesn’t take over competitive play. 

 Patch 13.1 B Hero Nerfs 

It took a long time but Yuumi has finally been gutted out of the meta. After her rampage last year, she continued to dominate the competitive scene in the first week of competition. That’s why Riot decided to gut her out of the meta until they rework her and figure out how to properly balance her.

Yuumi nerfs in season 13

Her base stats took a nose dive, taking her from 500 auto attack range to 425. Her base attack damage was reduced from 56 to 49, preventing her from taking risk-free trades at level 1. She also lost 50 health on level 1, further building of the previous nerf. And lastly her base health regeneration was reduced from 7 to 5.

Her passive ability had it’s shield size reduced but Yuumi will gain a 25 range increase on her auto attack when her passive is activated to help her use it. The percentage of adaptive bonuses her W ability gave her are now cut in half, going from 12-20 to 6-10%. This is probably her biggest nerf, and the main reason we won’t see the cat anymore. Her E ability will now only give a 20% movement speed increase, instead of the previous mechanic that scaled off her ability power. 

Udyr and Ryze toned down

In our Udyr one shot build, we explained how Q max Udyr was dominating on the Rift. Riot noticed that and immediately nerfed him on the following 12.23 patch. On that patch, they buffed his ultimate form, but are now reversing the change. His Q ability took another hit with this patch, reducing the percentage of health it does by 1% while giving him 10% more attack speed at max rank. 

Kassadin isn’t the only one benefiting greatly from the Rod of Ages changes, as Ryze is the other champion in the game whose damage scales of mana. That’s why Riot Games have nerfed his passive, going from 10 to 6% increased maximum mana per 100 ability power. His base magic resist also took a hit, going from 36 to 32. 

Lucian/Nami nerfs on patch 13.1 B

Nami and Lucian have been dominating the bot lane meta in professional play as much as Yuumi. Riot are done tolerating that, so now Namis W ability will do less flat damage but will scale better with ability power. Her E ability, the main reason she could empower Lucian to new heights, is also getting nerfed by losing 5 damage at every rank. 

Lucian is still good only in the hands of the best players, who always pair him with Nami. To prevent him from dominating the highest level of competition, Riot is adjusting his base stats. With this patch he will lose 30 mana on level 1 but will make up for it with increased mana growth per level. 

Pro play focused champion nerfs on patch 13.1 B

Maokai is another recent mini-rework that took things overboard and became one of the best junglers in the meta. His synergy with Demonic Embrace is wrecking havoc in the jungle role so Riot are nerfing his clear speed. His Q ability will now do 20 less damage to monsters at every rank. Meanwhile, his annoying saplings are losing 1% of maximum health damage and 5% of their AP ratios to further disincentivize the damage build. 

Kindred is losing 10 damage on her Q ability at every rank while Kassadin is having his E cooldown increased at every rank. Gangplank is bound to benefit from the crit item changes so Riot Games are nerfing him preemptively. His AD growth has been reduced by 0,3 and the bonus critical damage on his barrels has been cut in half, from 10% to 5%. 

The bot lane meta in professional play has seen some unusual appearances recently, and Hiemerdinger is one of them. His ability to poke and push the wave has been crucial in generating leads for many teams, creating an uneven playing field. That’s why Riot is reducing the health of his turrets, but increasing their scaling. This should make him less oppressive in the early game while maintaining his power level in other roles. His W ability will also undergo raw damage nerfs which are compensated by scaling buffs that will help him out later on in the game.