League of Legends Patch 13.8 Breakdown- MSI 2023 Patch

The 13 best teams from around the world will be heading to London this May for MSI 2023. We already covered the format changes this tournament underwent, and now it’s time for the balancing adjustments patch 13.8 brings. Expect a lot of minuscule champion buffs in order to shake up the pro-play meta. The item Cosmic Drive is also receiving a major boost, depending on which champion you purchase it. 

League of Legends Patch 13.8 Champion Buffs

After the Lucian Nami meta, we got a lot more Zeri. The support champion changes on patch 13.4 helped shake up the meta and bring tanks back into the game. But most of the time, hyper carries like Zeri and Aphelios are paired up with Lulu and Rakan. Rakan is on the nerf list but Leona is receiving a major buff. Her W ability will now give 5 armor and magic resist more at every rank. The ability will also do 10 more flat damage at every rank. 

Garen has been struggling to fight the tanks in the top lane. His build path often lacks sustain and his kit is not suited for long fights. He will now pack a bigger punch, with his Base Attack Damage going from 66 to 69. His Base Armor is also getting increased by 2 points, helping him win more duels.

Ezreal is also on the receiving end of this patch update. His Base Attack Damage is going from 60 to 62. 2 points of damage might not sound like a lot, but it adds up. Considering he will use it at every single point of every game, we might see Trinity Force Ezreal come back. With so many tanks to auto attack, it only makes sense. 

League of Legends Patch 13.8 Bot Lane Buffs

Draven is still dominating the bot lane meta. But it looks like his favorite partner in crime, Janna , will also be joining him. Janna is receiving 10 flat damage and 10% better ability power scalings on her W ability. This should improve her laning and the pressure she can apply. At the same time, the shield on her iconic E ability will now decay over 2,5 seconds instead of 1,25. This means that Janna can go for longer fights, empower her teammates for longer and do more damage. 

Kog’maw feels a bit outdated in season 13. While Aphelios has 5 weapons and Zeri takes your shield with 700 movement speed, the original hyper carry is struggling. With his W ability being the saving grace, Riot is opting against a rework. His passive is receiving some QoL changes, with Kog being ghosted after he dies and his explosion doing 15-100 more damage. The cooldown on his Q ability is being lowered by 1 second, going from 8 to 7 seconds. His E ability is having its mana cost lowered in the early game, while buffing the slow it provides. Both values are changed by 20 points at rank 1 and scale down to 0 at max rank.

League of Legends Patch 13.8 Jungle  Buffs

The Kha’zix changes from patch 13.7 have landed quite nicely. At the same time, Riot like Kha’zix having a lot more potency in isolated battles. That’s why he is receiving a 10 flat damage increase on his Q ability at all ranks. Nidalee has been known as the hardest champion to climb with, and that’s not an exaggeration. Apart from the steep learning curve, her base stats are also partially to blame. Her base armor is going from 28 to 32. At the same time, her armor growth per level is going from 4,7 to 5. This will reduce the damage she takes from camps, towers, AD champions, and most sources of damage.

Expect to see a lot more Poppy this summer. She will be a lot stronger in both the jungle and top lane role. Her Q ability will now do 9 instead of the 8% of the target’s maximum health. Considering this amount doubles on the second activation, 18% of the target’s maximum health is a big chunk in the top lane. Her W ability will also give 12 instead of the 10% bonus resistances, which doubles when she is below 40% health. Going from 20 to 24% bonus resistances will make her a lot tankier. In total Poppy just got 17% more damage and 20% tankier overnight, so maybe it’s time to give the hammer Yordle a try. 

League of Legends Patch 13.8 Champion Nerfs

Our prediction on the Aurelion Sol rework has been spot on. We have seen him in all levels of play. If you haven’t read our Aurelion Sol guide, well, he builds a lot of health. Stacking Rod of Ages and Seraph’s Shield on top makes this champion a tank. That’s why Riot is lowering his base Health Growth, from 95 to 90 health points gained per level. His Armor Growth has also been lowered, going from 4,3 to 4 armor per level.

With so many immobile carries being played, Jarvan gets a lot of value. He recently received a change on his W ability and it has catapulted him to the top of the meta. Now Riot Games is lowering his attack damage growth from 3,4 to 3. His Q ability is also losing 10 flat damage at every rank. 

Blue Kayn has been dominating Chinese servers so his signature E ability is losing 10% movement speed and will have a 10 second cooldown instead of 8. Rakan has also been dominating higher levels of play, so base armor is getting lowered by 2. At the same time, his armor growth per level is getting decreased from 5,1 to 4,9.