Season 13 starts: patch 13.1 breakdown

Season 13 is underway and it kinda feels like we are back in time. That is kinda hard to do with five new champions each year. But Riot’s balancing team has made the game feel like we are back in season 5 and patch 13.1 will show you why . 

Champion buffs in patch 13.1

Jayce has long been a dominant pick in professional play, and a target of many nerfs. Ever since the durability patch the value he provides as a poke champion has been largely negated. That’s why Riot has decided to buff his melee Hammer form, giving both his Q and W abilities more damage. His base attack damage has also been increased, going from 54 to 57.

Lissandra has always provided a lot of utility, while most of her damage has been tied to her passive. Riot has noticed that she has been struggling so her Q ability will now slow for 8% more. Meanwhile her W ability will have a lower cooldown by 2 seconds at all ranks. Shaco has been viable using a few builds, but his assassin playstyle has taken quite a hit. That’s why he’s getting AD scaling buffs to his E ability, as well as his Q ability costing less mana, allowing for more shenanigans. 

Sion and Twisted Fate buffs

Sion will now have 40 more health at the start of the game. Meanwhile his Q ability when fully charged will now do 20 more damage at every rank. Twisted Fate is another champion like Jayce that dominates professional play. Likewise he is also balanced around it to the point of being unplayable on Summoners Rift. TF’s Gold card is his main value in competitive play, so Riot is buffing his other aspects. His Q ability will now have a shorter cooldown by 1 second while his Blue and Red cards on his W ability will now do more damage scaling of ability power. Xayah is also receiving a bit more attack speed at the start of the game.

Champion nerfs in patch 13.1

Aatrox has been dominating the top lane meta and professional play for quite some time. The preseason item changes didn’t fix much of this, so Riot is finally stepping in. His passive will now do 2% less maximum health damage. His E ability will now give him 5-9% less healing and his ultimate ability will now give him 10-20% less movement speed. Mundo has taken full advantage of the new items. That’s why he will start the game with less health and he will get less armor per level. His E ability that made him a great jungler is also getting a nerf, and it will now do less damage.

Fiora has been the queen of the preseason top lane meta, so her scaling numbers were bound to take a hit. Her passive will now do 0,5% less max health true damage per vital  and her Q ability is losing 5% of AD scaling.  K’sante continues to torment League players that don’t know what he does or how he does it. But as players get better at him and against him, his true power comes to light. That’s why he is getting a base movement speed nerf of 5, while his passive will also do less damage and his W ability will now do a smaller percentage of his target’s max health. 

Yuumi Rammus nerfs

Riot promised us a Yuumi rework but until that arrives, she will continue terrorizing the rift. The base and empowered damage on her Q ability will now be lower by 50 at max rank. Zeri has been a nightmare to deal with but hopefully this recent rework has made notable adjustments. She is still fairly strong, so her Q ability will do less damage and she will get less attack damage per level. 

Like many tanks during this preseason, Rammus has been dominating using the new mythics, mainly Jak’Sho the Protean. That’s why his base attack damage is going from 56 to 55. His base health is lowered by 20, from 694 to 674. His iconic W ability has also taken quite a hit, giving 35 flat armor instead of the previous 40, which is a noticeable nerf. The scalings on it are also lowered by quite a bit in the early game, hitting him even harder. 

Item adjustments in patch 13.1

Jak’Sho the Protean is the main item to get tuned down in this patch since it has dominated the game for almost a month. Riot increased the total percentage of mixed resistances it gave once fully stacked, going from 15% to 20. But the passive will now work only on champions, instead of including monsters and minions. This makes it a lot harder to have it completely stacked unless it’s a true team fight. Also, they have heavily nerfed the healing mechanic which was beyond problematic. 

Axiom Arc is getting 8 more lethality, Horizon Focus is getting 15 more ability power and Winter’s Approach is now cheaper by 100 gold and gives 50 more health. Rod of Ages and Archangel’s staff are receiving major changes, which you can see in detail right here. 

System adjustments 

The rune Legend: Tenacity is receiving a big nerf, and it will now give 20% tenacity instead of the previous 30%. Instead of giving 2,5% per stack it will now give 1,5.

You now also get ranked rewards as you rank up. A player will earn 10 Split Points for a win, and 6 for a loss. You can claim your ranked skin after the first ranked split is finished and you won’t lose it even if you demote. Promotion Series have also been reduced from a best of 5 to a best of 3. And visible rank ‌no longer affects ‌matchmaking criteria, only MMR, which we already explained how Riot removed Smurf Q.

Header: Riot Games