League of Legends players, get ready for a major shakeup! Patch 13.4 has just been released, and it comes with a ton of changes that will have a significant impact on the game. In this blog post, we'll take a look at some of the most significant changes that have been implemented in the game, and what they mean for players.
Champion Balance Changes
As always, one of the main focuses of any League of Legends patch is champion balance changes. In Patch 13.4, several champions have been tweaked, buffed, or nerfed, with the aim of bringing them in line with other champions in their respective roles.
Ahri Buff
Ahri, the Nine-Tailed Fox, received a few changes in Patch 13.4 aimed at improving her gameplay. Riot developers have increased her base health and base armor, making her more durable in lane and able to trade more effectively with her opponents. Additionally, her R (Spirit Rush) cooldown has been decreased, allowing her to use the ability more frequently and to move around the map faster. These changes should help Ahri players feel more confident in their laning phase and improve their ability to roam and make aggressive plays.
Alistar Buff
Alistar, the Minotaur support, didn't fare too well in the previous patch, and Riot developers have made some changes to bring him back into the spotlight. His passive ally heal has been increased, providing more support to his team during team fights. In addition, his Q (Pulverize) and W (Headbutt) abilities have received an increase in AP scaling, making him a more viable option for players who choose to build Ability Power on him. Riot developers emphasized that they're not trying to turn Alistar into a mage, but rather to make other sources of AP more rewarding for players who choose to play him. These changes should make Alistar a more appealing pick for support players looking for a tanky, disruptive champion who can also provide some healing to their allies.
Amumu Nerf
Amumu, the Sad Mummy, received some changes in Patch 13.4 aimed at balancing his strength in the jungle, particularly in lower skill levels. To address his late game power and reduce the skill skew caused by his baseline strength, Riot developers have decreased his health and armor growth. Additionally, the percent health damage on his W (Despair) ability has been decreased, making him slightly less effective at taking down tanky targets. While these changes may have some impact on Amumu's support gameplay, Riot developers note that he remains a powerful champion in that role. Overall, these changes should help balance Amumu's strength in the jungle and promote a more even playing field across all skill levels.
Anivia Nerf
Anivia, the Cryophoenix, has seen a significant increase in power thanks to recent buffs to the Seraph's Embrace and Rod of Ages items. These changes have made her more durable and allowed her to thrive against shorter ranged opponents. However, Riot developers are concerned that her newfound durability may be too high, particularly when her abilities are on cooldown. To address this, Anivia's health and armor growth have been decreased, reducing her overall durability scaling in exchange for the added durability provided by her items. These changes should make Anivia slightly less oppressive in lane and give opponents more opportunities to punish her when her abilities are not available.
Annie Nerf
Annie and her trusty companion Tibbers have been wreaking havoc on the Rift since their most recent gameplay updates. While Riot developers want to maintain Annie's effectiveness as a champion, they have identified that she is currently overperforming compared to her peers in both mid and support roles. To address this, they have made several changes in Patch 13.4. First, Annie's base health pool has been decreased to give opponents more opportunities for early counter-play. Second, the damage dealt by her E ability (Molten Shield) has been reduced, reducing her ambient damage output. Finally, the cooldown of her ultimate ability, Summon: Tibbers, has been increased, limiting the frequency at which she can call upon her fiery companion. These changes should help balance Annie's power level and create a more fair playing field for her opponents.
Aphelios Buff
Aphelios, the champion known for his complex kit and strategic gameplay, has been struggling to find success in both solo queue and professional play. In an effort to boost his power level, Riot developers have implemented some simple yet effective changes in Patch 13.4. Specifically, his passive bonus attack speed has been increased to make the decision between attack speed and lethality more of a difficult trade-off, giving skilled players another way to optimize their damage output. These buffs should help Aphelios feel more impactful on the Rift and give his loyal fans a reason to pick him up again.
Azir Nerf
Azir, the emperor of Shurima, has recently become the top mid laner pick in professional play following nerfs to his longtime rivals, Kassadin and Ryze. However, Riot developers have deemed his early game pressure to be too oppressive and have made some adjustments in Patch 13.4. Specifically, Azir's mana costs have been adjusted, and his W soldier recharge time has been increased to provide more counterplay opportunities for opponents. To compensate, his E and R have received damage increases, making him more of a threat in team fights. While these changes may result in an overall buff for non-pro players, they should help level the playing field in high-level play and make for more exciting matches.
Cho’Gath Buff
Cho'Gath has been struggling to keep up in the current meta, with his late game damage falling short and his high mana costs making it difficult to stay on the map after a fight. In response, Riot is increasing his armor growth and reducing the mana costs for his Q and W abilities, while also increasing the base damage of his Q. These changes are intended to make Cho'Gath more viable and enjoyable to play, especially in the later stages of the game.
Elise Nerf
Elise has been a force to be reckoned with lately, dominating the jungle with her fast clears and deadly first blood potential. To address this, Riot is toning down her base damage on Q to make it harder for her to secure early kills and reducing spiderling damage to slow her clears. These changes aim to bring her more in line with the rest of the jungle meta.
Jarvan IV Nerf
Jarvan IV received a powerful buff to his W in the previous patch, which made him one of the strongest junglers in the game. However, Riot thinks that the buff was a bit too much, so they're toning it down a bit. Specifically, they're increasing the cooldown on his W and decreasing the AD scaling on its shield strength, which should make him a bit less durable when he's ahead.
Jax Nerf
Riot has made some changes to Jax in this patch to address his overpowered early game while maintaining his dominant late game. To achieve this, Jax's base health and health growth have been increased, but his R passive on-hit damage and bonus armor and magic resist have been decreased early on. Additionally, Riot has adjusted Jax's E ability by tweaking its AP ratio and damage calculation to make it more rewarding when successfully dodging enemy attacks. These changes aim to balance Jax's power throughout the game and make his playstyle more strategic and skillful.
Malphite Buff
Malphite's W ability has received some buffs to improve his sustained damage as a tank juggernaut. The cooldown of W has been decreased, and the armor scaling on W attacks has been increased. These changes should allow Malphite to have higher uptime on W and more powerful auto resets throughout a longer fight.
Maokai Nerf
Maokai's E ability is receiving some changes, including a longer cooldown, reduced base damage, and decreased AP ratio. Additionally, the slow HP ratio has been increased while the slow AP ratio has been decreased. These changes aim to balance Maokai's strength, particularly when he uses his sapling bombs, and to make his tank build more viable.
Orianna Buff
Orianna has been struggling to find her place in the meta, even after receiving some buffs in the past. In an effort to make her more viable, Riot has increased her base armor and decreased the mana cost of her W ability. These small changes could give her the boost she needs to become a more popular pick in the mid lane.
Riven Buff
In an effort to better support Riven's intended high-mastery playstyle and make her a more effective side lane threat, the Riot development team is making a number of changes. These include adjusting her passive bonus AD scaling to be more early-game focused, adding the ability for her passive to deal 50% of bonus damage to towers, and introducing a new stack resource bar. These changes aim to make Riven a more balanced and versatile champion in League of Legends
Samira Nerf
Riot developers are making changes to Samira in hopes of balancing her performance in the game. Her passive will now have reduced early movement speed to curb her early game potential, and her ultimate's lifesteal effectiveness will be reduced to reduce her overall power. These changes aim to make Samira less frustrating to play against and more balanced, while still allowing her to be a strong pick for dedicated players.
Senna Buff
Riot developers have noted that Senna has been falling behind in terms of strength and popularity lately, and her core items are receiving nerfs in the upcoming patch. To address this, they are buffing her attack speed ratio to promote build diversity with Kraken Slayer. Additionally, they are increasing the damage and decreasing the cooldown of her ultimate, and buffing her attack ratio to compensate for her power losses and make her kit more well-rounded.
Thresh Adjustment
Thresh's hook game is getting a boost with increased damage and late game cooldown reduction on Q, while his E is also getting a damage increase to give him more presence in combat. Additionally, they are adjusting his W cooldown and shield strength to bring it more in line with his other abilities. These changes are aimed at promoting a more aggressive playstyle for Thresh, where he can focus on controlling the battlefield and dealing damage, rather than simply supporting his allies with shields.
Udyr Nerf
Since Udyr's VGU, Riot has spent quite a few patches working on the power balance between each of his stance maxes as well as his overall power. As a result, Udyr's winrates for different stances have fluctuated greatly, but his overall winrate has been relatively stable. Now that Riot is more happy about how each stance expresses power (Wilding Claw for AS/AD heavy DPS builds and Wingborne Storm for utility), they're taking a bigger swing at Udyr's total power level, which has been a cut above other junglers since Preseason.
Veigar Buff
Veigar's recent winrates have fallen short of expectations. To address this, Riot is making some changes to improve his viability. While buffing his damage could be a straightforward solution, the team wants to avoid making Veigar overly reliant on his ultimate. Instead, Riot is increasing the range of his Q and W abilities to give him more safety when farming and poking at enemy champions. These changes should give Veigar more options in his gameplay while still requiring him to take risks when using his high-impact abilities.
Viego Buff
Viego is receiving some buffs to help him regain his former strength. Despite being a powerful champion thematically, he has not been performing well in solo queue or professional play. With these changes, Riot hopes to give him some much-needed power in a way that rewards skilled and daring playstyles. His Q passive damage will now be able to critically strike, while his ultimate will have increased AD scaling. These buffs should help Viego reclaim his rightful place as the king of the Rift.
Thoughts on the Latest Champion Updates
Overall, this patch brings a variety of changes to some of the most popular champions in League of Legends. The changes aim to balance the power levels of the champions and address some of the issues that players have been experiencing. Whether you're a Thresh player who loves to throw out hooks, a Viego enthusiast who wants to reclaim his spot as the king, or a Jax player who's looking to dominate the late game, there's something for everyone in this patch. So get ready to try out the new changes and see how they affect your playstyle!
