Riot is rushing out LoL nerfs for Zed, Kai’Sa before they become too strong to handle

Riot Games developers have conceded several League of Legends champions are becoming too strong on Summoner’s Rift and will be handing out nerfs to solve the issue.

These targeted champions include Kai’Sa, Zed, Quinn, Akshan, and Bel’Veth, all of which are expected to get changes in League Patch 13.20, though the devs admit it’s more of a bandaid fix until they can release more extensive changes in the preseason.

With the biggest League update, Patch 13.19, out of the way the devs are focusing now on Season 14 and its major patch, the 14.1 preseason update. Although this is their focus, that doesn’t mean the devs are not nerfing champions where necessary—especially those that have already started creeping to the top in the late-season meta.

Matt “RiotPhroxon” Leung-Harrison, League’s lead gameplay designer, highlighted five champions who are set to receive nerfs in Patch 13.20 on Twitter today.

Early projections suggest Kai’Sa, Bel’Veth, Quinn, Zed, and Akshan will get nerfed because they’re too strong; in some cases, this feels accurate. Kai’Sa is seeing a significant rise in her League win rate with her Umbral Glaive build, and while this is more so targeting her in high Elo, she is still very popular and dominating in low Elo matches too.

The Zed nerfs are some of the most interesting seeing as he has suffered a relatively terrible victory ratio for much of the year. However, the devs believe his mage build is starting to get too strong when paired with Ravenous Hydra.

Because they think the item is in a good place, it’s Zed that’s getting whacked. When paired with the upcoming assassin changes, there’s every chance the Master of Shadows could tumble out of the metagame quite quickly. However, it’s unclear if these Patch 13.20 nerfs are for a potentially overpowered Zed of the future rather than the underwhelming one we have now.

The devs have said these are by no means the “be-all-end-all” nerfs for these League champions heading into 2024. This should stave off any further changes this season though, he said, and they’ll be addressed again in the preseason.

As the balance team is locking onto preseason changes and fixing any issues with the 2023 League World Championship patch, these changes will have to suffice.