Riot Games developers have revealed the swarth of League of Legends changes coming with Patch 13.20 next week, with Bel’Veth headlining five champs set to receive nerfs.
Hot off the heels of the much-anticipated 2023 League World Championship anthem release, lead gameplay designer Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison dropped a monstrous list of patch notes via Twitter.
“We needed to weigh up the pros and cons of resolving some large issues that are affecting tens of millions of people every day versus pros having high quality practice on 13.20 for Worlds,” Phroxzon said, with the team ultimately deciding the changes have minimal impact for the professional environment.
We’ll leave that for you to decide, because this patch is chock full of adjustments, particularly for the jungle, and an effort to combat matches that snowball out of control and give a losing team zero way back in. Five champs ultimately failed to avoid the nerf hammer in the process: Bel’Veth, Akshan, Kai’Sa, Quinn, and Zed.
Bel’Veth, in particular, copped the brunt of champ nerfs in this patch. Her passive attack speed bonus while holding stacks of Death in Lavender has dropped heavily—previously 50 percent at max level, now 40 percent—while she also lost bonus movement speed while in her True Form. Her Remora minion health was also halved in the early game, building back up as she levels her ultimate, Endless Banquet.
But it’s her E, Royal Maelstrom, that has seen the heaviest of changes. Previously receiving 70 percent damage reduction when activating her E, Bel’Veth will now only resist 42 percent of the damage. This is in line with Phroxzon and the team’s approach to the jungle champion’s early-game tankiness, instead wanting the Empress of the Void to act as more of a glass cannon.
Bel’Veth has slowly received a number of buffs over the course of seasons 12 and 13, resulting in her peak during 13.19 at a touch over 51 percent win rate, according to stats site U.GG. Her early game power has been key to success, as has her ability to snowball after a successful gank—both of which will be heavily impacted by 13.20’s changes.
Akshan, too, did not avoid the early game nerfs. The Rogue Sentinel will now only gain 20 percent movement speed after landing an Avengerang (Q), with the bonus MS building back up to the original 40 percent bonus at level five.
Kai’Sa has seen her starting armor reduced by over 10 percent—Phroxzon is hoping this pushes her early weaknesses by “opening up her early matchups” and is too strong across the board.
Quinn will begin matches with a touch less health and movement speed, but will gain a slight damage boost per level in return, while the cooldown of Zed’s W, Living Shadow, has been increased by three seconds at level five.
Item-wise, Duskblade of Draktharr will now grant 25 percent less ability haste and deal two percent less Nightstalker damage, with buffs to Youmuu’s Ghostblade intended to make the decision between the two more difficult for champs.
We’ll see how these changes, along with heavy adjustments to the jungle, Dragon, Baron, and new anti-snowball mechanics, affect the meta when Patch 13.20 lands next week.
Published: Oct 4, 2023 01:50 am