The winners and losers of League of Legends Patch 13.5

League of Legends Patch 13.5 is finally here, and it brings some of the much-anticipated changes to the game.

The newest update brings a bunch of champions under the scope, buffing some of them while slamming a few others with the nerf hammer. This time though, the developers also “adjusted” five key champions, like Azir, Yuumi, and Zed.

The champion changes themselves are enough to classify Patch 13.5 as one of the major ones in League’s season 13. That’s not all, however. Riot Games also decided to once again tweak jungle a bit, by making early ganks less efficient, which should have a huge impact on the state of the game, making early game snowballing much harder and less efficient. Besides, the developers also shipped in a couple of minor changes to systems like Cosmic Drive, Triumph, and Seraph’s Embrace.

All in all, this update should shake up Summoner’s Rift. Whether you’re an average player or a high ELO mastermind, you ought to check out the changes it implemented, so you don’t fall behind. We picked a few major winners and losers in this Patch, who in our eyes will be impacted the most.

Winners of League of Legends Patch 13.5

Top laners

Some popular top lanes who have fallen out of meta recently are getting some minor buffs. Aatrox, Kennen, Rumble, and Tryndamere will receive some love from the game’s developers. Their changes shouldn’t transform them into overpowered picks that will be locked in every single game, however, they look like they will give them a new lease on life, making them once again fun and good to play. And after the top lane meta has become a bit stale in season 13, that’s a change that all top lane players should appreciate.

Bottom laners

There are a few major changes for bottom lane players in Patch 13.5. Firstly, Ashe and Caitlyn received some changes that should lower their pick rates for support roles, which could finally make some room for traditional supports to come back. They were added alongside Yuumi nerfs and early jungle ganks changes, so the laning phase shouldn’t be such a nightmare for bot laners from now on. And on top of that Jinx and Samira got some buffs, which could see them more often picked going forward.

Losers of League of Legends Patch 13.5

Yuumi abusers

Yuumi finally received her highly anticipated rework, and probably all League players are cherishing this fact—except for Yuumi mains, of course. The rework should still keep Yuumi’s identity, however, it should also impact her prowess in both laning phase and late game, making her much more balanced. And while that is a change that should satisfy most League players, Yuumi’s abusers will have a much tougher time climbing the solo queue ladder by just spamming the champion.

Related: LoL MMO director leaves Riot Games for personal reasons early in title’s development cycle

Azir mains

One of the champions that received the biggest changes in League’s Patch 13.5 is Azir. The Emperor of the Sands received tweaks to his base stats and every ability except ultimate. These changes were targeted at pro players, with their goal being to lower his prowess in competitive play. And while it remains to be seen whether it will be achieved or not, these changes will surely impact average players. Riot devs explained that they aim to increase his win rate in solo queue, yet, many Azir mains complained that these changes dwindle the champion’s identity.

With the removal of additional attack speed on W’s third soldier, or an overall nerf to Q, Azir players will have to make changes to their builds and the ways how they play the champion. It will surely take them some time to adapt to the new playstyle, and we’ll see if it changes for the better.