League of Legends‘ next update is just around the corner, and the early patch notes indicate it might bring a significant meta-shift to Summoner’s Rift.
Now Riot Games has set most of its balancing changes for Patch 13.3, the developers have refined their changes by adjusting champions who’ve been indirectly hit by the upcoming update.
This is the case for Varus and Singed. Both champions will receive slight buffs to “keep them in line with the recent item changes,” Riot lead champion designer August said on Feb. 2.
Riot will apply the same minor buff to Singed and Varus. They’ll gain 15 percent more on Grievous Wounds effect, which reduces a champion’s HP gain via healing and regeneration.
In the previous patch, Riot reduced the Grevious Wounds effect provided by several items from 40 to 25 percent, such as Mortal Reminder and Thornmail.
Since Varus and Singed often use those items, especially when they need to counter heavy healing in the opposing team, it might have impacted their strength in the meta. The Grevious Wounds buff is supposed to compensate for that change.
Related: Here are the early League Patch 13.3 patch notes
While Varus’ win rate decreased after the 13.2 changes (by 0.9 percent according to League of Graphs), his popularity increased by four percent in higher tiers. Singed, on the other hand, progressed despite the changes, gaining an average of 1.7 percent win rate.
Singed now stands as the strongest pocket pick in League‘s higher tiers. He’s picked only in around three percent of ranked games but boasts a 53.8 percent win rate. While he’s mostly played in the top lane, the scientist can also be played as a mid laner, allowing him to put heavy pressure on the map.
The main champions targeted by Patch 13.3 include Kayle, Lee Sin, Kayn, Trundle, and LeBlanc. The update might also change the strategy in the early game thanks to changes applied to junglers. The patch is expected to hit live servers on Feb. 8.
