The first Teamfight Tactics balance patch for the Return to the Stars expansion in Set Three has arrived, containing several adjustments, a new Galaxy, and two major system changes.
A Set Three TFT mid-set update applied during Patch 10.12 brought about several new champions and traits that altered the overall meta in a positive way. Top S-tier comps aren’t dominating the meta and Riot feels like Patch 10.12 was mostly in a solid spot. But there are a few adjustments needed, specifically a boost to six Battlecast and a slight nerf to Master Yi three-star.
The TFT team also recognizes that players are frustrated with Urgot and plans on making adjustments, not just in Patch 10.13. Balance adjustments to the new champion, however, will take place during Patch 10.14 after testing those changes on the PBE over the course of the next two weeks.
Here’s the full list of notes and updates for TFT Patch 10.13.
Binary Star Galaxy
Medium Legends is out and Binary Star will take its place within the TFT 10.13 update. The new Galaxy only allows for two items on a champion. Thieves Gloves will count as one item, but a Mech unit can only have two items on it. Using only two items per champions will change the way players place items on carry units and should create a few unique combinations that normally wouldn’t be played.
System changes
Two major system changes are taking place within the TFT 10.13 update.
- Raised the minimum number of items that can drop in a game by one.
- If you’re ranked Master or above, you may only solo queue in ranked.
Players no longer need to fret about a minimum of only 11 items. They’ll always get a minimum of 12 from now on. And the change to solo queue ranked wasn’t one the TFT team wanted to make but had to out of necessity to maintain competitive integrity. A full breakdown of the system change can be found here.
Trait changes
Battlecast was the one trait underperforming, receiving buffs for healing and damage on proc at 2/4/6/8. Adjustments to Battlecast will improve its early and late game. Changes made to the other traits in the TFT 10.13 update are minor tweaks, like an increase to four Blaster.
A buff was also applied to six Dark Star and four Infiltrator, with Mort noting that Shaco is a champion “who’s in a good spot, often overlooked and underplayed.”
Battlecast
- 70/160/325/600 to 80/180/480/880 healing and damage on proc
Blademaster
- 30/70/100 to 30/65/100 chance for bonus attacks
Blaster
- 3/5 to 3/6 extra attacks
Cybernetic
- 40/80 to 40/75 bonus AD
Dark Star
- 8/16/24/32 to 8/18/28/38 bonus AD and AP
Infiltrator
- 40/70/120 to 40/80/120 bonus attack speed
Mystic
- 50/125 to 50/120 magic resist
One-cost champions
Adjustments were made to Illaoi in order to give her more of a Tank presence while also stealing more defenses. Xayah also got a slight buff in reducing her mana from 70 to 60.
Illaoi
- 650 to 700 HP
- Four to six second duration
- 20/30/50 percent to 30/40/60 percent defense stealing
Nocturne
- 0.7 to 0.75 attack speed, 200/250/350 to 200/250/400 spell damage
Xayah
- 0/70 to 0/60 mana
Two-cost champions
Lacking a solid spot in the present meta, Darius was buffed up on armor, magic resist, and spell damage. He’ll improve Space Pirates and may end up being a solid addition to Blademaster/Cyber in conjunction with Irelia. Kog’Maw also received a slight buff, further strengthening the Battlecast trait.
Darius
- 35 to 40 armor, 20 to 30 magic resist
- 400/500/750 to 400/550/800 spell damage
Kog’Maw
- 500 to 550 HP
- 0/40 to 0/30 mana
- 2/4/7 percent to 2/4/8 percent max HP percent damage
Nautilus
- 60/120 to 50/120 mana
- 3/3.5/5 to 3/3/5 second stun duration
Three-cost champions
Bard has received a reduced cast time, improving his overall gameplay. But Cassiopeia got a major nerf, extending her poison duration while keeping the damage applied the same. Master Yi three-star was also nerfed due to him overperforming, reducing his spell damage.
Bard
- Cast time significantly reduced
Cassiopeia
- 12 to 14-second poison duration (700 damage over 14 seconds as opposed to 12)
Jayce
- 850 to 800 HP
Master Yi
- 75/100/200 to 75/100/175 spell damage
Four-cost champions
Several four-cost units were adjusted that include a minor nerf to Fizz in the early game and a buff to three-star Gnar, despite early-game nerfs. Minor changes were also applied to Jinx, Teemo, and Riven.
Fizz
- 60/120 to 50/120 mana
Gnar
- 750/1,250/2,500 to 750/1,250/4,000 HP on transformation
- 100/175/400 to 100/175/550 AD on transformation
- Two to 1.5-second stun duration
Jinx
- 60/75/100 percent to 50/70/100 percent bonus attack speed
Riven
- 250/400/1,000 to 225/375/1,000 spell shield
Teemo
- 1250/175/600 to 125/175/500 spell damage
- Four to three second slow duration
Five-cost champions
Ekko was tweaked, but only to his two-star spell damage. Thresh was also adjusted due to his end-game power level.
Ekko
- 100/200/2,000 to 100/150/2,000 spell damage
Thresh
- 50/75 to 50/90 mana
Item changes
Minor changes were made to underperforming items like Bloodthirster, Jeweled Gauntlet, Statikk Shiv, and Hextech Gunblade. But the adjustments were minor and won’t likely have a major impact on the meta.
Bloodthirster
- 40 percent to 45 percent Lifesteal
Hextech Gunblade
- 40 percent to 45 percent spell steal
Jeweled Gauntlet
- 20 percent to 30 percent bonus crit damage
Statikk Shiv
- 80 to 90 damage
ZZ’Rot Portal
- 1,000/2,000/3,000 to 1,500/2,250/3,000 Voidling health
Bug fixes
- Cleaned up some tooltips with respect to percentages.
- Fixed Malphite’s energy shield not benefiting from the spell damage provided by Chalice of Power.
- Fixed space pirates rarely causing additional coin drops when equipped with Giant Slayer.
- Fixed an issue where a Kog’Maw’s attacks during barrage could rarely become trap claw procs.
- Removed the unintended orange glow that would play on melee weapon of units equipped with infinity edge.
- Fixed an issue where Zephyr’d units could be hit by certain AoE spells like Teemo’s satellite traps.
