In November of last year, League of Legends developers confirmed Jax and Rell would be the next champions to each get a mid-scope update.
Mid-scope updates lie somewhere between small balance changes and complete League reworks. They breathe new life into characters that aren’t really working with the current state of the game, but don’t change integral abilities or the character’s play style as a whole.
Though Jax isn’t a champion that has struggled to maintain a solid pick rate in higher ranks, developers still felt he could use an update. Designer August Browning previously stated the goal of these changes was to make Jax’s ultimate more exciting and dynamic, and to also buff his AP build to put more life into that mechanic and play style.
This afternoon, as Riot prepares for the first League updates in 2023, designer Phlox confirmed Jax’s mid-scope update will be brought to the game with patch 13.1 on Tuesday, Jan. 10.
As previously stated by Browning, Jax’s mid-scope update will contain the following changes:
- Q: AP ratio reduced from 60 percent to being removed.
- E: Damage reduced from 55-155 physical damage (with +50 percent bonus AD) to 55-175 + 4 percent max health (with +100 percent AP) magic damage. E ability damage bonus per attack dodged changed from 20% of total damage to 20 percent of base damage.
- R Passive: Reduced from 100/140/180 (+70 percent AP) to 100-150 (+60 percent AP), also added new VFX and SFX relating to this passive ability.
- R Active (NEW): Ability using Jax’s lantern to deal magic damage, 150-350 (100 percent AP). If a champion is hit, Jax gains 10-40 (+0.1 bonus AD) armor and magic resist. He will also gain 14-22 (+0.1 Bonus AD) armor and magic resist per champion hit for 8 seconds. During those 8 seconds, passive damage applies every second attack instead of every third attack.
These changes will make Jax a champion more effective at melee range but less effective at one-vs-one duels. He should be a strong brawler in team coordinated fights.
