With just one week remaining before the start of League of Legends’ 2023 ranked season, Riot Games has fully detailed what players can expect in the premiere patch of the year—with a few bonuses.
After teasing the changes yesterday in the patch preview, Riot Phlox, designer on League’s Summoner’s Rift team, offered a complete explanation of all of the buffs and nerfs expected to launch alongside the release of Patch 13.1 on Jan. 10.
Among these changes are buffs to both champions and items, including a few more than were originally listed.
In the top lane, both Jayce and Sion are receiving some help to their damage to compensate for the prevalence of the fighter/tank meta—of which the pair has not enjoyed much despite having been parts of the meta at various points last year. The midscope update to Jax will also be launching alongside this patch, breathing new life into a champion that has been around for over a decade.
They’ll be accompanied by changes to Jak’Sho, The Protean, a new Mythic item that has become popular for more champions than intended, which will make it cost slightly more but have some of its bonuses more evenly tuned.
Read: Here’s the early League Patch 13.1 patch notes: All buffs, nerfs & changes
Shaco’s AD-oriented builds are being assisted through a higher Q backstab crit ratio and E AD ratio, as well as a lowered mana cost on Q. Assassins like Shaco will also heavily enjoy the addition of eight lethality to Axiom Arc, with the item now granting a total of 18 lethality on top of its powerful ultimate refresh effect.
Alongside buffs to Lissandra’s survivability, Q slow, and W cooldown decrease, Twisted Fate has joined the list of mid laners receiving buffs. His Q’s cooldown will now decrease with rank and the blue and red cards of his W are having their AP ratios increased exponentially.
Mages are also set to enjoy changes to some popular and unpopular items in this patch, including a slight revert to an item players have long-requested to be changed. Horizon Focus’ AP is being rounded up to 100, Winter’s Approach will cost less and grant more HP, and Rod of Ages will provide more HP and procced movement speed. Notably, Seraph’s Embrace now once more grants a static ten ability haste with its old passive being changed to now grant more AP with mana. It is also receiving a new passive in place of “Empyrean,” now granting a “Lifeline” passive of a 250 HP shield scaling with current mana.
The sole champion in the bot lane being buffed is Xayah, a popular face whose prevalence has stepped in and out of the meta as other, more consistent ADCs have stepped up. Her base attack speed is being increased slightly alongside her attack speed ratio, allowing her to throw out her feathers more quickly.
All of these buffs, as well as a plethora of nerfs to champions and items, are expected to go live on League’s servers with Patch 13.1 on Jan. 10. They will soon be available for testing on the game’s PBE, though may be changed before official release next week.
