The seismic champion and gameplay changes coming in LoL Patch 13.14 have the community buzzing. With 21 champion adjustments and full-scale reworks to 10 influential items, expert players have been crunching the numbers on Reddit and Discord to determine the best new picks for ranked and competitive play.
As an independent analyst and mid lane main, I want to provide deeper context on the goals, consequences and opportunities these balance tweaks creates before they hit live servers on September 8th. Buckle up summoners – we‘ve got gigantic updates to itemization and abilities that will reshape match ups across the board.
Cutting Junglers Down to Size
The early-mid game dominance of Rexsaur and Evelynn has terrorized solo queue and professional play all patch. However in version 13.14, Riot‘s nerf hammer aims to restore more diversity and comebacks to the jungle role. Let‘s see how they compare before and after the changes:
| Champion | Adjustment |
|---|---|
| Rexsaur | – Q Cooldown increased early |
| Level 1: 5s >>> 7s | |
| Level 2: 4.5s >>> 6s | |
| Evelynn | – Demon Shade (W) Shield Duration lowered |
| 1.5 sec at all ranks >>> 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 sec | |
| – Ultimate (R) Base Damage lowered | |
| 150/275/400 >>> 125/250/375 |
These might seem like minor numerical edits, but they cascade into gameplay consequences:
-
Rexsaur‘s slower initial clear delays his Level 3 ganking power spike by almost 15 seconds. Repeated ganks burn more Q cooldown. He earns slightly less early gold and XP as well.
-
Eve loses considerable survivability with a weaker and shorter shield until mid game. She can‘t dive in as recklessly and her clear takes more damage.
-
Both champions still scale very well, but these early curbs allow alternative picks to compete for scuttle control, objectives and map pressure.
In solo queue I‘ve won games solely off an early Evelynn or Rexsaur snowball, so hampering their fast starts gives opponents more room to farm safely and recover. With these jungle rulers pulled back, expect junglers like Vi, Poppy, and Viego to regain traction.
Room to Breathe For Melee Carries
The ranged dominance of Quinn Top and Kennen ADC has restricted many melee carries like Fiora, Yasuo, Yone, and Tryndamere. However, Patch 13.14 hands them a lifeline:
| Champion | Adjustment |
|---|---|
| Quinn | – Attack Speed Per Level lowered 2% >>> 1.5% |
| W cooldown increased by 1 second all ranks | |
| Kennen | – Magic Resist lowered 32 >>> 28 |
| – Attack Damage Growth reduced by 0.5 |
These basic stat hits combined with the Randuin‘s Omen buff make it much harder for Quinn and Kennen to continuously harass and kite back sustained damage dealers. The extra armor diminishes their poke while the attack speed slow lets Irelia, Jax, Yone and company catch up and trade back damage in lane.
Expect formerly oppressed picks like Nasus, Gwen, and Sett to thrive once more, while Tryndamere, Yone and Fiora may return to higher tier standings. In competitive, ranged Counterpicks lose some drafting power, opening picks for snowball carries. This is a small but meaningful step towards closing the ranged/melee discrepancy.
Items Back on the Menu
While new dragons and Objective bounties stole headlines, many staple items like Rapid Firecannon and Infinity Edge wasted away unused. Patch 13.14 aims to resuscitate these alternatives so champions once again have access to diverse builds and play styles.
For example, Statikk Shiv sees its critical strike chance restored to 20% after being removed last year. This gives waveclear hypercarries like Sivir, Xayah and Tristana an alt farming option over Runaan‘s Hurricane:
| Statikk Shiv 13.13 | Statikk Shiv 13.14 |
|---|---|
| 30% Attack Speed | 20% Crit Chance |
| 7% Move Speed | 8% Move Speed |
| Energized: +120 magic damage on hit | Energized: +120 magic damage on hit |
With this upgrade, Sivir can return to one-shotting caster waves with boomerang blade plus energized Shiv pops. Tristana and Xayah also greatly accelerate their jungle camp/siege potential too.
We‘ll also see more scaling crit carries opt back into Infinity Edge as a 3rd/4th item instead of defensively stacking Bloodthirsters thanks to its additional crit damage scaling:
| Infinity Edge 13.13 | Infinity Edge 13.14 |
|---|---|
| 70 Attack Damage | 80 Attack Damage |
| 20% Critical Strike Chance | 20% Critical Strike Chance |
| 8% increased Critical Strike Damage | +8% Critical Strike Damage per 20% Critical Strike Chance |
Now buying 60% crit off items like Navori, Mortal Reminder and Phantom Dancer rewards 36% increased critical damage. This allows Jhin, Caitlyn and Ashe to rip through tankier foes rather than just tickling them with attacks.
There‘s a whole host of revitalized picks and item combos I‘m excited to theorycraft with these changes! Players would do well to study all the buffs and find secretly strong options that others overlook Sleeper OPs might dominate your next ranked promos…
Previewing Pro Play at Worlds 2022
With the tediously long 12.10 Durability Update finally fading, Patch 13.14 delivers some of the most entertaining gameplay changes pro League has seen all year. The unpredictability and volatility introduced is a welcome change of pace for viewers.
Already in patch 13.13 we‘ve seen the return of high skill cap carry junglers like Kindred, Graves and Nidalee to best-of series. Yet currently the jungle pool seems mostly set around Jarvan IV, Vi and Trundle. Patch 13.14 should blow that stability wide open!
Lowering the early game strengths of Rexsaur and Evelynn lets more early aggression and proactivity thrive from Lee Sin, Xin Zhao, Elise and friends. Combined with the potential for explosive crit carries, there‘s a chance for international teams to showcase their mechanical prowess through champions rather than just optimized objective trading.
For maximum hype, I‘d love to see western contenders like Rogue, Fnatic and Evil Geniuses build rosters around aggressive jungler-mid duos. My early prediction for a Worlds meta shift is towards skirmishing and team fighting over heavy macro play. The flexibility added through many item and rune buffs should enable thrilling best-of series with plenty of peak moments.
Of course, Riot always keeps a few As in the hole with exciting changes planned through October to guarantee fans get treated to epic Worlds moments. But for now, Patch 13.14 generates more than enough theorycrafting and promise of uniquely high level competition! I‘m counting down the days until September 29th‘s play-in stage…
Time to Experiment!
I hope this first look got you as excited as me to test out buffed champions and item combos on the PBE. With billions of possible team comps and build paths about to open up, it‘s the most fun I‘ve had playing League in awhile!
Now is the time to experiment with newly strengthened options before the public launch and get a leg up on your next ranked promos. Keep an ear to the ground too for the next PBE cycle changes as Worlds 2022 will surely have some tricks in store.
Thanks for reading my early patch rundown and please share your own speculation or lessons learned from testing on PBE so far. Which champions are you most excited to retry or abuse? Did I miss any sleeper OP item synergies? I read every comment so let me know!