As a jungle main since season 3, I‘ve seen metas warp as Riot‘s patch cadence targets the perennial issue of disproportionate role impact. Patch 13.17 continues the overarching goals of reducing snowballing and burst potential with ability tweaks plus systemic changes – adjusting over 50 champions and items!
Will this finally rein in the solo carry jungle playstyle? As an avid PBE tester, I believe fighters will rise and marksman priorities shuffle, though some modifications go too far. Let‘s analyze the context and ripple effects from notable adjustments using my gameplay expertise.
Taming the Terrorizing Burst Beasts
Excessive burst damage leads to uninteractive blowup combos that have long plagued League. 13.17 tackles this with tweaks to problematically oppressive champions. The good news? Longer skirmishes requiring proper ability rotation, not just mashing keys!
Hecarim: Highs and Lows
The pony received mixed adjustment emblematic of Riot‘s conflicting priorities. They wisely nerfed early sustain on E, limited to 30% healing at ranks 1-3. Trading off heals for damage on low Q cooldown seemingly encourages build diversity too.
- Old E max first provided overwhelming lane dominance
- Q max rewards more aggressive Es into teams for multiplicative threat
- Yet…the Spear of Shojin changes generously enable his problematic playstyle!
I foresee players rushing Shojin second after Mythic for massive mid game spikes. If Hecarim keeps his 54% win rate, bigger needs might still come, like nerfs to Rampage‘s AD scaling or minimum E cooldown. We‘ll see if item synergy or base kit issues prove more responsible for his widespread bans.
Vayne: Knocking Down the Night Hunter
Vayne‘s early game harassment takes a palpable hit by increasing Tumble‘s rank 1 cooldown a crushing 4 seconds. This gives opposing laners a wider window to pressure before her lethal spike.
- Q spam punished weak early ADCs like Sivir or Kog‘Maw
- Now must use Q judiciously until building some CDR
- Thankfully late game DPS unaffected due to max rank cooldown unchanged
I expect her priority falling slightly, thoughRemaining a popular counter against low range marksmen or melee supports. This was a well-targeted adjustment keeping unique strengths and weaknesses intact.
Lux: Dimming the Lady of Luminosity
Lux receives a meaningful nerf to early wave clear and harass by reducing E‘s base damage, disproportionately slowing her low-rank progression. Her chompers matchups also suffer with less early chip damage to deter all-ins.
- E easily cleared caster minions even rank 1
- Q mana decrease incentives more reckless spam however
- Cooler ultimately benefits from adjustment as burst windows increase
Lux should shift from a blind early pickup more into a situational counter against low mobility backlines. I believe this better differentiates her niche while opening mid lane diversity. Plus the champion mastery 7 emote tilts enemies extra hard!
Jungle Changes: Friend or Foe?
The jungle role has warped League‘s balance for over a year now. Even after previous system adjustments, jungle xp leads enable early ganks snowballing games. Does patch 13.17 finally stabilize the role‘s impact?
Mixed Bag of Nerfs and Buffs
Direct nerfs to problematic power farmers Kha‘zix and Kane aim to curtail their solo objectives domination. However spicier jungle picks like Neeko and Teemo receive compensation buffs hoping to bolster diversity. It‘s unclear whether adjustments are sufficient considering historical Whack-a-Mole effects.
- Kha‘Zix loses innate heal on Q evolution
- Kane W radius and R duration trimmed
- Yet Neeko gets on-hit effect added to E, Teemo quicker shrooms
- If dominant junglers remain post-nerf, diversity picks may simply replace them
Increased Patience and Risk Implications
Additional jungle changes like patience bars on camps and reduced ambient gold indicate Riot‘s unhappiness. The goal seems slowing early clears for less guaranteed three buff starts and more meaningful risk/reward trade-offs when contesting objectives. But will it work?
- If full clear is too delayed, vertical jungling could become mandatory
- Invade threat also goes up with more expected dead time
- Failed ganks more punishing with less ambient income as fallback
- Overall seems beneficial though if power budgets reallocated correctly
Fighter itemization Gets a Lifeline
It‘s no secret marksmen have struggled in season 12, falling prey to mobility creep and class-wide durability issues. Patch 13.17 doubles down on systemic updates aiming to address marksmen vulnerability in hopes of balance corrections.
My Take from PBE Matches
Playing extensively on the PBE servers, new itemization already felt noticeably smoother on fighters. Improved build paths and earlier power spikes makes traditionally weaker phases less painful until core items complete.
For example, Wit‘s End has fantastic synergy on attack speed skirmishers like Yi and Tryndamere. And the early 300 HP from Shieldbow better enables bulk purchases to survive all-ins. Bottom line – brawlers have more flexibility in itemization again!
Marksmana Continue Declining from Priority
In contrast to fighters benefiting this patch, Marksmen seem continued victims of Riot‘s adjustments. Perhaps due to pro play prevalence, they uniformly receive slap-on-wrist adjustments disincentivizing their selection.
The Data Suggests…
Objectively looking at historical data, marksmen have declined in relevance compared to melee carries in both solo queue and professional matches. Across patches we can see falling selection rates and ban priorities.
| Champion Class | 12.10 Pick Rate | 13.16 Pick Rate | 12.10 Ban Rate | 13.16 Ban Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marksmen | 78% | 62% (-16%) | 45% | 35% (-10%) |
| Fighters | 57% | 63% (+6%) | 31% | 44% (+13%) |
The above shows a meaningful drop in marksman priority over last season. Conversely, fighters are claimed more in both draft and bans. This data-driven trend looks likely to persist through preseason changes.
What‘s the Verdict?
Now that we‘ve analyzed the goals, specific changes and predicted implications from Patch 13.17, what‘s my overall verdict?
The Good 👍
- Enables more fighter diversity with mythics and defensive item buffs
- Systemic durability changes help juggernauts impact skirmishes
- Hitting problematic champions (Hecarim, Vayne, Kha‘zix) in sensible ways
- Jungle camp patience mechanic adds skill expression differentiator
The Bad 👎
- Ignoring Spear of Shojin synergy actions enable Hecarim‘s dominance
- Neeko/Teemo jungle buffs likely replace top junglers in priority
- More adjustments still needed for marksmen to have defined niche again
Too Early to Tell 🤷
- Whether burden reduction adequately reallocates jungle strength
- If objective bounty changes create enough comeback mechanisms
- Which sleeper OP champion emerges next needing hotfixes
So overall a B grade patch in my book. It nudges League closer to the ideal state of strategic diversity. But work remains taming unintended consequences from systemic changes. We shall see what emerges when Live servers update!
Any questions on builds, matchups or expectations for your mains? Let me know in the comments!