LoL Patch 13.13 brought a heap of changes, mostly nerfing the strongest champions in the meta and buffing a few as well.
The latest update for League of Legends, Patch 13.13 released this Wednesday, bringing a multitude of changes to the best champions in the meta, while also trying to deal with the Statikk Shiv situation which has plagued the professional scene of the game. 9 champions have been nerfed, 2 have been buffed and 2 have been adjusted, which should shake up the strongest picks in the Summoner’s Rift. The previous three updates to the game also tried to accomplish this, but where 13.10, 13.11 and 13.12 failed, 13.13 seems to have succeeded. So let’s take a look at which of the champions changed have benefited the most of 13.13, and which have taken a big hit!
LoL Patch 13.13 Biggest Winners and Losers
Lol Patch 13.13 Biggest Winners
Nidalee
While she only received a very small buff, Nidalee’s winrate went up a bit. Riot Games only gave her 5 extra movement speed, which means that she can clear, gank and rotate a bit more effectively, but 5 movespeed is not the strongest enhancement in the world. Nevertheless, her winrate crept up above 51%, and her pick and banrates have also increased according to stats site Lolalytics. The Bestial Huntress has returned to the meta during to the MSI, but this time, she might be staying for a bit longer than a few weeks.
Wukong
Wukong got a nerf in Patch 13.13: his E, Nimbus Strike now deals normal damage to monsters instead of 120% of the ability. This hurts his jungle clear a bit, which means that pros will be less likely to abuse him in leagues such as the LEC and LCK. However, his toplane winrate has went up by almost .5%, nearing a 52% WR, as his clearing and dueling potential stayed the same. Wukong has been a staple jungler since his mini-rework, which has become a bit boring, but he can stay in the meta if he returns to his original home: the toplane.
Lol Patch 13.13 Biggest Losers
Lee Sin
Only two picks have been buffed as Riot Games tries to change up the Jungle meta after suffering the trinity of Wukong, Vi and Sejuani since last year’s World Championship. In order to achieve this, they buffed the Blind Monk, specifically his Q, which now scales much better off of bonus AD. However, this has resulted in a drop of winrate for the iconic jungler, as more players picked up Lee Sin, but as he’s an incredibly difficult pick to execute properly, the increased player count means a decreased winrate – but that’s just for solo queue, in proplay, there’s no doubt he will perform better.
Vi
Probably the biggest loser of the latest update to League of Legends, the Piltover Enforcer has dropped from an almost 52% winrate to one just above 48% according to Lolalytics. This is the result of Riot Games nerfing her Passive, Blast Shield, which only gives her a 10% Max HP Shield after using an ability, and also increasing the cooldown of her Ultimate, Cease and Desist.
All of those nerfs were justified, as Vi has had an overwhelming presence in proplay for almost a year. In the LEC Summer Split, she has a 100% presence, and has only been picked 2 times, so professional players are scared of her – and for good reason, as she shuts down almost every immobile hypercarry like Jinx, Zeri and Aphelios, but can make short work of popular midlaners, such as Ahri and Annie as well.
Neeko
The Curious Chameleon got some heavy hits to 3 of her abilities: Riot increased the cooldown of her Q, adjusted the bonus AA damage on her W so it hits harder when maxed but has lower damage at Rank 1, while also changing her R in a way that she only remains disguised for the first 0.5 seconds instead of the whole channel time – so the era of the Neeko TikTok montages (and for Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther to throw games for them) seems to be over.
They Vastayan midlaner’s winrate still sits at 52%, so she’s not going anywhere yet, but her toplane and Support WR’s are around 50%, while she dropped to 46% in the jungle – the ult changes really hurt this strategy for Neeko. Her mid-scope update was an overwhelming success, which we love to see – but it has become a bit too overwhelming, and the balance team would like to tone her down to avoid another Ahri situation.
Rek’Sai
Rek’Sai has been a bit under the radar in terms of proplay, but in SoloQ, she has been a monster. The Queen of the Xer’Sai has received some hefty buffs a few patches back, which pushed her to an almost 55% percent winrate in the toplane, while almost reaching 56% in the jungle. Her banrate shot up to almost 30% with her pickrate nearing 10%, so she was in line for a nerf.
Riot Games delivered, but the hits Rek’Sai took were a bit too light: her Base Attack Damage got decreased from 61 to 58, while her Base Health went down to 600 from 640. This means that her initial clear and trading power is a bit weaker and less healthy, but she doesn’t seem to mind it that much: she still sits at 53% winrate in both the Jungle and the toplane – maybe it’s time for her to permanently move to the northermost part of Summoner’s Rift?
Aphelios
After the Mid-Season Invitational, Jinx was hit with the nerf-bat, leaving Aphelios and Zeri at the top of the food chain, joined by Xayah and Varus in some regions. While Xayah and Zeri usually get banned in proplay, Aphelios makes it through the draft numerous times, then proceeds to wreck the enemy team if he makes it to the lategame.
Riot Games noticed that the Weapon of the Faithful is doing a bit too good, so they nerfed his guns: Severum, the Scythe Pistol heals less on both attack and abilities, Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon slows for 1 second less while Crescendum, the Chakram’s Sentry has lower Attack Speed. These nerfs resulted in Aphelios’ winrate to go down to almost 47% percent in SoloQ. While this seems like he’s borderline useless, the problem with Aphelios is proplay, and sadly, the everyday players suffer because of that. But if you master Aphelios, you can still carry games with him – you just need to be a little more mindful.
Overall, the LoL Patch 13.13 seems to have achieved changing the meta, especially at the highest level of play. Over the next few days, we’ll go over the best picks for each role in 13.13, so don’t forget to follow ESTNN’s latest articles!
