Welcome to the PBE Roundup for the Patch 4.13 cycle! This is going to be a massive patch, so hold onto your hats. As mentioned in the patch forecast for this cycle, Riot is making preparations to for Worlds by implementing small changes to champions that they feel are either too strong or a little too weak. They’re not making any broad, sweeping changes to anyone (except possibly Sona), but a good amount of tweaks are being made to multiple champions.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look! Keep in mind, as always, that this is PBE content, and is therefore changeable and tentative prior to launch.

Balance Changes

Champion Balances

Braum

Concussive Blows (Passive): Passive trigger damage lowered to 32 (+8 per level) from 38 (+12 per level)

(Passive): Passive trigger from 38 (+12 per level)



Stand Behind Me (W): Mana cost increased to 50/55/60/65/70 from 30/40/50/60/70

(W): Mana from 30/40/50/60/70



Glacial Fissure (R): Slow field duration reduced to .25 seconds from 1.5 seconds

(R): Slow field from 1.5 seconds



Glacial Fissure (R): Knock-up time reduced to 1/1.3/1.5 from 1.5 at all ranks

(R): Knock-up from 1.5 at all ranks



Glacial Fissure (R): Slow field amount reduced to 40/50/60% from 60% at all ranks

Stand behind Braum, Lucian, he will take nerfs for you! The mustachioed bodybuilder is getting smacked with the nerf bat once again. This time around, he’s taking a slight nerf to his passive’s damage and his W’s mana cost, and a sizeable nerf to his ultimate.

The knock-up time and slow percentage now scale with level and the slow has been drastically reduced in duration. This should have a strong impact on Braum’s early all-in potential, as well as reduce his teamfight utility a little bit later in-game. The nerf seems fair to me, as the knock-up slow is at a quite long range. Hopefully Braum will finally be pickable, because he’s still getting banned out every game, which is a real shame, as he’s so much fun to play!

Elise

Cocoon (Human E): Missile width decreased to 55 from 70

(Human E): from 70



Rappel (Spider E): Range decreased to 700 from 925

(Spider E): from 925



Rappel (Spider E): Now targets from hitbox to hitbox rather than center to center

Elise is getting nerfed a bit this patch, though not quite as much as it appears at first. The ranges on her E in both human and spider form are getting nerfed, but as Pwyff explains here, the changes on Rappel are about 75 units over what they appear to be. The move now calculates its range from the edge of Rappel’s hitbox to the edge of her target’s hitbox, rather than the center of their champion.

This should make it a little bit easier to predict when your E is going to be able to jump to someone, as the targeting is more intuitive. However, it is a nerf still, which is good, as Elise (among Lee Sin and Evelynn) is bullying out most other junglers from being picked, at least at competitive levels. Earlier in the cycle, there was a similar change to her human-form Q, Neurotoxin, but that was reverted, so the balance team must have decided it wasn’t necessary.

Evelynn

Hate Spike (Q): Base damage lowered to 30/45/60/75/90 from 40/60/80/100/120

(Q): Base from 40/60/80/100/120



Hate Spike (Q): AP coefficient now scales per rank: .35/.40/.45/.50/.55 from .45 at all ranks

(Q): AP coefficient now from .45 at all ranks



Hate Spike (Q): Bonus AD coefficient now scales per rank: . 50/.55/.60/.65/.70 from .50 at all ranks.

(Q): Bonus AD coefficient . from .50 at all ranks.



Hate Spike (Q): Mana cost lowered to 12/18/24/30/36 from 16/22/28/34/40

Evelynn is up there with Lee Sin and Elise in terms of super-strong aggro jungler picks. The nerfs to the Widowmaker are coming in the form of damage nerfs to her Q. The base damage is going down across the board, and the AP and AD scaling are being shifted to improving with every level in the ability. The scaling is actually better than it used to be overall, and the mana cost is being lowered as well.

My first thought looking at these changes is that the balance team wants to take away some of Eve’s free damage. Currently, players build Elder Lizard and then go mostly tanky items for the rest of the game. These changes both make Eve less punishing on aggro early ganks and reduce the amount of damage that she gets for free. Hopefully, this will still keep her in the game, but force players to decide between being tanky and being an assassin/bruiser without getting the best of both worlds.

Gragas

Barrel Roll (Q): Now deals 70% damage to minions

(Q): Now deals



Drunken Rage (W): Mana cost increased to 30 from 0

(W): Mana from 0



Drunken Rage (W): Damage reduction now lasts for 2.5 seconds , do wn from 3 seconds

(W): Damage reduction now lasts for wn from 3 seconds



Drunken Rage (W): Cooldown changed to 8/7/6/5/4 from 8/7.5/7/6.5/6

Gragas is in a state right now where he’s doing a lot of damage and being pretty tanky, but he’s still being played much the same way as he used to be. These changes seem to want to highlight the tankiness built in on his W and shy away from maxing Q first. The Q is seeing a nerf to its wave-clearing ability, which gives him a lot of strength in top lane, and the W is getting a much lower cooldown if leveled up. The damage reduction buff’s duration is going down, but the cooldown reduction is making it so that with CDR, Gragas will be able to have that buff up almost 100% of the time.

Graves

Buckshot (Q): Enemies hit with multiple bullets now take 40% damage from each additional bullet , up from 35%

(Q): Enemies hit with multiple bullets now take , up from 35%



Collateral Damage (R):Initial damage increased to 250/400/550 from 250/350/450

(R):Initial damage from 250/350/450



Collateral Damage (R): Explosion damage increased to 200/320/440 from 200/280/360

I can’t count how many times I’ve posted roundups like these and seen comments on reddit to the tune of “Graves buffs where?” Graves was an absolute terror on release and enjoyed a pretty scary heyday, but got nerfed a while back and hasn’t been the same since, especially since being outshined by his faster, harder-hitting competitor, Lucian. Well put your ponchos on and hop aboard the Gravey train, because the Outlaw’s finally getting some kick put back in his rounds.

Buckshot, Graves’ Q, is best used when you’re up in your opponent’s face, as hitting with multiple bullets increases the damage done by each shot. This amount is being buffed up by 5%, which may seem small, but percentage increases are powerful, especially as there are two additional bullets. His ultimate is also seeing a pretty heavy late-game damage buff, 100 for the initial round and 80 for the following explosion at max rank. Now if only he could blow up terrain to kill enemy Nautiluses. Maybe that’d be a little too strong.

Hecarim

Rampage (Q): Mana cost reduced to 24/26/28/30/32 from 24/28/32/36/40

There’s not a lot going on with the Shadow of War. He hasn’t been played in quite some time after being nerfed down from his spot on the top of the early-aggro jungler charts (and URF Mode) and Riot wants to try to get him back in the game. However, he’s still honestly pretty powerful, and we don’t want him restored to his former glory, so the buffs are starting small with a reduction in the punishing mana costs that were put on his Q. This might make him perfectly playable again, but if he needs a bit more help, the balance team seems to have their eye on him.

Janna

Tailwind (Passive): Range increased to 1000 from 800

(Passive): Range from 800



Howling Gale (Q): Has been reworded and now specifically mentions how powerful the spell gets as it charges

(Q): Has been reworded and now specifically mentions how powerful the spell gets as it charges



Howling Gale (Q): Maximum knock up time is now 1.25 seconds for full charge, up from 1

(Q): Maximum knock up time is now for full charge, up from 1



Howling Gale (Q): Cooldown now starts as soon as it is cast

When I’m not jungling, I’m usually supporting, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with Janna lately. She’s fast, she’s furiou, and her shield works so well with Ardent Censer it’s unreal. I think these changes are going to shove her back into the limelight, especially against all-in foes like Thresh. Her passive, Tailwind, has had its affected range increased to provide free movement speed to more of your team. Her Q’s charge time has been increased a little bit, so it’s a bit harder to land a full-strength gale, but the cooldown on the move starts when you cast it, which means 1 second less across the board. Keep an eye out for this one, she’s coming back.

Kayle

Righteous Fury (E): AP ratio on both parts increased to .25 from .2

(E): AP ratio on both parts from .2



Intervention (R): Cooldown lowered to 100/90/80 from 110/95/80

What’s this? Buffs to Kayle? The buff-nerf yoyo is strong with this one. The AP ratio on her E has been buffed a little, as well as the cooldown on her ult. They’re both now somewhere between the levels before and after patch 4.10. Kayle is wicked hard to balance, so I’m not surprised that they’re still tweaking her. Good luck to them, they’re going to need it.

Base HP lowered to 400 from 440

from 440



HP Per level increased to 87 from 84

from 84



Caustic Spittle (Q): MR/Armor shred changed to 12/16/20/24/28 from 20/22/24/26/28

Kog’Maw the cannon puppy has seen a lot of play lately, both in solo queue and competitively. This patch aims to nerf his early-game by giving him less health and less MR/Armour shred on his Q. His HP should balance out midgame, overtaking his pre-patch values at level 14 and above. This should hopefully make him a bit harder to win lane with but still keep his late-game where it was, making it tougher but still possible to breed that perfect late-game shredding machine.

LeBlanc

Distortion (W): Mana cost lowered to 80/85/90/95/100 from 80/90/100/110/120

LeBlanc is suffering from post-OP blues. Her winrate is down about 3 points, but she’s still pretty powerful. She just needs a little nudge to get her back into a good spot but not to her old no-counterplay self. She’s getting a bit of a late-game mana cost buff on her W, which will hopefully be enough to sort her out.

Lee Sin

Safeguard (W1): Shield duration lowered to 2 seconds from 4 seconds

(W1): Shield duration from 4 seconds



Cripple (E2): No longer lists that it reduces attack speed (which was 20/30/40/50/60%)

(E2): (which was 20/30/40/50/60%)



Base HP Regen Per Second increased to 1.65 from 1.25

And now, we complete the aggro jungler trifecta. Lee Sin has always been pretty tough to balance. Riot proposed some changes to him a few months ago but people freaked out and cried that he was already perfectly balanced. Surprise surprise, he is not perfectly balanced and has been dominating competitive and some solo queue jungles for a while now. He’s not getting changed to the extent that was proposed a while ago, but he’s getting a lower duration on his shield and his second E no longer reduces attack speed (it still slows). His base HP regen has been buffed a bit to compensate for the shield nerf.

This should keep Lee Sin in a good spot for jungling but make him less harshly impactful in early ganks. The attack speed slow is pretty punishing during early ganks and pretty much guarantees that Lee will win a fight against any other jungler when counterjungling. The nerfs aren’t too harsh to ruin him, though, so he should still be the same high-skillcap ranged melee tanky dps assassin mage tank support jungler that we know so well.

Lissandra

Ice Shard (Q): Cooldown lowered to 6/5.25/4.5/3.75/3 from 6/5.5/5/4.5/4

(Q): from 6/5.5/5/4.5/4



Ring of Frost (W): AP ratio down to .4 from .6

(W): AP from .6



Frozen Tomb (R): Slow increased to 30/45/75% from 20/30/40%

Lissandra is an interesting champion. She’s seldom played, as often in top lane as in mid lane, and even then to mixed results. She has decent damage, great CC and an overall interesting kit, but she’s not exactly competitive tier. This cycle has seen her getting a CD reduction on her Q (bringing it down to 3 seconds before CDR at max rank!), a slow increase on her ultimate that scales up pretty high, but then an AP ratio nerf on her W to compensate.

Riot’s theme in the past couple of patches has been trying to give champions noticable strengths and weaknesses. These changes are bringing Lissandra’s utility and CC up pretty sharply at the expense of some of her damage. Her other ratios are still quite strong, however (65% on the Q, 60% on the E and 70% on her ultimate), so she should still be doing plenty of damage. Her in-lane poke and her teamfight presence should be pretty nicely enhanced, though. I’m looking forward to seeing her get some more play.

Lucian

Relentless Pursuit (E): No longer lists it reduces slow effects

(E):



Relentless Pursuit (E): Cooldown increased to 18/17/16/15/14 from 14/13/12/11/10

Finally, some real nerfs! Last patch, Lucian got a nerf to his autoattack and Q range but a huge buff to his overall maneuverability. Despite some people thinking that the range nerf would ruin him, his winrate has gone up 5% and he’s become even more popular, going from 13% pick rate up to a whopping 20%. It’s getting to the point where the team with the Lucian is probably going to win bot lane regardless of who they’re against, and nobody’s banning him because everybody wants to play him.

This cycle is seeing some real nerfs to his mobility, thank goodness. His E no longer drops slows, and is now just a simple dash. The cooldown has also gone up by 4 seconds across the board, which should make it at least a little harder to chain together dashes from getting passive resets. The main problem was that he was given a significant weakness in his lowered range, but his enhanced mobility made the lower range not matter. These nerfs should help hilight that weakness and maybe make him counterable by long-range carries like Caitlyn. Will the nerfs be enough? Only time will tell.

Lulu

Glitterlance (Q): Slow decay no longer scales down based on AP

(Q): Slow decay



Whimsy (W): Movement speed duration lowered to 3/3.5/4/4.5/5 seconds from 5 seconds at all ranks

(W): Movement speed to seconds from 5 seconds at all ranks



Whimsy (W): Mana cost lowered to 65 at all ranks from 65/70/75/80/85

Lulu has been pretty strong lately and continues to dominate picks both top or mid. The nerf to her Q and W will reduce her early game power, especially reducing W’s one point wonder potential, and should make her a lot more vulnerable to jungle ganks. They have balanced this nerf with a reduction in W’s mana cost but this is a nerf to our favourite Yordle and might push her back down to the support role.

Lux

Illumination (Passive): Base damage lowered to 10 + (8 x level) from 10 + (10 x level)

(Passive): Base from 10 + (10 x level)



Illumination (Passive): Now has a .2 AP scaling up from 0

Whoah, now. This is scary. Lux is getting a pretty significant damage buff in the form of an AP scaling component to her passive. Her passive’s base damage is being lowered, but as long as you’re getting at least 10AP per level (which you should be easily), the damage is the same or higher. This should make getting hit by her combo pretty scary in the late-game when her AP goes through the roof. Watch out for those bindings, they’re gonna be bad news.

Nami

Base movement speed lowered to 335 from 340

from 340



Ebb and Flow (W): Cooldown increased to 10 seconds from 9 seconds

Similarly to Lulu, Nami is getting some little nerfs. Her base movespeed is going down and the cooldown on her W is going up a little bit, which should give her a little less spam-healing. I don’t expect these nerfs to have too much of an impact besides the overall goal of giving some less often picked supports a bit more of a chance to step into the limelight.

Olaf

Undertow (Q): Cooldown reduced to 7 from 8 seconds

(Q): from 8 seconds



Vicious Strikes (W): Increased healing from all sources changed to 1% for every 2% of health missing from 1% for every 2.5% of health missing.

(W): from all sources changed to from 1% for every 2.5% of health missing.



Ragnarok (R): Cooldown lowered to 100/90/80 from 120/100/80

Get those axes out of the closet, Olaf is back! He’s been pretty marginalised for a while after his rework. The theming of the rework was good, but his overall power levels were a bit low to avoid the horrid terror that is Olaf at an OP level. In fact, releasing a champion or an item underpowered at first so that it won’t dominate the game has become known as ‘Olafing.’

The Berserker is seeing a buff to his cooldowns on his Q and Ultimate as well as a buff to the missing-health healing on his W. These buffs should drive up his overall power in the top lane and the jungle, as well as highlighting his low-health strength pattern and making lifesteal even more cost-efficient on him. I’m hoping to see a bit more of him.

Sivir

On The hunt (R): Movement speed decay time increased to 2/4/6 seconds from 2/3/4 seconds

For those who aren’t familiar with Sivir’s ultimate, the activation gives a 60% movement speed buff that decays to 20% over a set amount of time. That decay time is what’s being buffed, so basically the movement speed granted by On the Hunt will be greater for longer at high ranks!

Sona

Sona’s rework is back up on the PBE with a few changes. If you didn’t catch my initial analysis on the rework, you can find it in my last roundup article. For a full changelist compared to live, check out Fearless’ forum post; today, I’ll just hit on what’s changed from the 4.12 cycle.

Base HP lowered to 353 from 380

from 380



HP Per Level increased to 77 from 70

from 70



Hymn of Valor (Q) Base damage lowered to 20/30/40/50/60 from 40/50/60/70/80 Cooldown decreased to 8 seconds from 10 seconds Mana cost decreased by 5 at all ranks (back to live values)

(Q)



Aria of Perserverence (W) Base healing lowered to 20/40/60/80/100 from 25/50/75/100/125 AP ratio decreased to .2 from .25 Shield amount decreased to 35/55/75/95/115 from 40/60/80/100/120 Mana cost increased by 5 at all ranks (now 10 higher than on live)

(W)



Song of Celerity (E) Cooldown increased to 12 seconds from 10



The rework is looking pretty cool in my opinion. People have been voicing concerns over how small the auras have become (350 units), but from my experience playing this on PBE, the auras are big enough to hit your teammates in most situations, and the smaller the auras are, the more powerful Riot can make them! Sona’s Q and W were still apparently a bit too strong, however, as the base values on both spells have been reduced and the AP scaling on the heal has gone down as well.

Cooldowns have also been tweaked, increasing the cooldown on Sona’s E but decreasing it on her Q. Her HP and HP per level have also been changed, resulting in an overall nerf to HP at levels 1-3 and a buff from 4 onwards.

I think that these auras are being a bit underestimated by people who’ve been reading the changes. They feel responsive and powerful, and the new VFX for them gives your teammates a very clear idea of where they need to be standing to get buffs. I’m looking forward to the rework landing on live, and I think it probably will this patch. Let’s hope I’m right!

Thresh

Dark Passage (W): Now shields Thresh and up to one ally from all nearby allies.

(W): Now shields Thresh and up to one ally from all nearby allies.



The Box (R): Now lists “no damage” on remaining walls once one is broken, down from half

Thresh is getting hit a little bit harder than Lulu and Nami. His W no longer shields his entire team, only him and one lucky soul, which will make no difference in laning but a decent difference in teamfights. However, most Thresh players won’t max their W and will hold onto it in fights in case they need to pull someone out of danger, so the impact of this nerf will be somewhat limited.

The Box is also getting nerfed a bit, making it so that enemies take no damage from hitting any walls after the first. The half-slow is still present, so you should still be trying to walk around it, but getting trapped in the box or having to walk through it should be less painful now.

Tristana

Rocket Jump (W): Slow duration now 1/1.5/2/2.5/3.0 from 2.5 at all ranks

(W): Slow duration now from 2.5 at all ranks



Explosive Shot (E): DoT damage lowered to 80/125/170/215/260 from 110/150/190/230/270

Tristana has enjoyed some pretty heightened strength lately due to the buffs to attack speed items. She and Kog’Maw have both lost some of their old early-game weakness but retained all of their late-game strength, making them both pretty strong.

This cycle has given Tristana some nerfs to the duration of her W’s slow at early ranks (but a buff at max rank) and a nerf to the damage-over-time effect on her E, especially at early ranks. These changes hit Tristana’s early-game damage and kill potential, making it harder to turn her into the late-game hypercarry that all dread to be against.

Varus

Chain of Corruption (R): Cooldown decreased to 110/90/70 from 120/105/90

Varus is a pretty decent champion, especially with the recent nerfs to Mikael’s Crucible making his ultimate a bit more viable. The cooldown on it is going down this cycle, which should hopefully emphasise that strength further. Making him more dependent on his ultimate is dangerous, however, as it’s a well-known fact that Varus’ ultimate is the most-missed skillshot in the LCS.

Vayne

Attack speed per level increased to 4 from 3.1

from 3.1



Final Hour (R): Bonus AD increased to 30/50/70 from 25/40/55

Vayne is another marksman that’s just a tiny bit less powerful than she needs to be. She’s being brought up to speed with a pretty substantial AS per level buff. The buff to Final Hour is, according to this post, in response to a bugfix on her Q where she would get extra bonus AD from tumbling while her ultimate was active. Apparently, the ult buff is pretty much power-neutral.

Void Rift (W): Initial blast width increased to better match the second explosion (~22.5 increase)

(W): Initial to better match the second explosion (~22.5 increase)



Life Form Disintegration Ray (R): Range increased to 1550 from 1500

Vel’Koz has seen quite a few changes this cycle, but most of them have been reverted. In addition to the W area increase and the range buff to his ultimate, Vel’koz was treated to a buff to the damage and AP ratio on his ultimate at the expense of a slower-stacking slow.

This post by Repertoir explains that the intent behind these changes was to make Vel’Koz’s ultimate feel more satisfying to use and scary to behold, which was some of the initial intent behind the champion’s design. However, the changes were reverted, so it’s uncertain whether that will actually end up happening.

Yasuo

Wind Wall’s Passive (W): No longer builds a % of maximum flow on each dash of Sweeping Blade (E), down from 3/6/9/12/15%

Riot’s been chipping away at Yasuo for a few patches now, giving him little nerf after little nerf to try and get him down from his currently powerful state. This nerf is a bit more substantial, dispensing with the free flow that he currently gets from dashing with his E. This is a fair change, in my opinion, as it reduces a lot of the free defence he gets from his already impressive mobility.

Ziggs

Mega Inferno Bomb (R): Cooldown increased to 120 at all ranks from 120/105/90

Ziggs is getting a late-game nerf this patch, reducing the cooldown of his ultimate. Mega Inferno Bomb is a pretty devastating teamfight tool at all points of the game, particularly late. The cooldown nerf should make him a bit less hard to fight in late phases of the game, as well as reducing his ability to clear minion waves cross map, as his enemy’s window of opportunity after his ultimate is used will be significantly longer.

Item Balances

Banshee’s Veil

Spell shield unique passive now refreshes after 40 seconds up from 25 Banshee’s Veil has seen a lot of use lately, and it’s been edging out its MR-giving cousins, particularly Spirit Visage (my, how the tables have turned). This cycle is seeing its spellshield cooldown nearly doubling in length, which should not only make a bit more room for other MR items being built but also make mages a bit more viable.

Chalice of Harmony

Magic resist lowered to 20 from 25

This change will also help some burst mages along, as it’ll lower the early defenses of mid-laners who rush it.

Deathfire Grasp

Unique Active cooldown increased to 90 seconds from 60

DFG is so good nowadays that there’s really no point not building it on most mages. It pretty much turns any AP champion (with a few exceptions) into an assassin and gives most of them a three-step playstyle.

Step 1: Use DFG

Use DFG Step 2: Land CC

Land CC Step 3: One-shot your opponent

This kind of play pattern is no fun to fight against, as it really doesn’t leave any room for counterplay. The extension of DFG’s cooldown should make it easier to exploit the windows when the item is cooling, making those who build it less snowbally.

Frostfang

Gold per 10 reduced to 2 from 4

Frost Queen’s Claim

Gold per 10 reduced to 2 from 4 The Frostfang items have been edging out ancient coin and its following upgrades. This cycle is giving us some buffs to medallion and talisman as well as slight nerfs to the gp10 from the blue daggers, making their gold income more dependent on landing your attacks. This won’t reduce any of the power of FQC, but should make Talisman a slightly more attractive option in comparison and hopefully leave us with two items of equal power but different usage.

Nomad’s Medallion

Mana regen per 5 reduced to 5 from 7

from 7



Now grants +10 movement speed

Movement speed is an interesting choice for medallion and talisman. I quite like it, as it gives the item a bit more flavour and making it more than just a regen stat stick. It also reinforces the passive farming feel of the item by making it a little easier to get back to lane and to dodge your enemy’s skillshots. The mp5 being reduced makes sense, as medallion is intended as a sustain item, where frostfang is the go-to option for spamming and poking.

Rylai’s Crystal Scepter

Health reduced to 400 from 500

from 500



AP increased to 100 from 80

AP bruisers don’t really exist, so Rylai’s is being shifted to feel less like an HP item with plenty of AP on it and more like an AP item with plenty of HP on it. The AP increase should make it a bit more interesting to pick up on more champions, as currently it falls short of better options. More AP itemisation choices are great in my opinion, as mage’s options are currently a little lacking.

Talisman of Ascension

Health regen increased to 15 from 10

from 10



Cooldown reduction decreased to 10% from 20%

from 20%



Now grants +20 movement speed

Talisman is getting buffed as well as medallion. The 10 movement speed from medallion gets doubled on upgrade, and talisman’s passive HP regen is going up by 50%. To compensate, the CDR is going down to 10%, bringing it more in line with FQC. This is pretty sensible, since the items really should be equal in that respect to make the choice between ancient coin and spellthief’s edge more about the items’ playstyles and less about which one is objectively better.

Also, this nerf has an upside in that in makes talisman have a bit more flexibility in which builds it can work with without going over the 40% CDR cap.

Howling Abyss, Twisted Treeline and Crystal Scar

Entropy (Howling Abyss and Crystal Scar only)

Active reduces movement speed and deals true damage over 2 seconds , down from 2.5

This is a pretty small nerf, but should reduce a bit of the impact of Entropy. It’s a pretty strong item with a lot of AD on it, so balancing it better with other high-AD items is a good move.

Blackfire Torch

Unique active cooldown increased to 90 seconds from 60 seconds.

This isn’t much of a surprise, as Blackfire Torch is just the DFG of the other maps.

Other Balances

Summoner Exhaust

Damage reduction reduced to 40% from 50%

from 50%



Now reduces armor and magic resist by 10

Exhaust’s buffs have pretty much single-handedly knocked AD assassins out of the game. These nerfs alongside with the nerfs to DFG should hopefully bring them back into a bit more viability, as they won’t get hit quite as hard by the damage debuff. The armour and MR reduction should also make it feel a bit better to exhaust front-line champions like bruisers and tanks for peeling purposes, as it will make them easier to kill. I can even see it being picked up by some assassins now to help them nuke opponents.

Summoner Heal

Heal amount changed to 75+(15 x level), so, overall values decreased to 90-345 from 95 – 475

On live, heal currently scales with 15 per level between levels 1 and 5, 20 between 6 and 10, 25 between 11 and 17, and then 30 at level 18. This is a pretty simple nerf and will make marksmen and some assassins easier to kill during the late-game, as they’re usually the only champions who take heal.

Wolves (Twisted Treeline only)

Small Wolf damage increased to 20 from 16

damage from 16



Small Wolf crit chance lowered to 0 from 25%

crit chance from 25%



Large Wolf damge increased to 40 from 28

damge from 28



Large Wolf crit chance lowered to 0 from 25%

The wolf camp in the twisted treeline is being nerfed a bit in damage, as the crit chance on their autoattacks is being removed. After the bugfix last patch removed health and mana sigils from the smaller monsters, the jungle in twisted treeline has been pretty painful to clear, resulting in some champions becoming nonviable because they’ll get down to half health from their first clear and then get invaded by their adversary. This change isn’t huge, but it’ll hopefully widen the viable champion pool for TT junglers a litle.

Cosmetic Changes

Sona Textures

Sona’s had a minor texture update to accompany her rework. Her hair is a little smoother now, and her robe has treble and bass clefs on it! Moobeat has provided us with a great rundown and selection of screenshots over at [email protected]’s PBE page, so check it out if you’re curious.

New Patcher and Landing Page

The new patcher and landing page have come to the PBE. They’ve both been reverted for this weekend which means they’re not ready for live yet, but you can take a look at some of the early iterations either at the [email protected] notes or Riot’s dev blog about it.

Debonair Ezreal and Debonair Vi

Giving us skins in sets of two seems to be the new thing. This cycle, Ezreal and Vi have joined Jayce in the ranks of the debonair. Their splash arts work together as well. I’d watch that game.

Skin Splash Update

33 skins have had their splash arts updated! A lot of these are older skins whose splashes have just never been updated. You can find a full list of which splashes are being changed here, and the second comment down has an album of the new art. No new Trundle splashes, though, so I guess he’ll have to wait until next time.

Name Option

A new option has shown up under Interface which gives the option to show champion names instead of summoner names on HP nameplates.

Match History Update

Match history has had a bit of a cosmetic update, and now shows items bought at a glance rather than after you click on a match. If you click the match, it will take you to the new match history website.

That’s all for the 4.13 cycle. Thanks for reading everybody, and as always, thanks to Moobeat at [email protected] for patch notes, images and videos. See you next time!

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