League of Legends Patch 13.12: Riot Have Revealed Some More Details About the Next Update

League of Legends Patch 13.12 extended preview reveals some nerfs to dominating champions alongside the Duskblade bugfixes.

We are still settling in for the 13.11 League of Legends update, but Riot Phroxzon and Riot Phlox have already teased some of the changes coming up in the next patch for the most popular MOBA in the world. Patch 13.12 will bring about some buffs to the most iconic mages, nerfs to champions that seriously deserve it – and some who don’t, and some changes to items that were a bit too good after the 13.10 and 13.11 patches. While we didn’t get exact numbers yet – except for the Lucian and Rumble changes on the PBE – there’s still a lot to cover, so let’s get right into it!

Champion Changes of League of Legends Patch 13.12

The balance team will buff 8 Champions in the next update for League. Among them are Ashe, who will receive some help in both her Support and ADC role, Kai’Sa, who needs some extra juice regarding her evolutions, some midlane mages, namely Viktor, Ryze and Orianna, Gangplank and Nasus, who have been struggling for a while in the toplane, and Sivir, who didn’t find her footing after the changes to the Marksman items.

These changes are all understandable, especially the buffs planned for Ashe. The Freljordian Archer was one of the most popular picks in proplay for months, who could be flexed in both botlane roles, but fell out of favour after some nerfs. She’s sitting at 48% WR in ADC and 45% WR in Support, meaning that it was time for some help, as she doesn’t have an extremely hard kit like Kalista for example, who had a lower winrate historically because of her hard-to-execute playstyle.

Nerfwise, Riot Phlox revealed that Riot Games are planning to finally address Gragas Top, one of the strongest picks for more than half a year now, some high-performing Supports, such as Lulu, Milio, Yuumi and Rell (whose mid-scope update and subsequent hotfixes have worked a bit too well), Zeri and Kog’Maw, who have been rampaging through the botlane after the 13.10 item changes, Kha’Zix, who had the spotlight in the Mid-Season Invitational, and K’Sante, who has a winrate around 45% in Casual and Ranked games, but is still a huge problem in professional matches.

Echoes of Helia has proved to be an incredibly strong item, which is often built alongside Ardent Censer, making the newly returning hypercarries unstoppable in the lategame. Neither the community, nor Riot Games want another Ardent meta, so they are trying to address the issues starting with the champions – thankfully. While there have been no matches played by pros on the 13.10 patch, Riot still feels that K’Sante and Gragas are too strong, and they’re aiming to change the meta in the toplane.

ok Phroxzon took a nap or smth idk so here’s all the champions

Tomorrow will hopefully be back to your normally scheduled programming! Have a good evening y’all https://t.co/zOlBIRafDF pic.twitter.com/UErsSeP6R7

— Phlox (@RiotPhlox) June 6, 2023

We have some adjustments as well: the Rumble and Lucian changes have already arrived on the PBE, making Lucian’s passive a bit weaker in terms of shots, but it’s activated after an enemy is CC’d near the Purifier, similar to Kai’Sa’s passive. Rumble will receive changes closer to a mid-scope, with his maximum Heat increased to 150 from 100, his scaling buffed, and his abilites changed so he can face enemy bruisers more easily thanks to the % Damage on his Q. He can now also build more defensive items, as his W scales off of HP. Riot wants the Junkyard Titan to return to the toplane, and as an AP Bruiser, not a burst mage who can hold his own against the toughest matchups – which is a great change.

Item Changes of League of Legends Patch 13.12

Riot Phroxzon teased some extensive item changes as well, with nerfs all around the botlane. The developers of the game are planning to nerf Ardent Censer, Bloodthirster, Galeforce, Imperial Mandate and Rapid Firecannon, which are among the most popular items in the game right now while boasting some incredible stats – BT has a 59% Winrate according to stats site LeagueOfGraphs. While not all of the nerfed items are this strong, they are definitely dominant, which makes building other items sub-optimal except on specific Champions. Riot wants to make sure that the meta is diverse not only in the picked heroes, but in the items they build as well.

The balance team will also fix the Duskblade of Draktharr interaction with the ultimate abilities of Katarina and Samira, giving the spin-to-win Champions invulnerability if they take an enemy Champ down during Deadly Flourish or Inferno Trigger. While Duskblade’s untargetability wears off after using another ability or auto-attack, Katarina’s and Samira’s ults are channelled abilities, meaning that they don’t count as “new” – this was a mistake which will be corrected.

Riot Phroxzon also teased some changes for Trinity Force, which has shot up in both popularity and winrate. It’s currently sitting at a 5.3% pickrate and a 52% winrate, which doesn’t seem that much – and it isn’t, but the item is being built by champions which should be better off with other items, such as Kindred. This issue comes from a combination of crit items being weaker, while Triforce is extremely strong. Even so, Riot Games is taking their time with the changes, but Phroxzon’s comment makes it seem like they already have a hotfix ready, they are just not sure if they need to release it.

A big patch now that things have had time to settle.

Buffs are focused at champs that have itemization earflicks (eg. Kaisa evolves), champs that have been languishing (Sivir, Ryze, Nasus, etc.)

Nerfs to Pro staples and soloq overperformers. Ivern looks strong, but no nerfs. pic.twitter.com/uFcnkAjOln

— Matt Leung-Harrison (@RiotPhroxzon) June 6, 2023

Most of these changes were necessary, as the Champions buffed have been struggling for a while, with the exception of Viktor, who has found a great place in the meta, but it seems like Riot wants to bring him back for the Summer Splits. However, there are members of the community who have concerns about the developers changing so much without any pro matches played on the current patch, saying that this could have a negative effect on the game and the meta overall. I see some merit in that, but the 13.10 and 13.11 changes were not impactful enough, so Riot is heading in the right direction.

The Rumble and Lucian changes are looking great, and they should open up different playstyles for these Champions – especially Rumble, who will look completely different after his changes ship. Don’t forget that these are only the barebones buffs and nerfs, so stay tuned to ESTNN for the complete patch notes later on!