League of Legends season 13 is running for a few days already and everyone is hunting LPs right now, RIOT is going to NERF a few key champions like Maokai, Kassadin and others. As always, some champions are picked and exploited more often because they are particularly strong at the moment. That’s why we’re in for a wave of nerfs and adjustments with the next patch.
Currently, we often see Kassadin, Maokai, Nami and Udyr, with Maokai’s winrate in particular increasing a lot. As always, it’s worth checking out the patch preview, because the champions that are being changed are just too strong right now! So pick them or ban them if you don’t want to lose. Ten champions will be nerfed!
Ten Champions will be nerfed
LoL balance team lead designer, Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison shared the patch preview on Twitter yesterday. There are numerous champions on the operating table: Maokai, Nami, Heimerdinger, Gangplank, Kassadin, Yuumi, Lucian, Ryze, Kindred, and Udyr. Some champions you might wonder about because you don’t feel like they are too strong right now. They are affected because Riot will make Infinity Edge and Navori Quickblades more effective by increasing their crit chance so the Champions would be to imba to be viable, more on that below.
This patch, we're shaking up a lot of different systems; fighter items, ADC satisfaction adjustments, and adjustments to make Grievous Wounds more impactful as a reactionary purchase. We're making pre-emptive nerfs to champs that will become OP from Crit changes (Kindred, GP) pic.twitter.com/o7zFf69UNx
— Matt Leung-Harrison (@RiotPhroxzon) January 17, 2023
With the return of Rod of Ages, Ryze and Kassadin have also been seen more often in the Rift. In doing so, they were a bit too strong and will be nerfed in the next patch. As for support champions, Heimerdinger will suffer, but he’s also been spammed lately and making life a little too difficult for his opponents. Since Cho “BeryL” Geon-hee played him at Worlds 2022, it’s no longer an exotic pick. Right now the poke support meta is taking over, Lulu, Lux, Karma, Nami and Heimerdinger are some of the favorites. It replaces the engage meta that was played in the past.
Buff to Crit chances
With the Navori Quickblades and Infinity Edge getting buffed and increasing the crit chance the whole game could be affected. Both items give you a maximum bonus of 60% crit chance and in case of the Infinity Edge, it results in a 35% additional crit chance. For Navori Quickblades, basic attacks reduce the cooldown of the spells. With the new patch, the thresholds will be reduced to 40%, which will please all champions whose item build is based on crit chance, such as Caitlyn.
We're double nerfing Maokai as he's one of the strongest Pro junglers on the patch and while Demonic nerf will bring him down some amount, we don't think it will come down enough.
Things that didn't quite make the cut this patch:
— Matt Leung-Harrison (@RiotPhroxzon) January 17, 2023
However, Kindred and Gangplank could also be far too strong after this change, which is why they are being changed in advance. This should make life a little easier for ADCs, who won’t have an impact in the game until they have three items and should compete with Heartsteel or Jak’Sho tanks. There will also be adjustments to the Essence Reaver, Fighter Items, Chemtech Drake and Grievous Wounds. We’ll see what exactly will be changed next Wednesday, January 25, when the patch comes online.