Twitter tends to think League of Legends is in a constant state of unplayable imbalance. That is not the case, but that doesn’t mean the game can’t be improved on. Patch 13.2 will introduce a wide-ranging set of tweaks that will likely see follow-ups in the near future.
Lead League balance team designer Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison tweeted out his usual bi-weekly patch preview, highlighting the “who” as far as the areas that will be adjusted in the upcoming patch, but not necessarily the “how” just yet.
The adjustments this week are wide-ranging too: Riot is hitting Chemtech Dragon as well as Fighter items and ADC mana in a bid to give them more mid-game satisfaction.
One of the banner preseason changes was buffs across the board to fighter items. The change was designed to increase diversity and power for champions that weren’t durable enough to be tanks, but not quite glass cannon-y enough to be assassins.
The game is still feeling the effects of those many changes, and those on Riot’s balance team feel the best way to go about touching those up is via changes to items and systems as opposed to individual champions.
Related to fighter items is Demonic Embrace, which has been a problem point ever since Preseason 2023. Its melee users specifically have seen a disproportionate amount of value from the item. Perhaps the poster child for this is jungler Lillia, who was recently re-classified from a ranged champion to a melee champion. She is also in line for some buffs, likely due to this core item of hers getting nerfed.
Bruisers will also feel the effects of whatever new tenacity changes are coming, as they rely on the stat in almost every single League game.
Chemtech Dragon and Soul, while leagues better than their debut iterations last year, have still yet to find a power level aligned with the rest of the elemental drakes. Grievous Wounds, one of the most hotly-debated mechanics in the game, are also due for changes for the first time since the middle of last season when its potency was slashed in back-to-back patches from 40 to 25 percent for its base effect, and 60 to 40 percent in its enhanced one.
Additionally, AD carries are in for a long-awaited set of changes that will probably go down as buffs in the long run despite not being labeled as such by Riot devs.
Along with the above changes, Essence Reaver will be adjusted in some fashion. Most noteworthy, however, are the changes (buffs) to Infinity Edge and Navori Quickblades. Both of those items have powerful passive effects that are triggered when champions hit 60 percent Critical Strike chance. Now, that threshold is being lowered to 40 percent, meaning it will be procced after either item is built, plus any of the three standard AD carry mythic items.
A former LCS shoutcaster, Phreak is now a member of League‘s balance team, and detailed the “ADC Adjustments” in a video on YouTube. He said he was “very confident” the changes would go out in Patch 13.2, which will go live on Jan. 25.
