After the social engineering attack that struck Riot Games in January, League of Legends is finally back on track with patch rollouts. Patch 13.3 which was supposed to release on Feb. 8, but went live on Feb. 9, brought the much-awaited Aurelion Sol rework, quality-of-life adjustments to Annie, and Ahri’s ASU. The patch was topped off with balancing changes to champions that deserve some love like Kayle and tank supports which were pushed out from the support role by Umbral Glaive and Hail of Blade abusers.
In Patch 13.3 we also have even more nerfs for the newest addition to the League roster—K’Sante. On a similar note, Amumu and Zac, who have been mercilessly slaughtering all those who oppose them, were smacked with nerfs that will hopefully send them back where they belong—to the jungle.
By now you’re most likely sitting at the edge of your seat, terribly curious to learn which champions were the lucky ones this patch and which ones were banished to shadowlands.
Winners of League Patch 13.3
The biggest winner of League Patch 13.3 by far is Aurelion Sol. The update, which has been a major talking point for the League community for months now, helped this celestial dragon reach new heights and become the champion he was originally supposed to be—a champion of immense power and knowledge. As the star of this patch, Aurelion Sol’s pick rate jumped from 0.5 percent to almost 20 percent in Patch 13.3, according to League stats site U.gg. Since the release, the dragon has been on the strong side with his numbers being slightly over the top so we might see a hotfix nerf or an all-around nerf in the next patch.
Despite being listed as a nerfed champion in League patch notes, tweaks to Annie’s kit have actually helped her win rate skyrocket to a number you won’t see often in League. In the previous patch, Annie’s win rate was hovering around 49 percent, but after the update, one of the original 40 champions is now holding a record win rate of 57.77.
After long-range marksmen pushed out traditional supports from their role and ran the show on Summoner’s Rift for a patch or two, we all started to believe there was no going back to traditional supports. Thankfully, Riot armed traditional tank supports with AP scaling, mana cost, and cooldown buffs that will help them fight for their rightful place on Summoner’s Rift.
Losers of League Patch 13.3
When you look at the patch notes, you’ll notice that Zac and Amumu are left heartbroken for Valentine’s Day since Riot did not only nerf their base damage but also their favorite item Radiant Virtue and Tenacity. The nerfs will likely send them back to the jungle where they actually belong, but the famous duo of AP and tank abusing won’t be seen any time soon as the main characters that can single-handedly win a teamfight.
Just when Kassadin players started believing it was their time to shine and they won’t be spamming FF in chat after they die once, the balancing team was there to kill their joy. The nerfs to his Force Pulse and Rift Walk when paired to nerf to Force Pulse cooldown in Patch 13.1b will mean Kassadin’s win rate will drop and he might once again struggle to keep up with meta champions.
