The first League of Legends update cycle of March is here as the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational rolls into focus. This time around, in League Patch 13.5, the balance team is looking to wrap up its jungle change spree, continue tweaking mage items, and ship some hefty rejigs for Azir, Yuumi, and LeBlanc.
Alongside that trio, top season 13 meta picks like Caitlyn and Ashe have landed on the March change list while ever-popular characters like Aatrox, Fixx, Jinx, and Samira are expected to get some help via buffs.
Meanwhile, the new-look Aurelion Sol has been whacked with nerfs.
Also in the fifth update of the season, Riot is planning to add a pile of new Broken Covenant skins to the League shop for Xayah, Miss Fortune, and more—and one champion is even getting a new Prestige skin too.
Here’s everything you need to know about League Patch 13.5.
League Patch 13.5 release date
The next update of 2023 will roll out on Wednesday, March 8, according to Riot’s patch schedule. As per usual, the patch will roll out worldwide across the day, starting in Australia at around 10am (AEDT). Here are the key patch rollout times for some of the major League servers:
- 3am PT (NA)
- 5am GMT (EU West)
- 3am CET (EU North East)
- 8am KR (Korea)
There will be several hours of downtime once the patch begins. Matchmaking and competitive queues will be disabled across all League servers three hours before the update is officially deployed and set live.
What’s coming in League Patch 13.5?
Surprise Yuumi rework hits servers
Out of absolutely nowhere, Riot confirmed last week it’d finally be listening to League fans and changing the infamous floating cat Yuumi.
It’s not a little batch of changes either—every single one of her abilities is on the chopping block and Dot Esports expects this is going to fundamentally change how she plays. We’ll have to wait and see, of course, but it’s a fairly sweeping list of buffs, nerfs, and total ability overhauls.
Just about the only thing sticking around is her attach.
The idea to rework the Mystical Cat isn’t totally new. Riot did tell players back in December 2022 it was keeping a close eye on the much-hated support pick, but this hefty package of changes certainly came out of the blue.
Read: Here are all of Yuumi’s reworked abilities in League of Legends
Last of disruptive changes hit the jungle
Another League patch, another set of changes to the roaming role. This time, though, Riot has an objective in mind that most junglers will like: it’s hoping this is the last batch.
At the start of the season, the League devs shipped several nerfs for the playmaking role to try and curb snowballing effects. In particular, the changes focused in on rewarding farming over repetitively ganking player lanes in the early game.
These may have gone a little far, though—this update is aiming to bring those back a little. The big change comes to the enemy jungle damage reduction, which many players called a “godawful rework.” Many had been begging for it to be changed since season 13 began, and so Riot is following through on that in this update.
Read: Riot changing League jungle again in what should be last ‘disruptive’ update
New ability mechanic for LeBlanc
LeBlanc is getting a helping of buffs in 13.5 via a new Q ability mechanic. This change, deployed by Riot TheTruexy during League PBE testing, sees her Q get 100 percent refunded mana and a 30 percent refund to its cooldown after kills. The same buff applies to her copied Q abilities too.
On top of that, her Q sigil will deal 10-146 bonus damage against minions. “Is it that practical? Go find out,” TheTruexy wrote.
Aurelion Sol rework too strong out the gate
League’s reworked dragon has been running amok early in season 13, and after several major glitches broke him and his win rate fired through the roof thanks to his Riot-handled buffs and changes, the Star Forger is getting whacked with nerfs.
A-Sol landed on Riot’s radar after his win and ban rates hit the ceiling last update. His health, armor, and Q ability are all being tweaked.
Read: Riot to nerf Aurelion Sol among long list of League Patch 13.5 changes
Broken Covenant skins the newest League cosmetics
Eight new skins will be arriving in the first March update. These cosmetics, all “Broken Covenant” themed, bring an interesting gothic and fantasy vibe based around Aspirants, Neverghaasts, and an ongoing war in an alt-League world. We expect an in-game League event to accompany these skins.
- Broken Covenant Cho’Gath (1,350 RP)
- Broken Covenant Miss Fortune (1,350 RP)
- Prestige Broken Covenant Miss Fortune (125 Mythic Essence)
- Broken Covenant Nocturne (1,350 RP)
- Broken Covenant Rakan (1,350 RP)
- Broken Covenant Riven (1,820 RP)
- Broken Covenant Vladimir (1,350 RP)
- Broken Covenant Xayah (1,350 RP)
These skins are set to go live during the League Patch 13.5 cycle.
Here are the full patch notes for the upcoming March 8 update.
League Patch 13.5 notes
Champions
Aatrox
- W slow increased from 25 percent to 25-35 percent, cooldown reduced from 20-14 to 20-12 seconds.
- R base attack damage increased from 20-40 percent to 20-45 percent total attack damage.
Ashe
- Q mana cost reduced from 50 to 30, buff duration increased from four to six seconds.
- W damage reduced from 20-80 to 10-70.
- R cooldown increased from 80-60 to 100-60 seconds.
Aurelion Sol
- Health per level reduced from 100 to 95.
- Armor per level reduced from 4.8 to 4.3
- Q bonus magic damage burst ability power ratio reduced from 40 percent to 35 percent.
Azir
- Base health reduced from 622 to 550.
- Armor growth increased from 4.2 to 5.
- Attack damage growth increased from 2.8 to 3.5.
- Base mana reduced from 380 to 320.
- Mana growth increased from 36 to 40.
- Attack speed ratio increased from 0.625 to 0.694.
- Attack speed growth increased from three percent to five percent.
- Passive cooldown reduced from 180 to 90 seconds.
- Passive turret duration reduced from 60 to 30 seconds.
- Passive turret damage type changed from physical to magic.
- Passive turret base attack damage increased from 150 to 230-410 (based on level).
- Passive turret attack damage AP ratio increased from 15 percent AP to 40 percent AP.
- Passive turret attack damage is no longer increased by four per minute.
- Passive no longer deals 37.5 percent bonus damage against champions.
- Passive damage now applies spell effects.
- Passive turret health increased from 1300-2550 (based on enemy champions) (always 2550 in matchmade games) to 1750-3000 (based on enemy champions) (always 3000 in matchmade games) .
- Passive turret armor changed from 60 at all levels to 30-90 (based on level).
- Passive turret magic resistance reduced from 100 at all levels to 30-90 (based on level).
- Passive turret magic resistance is now reduced by 100 if Azir is either dead or away from it.
- Q base damage reduced from 70-150 to 60-140.
- Q AP ratio increased from 30 percent AP to 35 percent AP.
- Q mana cost increased from 50 at all ranks to 65-85.
- W no longer passively grants 15-55 percent bonus attack speed, doubled for five seconds if he summons a third concurrent soldier.
- W base damage per level reduced from 50-150 (based on level) to 0-110 (based on level).
- W soldiers now have an additional base damage of 50-90.
- W AP ratio increased from 55 percent AP to 60 percent AP.
- E AP ratio decreased from 55 percent AP to 40 percent AP.
Caitlyn
- Base attack damage reduced from 62 to 60.
- Base armor reduced from 28 to 27.
Fizz
- W mana refund increased from 20-52 to 30-70.
- E magic damage increased by 10 at all levels.
- E mana cost reduced by 15 at all levels.
Gangplank
- Passive damage reduced from 55-310 to 50-250 (based on level).
- Passive base damage per tick reduced to 5-25 (based on level) from 5.5− 31 (based on level).
- E cooldown reduced from 18-14 to 18 seconds, charges are now shown below Gangplank’s health bar to all champions.
- Amount of barrels now display as a secondary resource on his health bar.
Jinx
- Attack speed per level increased from one to 1.36 percent.
- W slow increased from 30-70 percent to 40-80 percent, mana cost reduced from 50-70 to 40-60.
- R monster execution cap increased from 800 to 1,200.
Kennen
- Q damage increased from 75-255 (plus 75 percent ability power) to 75-275 (plus 85 percent ability power), cooldown reduced from 8-4 to 7-4 seconds.
- W now has a range indicator visible to Kennen when enemy is marked.
- E minion damage increased from 50 percent to 65 percent.
LeBlanc
- Q now refunds 100 percent of mana and 30 percent remaining cooldown if either part kills a target.
- Q base damage increased from 75-275 to 75-255.
- Q deals an additional 10-146 damage to minions.
- Q AP ratio increased from 75 percent AP to 85 percent AP.
- R-Q gains the same effects.
Pantheon
- Base health regeneration reduced to 6 from 7.5.
- Base attack speed increased to 0.658 from 0.644.
- Atack speed ratio increased to 0.6588 from 0.644.
- Q cooldown reduced from 13-8 seconds to 11-8 seconds.
- Q mana cost reduced from 30 to 25.
- Q cast time reduced from 0.3 seconds to 0.2 seconds.
- E cooldown increased from 22-16 seconds to 25-19 seconds.
Qiyana
- Q damage increased from 50-170 to 20-190.
- E cooldown reduced from 12-8 to 11-7 seconds.
Rammus
- Attack damage per level reduced from 3.5 to 2.75.
- Q damage reduced from 100-220 to 100-200.
Rumble
- E magic resistance reduction increased from 10 percent to 12-20 percent (danger zone increased 15 percent flat to 25-40 percent for danger zone).
Samira
- Passive move speed per stack adjusted from 1-4 percent to 2-3.5 percent (based on level 1-16).
- Passive maximum bonus move speed changed from 6-24 percent to 12-21 percent (based on level).
Tryndamere
- Health per level increased from 112 to 115.
- Attack damage per level increased from 3.7 to four.
Twitch
- Ability power ratio per stack of Deadly Venom reduced from 35 percent to 30 percent.
Xayah
- Base attack speed reduced from 0.658 to 06.44.
- Attack speed ratio reduced from 0.658 to 0.644.
- E damage decreased by five at each level.
- E cooldown increased by one second at each level.
Yorick
- E bonus ghoul damage reduced from 40 percent to 30 percent.
Yuumi
- Health growth reduced from 84 to 69.
- Base mana increased from 400 to 440.
- New passive – Feline Friendship
- Q mana cost changed to 50-75 per level.
- Q cooldown changed from 13.5-6 seconds to 7.5-6.25.
- Q missile width reduced to 55 units from 65.
- Q Now reveals the target hit for one second.
- Q base damage increased from 50-200 to 60-210.
- Q empowered base damage increased from 60-260 to 80-380.
- Q no longer deals 3-9 percent of the target’s current health if empowered.
- Q slow now decays over the duration.
- Q Slow is now increased to 55-80 percent for two seconds if empowered.
- Q missile now accelerates in its current direction after channeling for one second.
- Best Friend Bonus: Slow will always be empowered and hitting a champion will grant her Best Friend 10 (plus five percent AP) bonus magic damage on-hit for percent seconds, increased by 0-75 percent (based on critical strike chance).
- W no longer grants herself or her ally adaptive force.
- W no longer counts as a buff for Summon Aery.
- Best Friend Bonus: She gains 10-20 percent (based on ally’s level) heal and shield power and her Best Friend gains 3-11 (plus four percent AP) on-hit healing, affected by her heal and shield power.
- E no longer heals for 70-150 (plus 30 percent AP).
- E now shields for 90-210 (plus 30 percent AP) for three seconds.
- Bonus attack speed changed to 35 percent at all ranks from 25-45 percent.
- E bonus attack speed now scales with eight percent AP.
- E bonus movement speed now lasts as long as the shield persists, instead of three seconds.
- E now restores 20-36 mana to her Anchor, increased by 0-100 percent (based on missing mana).
- R number of waves reduced from seven to five. Duration unchanged.
- Wave interval time increased from 0.5 to 0.7.
- Yuumi can now steer the direction of the waves with her mouse if initially cast while attached.
- R cooldown increased from 110-90 to 120-100 seconds.
- R base damage per wave increased from 60-100 to 75-125.
- R now heals her Anchor and allies hit for 35- 65 (plus 15 percent AP) per wave. Excess healing is converted into a shield that persists until three seconds after the ability ends.
- R no longer roots champions hit by three waves for 1.25 seconds.
- R now slows enemies hit by 10 percent for 1.25, increased by 10 percent per subsequent wave.
- Best Friend Bonus: Her Best Friend gains 30 percent increased healing from waves and 20-60 (plus 10 percent AP) bonus armor and bonus magic resistance for the duration of the ability.
Zed
- Base magic resistance reduced from 32 to 29.
- E cooldown reduced from 5-4 to 5-3 seconds.
Items
Archangel’s Staff
- Ability power reduced from 80 to 70.
Cosmic Drive
- Build path changed from Fiendish Codex, Aether Wisp, and Ruby Crystal to Fiendish Codex, Aether Wisp, and Amplifying Tome.
- Combine cost reduced from 850 to 815.
- Ability power increased from 65 to 90.
- Health reduced from 200 to 0.
Plated Steelcaps
- Steelcaps now reduces damage for all auto attack types.
Seraph’s Embrace
- Ability power reduced from 80 to 70.
- Health reduced from 250 to 200.
Runes
Triumph
- Missing HP heal reduced from 10 percent to five.
- Max HP heal increased to 2.5 percent (1.5 percent in ARAM).
Grasp of the Undying
- Permanent base health increased from five (melee) or three (ranged) to seven (melee) or four (ranged).
- Max HP heal reduced from 1.7 percent (melee) or 1.02 percent (ranged) to 1.2 percent (melee) or 0.72 percent (ranged).
- Flat heal added: three (melee) or 1.8 (ranged).
Systems
Sweeping Lens
- Cooldown increased from 90-60 to 120-60 seconds (based on average level).
Jungle Pets
- 20 percent bonus damage against non-epic monsters now applies to all non-epic monsters, not just those on your side of the jungle.
- Minion experience for first 15 minutes reduced from 75 percent to 40-75 percent (linear scaling with time from 0:00)
- Jungle pet bonus damage against monsters now applies to monsters in the enemy jungle.
- Camp gold buffs:
- Gromp increased from 70 gold to 80.
- Blue Sentinel increased from 80 gold to 90.
- Greater Murk Wolf increased from 50 gold to 55.
- Lesser Murk Wolf increased from 13 gold to 15.
- Crimson Raptor increased from 30 gold to 35.
- Lesser Raptor increased from seven gold to eight.
- Red Brambleback increased from 80 gold to 90.
- Medium Krug increased from five gold to 10.
- Small Krug increased from 13 gold to 14.
ARAM
- Tower rubble has been removed from the game mode.
Outer Tower
- Attack damage increased from 185-223 (over eight minutes) to 185-293 (over 12 minutes).
- Armor increased from 70-78 to 75-96 (over eight minutes).
- Magic resistance increased from 75-83 to 75-96 (over eight minutes).
- At 12 minutes, the Outer Tower’s resistances will fall to 40 armor and magic resistance.
Inhibitor Tower
- Attack damage increased from 195-243 (over eight minutes) to 195-375 (over 15 minutes).
- Armor increased from 70-78 to 75-96 (over eight minutes).
- Magic resistance increased from 75-83 to 75-96 (over eight minutes).
- (NEW) Fortification: When the Outer Tower falls, this Tower receives 30 percent damage reduction for 60 seconds.
Nexus Tower
- Attack damage increased from 175-223 (over eight minutes) to 195-375 (over 15 minutes).
- Armor increased from 70-78 to 75-96 (over eight minutes).
- Magic resistance increased from 75-83 to 75-96 (over eight minutes).
Skins
Broken Covenant Cho’Gath
Broken Covenant Miss Fortune
Prestige Broken Covenant Miss Fortune
Broken Covenant Nocturne
Broken Covenant Rakan
Broken Covenant Riven
Broken Covenant Vladimir
Broken Covenant Xayah
Update March 2 8:06pm CT: More League skins added to 13.5 preview.
Update March 1 12:26am CT: Added several leaked changes from the League PBE.
Update March 1 12:04am CT: Added planned item/rune updates.
Update Feb. 28 12:50am CT: Added Riot Phroxzon’s first patch preview.