League of Legends Patch 13.9 patch notes | All buffs, nerfs, and changes coming in LoL Patch 13.9

With the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational update in the rearview mirror, Riot Games is now turning its focus to League of Legends ranked play balance and the champions and items that have seen spiking win rates in season 13’s early months.

League Patch 13.9 release date

The next update of 2023 will roll out on Wednesday, May 3, 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 13.9?

Rift trickery inbound with Neeko rework

Neeko is set to become one of the trickiest champions in League with her mid-scope update, with her passive now allowing her to become characters, plants, minions, and more.

The Curious Chameleon was released in 2018 and has struggled to find a strong spot in the metagame ever since. Though these solid changes to her Q, W, E, and ultimate, as well as the new tricky upgrades in her passive, should turn her into a fighting force on the Rift toward the backend of the 2023 League season.

Patch 13.9 sets stage for “significant” 13.10 changes

The changes set to roll out in Patch 13.9 are pretty small compared to previous updates since the League dev team is preparing for Patch 13.10. The devs said 13.10 will be the most significant patch since the start of the season.

The focus for this patch has mainly been to make certain champions, like Neeko, feel relevant, useful, and viable in the meta. With these changes, Neeko, among other champions, may find a spot in the meta.

The Riot devs are also working on several Kayle changes that they loaded onto the League PBE early, including Divine Ascent (passive) and Starfire Spellblade (E) tweaks and a variety of changes for her Divine Judgment ultimate.

Sivir update ends ancient League joke

After more than a decade on the roster with one of her earliest League splash arts, Sivir is finally getting an update. What’s notable about this change, and why many players are talking about it, is that Sivir’s vintage loading screen image had what appeared to be a bent-in-half spine—a posture problem this 2023 change avoids.

The splash art for Sivir, a champion that is known for battling foes with her giant boomerang blade. — Image via Riot Games

League gets eight new Inkshadow skins

This time around, seven champions are getting Inkshadow skins, including Master Yi (who gets a premium cosmetic), Volibear, Aurelion Sol, Yone, Yasuo, and more. On top of these seven variants, Yasuo will get a Prestige version. It will be available in the 2023 MSI Event Pass for 2,000 MSI tokens.

Here are all the new skins coming in this patch:

Inkshadow Aurelion Sol (1,350 RP)
Inkshadow Kai’Sa (1,350 RP)
Inkshadow Master Yi (1,820 RP)
Inkshadow Udyr (1,350 RP)
Inkshadow Volibear (1,350 RP)
Inkshadow Yasuo (1,350 RP)
Prestige Inkshadow Yasuo (2,000 MSI Tokens)
Inkshadow Yone (1,350 RP)

These murky new skins are set to go live during the League Patch 13.9 cycle.

Here are the official patch notes for the May 3 update.

League Patch 13.9 notes

Champions

Aatrox

Passive damage health ratio increased from 4-10 percent (based on level) to 4-12 percent (based on level).
Ultimate bonus movement speed increased from 50-80 to 60-100.

Volibear

W damage health ratio increased from five to six percent, heal health ratio increased from 7-13 percent to 8-16 percent.

Amumu

W base damage changed from 12-28 to 20 flat, percentage health damage increased from 1-1.6 percent to 1-2 percent.

Swain

Q base damage increased from 60-140 (plus 38 percent ability power) to 65-145 (plus 40 percent ability power), bonus damage per bolt increased from 12-52 (plus eight percent ability power) to 15-55 (plus 10 percent ability power), and maximum magic damage increased from 108-348 to 125-365.

Trundle

Base attack speed increased from 0.6 to 0.67.
Base mana increased from 281 to 340.

Sion

Passive health loss increased from 2-19 (one plus one per level) to 2.3-24.4 (one plus 1.3 per level).

Jinx

Attack damage growth reduced from 3.4 to 3.15.

Bel’Veth

Q modified monster damage increased from 120 to 140 percent.
Attack damage growth reduced from 1.7 to 1.5.

Taliyah

R cooldown lockout changed from on taking or dealing damage to just on taking damage.

Neeko

Passive has new ability:
- While within 300 units of a non-epic monster, minion, trap, ward, pet, or plant, Neeko stores their Sho’Ma over two seconds. Only one of these units can be stored at a time and she can clear out the Sho’Ma of the current unit to change the disguise to a different one. Afterward, Neeko can transform into that new chosen unit or an allied champion through an interface.
Passive abilities removed:
- Disguise no longer breaks upon taking damage.
- Disguise no longer modifies her attack speed or movement speed if the unit’s values are higher than hers.
Passive cooldown reduced from 25-10 (based on level) to six seconds.
Q bloom base damage reduced from 40-140 to 35-135, ability power ratio increased from 20 to 25 percent ability power.
Q has new effect:
- Now deals 30-70 bonus damage against monsters per bloom.
W has new effects:
- Can now recast the ability in order to send her clone to the target location.
- Clone now plays her Q, E, dance, joke, taunt, recall, and laugh animations and sounds.
- On-hit now deals 50 bonus damage against monsters.
E base damage reduced from 80-220 to 70-210, ability power ratio reduced from 60 to 65 percent ability power.
R has new effect:
- Now knocks up enemies for 0.6 seconds after channeling.
R effect removed:
- No longer shields her for 75-125 (plus 75 percent ability power), increased from 40-80 (plus 40 percent ability power) per champion for two seconds.
R cooldown increased from 90 seconds at all ranks to 120-90 seconds, base damage reduced from 200-650 to 150-550, damage ability power ratio reduced from 130 percent ability power to 100 percent ability power.

Kayle

Passive Aflame base damage increased from 15-35 (based on Starfire Spellblade’s Rank) to 20-41 (based on level).
E passive ability power ratio reduced from 25 to 20 percent ability power.
R cast time reduced from 1.5 to 0.5 seconds, area of effect delay increased from 1.5 to 2.5 seconds, duration changed from 2.5 seconds at all ranks to 2-3 seconds, effect radius increased from 500 at all ranks to 675-775, base damage reduced from 200-500 to 200-400, ability power ratio reduced from 80 to 70 percent ability power.
R ability removed: No longer reduces attack range to 400 on self-casts.

Items

Lich Bane

Ability power increased from 75 to 85.

Runes

No changes in Patch 13.9.

Expanded emote wheel

“It’s finally happened… Emotes have been updated! They will now feature a new 9 slot wheel for all your favorites. Now you have space for EVEN. MORE. BEES. Reactions like first blood and ace have moved to a new page you can access through the navigation above the wheel. Search has also come to the emote collection, so finding new and old favorites by name is a breeze.”

ARAM adjustments

Buffs
- Corki: 95 percent damage taken to 90 percent damage taken
- Ezreal: 95 percent damage dealt to 100 percent damage dealt
- Karma: 100 percent damage dealt to 105 percent damage dealt
- Tristana: 100 percent damage dealt to 105 percent damage dealt
- Zilean: 95 percent damage taken to 90 percent damage taken
Nerfs
- Akali: 110 percent damage dealt to 105 percent damage dealt
- Ornn: 105 percent damage taken to 110 percent damage taken
- Qiyana: 115 percent damage dealt to 110 percent damage dealt
- Veigar: 105 percent damage taken to 110 percent damage taken, 95 percent damage dealt to 90 percent damage dealt

Behavioral systems

“We’re adding the ability to report players in the game in order to provide you with more opportunities to help us identify and take action on folks displaying toxic or disruptive behavior. These reports will also give us more information about exactly when during the course of the game the disruption occurred, which will help improve our systems going forward. We hope you never need to use this but it’s there if you do.”
In-game reporting/player reports: “You can now create and update reports during the course of the match. You can also update your report in the post-game screen if you have a change of heart or notice something new.”
Mute updates: “We’ve consolidated your mute options into a new panel that can be accessed through the scoreboard just below the report button.”
Mute all and self mute: “We’ve added mute-all and self-mute controls, now located next to your own champion portrait and summoner spells.”

Bug fixes and quality-of-life changes

Fixed a bug where Neeko’s jungle companion would not become hidden when she transformed into an allied champion.
Fixed a bug where Rift Herald’s fighting sound effects could be heard through the Fog of War.
Fixed a bug causing several of Kayle’s sound effects and animations to not play.
Fixed a bug that caused some of Kai’Sa’s voice lines to not play correctly.
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Aether Wisp to no longer give 5% move speed upon death.
Fixed a bug that allowed Samira’s passive to knock up Epic monsters.

Fixed a bug that caused Zac’s E to distort the character model of an enemy Zac on the opponent’s team is used nearby.
Fixed a bug where Neeko’s W would not copy certain debuff effects.
Fixed a bug where Malzahar’s E would sometimes not spread even if it had killed a minion.
Fixed a rare bug where jungle monsters would sometimes regain a small amount of patience.
Fixed a bug where small jungle monsters would instantly reset if their parent monster had died.
Fixed a bug where Vladmir’s Q would sometimes be able to damage targets through untargetability.
Fixed a bug where swapping from Yellow to Red trinket would allow you to stack up to 3 Yellow trinkets.
Fixed a bug where the stealth sound effects would not play when becoming invisible or stealthed.
Fixed a bug where Lee Sin’s W would sometimes not be able to be cast on himself while quick cast was turned on.
Fixed a bug where Rift Herald would cancel its reset if it was preparing a charge attack.
Fixed a bug where jungle monsters would become stuck if they were affected by crowd control after losing their patience.
Fixed a bug that caused Warwick’s Q to heal more than intended when paired with a Recurve Bow.

Fixed a bug where Blitzcrank’s E would apply Glacial Augment for longer than intended.
Fixed a bug that allowed Samira’s R animation to be canceled unintentionally.
Fixed a bug where Jarvan IV’s ability activation voice line would play during the recast which is a bit too dramatic for lowering his walls.
Fixed a bug that was causing the on-screen keyboard to function incorrectly by not including all inputs into game chat.
Fixed a bug where Chosen Master Yi’s lightsaber would disappear after casting Wuju Style (E) and dying/respawning prior to the ability’s cooldown ending.
Fixed a bug where Chosen Master Yi’s sword VFX would disappear during Highlander (R).
Fixed a bug where Arcade and Bullet Angel Kai’Sa’s Killer Instinct (R) indicator was rendering under impassable terrain.
Fixed a bug where a Bullet Angel Kai’Sa booster element was clipping through her booster when slowed.
Fixed a bug where the on-hand VFX of Mecha and Storm Dragon Aurelion Sol did not disappear when casting Falling Skies / The Skies Descend (R).
Fixed a bug present on all Volibear skins where certain Recall (B) VFX were persisting when the animation was interrupted.