As the first international League of Legends tournament quickly approaches, Riot Games is shaking up the meta a bit more than it usually does—likely making for what is to be a very interesting patch for solo queue and professional players alike.
Riot Phroxzon, the lead designer on the League balance team, provided fans a peak at what they can expect in Patch 13.8 on April 19 with a patch preview released today, with the specific in-game changes expected to be revealed tomorrow. This list contains a large number of buffs planned for champions that make their home in various places around the Rift, which will be in effect for the entirety of MSI when it begins on May 2.
The staleness of the current jungle and bot lane metas has resulted in almost the entire list being composed of junglers, ADCs, and supports. But some exceptions like Poppy, Garen, and Zoe also make the list to provide top and mid lane players with more champion options.
Nidalee, Lillia, and Kha’Zix line the jungle buff list, all of whom remain rather powerful choices but have relatively low pick rates. Kha’Zix players were particularly vocal regarding the changes that were shipped with Patch 13.7, with many believing that the adjustments to his Q, W, and ultimate were actually nerfs that would hinder his damage—despite Riot imploring that the changes would help the champion. The champion’s win rate has remained stable, however, so Riot is likely to buff what was changed or another aspect of his kit to compensate.
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Meanwhile, in a bot lane meta full of Lucian/Nami, Zeri/Lulu, and Caitlyn/Lux/Annie, Riot is hoping to open up more viable options—particularly in pro play. Patch 13.8 will be shipping buffs to Leona, Alistar, Janna, Ezreal, and Kog’Maw, all champions that face similar pick-rate issues to the jungle champions on this list.
While there aren’t any buffs to any items listed in this patch preview, Riot Phroxzon did list Cosmic Drive—an item for mages that isn’t often bought due to other options being available—as receiving “adjustments.” A recent thread regarding the item discussed that the changes being made to it are to better allow players to get the bonuses the item provides without having to burn all of their abilities.
Specific information regarding all of these champion changes is expected to be revealed tomorrow evening. MSI, which begins on May 2, will be run entirely under the changes that Patch 13.8 brings, meaning professional players will have from the time this patch ships to prepare for the first international tournament of the year.
As this patch preview lists tentative changes coming to League, it is possible that many of the buffs to these champs may be altered before they release on the live servers.
