League of Legends Patch 12.13 released

Riot Games has released Patch 12.13 for League of Legends.

The absolutely massive patch, which went live on July 13, includes a new champion, a new event, a champion rework and plenty more for players to sink their teeth into.

Nilah, The Joy Unbound

Joyfully making her way into the bot lane is a brand new ADC champion. Nilah is a melee-based ADC. Utilizing her water whip, she is built to be a buff-dealing ADC which is perfect for the post-durability patch game state.

She also has plenty of dashes and distance-closing abilities, which will help her contend with many of the ranged ADCs currently popular in the meta.

Star Guardians 2022

The Star Guardian event also returns to the game with the release of Patch 12.13. The event itself begins on July 14, but fans can already check out the dedicated event website Riot Games has set up. Players can also get their hands on the first set of new Star Guardians skins. Ekko, Kai’Sa, Sona, Nilah, and Fiddlesticks have all received a skin, with Ekko also getting a Prestige Edition. More Star Guardian skins will be released on July 28.

Sivir rework

Nilah is not the only new thing in the bot lane. ADC champion Sivir has received a major rework.

Base stats: Sivir now has less health and base damage, while also regaining mana more slowly. However, her base mana has increased, as has the growth of her base attack damage and attack speed.

Passive: Sivir’s passive, which affects her movement speed after attacking enemies, sees the base speed increase, albeit for a slightly shorter duration.

Q ability: Sivir’s boomerang does less base damage and now has a scaling cooldown. However, it also costs less to cast, scales with critical strike chance, and the boomerang itself moves faster.

W ability: Basic attacks can be with a ricochet that hits multiple targets. This has been hit with a major damage reduction, but again with a reduced mana cost. The attack moves faster and has a longer range, but now has a hard cap on the number of ricochets, and does reduced damage to minions. Sivir now also gains a scaling bonus to attack speed after casting this ability.

E ability: Sivir’s shielding ability now has a long cooldown, but heals Sivir and triggers her passive ability.

R ability: The changes to Sivir’s ultimate remove its viability as a teamfight tool, and it now operates to get, and keep, Sivir in a fight. It has a reduced cooldown and scaling duration.

Buffs

11 champions have received buffs in Patch 12.13: Elise, Evelynn, Fiddlesticks, Galio, Karthus, Kled, Master Yi, Olaf, Renekton, Taliyah, and Vex.

These changes will be designed to continue adjusting champion viability following the 12.10 durability patch, and hopefully will lead to the champions getting a little more play time in competitive play.

Nerfs

Corki and Volibear are the only champions exclusively receiving nerfs this patch.

The primary change for Corki is a reduction of the damage of his ultimate ability. Meanwhile, Volibear receives sweeping nerfs across a majority of his abilities as the lightning bear continues to dominate play rates at most ranks of the game.

Adjustments

While not an official rework like Sivir, Gwen has also undergone a significant amount of work in this patch.

The top laner has been incredibly viable for most of the year and the changes come to potentially balance her out a little, according to the official patch notes.

Gwen has been one of the premiere top laners since MSI, and the Durability Update only increased her strengths. Even after her nerfs in 12.11, she’s still a cut above the competition, especially when it comes to Pro Play. We’re snipping some power out of her Pro-skewed abilities like her E and W to patchwork it into some more accessible parts of her kit. These should net out in a nerf to Pro Gwen and a buff to her in Average and Skilled levels of play.

Patch 12.13 and beyond

Patch 12.13 will be bolstered by the continuation of the Star Guardian event for the next few weeks before Patch 12.14 is expected to drop on July 27. The full Patch Notes for 12.13 can be found on Riot’s website.

Header: Riot Games