Ding ding ding! Patch 13.15 enters the ring!
We hope you’ve all been enjoying our Soul Fighter summer event so far! At this point we’re expecting that some of you have already finished scouting out and beating the existing competition, so we figured we’d just make even MORE competition for you. Make sure to keep an eye out for the second half of the Soul Fighter roster coming out this patch–they’ll also be making their own cameo appearances in Arena so stay sharp out there Gladiators!
We’ve already had two micropatches for Arena, but we’re not done yet! In order to keep the game experience fun and fresh we have another round of balance adjustments coming to you this patch. We hope you’re all enjoying Arena and we’re looking forward to seeing you in the ring!
Now let’s get back to the balance changes for Summoner’s Rift. In this patch we’re knocking down Sejuani and Maokai who have been thriving in Pro play, giving Rell some nice QoL updates, and walking back some previous buffs that ended up being just a bit too strong. We also have some updates to how Smite interacts with pets, which required re-tuning their durability as well, so make sure to check those changes out down below!
Low rolling your Arena augments? Well we have a whole different game for you to low roll in! It’s called Teamfight Tactics and you can learn more about what’s going on there in the TFT patch notes here!
The MMR duo restriction for Apex ranks has been re-enabled as of patch 13.15.
Q damage decreased.
The Aatrox buffs from last patch went a bit aa-wry, so we’re back to tone it down a little. This nerf is meant to dial back some of the big damage numbers he got last patch without changing the much-needed wave clear buff he received.
Passive critical strike chance scaling increased. R critical strike chance additional damage increased.
Caitlyn hasn’t been hitting the mark in terms of her current power levels, so we’re here to put some more gunpowder (Hextech?) in her rifle to give her shots some more kick. We’re primarily focusing on making Caitlyn scale better with her crit-based builds this patch, particularly in her passive and ultimate crit chance scaling. While she won’t be able to gain lane advantages with these changes, she’ll be better able to keep up with her competition when it comes to scaling with items.
AD growth increased. R on-hit damage increased.
Camille hasn’t been the sharpest legs in the shed recently, and since she hasn’t been seen much in Pro play either, we’re looking to get some more power back into her kit. We'll be increasing her AD growth and the amount of damage she deals during her ultimate to give her more of an opportunity to secure kills both in side lanes and in teamfights.
Base health regeneration increased. W bonus armor and MR increased.
Gwen needs some help at the moment, and we’re here to throw her a metaphorical lifeline (of yarn).. Her damage is already in a good spot so we want to focus on helping her early game, particularly into her more difficult matchups, by increasing her durability. These changes should help Gwen trade better into tough opponents, especially when she’s using her Hallowed Mist well.
Magic resistance decreased. W ally on-hit damage increased. E shield strength adjusted. R Daisy! duration decreased, armor and MR decreased, health decreased, attack damage decreased.
Ivern has a unique place in League of Legends as an enchanter jungler and as such, we believe enchanter should be his primary build. His high-AP builds should be viable, but are currently significantly better than his supportive ones. Nerfs to his E AP ratio and buffs to its base shielding, nerfs to Daisy's AP ratio for bonus AD (we do not think Daisy should be able to duke it out with other champs 1v1), and buffs to his teammate-amping W should shift his builds and playstyle toward supportive options and away from Night Harvester.
In addition, Ivern is simply overpowered. Along with the above changes, his Magic Resist is being re-tuned to that of a ranged champion and Daisy's duration is shortened to match Tibbers. 45 seconds is still enough time to be worth micromanaging her out of harm's way but will typically keep her from having 100% uptime.
Finally, Daisy’s overall durability is being shifted for two reasons: First, Smite will no longer deal high damage to pets, which necessitates nerfing her durability somewhat. Second, her durability is being shifted from rank-based to champion-level-based. This is because the game state at level 6 is very different from the game state at level 10, yet pets rarely have meaningful differences in durability between those two points in time.
Base health decreased. Q damage decreased. W cooldown increased.
Kai'Sa has skyrocketed in popularity and currently has a wealth of viable build options. Her AD builds like Kraken plus Quickblades are a little too strong and her high-AP ones are quite a bit over the line, which have made her a very powerful bot laner. We're delivering a small nerf to some of her AP outputs, plus a more generic nerf with the hope that she continues to have multiple viable builds and remains fun to play.
Q damage to monsters decreased.
Maokai has been overgrowing his welcome in Pro this season but is standing in a good place in solo queue. This tree is already at a good level when it comes to cc’ing his enemies during ganks and teamfights, so we’re looking to slow down his jungle clear speed a bit this patch instead.
Passive bonus movement speed increased. Q base damage increased.
Since our last set of changes, Nami has become a strong, independent fish that doesn’t need a Lucian anymore. Now that she isn’t soul bound to Lucian we feel more comfortable adding some power back into her kit, namely by increasing the movement speed she can offer to allies and giving slightly more damage on her Q. We wanted to be very careful with W and E, which are her primary support tools, so instead we went with a reliable way to help others with movement speed. We’re also adding a little more satisfaction on hitting her more difficult spell, which gives her some more power early where we believe she should still be a dominant support in lane.
Multiple QoL adjustments made to Rell.
Rell's Midscope has been charging down bot and jungle for some time now. Some bugs, consistency issues, and quality of life opportunities have cropped up, which is what we're addressing this patch.
Her Q + Flash used to work similarly to other skillshots like Ahri E, where after the flash it would go to the location you originally targeted, adjusting the angle as needed. This has its pros and cons, but leads to a number of instances where Rell ends up Qing backward or at an entirely different angle than expected, especially after flashing a wall, which could throw players off. Additionally, her W2 attack was feeling sluggish and a bit unresponsive, so we're smoothing that out a bit. Finally, there was some inconsistency in how her Passive was applied between her spells and auto attacks, which we're resolving now.
W base damage decreased.
Sejuani, like Maokai, has been a top tier Pro jungler this season and it's about time for her to give the spotlight to another jungler. We'll be nerfing her W base damage, which is especially valuable in Pro play due to the effect it has on her clear speed and early skirmishing.
AD growth decreased, health growth decreased.
Shyvana’s last round of changes were a bit too fire, so we’re back to dampen her flames ever so slightly. Shyvana has historically always done better at lower MMRs, but her recent changes increased the skill skew even moreso. With this batch of changes we’re looking to even out this skill skew a bit by reducing some base stats which will make her a bit weaker in the late game where she can afford to lose some power, but not affect her already weak clear speed.
Q damage increased. E cooldown decreased early, damage to monsters increased.
Taliyah hasn’t been rocking anyone’s world recently, which is a shame because that’s literally her identity. We currently feel as though Taliyah has room for a small buff to both her mid and jungle roles, especially when it comes to early game damage and frequency, both of which these changes should help bolster.
Passive shield scaling adjusted.
Yasuo hasn't fully recovered from the Midseason update that removed Immortal Shieldbow as a viable early option. We're continuing the trend of giving him enough durability to survive early and mid-game fights without having to rely on Blade of the Ruined King or Death's Dance, which go against his core fantasy of wielding crit. The change in this patch ends up being a 30-50% larger shield in the mid game, even if level 1 and 18 are unchanged.
W shield strength increased.
Yone is currently not performing so well in solo queue. Similar to Yasuo, he lost Immortal Shieldbow as an early purchase, which gave him much-needed survivability. We'll be increasing his W shield to help him trade better in lane and to also improve his general durability throughout the game.
Currently, Smite has two damage values: one for champions and one for everything else. Unfortunately for pet champions—like Annie and Ivern—that "everything else" includes pets who are supposed to live long enough to be useful. Smite all but removing a champion's ultimate is pretty unfair. Additionally, "uniquely amazing at dealing with summoners" is not a strength we think junglers need. We're electing to make Smite's interaction with pets the same as it is against the champions who summon them: low damage and, when upgraded, a slow.
For ultimate pets themselves, there are a few goals: First, by nerfing Smite against them, they need to become a bit less durable overall as compensation. These changes amount to roughly 5-10% less durability averaged across the game. The second goal is to make ultimate pet health more consistent. At level 6, these pets are too durable for a 1v1 fight but also don't ramp up for a mid-game team fight at level 9 or 10. By shifting their durability into champion level instead of ultimate rank scaling, these rough edges can be sanded off. Finally, we're removing some AP scaling from pet durability. While that scaling helps round out pet durability, it's important that ultimate pets have a reliable baseline of durability and function. On the other hand, it makes sense for their offensive capabilities to scale with gold income and ability rank.
Tibbers durability decreased.
R Apex Turret durability decreased.
R Maiden’s durability adjusted. Maiden now has armor, magic resistance, and health regeneration added.
One of Night Harvester's best users is the item Statikk Shiv, which is below the bar for counter-play of the effect. We're taking the time to make its application more consistent with other items, requiring casting an ability or at least inflicting auto attack damage.
Glacial Augment is pretty overpowered right now and can end up feeling bad when dominant on Tank supports, which unfortunately doesn't allow them to feel the effects of Guardian/Aftershock. In this patch we’re nerfing the base value of it and increasing the stats benefits that Tank supports generally don't have. This should help non-tanks at the 2+ item breakpoint with a more effective slow while pure tanks won’t be able to use the base slow as effectively.
Welcome to the Arena balance adjustments! The hotfixes that came through in 13.14 were mainly about breaking up a meta that was forming and tapping down marksman hyper carries that were overperforming. The 13.15 changes are more about buffing up a bunch of underperforming champions and continuing to reign in the top tier competitors by champ rather than taking swings at classes. Going forward we'll be keeping an eye on tanks and assassins who have been struggling in a lot of cases, but we'll need to see how the 13.15 changes shake out first. We hope you’ve been enjoying your time in the Arena!
Before we jump into the balance adjustments, we wanted to give you a heads-up that we’re going to have some new Soul Fighters joining us this patch. Look out for the following competitors coming to an Arena near you!
The following skins will be released in this patch:
The following chromas will be released this patch: