League of Legends Patch 13.12 hit the live servers on June 14, with various changes aimed specifically at the highest levels of play. Riot Games nerfed some of the most popular champions in professional play like Zeri and Yuumi while also looking to buff others that have struggled to find their own footing in the meta.
The devs worked on a total of 18 champions, with nine champion buffs, seven nerfs, and adjustments to Rumble and Lucian. Additionally, there have been 13 system changes between items, runes, and other aspects of the game. Once again, it’s another mid-size patch that has the potential to shake things up again. With that in mind, these are the biggest winners and losers of Patch 13.12.
Losers of League of Legends Patch 13.12
Zeri
After months of Zeri in both solo queue and professional play, this is probably the time we’ll say goodbye to her for a while.
The ADC champion gained importance again with the introduction of the mid-season changes and a new build that fully utilized all the upsides of Trinity Force.
Since her Q is an ability, she was able to consistently land Sheenblade procs on her auto attacks, greatly increasing her DPS. What was even more busted about that build was that it turned Zeri into a strong, kiting, and unkillable bruiser, zapping people as she pleased.
Now that they removed the interaction with this patch, Trinity Force Zeri is dead, to the joy of most players. Additionally, the devs removed the shielding passive since it synergized too effectively with enchanter supports.
This is likely going to hit her presence across all levels of play, and unless players find a new item path that makes up for the nerfs, she will be off the radar for a while.
Enchanter supports
Zeri is also getting indirectly tagged since all her best bot lane partners have also received nerfs. Yuumi, Milio, and Lulu have all received some minor tweaks, hoping to reduce their overall presence inside the professional meta.
Related: Best champions to pair with Milio in League of Legends
Milio and Yuumi have been regarded as the strongest supports in pro play so the nerfs will lower their importance going forward. They will be good picks inside the right team comps but they won’t be priority picks within the drafts.
Rapid Firecannon and Galeforce users
Multiple ADCs will get tagged by the Galeforce and Rapid Firecannon nerfs, further harming his position inside the meta. The first to come to mind is Lucian, who also received an adjustment on his passive that will decrease his synergy with some enchanter supports.
That said, there are other picks like Jhin, Xayah, and Draven, who actively use all these items. This means we might be seeing a major shake-up in the bot lane, considering how multiple ADCs have all been nerfed simultaneously. Champions like Miss Fortune and Ezreal will likely rise in priority but it will take some time to figure out which marksmen are going to be the new S-tier picks.
Gragas
Gragas hasn’t been performing that well in solo queue, having average win rates across multiple Elos, according to U.GG. Having said that, he has been a steady presence in professional play thanks to his flexibility among three roles and being a strong weakside champion with lots of utility.
The four seconds added to his passive will heavily impact his sustain in the solo lanes and it will definitely push him down in the upcoming months. He has a 62.8 percent presence rate across major regions this summer split so far, according to stats site Games of Legends: that number will definitely decrease in the upcoming weeks.
Winners of League of Legends Patch 13.12
Ryze
Mid lane control mages haven’t been relevant in the meta for quite a while. Ahri, Neeko, and Annie have been the three champions to lock out the top priority list, so Riot has been trying to push other mid laners. One of them is Ryze who has been weak for more than a season already.
He got a major buff on his passive by increasing his maximum mana, as well as increasing the AP ratio on his key ability, Spell Flux. The devs also slightly increased his missile speed, hoping it helps during the fights.
Related: Riot devs are still trying to get LoL mages into a better place
The devs have always had to be careful with how they tweak Ryze since he’s known to be a nightmare to balance around between professional play and solo queue. That said, this should be a balanced change that will push the champion up in both scenarios. He might not be a dominating pick for solo queue, but we might be able to see some pros (looking at you, Faker) playing it in official games.
Orianna
Speaking of mid lane mages, Orianna has been getting lots of love and attention from the developers in recent times. This is the third time she gets a buff this season, with the devs increasing both her base damage on her ultimate later in the game and the scalings. Considering it’s an AoE ability, this can amount to several hundreds of extra damage applied in every fight, if she’s able to land the Shockwave.
Riot mentioned in the official patch notes it wants to turn her into a “fragile, low-mobility carry with strong and satisfying spells.” By increasing her damage later on, Orianna should be able to have a crucial impact on the teamfights. That said, her return to the meta will depend on how teams are able to play around her weak early game, which is not an easy task.
Champions like Neeko and Ahri have more mobility and multiple ways to impact the map with roams and dives, which Orianna can’t really achieve. Her play rate and win rate will definitely increase but she will need more monitoring to assess whether she can be put under the spotlight.
Engage supports
With enchanter supports in a weaker position, engage supports are bound to make a return in priority. Champions like Thresh, Rakan, Nautilus, and Blitzcrank have already recorded high pick rates prior to the nerfs so their numbers should only go up from there. This also means that the engage support counters such as Alistar, Leona, and Rell, will be on the watch list.
Regardless of which champions will become popular, they are likely going to be decided by who has more synergy with the meta ADCs. Given their versatility and ability to synergize with different marksmen, Rakan and Thresh might be the favored picks going forward.
