With the 2023 League of Legends World Championship just around the corner, the meta will be a crucial factor in determining which team become the champion.
Despite 13.18 being a small patch, the developers are planning to add four important changes that will greatly impact the pro play meta going forward. Considering Worlds 2023 is rumored to be on Patch 13.19, the nerfs are almost guaranteed to push their priority down a notch.
Xayah and Rell have had a stable presence for quite a while. In particular, the ADC champion registered an impressive 63.7 percent presence (pick and ban rate) this season, according to stat site Games of Legends. The base health and health growth nerfs will make her more vulnerable early on. While she won’t be out of the meta, she will only be picked in certain situations.
Rell, on the other hand, is receiving a movement speed nerf on her E, which should nerf her engage potential. It will impact her when ganking or making plays, but Rell’s flexibility between jungle and support should still make her a relevant pick for pro play.
Aside from the two champion nerfs, there are two key item changes: one for Crown of the Shattered Queen and the other for Statikk Shiv.
The former defined the pro play meta of the past few months, with multiple champions running the item. Its wave-clearing potential was far too strong and the devs are hitting it again by lowering the chain damage to 250-350 (scaling with levels) to 200 flat. According to game designer Phroxzon on Sept. 7, the devs are hoping ADC’s first item space “has a bit better diversity” and they’re slowly getting to a balanced state. This is also why Riot Games will be buffing Stormrazor in Patch 13.18 by granting an additional five attack damage to the item. #
The Crown of the Shattered Queen, meanwhile, has been in a weird spot: It’s powerful for pro play but underwhelming for solo queue. Only in a coordinated environment like pro play can the item’s passive be utilized to the fullest.
Nonetheless, Riot is hitting it with two major nerfs, removing the AP bonus when the Safeguard passive is activated and lowering the damage reduction from 75 percent to 40 percent. While the duration will be longer and the item will be been given 15 additional ability power, it’s still an overall nerf in most scenarios. “The intention of the item was to reduce your ability to be bursted, but not completely eliminate it,” Phroxzon explained.
Overall, these changes will definitely impact the mid lane and the bot lane meta the most. Champions like Azir who have been great Crown users will be impacted and we probably won’t see all ADCs rushing Statikk Shiv first anymore.
The question that will determine the Worlds meta will be whether the pushing power from Shiv will still be too valuable for the teams, and if they are able to find new picks that can neutralize or play around those first-item spikes.
Patch 13.18 goes live on Sept. 13.
