League of Legends Patch 13.9 hit the live servers on May 3, and while it has only a couple of small changes, there are still some relevant shake-ups within the meta.
The devs have worked on a total of 11 champions, with five buffs, two nerfs, and four champion adjustments, including Neeko’s mid-scope update. The goal was to empower some of the weaker champions like Volibear and Swain and nerf the top picks like Jinx.
That said, a couple of champions have been impacted indirectly by the patch, both positively and negatively. These are the winners and losers of Patch 13.9.
Winners of League of Legends Patch 13.9
Kha’Zix
Kha’Zix remains a rising pick among junglers, especially after receiving buffs in the previous patches. Not only did the developers make his main Q ability stronger, but the jungle meta is starting to fit him like a glove. Considering the high amount of strong squishy junglers Kha’Zix is facing right now, he can counter most of them by invading and hard punishing them in their own jungle.
Not to mention Kha’Zix can quickly scale through items with the rune First Strike and gain a gold lead without necessarily killing his targets. His pick rate has skyrocketed to the top, sitting at more than 15 percent at platinum Elo and above, according to U.GG), paired with a 51 percent win rate.
Even though it takes a while to fully master the champion, Kha’zix is definitely a jungle pick that you should consider playing in this patch.
Fizz
Fizz has been popping out of nowhere among mid laners this patch, staying well above the 51 percent win rate threshold with a decent pick rate at almost six percent, according to U.GG.
This surge in numbers comes as a great surprise, considering his latest buff came months ago in Patch 13.5. It’s likely that people have caught on to Fizz’s power and that those buffs were a lot stronger than first expected.
Fizz’s main change was the mana reduction and damage increase to his E, Playful Trickster, which has always been a mainstay of his kit. Being able to cast it more often both during the laning phase and later in the game has helped his overall mobility, but on top of that, Fizz now has full mana restore on his W, Seastone Trident—allowing him to freely farm minions without worrying about losing mana.
Even though he might not be the most contested pick in the mid lane, Fizz is a great niche pick that will have increasing success throughout the patch. Given the presence of short-range champions in the meta, he will get more chances to punish them in lane.
Bel’Veth
Bel’Veth received a small adjustment to her numbers to improve her jungle clear at the expense of some attack damage growth. Overall, however, the champion got a lot stronger since it boosted one of her biggest weaknesses that gated her from becoming a top-tier jungler.
Thanks to the 13.9 changes, her win rate rose by more than one percentage point up to 52 percent, according to U.GG, with a 4.8 percent pick rate at platinum Elo and above. Despite not being as popular as other champions, the Empress of the Void cut out her own space in the meta.
Aside from a few picks like Gragas, she is great against all melee champions that want to fight in close combat. If you want to play a carry champion when playing jungle, then Bel’Veth is a great pick for you.
Trundle
Trundle has always had a balancing problem due to how simple and straightforward his kit is. It’s hard to add or strip away mechanics to level his power so the only way Riot can tweak him is through number changes.
After being out of the meta for quite a while, the developers gave him some love by buffing his base attack speed bonus, as well as some extra mana. While the latter isn’t too important, especially when played in the jungle, the additional attack speed is a nice bonus. This is because Trundle increases his overall attack speed with his own W, Frozen Domain, further boosting his skirmishing power and jungle clears.
As a result, his win rate has gone up by nearly two percent compared to the previous patch and is now nearing the 50 percent mark, according to U.GG. He won’t be a top pick, but he will now be a much more reliable counter-pick to tanks and melee champions.
Losers of League of Legends Patch 13.9
Lee Sin
The Blind Monk’s win rate plummeted to worrying levels, sitting below 47 percent at all ranks. After being a top jungle pick for the last few patches, seeing such a drastic drop is abnormal. That said, there is an important reason behind it.
Riot Games broke the champion after bug-fixing a change on Lee Sin’s W, Safeguard. While they did fix the bugged interaction, it messed up the champion’s gameplay by creating a small delay between the moment the ward is placed and the dash. This ended up hurting Lee Sin mains, who are used to having this quick combo during fights and skirmishes.
The jungler now feels a lot clunkier and, generally speaking, weird to play. Lee Sin players are hoping that Riot can fix the new bug, but in the meantime, Lee Sin shouldn’t be a champion you want to consider playing in Patch 13.9.
Sion
The top lane tank received an important nerf in the latest update, increasing the health decay whenever Sion is under passive. Given that he has potentially infinite scaling with his Mythic item Heartsteel, Sion was becoming too tanky to kill later in the game.
The change hit Sion quite heavily, dropping his win rate by one percent from the previous patch. His play rate, however, is still quite high, staying above five percent: he will have to be monitored over the next few days to see whether he will become obsolete. Regardless, Sion is one of the big losers from the patch. Avoid playing him unless it is strictly necessary.
