Patch 13.21 Notes

Nexus Blitz is finally back! The last time Nexus Blitz launched was back in patch 11.11. Since then, there’s been a slew of sweeping changes to League’s gameplay, as well as some under-the-hood tech changes that needed to be made to bring the mode back. We’ve been working behind the scenes to bring this fan favorite back, so we hope you enjoy it!

Champion Balance Reset

You all get Jungle Pets!

• Stacks required for upgrade: 20 ⇒ 10 for stage 2, 40 ⇒ 20 for stage 3
• Players no longer obtain bonus treats after fully upgrading their companion

Event Spawn Changes

• Loot Teemo
• Loot Veigar
• All variants of Bardle Royale
• King of the Hill
• DPS Race
• Small Event Bugfix Prize Fight and URF Deathmatch should now properly reset ability Cooldowns at the start and end of each round.

Champions

Akshan

• During events with a ring of fire (Bardle Royale, URF Deathmatch, Prize Fight), killing scoundrels will revive teammates with 30% of their maximum health at the location of their death.

Bel’Veth

• Enemy jungle guardians drop an Enhanced Void Coral

Ivern

• Ivern is joining the Nexus Blitz fun this time around. Sadly Ivern’s Friend of the Forest Passive has been disabled.

Item Adjustments

• Lifeline Active Cooldown: 120 seconds ⇒ 60 seconds
• Spectral Cutlass Active Cooldown: 60 seconds ⇒ 45 seconds
• Innervating Locket: After using an ability, restore 3.8% of missing health and 3% of missing mana over 3 seconds.

Jungle Monster Adjustments

• Scuttler Health: 2800-9520 ⇒ 3400-11,560
• Ancient Krug Health: 1300-3055 ⇒ 1650-3878
• Krug Health: 600-1410 ⇒ 900-2115
• Mini Krugs Health: 50-118 ⇒ 80-188
• Greater Murk Wolf Health: 2000-4700 ⇒ 2400-5640
• Murk Wolves Health: 600-1410 ⇒ 800-1880
• Sir Gromp Health: 2000-4700 ⇒ 2400-5640
• Crimson Raptor Health: 1250-2937 ⇒ 1600-3760
• Raptors Health: 500-1175 ⇒ 700-1645
• Red Brambleback Health: 4000-10,800 ⇒ 4600-12,420
• Blue Sentinel Health: 3000-8100 ⇒ 3500-9450
• Jungle Guardian Health: 3775-5521 ⇒ 4500-6584
• Jungle Guardian Attack Damage: 40-95 ⇒ 40-105
• Rift Herald Health: 7500-15,000 ⇒ 8400-16,800

Aurelion Sol

Q damage decreased.

Aurelion Sol was a big winner last patch as snowballing was reduced and as a result, this late-game scaling mage found himself winning many more games. In an effort to rein him in, we'll be nerfing him by targeting his late-game scaling. Since this comes automatically as opposed to being earned by farming stacks or buying ability power, this should tie his late game power more to his early game performance.

Q - Breath of Light

• Magic Damage per Second: 15/25/35/45/55 (+30-80 (based on level)) (+60% AP) ⇒ 45/60/75/90/105 (+55% AP)
• Burst Magic Damage: 40/50/60/70/80 (+20-30 (based on level)) (+35% AP) (+ 3.1% Stardust) percent of target maximum health ⇒ 60/70/80/90/100 (+35% AP) (+ 3.1% Stardust) percent of target maximum health

Bel’Veth

E cooldown decreased.

Last patch we succeeded in taking our Void Empress down a peg, but we didn’t intend for the nerfs to completely dethrone her. With that in mind, we’re dialing back the nerfs a bit. Now that her E isn’t such a strong early game defensive tool we’re more comfortable giving it some power in the form of a reduced cooldown for more consistent access to this ability.

E - Royal Maelstrom

• Cooldown: 24/22.5/21/19.5/18 seconds ⇒ 20/19/18/17/16 seconds

Brand

Level 1 attack speed increased, attack speed growth increased, base armor increased, armor growth decreased, base health decreased, health growth increased. Passive monster damage increased. E damage decreased.

Our goal with the changes this patch is to provide Brand with viable roles other than just support. Through a mix of stat adjustments and passive tuning we're giving Brand jungle the ability to reliably clear the jungle (plus some extra armor and attack speed to help players). Make sure to take Q at level 1 to make your clear as painless as possible.

Meanwhile, Brand mid should enjoy a significant increase in attack speed, which should help with last hitting minions and whittling down turrets any time he gets lane priority. We expect these changes to power up his support play as well, so we're just delivering a love tap to one of his abilities with the goal that all three roles can be viable and fun to play.

Also, Brand jungle players: Please take Q at level 1. It has the highest base damage and the lowest cooldown. Q at level 1. You don't even have to max it. Q. At. Level. 1.

Base Stats

• Level 1 Attack Speed: 0.625 ⇒ 0.681
• Attack Speed Growth: 1.36% ⇒ 2%
• Base Armor: 22 ⇒ 27
• Armor Growth: 4.7 ⇒ 4.2
• Base Health: 590 ⇒ 570
• Health Growth: 102 ⇒ 105

Passive - Blaze

• Monster Damage Modifier: 120% ⇒ 220%
• Maximum Monster Damage per Tick: 80 (Note: this is unchanged)

E - Conflagration

• Magic Damage: 70/95/120/145/170 (+ 55% AP) ⇒ 65/90/115/140/165 (+55% AP)

Briar

Attack speed growth decreased. Passive heal if target dies while bleeding increased. W damage decreased.

After the jungle changes last patch, Briar emerged as one of the big winners. We like how she feels to play in the early game, so instead of making adjustments there we’re looking to reduce how well she scales with damage to stop her from snowballing out of control (ironic for a champion that constantly frenzies, right?). We’ve also seen some players trying out Briar in the top lane, so we’re buffing up her passive healing to give her some more reliable access to sustain when not in the jungle.

Base Stats

• Attack Speed Growth: 2.3% ⇒ 2.0%

Passive - Crimson Curse

• Heal if Bleeding Target Dies: 100% of remaining bleed ⇒ 125% of remaining bleed

W - Snack Attack

• Recast Bonus Physical Damage: 5/20/35/50/65 (+5% AD) (+10% (+4% per 100 bonus AD) of target missing health) ⇒ 5/20/35/50/65 (+5% AD) (+10% (+3.5% per 100 bonus AD) of target missing health)

Caitlyn

Headshot damage increased with critical strike chance. R cooldown increased, damage decreased, bonus damage with critical strike chance increased.

Caitlyn’s lethality builds have started to catch on which leads to some pretty frustrating and non-interactive gameplay for her opponents—not much you can do to avoid her full lethality ultimates when she’s continually casting it on cooldown and you don’t have a tank to block it. This set of changes is meant to lower the potency and frequency of her ultimate when building full lethality without significantly affecting its role when Cait is building crit.

Passive - Headshot

• Bonus Physical Damage: 60/90/120% (+ (81.25% Critical Strike Chance) * (100% Critical Strike Damage) ⇒ 60/90/120% (+ (85% Critical Strike Chance) * (100% Critical Strike Damage)

R - Ace in the Hole

• Cooldown: 90/75/60 seconds ⇒ 90 seconds at all ranks
• Physical Damage: 300/525/750 (+200% bonus Attack Damage) ⇒ 300/500/700 (+170% bonus Attack Damage)
• Bonus Damage from Critical Strike Chance: 0-35% ⇒ 0-50%

Dr. Mundo

E bonus attack damage decreased.

Dr. Mundo benefitted a bit too much from our adjustments last patch which calls for some nerfs to the good doctor. We’re mainly looking to lower his damage which is a little too strong and allows us to maintain the “going where he pleases” gameplay style that his signature tankiness and durability support.

E - Blunt Force Trauma

• Passive Bonus Attack Damage: 2/2.5/3/3.5/4% maximum health ⇒ 2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3% maximum health
• Bonus Attack Damage based on Missing Health: 0-60% ⇒ 0-40%

Hecarim

AD growth increased. W duration increased.

Hecarim lost a lot of power from the Gustwalker nerfs last patch so we need to get some more pep into his gallop. We're aware that a new Youmuu's Ghostblade build is taking off, which will increase his overall power level as players adopt it, but we want to focus on strengthening his identity as a fighter. With substantially more base attack damage introduced in this patch, he'll be significantly stronger with a variety of fighter items like Ironspike Whip and Sheen. Additionally, we’re giving him more time to play around Spirit of Dread, meaning he won't be as reliant on up-front burst damage.

Base Stats

• Attack Damage Growth: 3.2 ⇒ 3.7

W - Spirit of Dread

• Duration: 4 seconds ⇒ 5 seconds

Jinx

Passive stacks adjusted.

The Jinx buffs from last patch landed well, but the passive was a bit TOO CRAZY in situations when Jinx was allowed to run uncontested through the enemy base. Taking away her shimmer supply by capping the passive stacks and letting it only stack versus champions should help reduce her ability to end the game at the drop of a hat.

Passive - Get Excited!

• Get Excited Stacks: All takedowns, epic monster kills, and structures destroyed grant Get Excited! stacks and refresh the buff ⇒ Epic monster kills and destroying structures will grant the first stack of Get Excited! and will refresh the buff, but only champion takedowns can increase the amount of stacks Jinx can get
• newStacks Cap: Jinx can now only get 5 stacks of Get Excited!

K’Sante

All abilities except E adjusted. Several bugfixes.

We’re following up on 13.20’s K’Sante changes, which achieved many of the goals we wanted but not the one to make him more powerful, so we’re back to fix that! Not only are we fixing his power level, we’re also fixing a slew of bugs. The primary goal with this patch’s buffs is to significantly amp his power level in All Out to make sure shedding his resists is worth it. Additionally, we’re trying to increase his skill expression by allowing him to hold Path Maker for damage reduction for longer. This will allow him to embrace his most common builds and cap out his Ntofo Strikes cast speed more quickly with less bonus health.

Passive - Dauntless Instinct

• All Out Bonus Damage: 35% ⇒ 45/60/75% (levels 6/11/16)

Q - Ntofo Strikes

• Required Bonus Health for Minimum Cast Time: 1800 ⇒ 1200
• Tooltip Update: Tooltip now always shows Resists/Health needed for cooldown and cast time reductions. All Out tooltip has been simplified and updated.

W - Path Maker

• Disruptive Dashes: W - Path Maker will no longer interrupt K’Sante’s E dash when the channeling starts
• Maximum Channel Time: 1.0 seconds ⇒ 1.5 seconds (Note: this will affect both the base and All Out version of W - Path Maker.)
• Tooltip Update: All Out tooltip has been simplified and updated.

R - All Out

• Healing: Calculated based on Physical and True Damage dealt to champions ⇒ Calculated based on all damage dealt to champions
• Q + E Attack Resets: 0.1 seconds ⇒ Instantaneous

Bugfixes

• Fixed a bug where K’Sante could occasionally Flash with his 3rd Q cast.
• Fixed a bug where being Charmed or Feared could interrupt K’Sante’s W charge.
• Fixed a bug where K’Sante could left click to cancel his All Out W.
• Fixed a bug where K’Sante could sometimes double cast his W.
• Fixed a bug where R's bonus AD and reduced resists would not dynamically update during All Out.
• Fixed a bug where R's healing would not apply from damage dealt to shields.

LeBlanc

W damage increased. E tether completion damage increased.

After the 13.19 adjustments we’ve managed to accomplish our goal of getting LeBlanc off of Statikk Shiv, but her AP builds are currently struggling as a result. We’re looking to increase her scaling damage with these changes, as they directly buff her AP builds which should bring her damage output more in line with other assassins. We’re choosing Distortion and the end of Ethereal Chains because those are the spells with the richest gameplay for her and her opponents, placing LeBlanc’s power into her assassination, not her poke.

W - Distortion

• Magic Damage: 75/115/155/195/235 (+65% AP) ⇒ 75/115/155/195/235 (+75% AP)

E - Ethereal Chains

• Tether Proc Damage: 80/120/160/200/240 (+70% AP) ⇒ 80/120/160/200/240 (+80% AP)

Master Yi

E cooldown decreased.

Master Yi hasn't been having a good time this past patch due to the AD jungle changes so we'll be giving him back some power. Our goal with these changes is to increase his strength as an auto attacker above all else.

E - Wuju Style

• Cooldown: 18 seconds ⇒ 14 seconds

Morgana

W damage increased, damage to monsters increased.

The Morgana changes from last patch accomplished a lot of the goals we had, but didn’t quite increase her power as much as we wanted in the mid lane and the jungle. Adding some more base damage to her W and increasing its damage to monsters should help give these roles a small buff without affecting her as a support too much, as we feel she’s at an appropriate power level in that role.

W - Tormented Shadow

• Magic Damage per Second: 12/22/32/42/52 (+17% AP) ⇒ 12/23/34/45/56 (+17% AP)
• Damage to Monsters Modifier: 165% ⇒ 170%

Rammus

Q damage decreased. W armor decreased.

Rammus was a huge winner thanks to patch 13.20 for three primary reasons. First, his jungle DPS skyrocketed with pets getting a better armor ratio. Second, with games going later due to the anti-snowballing changes, his early weaknesses became less important. Lastly, he's also performing better than his actual power level due to players typically picking him to counter heavy AD teams, so we should expect Rammus to win more than half of his games even if he'd be theoretically weak. Regardless, he's just winning a bit too hard. This patch, we're aiming to reintroduce some weaknesses back into his early game since his early clear has gotten so much faster.

Q - Powerball

• Magic Damage: 100/125/150/175/200 (+100% AP) ⇒ 80/110/140/170/200 (+100% AP)

W - Defensive Ball Curl

• Bonus Armor: 35 (+40/50/60/70/80% total armor) ⇒ 30 (+35/45/55/65/75% total armor)

Seraphine

Early mana regeneration buffed. Durability shifted from health to armor. Base ability values increased, AP ratios decreased. Cooldowns decreased.

Despite initially creating her as a mid laner, players have overwhelmingly spoken via Champion Select that they enjoy Seraphine Support as her primary playstyle, despite it not being very strong by the numbers. With her current tuning, we can't buff her, as bot lane AP carry Seraphine is about as strong as we’re comfortable with. This patch, we're attempting to bring AP carry, support, and mid Seraphine closer together in power. Our goal is to allow all her builds to be strong and express their strengths in different ways. As always, if we overshoot our changes, we’ll walk some back next patch.

We've got a few changes here: First, we're aligning her base stats to those of other enchanters, which means having an early reliance on mana regeneration, which encourages her to pick up Spellthief's and other similar support items. By shifting her durability from health into armor, she synergizes better with her own shields and other enchanter items that Seraphine commonly buys like Echoes of Helia.

Second, we're moving her power budget away from AP ratios and into base power. As supports get less gold than other roles, more reliable base damage tends to help them out a lot. By reducing her cooldowns, she’ll also apply enchanter items like Echoes of Helia and Ardent Censer more reliably.

Third, we're re-allocating some power toward solo lane specific areas and away from grouped up power. Significantly buffing E's rank-up makes late levels grant more damage. W's heal, which not only heals each champion in the area, but ramps its heal based on the number of nearby champions, is receiving a nerf, which disproportionately affects lanes where she's grouped.

The end result we’re aiming for is a Seraphine that is a strong support and bot laner with those as her primary roles since that's where most players want to play her. That said, we also have some changes aimed at retaining some of her mid-lane power for the small but dedicated player base that wants to continue to play her there.

Base Stats

• Base Mana Regeneration: 8 ⇒ 11.5
• Mana Regeneration Growth: 1 ⇒ 0.4
• Base Mana: 440 ⇒ 360
• Mana Growth: 40 ⇒ 50
• Base Armor: 19 ⇒ 26
• Health Growth: 104 ⇒ 90
• Attack Speed Growth: 1% ⇒ 2%

Q - High Note

• Cooldown: 10/8.75/7.5/6.25/5 seconds ⇒ 9/8/7/6/5 seconds
• Damage: 55/70/85/100/115 (+45/50/55/60/65% AP) ⇒ 55/80/105/130/155 (+50% AP)

W - Surround Sound

• Mana Cost: 50/60/70/80/90 ⇒ 80/85/90/95/100
• Cooldown: 28/26/24/22/20 ⇒ 28/25/22/19/16
• Shield: 50/70/90/110/130 (+25% AP) ⇒ 50/75/100/125/150 (+25% AP)
• Missing Health Heal: 5/5.5/6/6.5/7% (+0.4% per 100 AP) ⇒ 3/3.5/4/4.5/5%

E - Beat Drop

• Mana Cost: 60/70/80/90/100 ⇒ 60/65/70/75/80
• Magic Damage: 60/80/100/120/140 (+35% AP) ⇒ 60/95/130/165/200 (+35% AP)

Tahm Kench

Passive Bonus Magic Damage decreased. W Cooldown refund increased.

The frog is clogged, thus we need to uninhibit the ribbit, unload the toad, and unbench the kench (did I miss any?). We want to avoid tuning Tahm in a way that will allow him to stat check his top lane matchups, so instead we’re opting to increase how well his passive scales once he gets some gold in his pockets. Additionally, we’re buffing up his W so that it feels more rewarding when successfully used to commit to engaging onto his opponents.

Passive - An Acquired Taste

• Bonus Magic Damage: 8-60 (based on level) (+2% AP per 100 bonus health) (+3% bonus health) ⇒ 6-48 (based on level) (+2% AP per 100 bonus health) (+5% bonus health)

W - Abyssal Dive

• Cooldown refund on champion hit: 40% ⇒ 40/42.5/45/47.5/50%

Varus

W damage increased. E slow effect increased.

Varus ended up losing out a bit from the anti-snowballing changes from 13.20 so he's getting a small compensation buff in this patch. We're aiming to keep his on-hit and lethality builds at similar power levels, so he's receiving light buffs that help both play styles. We specifically like that Varus provides some crowd control, so we're playing up that part of his kit. As an extra note, lethality Varus currently looks worse than it actually is as Duskblade is still the most often purchased first item despite Youmuu’s Ghostblade being the better option. So we’re avoiding buffing this build further as we expect it to get stronger as players update their build paths.

W - Blighted Quiver

• Magic Damage: 7/12/17/22/27 (+35% AP) ⇒ 7/13/19/25/31 (+35% AP)

E - Hail of Arrows

• Slow: 25/30/35/40/45% ⇒ 30/35/40/45/50%

Zyra

Base attack speed increased. Plant damage adjusted. Q damage increased. E damage adjusted.

Zyra has been a strong support for a very long time, but back in my day, she used to be a strong mid laner as well. While we expect Zyra to primarily be a support (which was where players have picked her ever since her release), we're attempting to buff up Zyra mid and jungle as strong alternate roles. Attack speed should help a last-hitting laner do a better job of sieging turrets when left alone in lane (primarily a mid lane phenomenon), while putting power into what mid Zyra maxes first should give her more lane control and better wave clear. Shifting some of her power from level scaling to AP ratios should also help buff her in a way that strengthens her jungle.

Base Stats

• Level 1 Attack Speed: : 0.625 ⇒ 0.681 (Note: Attack Speed Ratio is unchanged)

Passive - Garden of Thorns

• Plant Magic Damage: 20-100 (based on level) (+15% AP) ⇒ 20-88 (based on level) (+18% AP)

Q - Deadly Spines

• Magic Damage: 60/95/130/165/200 (+60% AP) ⇒ 60/100/140/180/220 (+65% AP)

E - Grasping Roots

• Magic Damage: 60/105/150/195/240 (+50% AP) ⇒ 60/95/130/165/200 (+60% AP)

Hullbreaker

Hullbreaker is performing exceptionally well on too many users at the moment, which means it’s approaching dangerous territory. In this patch we’re looking to reduce its ability to stat-check opponents by reducing the amount of Armor and MR it gives, as this makes it too hard to stop a Hullbreaker split pusher in a 1v1.

• Bonus Armor and Magic Resistance (Melee): 10-75 (based on level) ⇒ 10-60 (based on level)
• Bonus Armor and Magic Resistance (Ranged): 5-37.5 (based on level) ⇒ 5-30 (based on level)

First Strike

Despite nerfing First Strike along with our other 13.20 rune adjustments, it's still outperforming other options and needs an additional nerf. This is a relatively straightforward nerf that should both reduce the amount of damage this rune provides and the amount of gold it can generate for users.

• Bonus Damage: 8% ⇒ 7%

Phase Rush

We nerfed a bunch of keystones in 13.20 but left out Phase Rush, as our primary goal was to reduce gold scaling, not blanket nerfing all runes. Out of concern for Phase Rush becoming stronger than we'd like, we've decided to nerf it for 13.21. We'll only be nerfing this rune for melee users as we're concerned about champions like Garen taking advantage of it to reduce their weaknesses, and also because melee users gain more value out of the rune and are its most prevalent users outside of a handful of other champions which could benefit from keeping the power.

• Bonus Movement Speed (Melee): 30-60% (based on level) ⇒ 25-50% (based on level)