Legends of Runeterra Patch Notes Breakdown (Patch 3.13.0)

LoR Patch Rundown (Patch 3.16.0)

In this patch breakdown, we’ll discuss all the buffs/nerfs/adjustments from the latest balance changes.

We recommend following along with the official Riot patch notes if you’re looking for their explanations related to game design.

With just a week and a half till seasonals the meta is about to get turned fully on its head.

I’m Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and you better start up those brewing engines because we’ve got a patch that is going to demand some new strategies be brough to the forefront.

Balance Changes

Leona

Coming down on five in her own deck we can reasonably assume this lady of light will always be leveled. That means we’ve been given a five mana 4/6 with challenger, barrier, and a stun effect for your opponent’s strongest unit.

I don’t know if that will be enough to catapult Leona to dominance but it is an absolutely huge tempo swing. One that might be enough to let some powerful midrange strategies shine.

Sun Guardian

A three mana 3/4 is nothing to sneeze at. And one that will continue to grow is pretty nice. With no keyword this will never be anything but a brick wall, but if a wall is what you need Badgerbear 2.0 is here to deliver.

Solari Stellacorn

This looks like a bit of an innocuous effect at first glance. However, I want to keep in mind the power of adding health to challenger units. Four mana is a lot to ask for this effect, but stellacorn is now at least worth taking a look at in the right kind of archetype.

Morning Light

This is actually quite the scary turn five play with Leona if you have banked mana. You can still buff your board while stunning three potential blockers from your opponent. Anyone planning to combat your aggression with units is going to have some serious issues.

Sunburst

I was already occasionally willing to play these alongside vengeance. Taking it down to five mana gives this card a niche of its own and I am excited to see all the different possibilities that will be unlocked.

Nocturne

The lord of the night is finally also the lord of fear. This will unlock huge amounts of deckbuilding potential for this powerful tempo four drop. Who knows where he’ll land but it is great to see him unhooked from an otherwise quite linear and defining archetype.

The Twisted Treeline/Vilemaw

I enjoy this kind of buff. The kind that allows things to be more powerful thematically while at the same time unchaining them from specific decks.

That said this still starts actually attacking extremely late in a deck that wants to be quite aggressive. I’m on the skeptical side of this one.

Hate Spike/Kennen

I put these two together because they are effectively reverts of recent buffs.

Both of these cards were proven to be extremely powerful after the nudge they were given. Unfortunately, this may mean they regress into unplayability, but only time will tell where they land.

Concurrent Timelines

The difference between one mana and two is absolutely huge. More even than just the tempo it saps from the deck that wants to play it, this powerful effect now has significant counterplay in Nopeify. This might not kill the deck entirely, but I suspect it will take it out of tier one contention.

Targon’s Peak

Alas, peak game play has been delayed another turn. That said this card was almost always coming down early thanks to the region it tended to be paired with so it’s more like they’re setting it back to the turn it was meant to be on all along.

The god draws of this deck will still do crazy things, but the average has been touched up just a bit to take the sting off of trying to play against it. I think that this will be a welcome nerf for many. Let the meme decks stay meme decks.

Viego

Oof. Possibly one of the hardest ways to nerf a card is to up its mana cost. Going from five to six is a serious hit.

Along with multiple other rough moments for his favorite decks Runeterra’s favorite misty lad may be bound for the outskirts of the metagame once more.

Sai’Nen Thousand Tailed

This nerf will hit the defensive capabilities of this card while not particularly effecting its planned place in the decks that love it. This is a well-deserved hit but not one that I think takes the fox out of playability.

The Harrowing

Bringing this powerful slow spell back to its original mana cost makes some amount of sense when you are buffing the deck that uses it best. Fearsome aggro was a powerful force, so we’ll see if it still enjoys this card at the ten mana mark.

Rite of Calling

The difference between zero mana and one is catastrophic. There might still be decks that want to use this card, but they will be few and far between. Single champion Shurima decks are definitely going to feel the sting of this one.

Riptide Sermon

This will take what was arguably the best card in the game and tell it to slow down a minute. You still basically get a three point tri-beam for six mana so I could see it making some decks. It just won’t be the auto three of in every bilgewater deck it had become.

Decimate

Jayce players rejoice. The time for six mana eight damage directly to face has come! In all seriousness this will sadden a great many burn decks, but perhaps that means we can get some additional power for our aggro lovers in other exciting places now?

Tahm Kench

I think this officially un-benches Mr. Kench here. Sir Thomas Kenchium has decided that Runeterra moves too quickly to wait a turn and will begin devouring the instant he hits play.

This is going to lead to some crazy tadpole mirrors, let me tell you.

Fiora

Any time a card says “Win the game,” I get scared. That said the pushing of this powerful lady to four mana means that you can’t really build a deck with her as the only card anymore which I approve of.

We’ll have to see if her new powerful stat line can carry the deserved mana cost increase it brought with it.

Master Yi

While this is an absolutely huge buff I don’t know if it solved the fundamental problem that Yi had. Namely that he was quite effective on turn three and basically useless later in the game.

We’ll have to see if the ceiling being raised so high makes up for the continued depth of the floor, but I remain skeptical.

Ornn

If there is a deck that can make Ornn come down leveled up consistently then I could see some cool things happening here. That said a seven mana card with no protection and no instant effect is not something I am particularly thrilled to play in a metagame filled with Ionian bounce triggers.

Swain

Holy overwhelming game ender batman. The level one buff is cute but the level two buff is absolutely mind blowingly powerful.

If you can consistently drop this leveled on turn five or six Swain will now single handedly end games. Noxus is on the rise and its general is ready for war.

Illaoi

It’s nice to see this powerful lady get her point of health back.

That said I doubt this will be enough with all the other hits that her archetype has taken. I think unfortunately our lady of tentacles will remain sidelined.

Iula

Grant is a huge upgrade to this card. I may just be a degenerate but my first thought here isn’t “Yay pantheon buffs.” My first thought is “Huh, now I get to spellshield my Zoe un-interactably on turn three.” Good times.

The Paper Tree

Erm, I guess this is technically an upgrade. Kind of giving half a forge each time a unit that is equipped manages to attack though doesn’t quite seem like it’s good enough? Maybe this will do something cool with Bandle City Jax but I am not exactly holding my breath.

Shrieking Spinner

This will turn spiderlings into must-block threats and any fearsome spider into a terrifying damage dealer. I don’t know if the decks that want it can justify slowing down on turn four to spend all their mana on a slow threat like this, but it is now definitely worthy of consideration.

Ritual of Renewal

I’ve got to admit I’m still not really sold on this card. A four mana do nothing is better than a seven mana do nothing for sure, but it’s still not really something I’d like to main deck. Karma buff maybe?

Leviathan

Remember earlier with Viego where I said mana was one of the hardest points on a card you could hit? Yeah. Along with the swain buff this warship has me quaking in my boots and trying to figure out the best Noxus tempo deck I can find.

Magical Journey/Realm’s Caretaker

I’ve lumped these together because I don’t really think the buffs here get them into the realm of playability.

Maybe if you can guarantee your chime hits Nora? But other than that, I’m not really seeing the power here.

Grumpy Rockbear

While an extra point of health is obviously nice this is still a random stat stick without any keywords that comes down too late in the game to really be worth it. I understand what Mr. Rcokbear is grumpy about and I don’t think this buff is going to help with his mood.

Mammoth Shaman

This card’s gargantuan stats were not really the issue here.

Being six mana and not doing anything the moment you hit the board is a rough place to be. I’m going to be on the doubting side of this particular shaman.

Windsinger

Elusive is an absolutely huge keyword to put on any unit. And 3/3 is a respectable set of stats for an Elusive unit to have. Six is still quite a lot of mana, but this could potentially turn into a powerful one of in some specific decks.

Funsmith

Again, the thing that has been adjusted was not really what the card needed. It’s nice that when this card is forced into combat it can actually do anything now, but she still doesn’t want to be there. I don’t think this will take Funsmith into top tier viability any time soon.

Bonus Deck: BloodMoon

Deck Code: CEBQIAYJC5EWBWIBAMBAGAIHBEAQMAYXAMBAGCKWLQBACAZOG4AQEAYIAMBQGCITEMZQEBIJBUHACBADAI

You know what powerful champion loves playing a value/tempo game and does a bunch of damage to help with Swayne’s level up? That’s right, moon boy is here to help our new Noxian overlords realize their reign of terror. Even better Sunburst also just got a powerful tune-up.

Six damage is half of Swayne’s level up condition all on its own. And removing almost anything for the now quite reasonable price of five mana is nothing to shake a crow at.

Beyond that we’re just running a suite of powerful units and solid removal spells. Midrange find your own win condition decks have long been some of my favorites and I will definitely be trying to make this one work come patch day.

Thanks for reading! For more expert impressions, check out our other LoR guides.