Top Changes for LoL Season 13: A Mid Pre-Season Review

We rank our most anticipated changes to LoL Season 13

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The pre-season patch for LoL Season 13 has mainly been focused on the jungle changes. But there are loads of other changes to the game and the UI which look to further enhance the gameplay experience. Season 13 will introduce new items, big changes to ARAM, lane and jungle gold distribution changes. So while this season has fewer drastic changes than the last one, it is still sure to shake things up.

The pre-patch started November 16, 2022, and will continue through to the start of LoL Season 13, in early January 2023. We will scope out how these pre-season changes started and where they are heading and rank what our most anticipated changes are for Season 13.

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7. Chemtech Drake & Map

chemtech
Image via Riot

The revival of the dreaded Chemtech drake has been more smooth than its first introduction. The new Chemtech map is fun and enhances gameplay and doesn’t introduce too many drastic changes.

The Chemtech drake buff is fairly strong for enchanters with the bonus healing and shielding power — but drakes are decidedly conditional and it remains to be seen just how strong it is. The Chemtech soul is powerful for a lot of the current meta champs, with a reduction of damage taken and an increase in damage done by 10% when below 50% health. This is fantastic for battlemages and bruisers. Overall, a fun and exciting addition to Summoner’s Rift.

6. Meta Changes: More of the Same

The macro meta state is still largely the same, with dragons being very strong and the herald and plates acting as snowballing objectives, with the game most likely being resolved around the dragon soul. 

With the changes to gold distribution, items and champions, side lanes seem to be in a strong state. Midlane may further be moving to a more facilitating role or a ‘leave it be lane’ similar to Season 12. The state of the jungle is continuously changing and in 12.12b its jungle camp gold distribution got nerfed. So it is difficult to assess how strong it will be, as further tweaks are most likely coming together with changes to items and champions. On the whole, there does not appear to be that much change in the meta from the end of Season 12. Just slight tweaks in how strong certain roles will be at certain points of the game on average.

5. Item Changes: Bruiser Heaven

The item changes mainly affected tanks and bruisers, who now got some more interesting alternatives and build paths. Jak’Sho, The Protean is looking strong and seems like it can be built by any champion that can stay alive for a while, in which it becomes very powerful. Overall, it is a fun item which looks to be in a decent state, maybe a bit overtuned.

The other new items are more niche and even Heartsteel even if everyone built it on everything at the start of the path. It becomes better at lower levels due to longer game times and probably more fights to stack it up, but in general it seems like an item only certain champions like Cho’Gath would build. Similarly, Spirit of Sho’Jin and Radiant Virtue will likely have niche use, by certain characters, situations or team comps. All these items allow for excellent variation in playstyle and adaptation for bruisers and tanks — one can hope for similar additions to the other classes. As everything else only got Rod of Ages and perhaps Jak’Sho for battlemages and Ravenous Hydra for assassins and some ADCs.

The addition of new items and revitalizing dead items has made the game more interesting overall.

4.ARAM Changes: Less Poke and Faster Gameplay

Changing up ARAM was a welcome change as it had been pretty stale for quite a while now. Riot massively changed the scaling of poke champs, which was the bane of ARAM players in Season 12. Melee champions also gained extra magic resistance. This has resulted in poke or control mages being a lot weaker and champions like battlemages and bruisers being even stronger than they are in Summoners Rift.

The introduced teleportation gates have removed the tedious time spent moving from the fountain back to the battle. They do snowballed ARAM a bit, as games can now be decided much more quickly than before. The falling towers may also be a negative change — creating choke points that can be abused endlessly by certain characters.

Whether these changes are an overall plus or minus come LoL Season 13 remains to be seen.

3. Quality of Life or Ease of Access Features

Ping System

While many of the pings seem a bit excessive, they may over time come into more use. A big change is that pinging an enemy ward leaves a marker on the map indicating where it is and its timer. Whether you like this change may depend on your feelings about the skill ceilings of games, as it takes away some skill expression in remembering where the wards are but makes the game a lot more accessible and more solo queue friendly. In competitive play, this may be a more problematic change.

Jungle Path, Rune Recommendations 

The jungle pathing and rune page recommendations are based on what other people commonly do in the game. This is similar to how item build recommendations work. It’s very helpful for people new to item overhauls or new in general to the game. It diminishes the barrier to entry and return for players to League of Legends.

Pick Order Swapping 

An unexpected change, but a welcome one as it is well designed. It brings the solo queue experience a bit closer to professional pick/ban.

2. Ahri ASU and Aurelion Sol CGU

ahri
Image via Riot

The long announced Ahri ASU (art and sustainability update) is finally releasing. This is simply an update to Ahri’s core animation, rigging, and art to a more modern standard. A change long dreamt about by Ahri fans.

Another long-awaited change is the rework of Aurelion Sol. Released in 2016, he has never really been that involved in the game. The champion has, for most people, never felt that satisfying. 

Most of Riot’s reworks have been pretty successful in maintaining the champion’s soul and core concept but making the mechanics more viable and interesting in the current meta. A comprehensive gameplay update (CGU) is a bigger change than all the previous reworks they have done, as they will completely rework his kit. A complete rework will undoubtedly  upset some of the mains. But for many others, it is an exciting change.

1. Jungle changes: A Work in Progress

Despite continuously been hit by the overhaul hammer over the years, League continues to have problems in player retention and enjoyment in solo queue for Jungle. While the game mostly comes down to if laners win the lanes, the jungler is the one that will be blamed for losses and expected to drive the game when it isn’t snowballing. Lower reward and higher punishment – only a select masochistic few choose to endure it.

The changes introduced in the pre-season appear to try to simplify the jungling experience, especially for new players. They have also tried to distinguish resources for the jungler from the laners, with junglers getting less gold from lane minions and laners getting less from jungle creep. As this has always been a sore spot in the interaction between junglers and laners, maybe this change will reduce tensions.

The addition of companions (with obvious comparisons to Pokémon) may also be an attractive introduction for certain players. With the introduction of companions, a lot more characters can clear the jungle at a decent pace. This may bring in more players as the viable pool of champions expands.

It is not certain if it addresses the core problems players disliking playing the role in solo queue. But at least it is a good attempt to get more people to try it out.

As for how the jungle changes have played out; initially in the pre-patch, it felt a bit rough with certain companions being overtuned and the leash distance being unfun and unforgiving. But things have been moving in the right direction. The jungle companions will also become more interesting the more balanced they become. Currently, the Mosstomper (the green one) and the Gustwalker (blue) seem to be in a solid state. The Scorchclaw (red) is still trailing quite a bit.

The LoL Season 13 pre-season is aimed at fixing certain problems in League of Legends. From underused champions, items, or roles to fixing the Chemtech Drake. It has also focused heavily on making the game more friendly for new or returning players. There seems to be enough new stuff for old players to stick around. Hopefully the new accessibility will open up the game to even more people.