League of Legends continues evolving in its first Noxian-themed season, and Patch 25.S1.3 brings crucial balance updates. This patch, set for release on Sunday, February 5, fine-tunes Voracious Atakhan, addresses the unexpected rise of tank Jayce, and buffs forgotten champions like Thresh.
Lead Gameplay Designer Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison revealed the adjustments, ensuring a more stable competitive landscape while monitoring the performance of Mel, the game’s latest champion.
Voracious Atakhan Adjustments
Riot Games is making significant changes to Atakhan to refine its impact on gameplay:
- Stasis duration after defeat increased to 15 seconds.
- Guardian Angel-style revival gold reward adjusted to 200 gold per player.
These tweaks aim to maintain Atakhan’s influence without making it overwhelming.
Buffs to Domination Keystones & Assassins
Following the removal of Eyeball Collector, Riot is enhancing Domination Keystones to maintain assassin viability:
- Electrocute: Base damage increased from 50-190 to 70-240.
- Dark Harvest: Higher base damage and improved scaling per soul.
- Hail of Blades: Max attack speed raised, cooldown reduced to 10 seconds.
Champion Buffs
Several champions receive buffs to improve their effectiveness:
- Thresh: Q damage increased to 320 (+100% AP); base armor raised to 35.
- Evelynn: Enhanced damage on [E] Whiplash and its empowered version.
- Nasus: Passive lifesteal scales up to 24% at level 13.
- Samira: [E] Wild Rush attack speed duration extended from 3 to 5 seconds.
- Jax: Increased health per level and mana regeneration.
- Rakan: [W] cooldown reduced to 10 seconds at max rank.
Champion Nerfs
To balance the meta, several champions are receiving nerfs:
- Jayce (Tank Build): Reduced defensive capabilities and ability damage.
- Cassiopeia: AP ratios for [Q] and [W] lowered.
- Miss Fortune: Base armor reduced to 25, armor growth decreased.
- Viego: Base attack damage reduced to 57.
- Teemo: [E] Toxic Shot damage nerfed at lower levels.
- Skarner: [E] stun duration cut to 1.1 seconds.
- Wukong: [W] cooldown increased; [E] attack speed buff reduced.
Objective & Item Changes
- Voracious Atakhan: Stasis duration extended from 5.5 to 15 seconds.
- Chemtech Soul: Damage and damage reduction bonus increased to 13%.
- Cloud Soul: Movement speed bonus reduced to 15%.
- Bloodsong: Weakening effect duration reduced to 4 seconds.
- Void Grubs: Touch of the Void damage per stack reduced.
Swiftplay Adjustments
- Buffed Champions: Nidalee, Fiddlesticks, Ivern, Zoe.
- Nerfed Champions: Yorick’s summoned units deal less turret damage.
- Gameplay Changes: Minion buffing time adjusted; game pacing improved.
Conclusion
Patch 25.S1.3 aims to refine champion balance, shift the meta, and improve overall game pacing. With Atakhan’s impact being closely monitored, assassin players receiving buffs, and tank Jayce seeing reductions, these changes could reshape the competitive scene. Which adjustments do you think will have the biggest impact?