Annie’s win rate skyrockets after LoL patch 13.3 “nerfs”

Annie’s changes were listed as “nerfs” in the LoL patch 13.3 overview, yet she’s now the highest win rate champion in both mid and support.

Update: Annie has been hotfix nerfed since this story was written, but it’s yet unclear whether or not these nerfs will drastically affect her win rate. You can find the changes here.

Patch 13.3 has certainly been an eventful update to League of Legends. Players are still settling in with the 13.1b crit and ADC changes, and here we have yet another massive patch.

Along with some nerfs to strong champions like K’Sante, Kassadin, and Zac, many melee support champions were buffed along with Kayle, Jarvan IV, LeBlanc, Trundle, and Kayn. It’s a massive patch, one that’s worth reading through before you hit the Rift.

However, one standout in the “nerfs” category on the patch preview has turned into LoL’s strongest champion on the patch: Annie.

Annie has the highest win rate in LoL after patch 13.3

Annie has long existed as a fairly basic and easy-to-play mid laner, a champion that’s very approachable for new players. Aside from a select few one-trick players (looking at you Annie Bot), she was mainly played in low ranks and amongst newer players due to her mechanical ease and high burst damage.

However, she hasn’t been viable in higher levels of play for years, prompting Riot to give her some buffs that give her shield a bit more utility and Tibbers a lot more HP and movement speed.

Except, wait, her changes are listed as nerfs? In all fairness, her E shield only reflects damage once per opponent, but the vast majority of these changes are improvements. While it was likely just a mistake with the graphic, this has to be the first time in League of Legends history that a nerf has sent a champion to an almost 57% win rate.

With a 56.6% win rate in mid and a 55.1% win rate in support at the time of writing, Annie has hit this new patch hard. The bonus movement speed combined with Tibbers’ protections and health now scaling with AP has most certainly made a huge difference, and Annie having her shield up every 8 seconds at max rank (and that’s without Ability Haste), it’s clear that this champion is a bit above the point of balance.

If her win rate continues to shoot up as players get more time on the patch, she may have to be hotfixed to put her at a more reasonable power level.