League of Legends patch 12.13 notes: Nilah release, major Gwen & Sivir changes

League of Legends patch 12.13 is finally here after its slight delay pushed back its release. It was worth the wait for most though: two big overhauls to Gwen and Sivir headline the changes, along with the Star Guardian event. Here’s the patch notes.

Riot’s on holiday, but the League of Legends updates aren’t quite stopping. While there was a bit of a break before LoL patch 12.13 rolls around, the wait should be well worth it.

If you’re a Sivir or Gwen player, you have major overhauls to appreciate. Both act as substantial buffs for each champion to the general population. A number of other underperforming characters are also in Riot’s mind for the update.

Plus the biggest event of the year, Star Guardian, is finally due to launch ⁠— and that also means new champion Nilah is on her way.

It’s a big update, so we’ve got the full rundown of LoL patch 12.13 here, including the patch notes.

What’s changing in LoL patch 12.13?

Nilah, the Joy Unbound, released

If you’re still recovering from the launch of Bel’Veth, then we’re sorry but Nilah is already on her way in LoL patch 12.13.

The bot lane skirmisher is the first dedicated melee carry made for Summoner’s Rift’s south side. She thrives in the late game with her team buffing her up with heals and shields — replicating the favor with her passive.

Her kit also features a number of other interesting mechanics, including lost experience mitigation and more. You can read up on all things Nilah here.

Gwen overhaul trades late-game dominance for early power

The biggest changes in LoL patch 12.13 are for the Hallowed Seamstress, Gwen. The top laner has been undergoing a bit of a crisis ⁠— too good in pro play, but too hard to play in lower elos. Adaptations to her kit have dragged her across Summoner’s Rift, and it’s all a bit muddled.

• Read More: Riot reveals return of League’s Essence Emporium

Riot are trying to increase her skill floor a bit without extending the ceiling too much though by giving her a helping hand in the early game. Things like farming will be a lot easier thanks to new interactions in her kit, but it comes with a late-game burst trade-off.

The changes are geared towards moving Gwen back to the top lane full-time, so if you’re a jungler be mindful of that.

Plenty of buffs to burst champions affected by durability update

The majority of LoL patch 12.13 are centered around bringing burst champions back into the fold after the durability update ⁠— but to not revert the changes that were made.

“We’re targeting non-burst buffs for burst-oriented champs ⁠— which will increase burst some amount on account of snowballing a bit more,” lead designer Matt ‘Phroxzon’ Leung-Harrison told players.

• Read More: League devs pleased with durability update but considering further changes

This includes buffs to Lethality items to help assassins, while picks like Evelynn, Fiddlesticks, Renekton, Vex, and even Taliyah are also primed for buffs. Most of these buffs either increase their consistent DPS output or their utility.

Currently, only Corki and Volibear are penciled in for nerfs. The two meta stables are being cut across the board, with Corki’s rockets being hit slightly while Volibear’s jungle clear will be a bit slower.

You can find the full LoL patch 12.13 notes below, courtesy of Riot Games.

LoL patch 12.13 notes

Champions

Corki

E: Gatling Gun

• Damage per tick: 7.5/10.63/ 13.75/16.88/20 (+10% bonus AD) ⇒ 7.5/10.63/13.75/16.88/20 (+15% bonus AD)

R: Missile Barrage

• Rocket damage: 90/125/160 (+15/45/75% AD) (+20% AP) ⇒ 80/115/150 (+15/45/75% AD) (+12% AP)
• Big one rocket damage: 180/250/320 (+30/90/150% AD) (+40% AP) ⇒ 160/230/300 (+30/90/150% AD) (+24% AP)

Elise

Base stats

• Base health: 625 ⇒ 650
• Health growth: 107 ⇒ 109
• Base armor: 27 ⇒ 30

Q (Human): Neurotoxin

• Base damage: 40/70/100/130/160 ⇒ 40/75/110/145/180

Evelynn

Passive: Demon Shade

• Self heal at low health:15-75 (levels 1-18) ⇒ 15-150 (levels 1-18) per second

W: Allure

• Enemy magic resistance reduction: 25/27.5/30/32.5/35% ⇒ 35/37.5/40/42.5/45%

R: Last Caress

• New – Seek n’ hide: Using R now puts Passive – Demon Shade on a 1.25 second cooldown (rather than the usual 4 second cooldown)

Fiddlesticks

Q: Terrify

• Fear duration: 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 ⇒ 1.25/1.5/1.75/2/2.25 seconds

R: Crowstorm

• Damage: 625/1125/1625 (+225% AP) ⇒ 750/1250/1750 (+250% AP)

Galio

Q: Winds of War

• Tornado damage per tick: 2% (+0.66% per 100 AP) of target’s maximum health ⇒ 2.5% (+1% per 100 AP) of target’s maximum health
• Tornado max damage (over 5 seconds): 8% (+2.64% per 100 AP) of target’s maximum health ⇒ 10% (+4% per 100 AP) of target’s maximum health

Gwen

Base stats

• Health regen growth: 0.55 ⇒ 0.9 per 5 seconds

Passive – Thousand Cuts

• Maximum damage against monsters: 10 (+15%) ⇒ 6 (+10%)

Q: Snip Snip!

• Damage per snip: 9/12/15/16/21 (+5% AP) ⇒ 10/14/18/22/26 (+5% AP)
• Final snip damage:45/60/75/90/105 (+25% AP) ⇒ 60/80/100/120/140 (+35% AP)
• Center snip: 100% true damage ⇒ 75% true damage
• New – Minions played rock: Now deals 75% damage against minions with more than 20% health
• New – Minions played paper: Minions below 20% health take 1000% bonus damage instead

W: Hallowed Mist

• Bonus armor and MR: 12/14/16/18/20 (+5% AP) ⇒ 17/19/21/23/25 (+7% AP)
• Duration: 5 seconds ⇒ 4 seconds

E: Skip ‘n Slash

• Bonus magic damage: 10 (+15% AP) ⇒ 15 (+20% AP)
• Bonus range: 50 ⇒ 75
• Cooldown: 13/12/11/10/9 seconds ⇒ 13/12.5/12/11.5/11 seconds
• Cooldown refund: 50% ⇒ 25/35/45/55/65%

R: Needlework

• Damage per needle: 30/55/80 (+8% AP) ⇒ 35/65/95 (+10% AP)
• Updated – New patterns: Recast resets after damaging an enemy champion ⇒ Recast resets after 1 second

Karthus

Base stats

• Armor: 18 ⇒ 21
• Health growth: 101 ⇒ 110

Kled

Q: Bear Trap on a Rope (Mounted)

• Initial damage: 30/55/80/105/130 (+60% bonus AD) ⇒ 30/55/80/105/130 (+65% bonus AD)
• Second activation damage: 60/110/160/210/260 (+120% bonus AD) ⇒ 60/110/160/210/260 (+130% bonus AD)

W: Violent Tendencies

• Cooldown: 12/10.5/9/7.5/6 seconds ⇒ 11/9.5/8/6.5/5 seconds

Master Yi

Base stats

• Attack range: 125 ⇒ 175

Q: Alpha Strike

• New – Pick and choose: When Alpha Strike ends, Yi is placed 75 units in front of his primary target ⇒ By default, Master Yi will be placed 75 units in front of his primary target. During Alpha Strike, Master Yi may right click to instead be placed 75 units in the direction clicked

W: Meditate

• Cooldown: 28 seconds ⇒ 9 seconds
• Mana cost: 50 ⇒ 40 + 6% max mana per second
• Damage reduction during meditate: 60/62.5/65/67.5/70% ⇒ 90% for the first 0.5 seconds, reduced to 60/62.5/65/67.5/70% for the remainder of the channel
• Lingering damage reduction: For 0.5 seconds after Meditate ends, but not exceeding a total of 4 seconds ⇒ For 0.5 seconds after Meditate ends

Olaf

Base stats

• Health regen: 8.5 ⇒ 6.5
• Health regen growth: 0.9 ⇒ 0.6
• Health regen at 18: 23.8 ⇒ 16.7

Passive: Berserker Rage

• Maximum bonus attack speed: 40-100% ⇒ 60-100% (levels 1-18)

Q: Undertow

• Mana cost: 40/45/50/55/60 ⇒ 50/55/60/65/70

Renekton

R: Dominus

• Magic damage per tick: 25/50/75 (+10% AP) ⇒ 20/50/75 (+10% AP)(+10% bonus AD)

Sivir

Base stats

• Mana: 325 ⇒ 340
• Mana growth: 50 ⇒ 40
• Mana regen: 1.6 ⇒ 1.2
• Mana regen growth: 0.18 ⇒ 0.16
• Attack damage: 63 ⇒ 58
• Attack damage growth: 3 ⇒ 3.3
• Base health: 632 ⇒ 600
• Attack speed growth: 1.6% ⇒ 2%

Passive: Fleet of Foot

• Bonus move speed duration: 2 seconds ⇒ Decays over 1.5 seconds
• Bonus move speed: 35/40/45/50/55 ⇒ 55/60/65/70/75 (levels 1/6/11/16/18)

Q: Boomerang Blade

• Base damge: 35/50/65/80/95 (+70/85/100/115/130% total AD) (+50% AP) ⇒ 25/40/55/70/85 (+80/85/90/65/100% total AD) (+60% AP)
• Cooldown: 7 seconds at all ranks ⇒ 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 seconds
• Cast time: 0.25 seconds ⇒ 0.25-0 seconds (scales down with attack speed)
• New – Critical chalicar: Now scales with critical strike chance, dealing up to 50% bonus damage at 100% crit chance
• Mana cost: 70/80/90/100/110 ⇒ 55/60/65/70/75
• Missile speed: 1350 ⇒ 1450 outwards and 1200 inwards

W: Ricochet

• Damage: 30/45/60/75/90% total AD ⇒ 30/35/40/45/50% total AD
• Mana cost: 75 ⇒ 60
• Updated – Buff duration: 3 attacks ⇒ 4 seconds
• Cooldown: 12/10.5/9/7.5/6 ⇒ 10 seconds at all ranks
• New – Speed boost: Activating Ricochet now grants Sivir 20/25/30/35/40% bonus attack speed
• New – Touch crowd: Now deals 80% damage against minions
• Max bounces: Unlimited bounces ⇒ 8 bounces per Attack
• Bounce range: 450 ⇒ 500 (note: approximately 1 additional Teemo)
• Bounce missile speed: 700 ⇒ 1000
• New – Bounce boost: Ricochets can now bounce back to targets that have already been hit, but only one additional time. Ricochets will prioritize new targets first.

E: Spell Shield

• Cooldown: 22/19/16/13/10 ⇒ 22/20/18/16/14 seconds
• New – Happy Heals: Blocking an enemy ability now heals Sivir for 60/65/70/75/80% of her total AD (+50% total AP)
• New – See ya: Blocking an enemy ability now procs Sivir’s Passive – Fleet of Foot
• Removed – Not so quick: Blocking an enemy ability with E no longer refunds mana

R: On The Hunt

• Cooldown: 120/100/80 ⇒ 100/85/70 seconds
• Duration: 8 seconds at all ranks ⇒ 8/10/12 seconds
• New – The hunt continues: If Sivir assists with a recent takedown while her R – On the Hunt buff is active, its aura will now refresh its duration
• New – Cool(down) – Sivir’s basic attacks during R – On the Hunt now reduce her basic ability cooldowns by 0.5 seconds per attack
• Removed – Farewell, good hunters: Sivir no longer gains bonus attack speed from R – On the Hunt
• Removed – Slow start: No longer gives Sivir and her allies an initial movement speed burst

Taliyah

Passive: Rock Surfing

• New – Surf’s up: Taliyah’s passive cooldown will no longer reset due to proc damage (like Liandry’s Anguish)

Q – Threaded Volley

• 1-Rock damage: 40/60/80/100/120 (+50% AP) ⇒ 45/65/85/105/125 (+50% AP)
• 5-Rock damage: 104/156/208/260/312 (+130% AP) ⇒ 117/169/221/273/325 (130% AP)
• Boulder damage: 76/114/152/190/228 (+95% AP) ⇒ 85.5/123.5/161.5/199.5/237.5 (+95% AP)
• Mana cost: 60/65/70/75/80 ⇒ 55/60/65/70/75
• Bonus damage against monsters: 30 (+10% AP) ⇒ 25 (+10% AP)
• New – Rock and a hard place: Hitting jungle monsters with Taliyah’s boulder (created when activating Q on Worked Ground) now stuns jungle monsters for 3 seconds

R – Weaver’s Wall

• Updated – Ride on: Weaver’s Wall no longer goes on cooldown when Taliyah damages wards or traps

Vex

Q: Mistral Bolt

• Cooldown: 9/8/7/6/5 ⇒ 8/7/6/5/4 seconds
• Magic damage: 60/105/150/195/240 (+60% AP) ⇒ 60/105/150/195/240 (+70% AP)

Volibear

Q: Thundering Smash

• Bonus movement speed: 10/14/18/22/26% ⇒ 8/12/16/20/24%
• Damage: 20/40/60/80/100 (+120% bonus AD) ⇒ 10/30/50/70/90 (+120% bonus AD)

W: Frenzied Maul

• Damage: 10/35/60/85/110 (+100% AD) (+ 6% bonus health) ⇒ 5/30/55/80/105 (+100% AD) (+5% bonus health)

E: Sky Splitter

• Damage: 80/110/140/170/200 (+80% AP) (+11/12/13/14/15% of target’s maximum health) ⇒ 80/110/140/170/200 (+80% AP) (+9/10/11/12/13% of target’s maximum health)
• Damage cap against non-champions: 750 ⇒ 650

Items

Divine Sunderer

• Spellblade damage: (12% melee/9% ranged) of target’s maximum health ⇒ 125% base AD (+(6% melee/3% ranged) of target’s maximum health)
• Heal: 50% of premitigation damage (+(6% melee/3% ranged) of target’s maximum health) ⇒ 65% of premitigation damage (+(4.8% melee/2.4% ranged) of target’s maximum health) (+100% base AD)
• Mythic passive bonus for Legendary Items: 5% armor penetration and 5% magic penetration ⇒ 3% armor penetration and 3% magic penetration
• Updated – Forget me not: These same changes will apply to the Ornn Masterwork item, Deicide

Demonic Embrace

• Updated – Eyes on me: Passive – Azakana Gaze now stacks when applied by multiple users (however one user cannot refresh another user’s application of the passive)

Liandry’s Anguish

• Updated – Literal Torment: Passive – Torment now stacks when applied by multiple users (however one user cannot refresh another user’s application of the passive)

Duskblade of Draktharr

• Mythic Pass bonus for Legendary Items: 5 Ability haste ⇒ 5 Ability haste and 5 move speed (same for Ornn Masterwork item, Draktharr’s Shadowcarver)

Eclipse

• Mythic passive bonus for Legendary Items: 4% Armor penetration ⇒ 4% Armor penetration and 5 move speed (same for Ornn Masterwork item, Syzygy)

Prowler’s Claw

• Mythic passive bonus for Legendary Items: 5 Lethality ⇒ 5 Lethality and 5 move speed (same for Ornn Masterwork item, Sandshrike’s Claw)

Objective Bounties

• Bounty lingering duration: 5 ⇒ 60 seconds
• Bounties will now start to fall off a little earlier when the losing team reduces the lead
• Claiming an objective bounty as bounties are lingering now cancels all other objective bounties on the map (until bounties are reactivated due to a large lead)
• Champions with gold accumulating passives such as Draven or Gangplank and runes like Treasure Hunter no longer count towards your team’s total gold when calculating bounties
• The way dragons and towers are weighted when calculated for bounties has been updated to be more in line with player expectations

Vision

• All jungle monsters and wards will now be visible instantly, even upon dashing or blinking into visible range

Game Modes

Ultimate Spellbook

• Players can now choose from 4 ultimate abilities instead of 3
• The pool of ultimates to choose from has been updated with new abilities
• All of the dragons from traditional Summoner’s Rift have made their way into Spellbook

Bugfixes and QoL Changes

• Kayle now slightly increases in size when she reaches level 11
• Bel’Veth is now slightly smaller when in her True Form
• Bel’Veth’s resource bar has been updated to reflect the duration of her True Form
• Goredrinker’s healing tracker now tracks healing from all targets hit, not just once per cast
• Black Cleaver now displays the bonus damage caused by its armor shred passive
• Umbral Glaive now displays the number of wards killed while you have the item
• EDG Zoe’s sleep status effect is now more visible, especially in the river
• Fixed a bug where in-game ping indicators displayed latency as 7ms higher than actual ping for all players
• Fixed a bug where Pantheon’s Q length and width were incorrectly reverted to their pre-12.7 values
• Fixed a bug where Bel’Veth’s ranged Voidlings were not correctly receiving Baron buff
• Fixed a bug where Bel’Veth’s Void Corals could form inside of Morderkaiser’s R – Death Realm if an enemy was killed outside in the same area
• Fixed a bug where Samira’s E – Wild Rush would reset upon taking down an enemy clone
• Fixed a bug where Draven’s Passive minion streak would reset if his support executed a minion with Spoils of War from Relic Shield/Steel Shoulderguards
• Fixed a bug where Sivir’s attack bounces from W – Ricochet would do 0 damage to Zyra’s plants
• Fixed a bug where Volibear could clip through red side’s spawn gate with his E – Sky Splitter
• Fixed a bug where Shadowflame’s bonus damage tracker was displaying the incorrect amount of bonus damage
• Fixed a bug where Kayn would gain transformation progress from First Strike’s bonus damage
• Fixed a bug where Maokai’s E – Sapling Toss saplings would do damage through spell shields
• Fixed a bug where Shaco’s R – Hallucinate clone would be unable to proc Lich Bane
• Fixed a bug where Goredrinker’s healing tracking was only tracking damage by cast, not total damage
• Fixed a bug where Viego’s Lord of the Mist and Harrowed Path buff icons were not correctly appearing upon entering his Black Mist
• Fixed a bug where Rell’s animations would momentarily freeze after using her E – Attract and Repel
• Fixed a bug where Ornn’s progress bar when using his Passive – Living Forge would display incorrect ability names
• Fixed a bug where players could ping Hullbreaker and receive the message “I’m hunting alone” if they had a Yuumi attached to them. Yes, Yuumi does count as a champion.
• Fixed a bug where Hullbreaker’s bonus resistances when hunting alone would immediately disappear when allies got too close instead of after a 3 second delay
• Fixed a bug so that stat shard selections now show up when hovering over the icon in the runes panel
• Fixed a bug where aura buff icons (like Skarner’s Passive or Viego’s E) would constantly refresh on the buff bar instead of remaining constant
• Fixed a bug where Thresh’s Passive – Damnation would show up on his buff bar as a temporary effect
• Fixed a bug where Vladmir’s Q – Transfusion would show up on his buff bar as a temporary effect
• Fixed a bug where Ivern’s tooltip for his R – Daisy! was not showing the correct formula
• Fixed a bug where Anathema’s Chains could not be cast while dead
• Fixed a bug where Anathema’s Chains would reveal its user on cast
• Fixed a bug where First Strike would reveal its user upon proccing the rune
• Fixed a bug where Luden’s Tempest would reveal its user when procced
• Fixed a bug where the sound effects from Scuttle’s movement speed buff did not match the buff duration
• Fixed a bug where Goredrinker’s healing tracking would be lower than intended when hitting more than one champion
• Fixed a bug where disabling all sounds in game would not carry over to future games
• Fixed a bug where the Treasure Hunter rune was not being counted accurately in the End of Game screen