All changes coming in League of Legends Season 13: Top & jungle reworks, more
Riot GamesLeague of Legends Season 13 is on its way with Riot revealing all the preseason changes ahead of the November launch. From reworks to top lane and jungle, to the return of Chemtech Dragon, and plenty of quality of life fixes, here’s what you can expect.
League of Legends Season 13 is just around the corner, and Riot has a host of preseason changes waiting in the wings.
While it’s a smaller preseason compared to the item overhaul in Season 11, the Elemental Rift in Season 10, and others before it, there’s still plenty to look forward to for players old and new.
Here’s what you need to know before League of Legends Season 13 goes live in November.
What’s changing in League of Legends Season 13?
Chemtech Dragon returns with all new buffs
First off the list is the Chemtech Dragon which is making its return in League of Legends Season 13 after a short-lived stint in Season 12. Having been added last year, it was quickly cut after the zombie soul became a very big point of contention in the community.
The new Chemtech Dragon removes all the pain points while keeping its identity of potent buffs at low health: “It’s going to be a lot easier to play around with and work around compared to the old zombie soul while being close to that thematic of growing stronger when you’re lower in health which resonates with Chemtech as a theme,” product lead Patrick Noonan said.
The buff now gives your team tenacity and healing and shielding power, while the soul gives you bonus damage, as well as damage reduction, while below 50% health. The Chemtech Rift injects the map with Zaunite energy, empowering jungle plants with new effects.
Riot GamesJungle gets significant rework: Pets, recommended pathing, more
The Chemtech Dragon isn’t the only jungle change in Season 13. In fact, the entire role is being reworked again. Riot are trying to make League of Legends’ jungle easier for autofilled and new players alike with a ton of quality of life changes reducing the barrier of entry.
This includes the addition of new jungle pets, replacing jungle items, which empower your clear. They have a more potent visual effect, with three different avatars giving players some choice in itemization.
Riot are also adding recommended paths in-game — for the first clear — so inexperienced jungle players can have some direction for the first few minutes. Combined with the reduction in leashing range to combat players clearing multiple camps at once, and jungle’s complexity should be cut, although the developers are weary of alienating existing players.
“We acknowledge there’s some veteran jungle players who are going to be upset from these changes, but we think after it’s optimized out, even veteran jungle players are going to find something they like with the new jungle,” lead designer Matthew Leung-Harrison said.
Riot GamesTop lane changes breathe new life into role
Top lane is also undergoing a big rework in League of Legends Season 13. Riot is aware of their neglect of Summoner’s Rift island, and are trying to bring the lane back into the fold in a big way.
“Top lane has been languishing a little bit and the role in particular has lost some of its unique identity, especially after the teleport changes,” Leung-Harrison said. “We think the teleport changes were good for the game overall but top lane paid more of a price for that.”
Top laners will now be the highest-gold, highest-experience champions on the map with changes to solo lane experience as well as mid lane minion gold. This could inspire a new meta of carry top laners with more resources to play around with, but more generally make playing the lane less of an ordeal.
Riot GamesNew ping system and objective planning tools
League of Legends’ in-game communication is getting an overhaul in Season 13, but no voice chat. The ping system will be expanded with six new pings, and there’s a new objective planning tool players can use to vote on whether to contest or leave an objective.
Both should help players communicate effectively without having to type in chat, and also help newer players organize their strategies more efficiently: “League of Legends is a team-based game, that’s one of the things that makes it so wonderful, but it can also be frustrating when you’re playing with strangers,” Noonan said.
“We want to give players new tools to better align with their teammates.”
Riot GamesNew loadout recommendations for abilities, rune pages
Continuing the trend of quality of life changes, Riot is expanding their in-game recommendations to ability level ups, rune pages, and summoner spells in League of Legends Season 13.
If you’re unsure on what to take on a specific champion, or run out of time before loading into game, you can choose between a few different rune pages based on high elo stats. While in-game too, the game will recommend you the best ability to level up following the same machine learning formula.
Both can be disabled or ignored for veterans, but it will help new players significantly.
Tank and fighter item overhaul
The final major change coming in League of Legends Season 13 is an item overhaul for tanks and fighters. On top of the top lane changes, this should give some of the role’s champions more ways of itemizing.
Rod of Ages and Spear of Shojin are two returning items, while Icathia’s Endurance, Radiant Virtue, and Goliath’s Ascendiary are all new to the MOBA. Sunfire Aegis and Turbo Chemtank have both been downgraded from Mythic status, while Iceborn Gauntlet, Abyssal Mask, Ravenous Hydra, and Randuin’s Omen have been significantly reworked too.
Riot GamesWhen does League of Legends Season 13 go live?
League of Legends Season 13 is set to start on November 16, 2022 with the launch of LoL patch 12.22, with about two months of preseason testing to look forward to. The Season 13 ranked season will go live early in January 2022.