LoL 13.21 Patch Notes: Nexus Blitz returns, champion buffs & nerfs, and more

As the dreamy boyband "HEARTSTEEL" bursts into the global music scene and the exhilarating 2023 League of Legends World Championship unfolds, the patch notes for the 13.21 update have been revealed! In preparation for Season 14, this upcoming update acts as a follow-up to the hefty Patch 13.20, bringing some champion adjustments as well as the much-anticipated return of Nexus Blitz.

Targeting several systems that players have grown accustomed to, Patch 13.20 was a game-altering update. The overarching objective of these changes seems to be curbing snowballing, a theme underscored by Lead Game Designer Riot Phroxzon. Patch 13.21 will introduce some re-balancing to better support all these changes.

Without further ado, let's delve into what the League of Legends Patch 13.20 has in store!

When will LoL Patch 13.21 go live?

League of Legends Patch 13.21 is expected to go live on 25 October 2023, according to Riot’s patch schedule. Patch 13.21 will head to Oceanic servers first at around 10 AM AEST, with other servers slowly receiving it throughout the day.

Here is a table of the key release times for Patch 13.21 on different servers:

LoL Patch 13.21 highlights

The overarching goal of Patch 13.20 was to tackle the pervasive issue of snowballing, and it seems that Riot devs were successful, noting that “games are much less snowbally, players are engaging in fights more frequently, and games are only slightly longer on average.” However, this shift has resulted in late-game champions outshining their early-game counterparts, necessitating some rebalancing.

Credit: Riot Games

AD junglers have taken a hit after the sweeping jungle changes last patch; they will be buffed in this patch. Additionally, while K’Sante’s kit update successfully achieved the dev team’s goals in terms of expanding his counterplay, it didn't provide him with as much power as intended, so he will receive some buffs too.

In tandem with these follow-up adjustments, champions like Morgana, Seraphine, Brand, and Zyra will be made viable in multiple roles.

On top of these exciting changes, the long-awaited return of Nexus Blitz comes with a series of quality-of-life improvements, an enticing new set of Cafe Cuties skins, an updated rotation for the Mythic Shop, and lastly, another round of ARAM balance adjustments.

LoL 13.21 patch notes rundown

You can find below a full list of champion, item, and rune changes coming to League of Legends with the 13.21 patch update.

Champion changes

Aurelion Sol

• Q Damage per tick adjusted 3.75-10 (based on levels 1-18) (+1.875/3.125/4.375/5.625/6.875) (+7.5% AP) >>> 0 (+5.625/7.5/9.375/11.25/13.125) (+6.875% AP)
• Q Base burst damage adjusted 20-30 (based on levels 1-18) (+40/50/60/70/80) >>> 0 (+60/70/80/90/100)

Bel’Veth

• E Cooldown: cooldown reduced 24/22.5/21/19.5/18 >>> 20/19/18/17/16 seconds

Brand

• Base HP reduced 590 ⇒ 570
• HP per level increased 102 ⇒ 105
• Base Armor increased 22 ⇒ 27
• Armor per level reduced 4.7 ⇒ 4.2
• Base Attack Speed increased 0.625 ⇒ 0.681
• Attack Speed per level increased 1.36% ⇒ 2%
• [P-Ablaze] Blaze Ablaze damage per tick monster ratio increased 120% ⇒ 250% (still capped at 80 pre-mitigation per tick)
• E Conflagration base damage reduced 70/95/120/145/170 ⇒ 65/90/115/140/165

Briar

• Attack Speed Growth: 2.3% ⇒ 2.0%
• Passive Heal if Bleeding Target Dies: 100% of remaining bleed ⇒ 125% of remaining bleed
• W Recast Bonus Physical Damage: 5/20/35/50/65 (+5% AD) (+10% (+4% per 100 bonus AD) of target missing health) ⇒ 5/20/35/50/65 (+5% AD) (+10% (+3.5% per 100 bonus AD) of target missing health)

Caitlyn

• Passive Bonus Physical Damage: 60/90/120% (+ (81.25% Critical Strike Chance) (100% Critical Strike Damage) ⇒ 60/90/120% (+ (85% Critical Strike Chance)(100% Critical Strike Damage)
• R Cooldown: 90/75/60 seconds ⇒ 90 seconds at all ranks
• R Physical Damage: 300/525/750 (+200% bonus Attack Damage) ⇒ 300/500/700 (+170% bonus Attack Damage)
• R Bonus Damage from Critical Strike Chance: 0-35% ⇒ 0-50%

Dr. Mundo

• E Passive Bonus Attack Damage: 2/2.5/3/3.5/4% maximum health ⇒ 2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3% maximum health
• E Bonus Attack Damage based on Missing Health: 0-60% ⇒ 0-40%

Hecarim

• Attack Damage Growth: 3.2 ⇒ 3.7
• W Duration: 4 seconds ⇒ 5 seconds

Jinx

• Passive Get Excited Stacks: All takedowns, epic monster kills, and structures destroyed grant Get Excited! stacks and refresh the buff ⇒ Epic monster kills and destroying structures will grant the first stack of Get Excited! and will refresh the buff, but only champion takedowns can increase the amount of stacks Jinx can get
• [NEW] Stacks Cap: Jinx can now only get 5 stacks of Get Excited!

K’Sante

• Passive All Out Bonus Damage: 35% ⇒ 45/60/75% (levels 6/11/16)
• Q Required Bonus Health for Minimum Cast Time: 1800 ⇒ 1200
• Q Tooltip Update: Tooltip now always shows Resists/Health needed for cooldown and cast time reductions
  • All Out tooltip has been simplified and updated
• W Disruptive Dashes: W - Path Maker will no longer interrupt K’Sante’s E dash when the channelling starts
• W Maximum Channel Time: 1.0 seconds ⇒ 1.5 seconds (Note: this will affect both the base and All Out version of W - Path Maker.)
• W Tooltip Update: All Out tooltip has been simplified and updated.
• R Healing: Calculated based on Physical and True Damage dealt to champions ⇒Calculated based on all damage dealt to champions
• Q + E Attack Resets: 0.1 seconds ⇒ Instantaneous

LeBlanc

• W Magic Damage: 75/115/155/195/235 (+65% AP) ⇒75/115/155/195/235 (+75% AP)
• E Tether Proc Damage: 80/120/160/200/240 (+70% AP) ⇒ 80/120/160/200/240 (+80% AP)[/*]

Master Yi

• E Cooldown: 18 seconds ⇒ 14 seconds

Morgana

• W Magic Damage per Second: 12/22/32/42/52 (+17% AP) ⇒ 12/23/34/45/56 (+17% AP)
• W Damage to Monsters Modifier: 165% ⇒ 170%

Rammus

• Q Magic Damage: 100/125/150/175/200 (+100% AP) ⇒ 80/110/140/170/200 (+100% AP)
• W Bonus Armor: 35 (+40/50/60/70/80% total armor) ⇒ 30 (+35/45/55/65/75% total armor)

Seraphine

• Base Mana Regeneration: 8 ⇒ 11.5
• Mana Regeneration Growth: 1 ⇒ 0.4
• Base Mana: 440 ⇒ 360
• Mana Growth: 40 ⇒ 50
• Base Armor: 19 ⇒ 26
• Health Growth: 104 ⇒ 90
• Attack Speed Growth 1% ⇒ 2%
• Q Cooldown: 10/8.75/7.5/6.25/5 seconds ⇒ 9/8/7/6/5 seconds
• Q Damage: 55/70/85/100/115 (+45/50/55/60/65% AP) ⇒ 55/80/105/130/155 (+50% AP)
• W Mana cost: 50/60/70/80/90 ⇒ 80/85/90/95/100
• W Cooldown: 28/26/24/22/20 ⇒ 28/25/22/19/16
• W Shield: 50/70/90/110/130 (+25% AP) ⇒ 50/75/100/125/150 (+25% AP)
• W Missing Health Heal: 5/5.5/6/6.5/7% (+0.4% per 100 AP) ⇒ 3/3.5/4/4.5/5%
• E Mana Cost: 60/70/80/90/100 ⇒ 60/65/70/75/80
• E Magic Damage: 60/80/100/120/140 (+35% AP) ⇒ 60/95/130/165/200 (+35% AP)

Tahm Kench

• Passive Bonus Magic Damage: 8-60 (based on level) (+2% AP per 100 bonus health) (+3% bonus health) ⇒ 6-48 (based on level) (+2% AP per 100 bonus health) (+5% bonus health)
• W Cooldown refund on champion hit: 40% ⇒ 40/42.5/45/47.5/50%

Varus

• W Magic Damage: 7/12/17/22/27 (+35% AP) ⇒ 7/13/19/25/31 (+35% AP)
• E Slow: 25/30/35/40/45% ⇒ 30/35/40/45/50%

Zyra

• Level 1 Attack Speed: 0.625 ⇒ 0.681 (Note: Attack Speed Ratio is unchanged)
• Passive Plant Magic Damage: 20-100 (based on level) (+15% AP) ⇒ 20-88 (based on level) (+18% AP)
• Q Magic Damage: 60/95/130/165/200 (+60% AP) ⇒ 60/100/140/180/220 (+65% AP)
• E Magic Damage: 60/105/150/195/240 (+50% AP)⇒ 60/95/130/165/200 (+60% AP)

Item changes

Hullbreaker

• Bonus Armor and Magic Resistance (Melee): 10-75 (based on level) ⇒10-60 (based on level)
• Bonus Armor and Magic Resistance (Ranged): 5-37.5 (based on level) ⇒ 5-30 (based on level)

Runes changes

First Strike

• Bonus Damage: 8% ⇒ 7%

Phase Rush

• Bonus Movement Speed (Melee): 30-60% (based on level) ⇒ 25-50% (based on level)

Bugfixes & QoL Changes

• The success threshold for an early AFK surrender has been lowered from 100% to 70%
• The [Premade] ping prefix has been changed to [Party] to match the existing party chat pattern
• Made adjustments to Coven Nilah’s E+Q combo so that it no longer looks visually similar to Coven Morgana’s Q

Bugfixes

• Fixed a bug that caused Fiora’s Passive to ignore Shen’s W dodge
• Fixed several VFX and SFX bugs that were occurring after Jax’s visual update
• Fixed a bug that caused Tryndamere’s E hitbox to be much smaller than intended
• Fixed a bug that caused Singed’s Q to not properly stack Conquer
• Fixed a bug that caused Ezreal’s VO for First Blood and Epic Monster attacks to not play
• Fixed a bug that caused Vex’s R projectile to not damage enemy minions or monsters
• Fixed a bug that caused Milio’s R to not cleanse Renata’s Berserk
• Fixed a bug that caused Ivern’s W passive to not trigger when attacking epic monsters
• Fixed a bug that caused Varus’ W buff timer VFX to not display clearly
• Fixed a bug that caused Viego to reset Crown of the Shattered Queen’s passive time to reset after ending a possession
• Fixed a bug that caused Fiora’s Passive to ignore Shen’s W dodge
• Fixed a bug where Cosmic Enchantress Lulu’s Pix used the Base trail VFX from the Enemy POV
• Fixed a bug where Cosmic Enchantress Lulu’s Whimsy (W) VFX did not follow the target enemy’s movement as intended
• Fixed a bug where Star Guardian and Pajama Guardian Lulu’s Whimsy (W) on-ground VFX did not follow target Enemy’s movement as intended
• Fixed a bug where Coven Nami’s Tidal Wave (R) ability's SFX were not entirely audible when the ability was launched from the Fog of War
• Fixed a bug where Bilgerat Rumble’s Equalizer (R) was missing some VFX
• Fixed a bug where Super Galaxy Rumble’s Flamesplitter (Q) VFX was getting cut off by the ground
• Fixed a bug where Super Galaxy Rumble’s Junkyard Titan (P) was missing the red overlay while overheated.

LoL 13.21 upcoming skins

Here's a list of all skins coming out in the League of Legends 13.21 update:

• Cafe Cuties Rumble
• Cafe Cuties Jinx
• Cafe Cuties Poppy
• Cafe Cuties Lulu
• Coven Syndra

That's it for the League of Legends 13.21 patch notes rundown. If you're interested in reading the full 13.21 patch notes, check out the official Riot Games page here. GLHF on the Rift!