5 things to know about League of Legends Patch 6.13

It’s a patch focused on supports, but it also has the return of ranked 5s.

By Pete Volk@Pete_Volk Jun 28, 2016, 2:08pm EDT

After small patches in 6.11 and 6.12 aimed towards competitive play and the ARAM game mode, League of Legends Patch 6.13 is arriving with some more significant changes. This patch focuses on supports and making gameplay in the position feel more rewarding, while also bringing back Ranked 5s (kind of) and nerfing some terrifying champions.

You can also read the full patch notes here, but here's the important stuff:

1. RANKED FIVES BACK

Well, sort of. Riot eliminated ranked 5s at the start of this season with the release of dynamic queue, but 1) recent changes to high-level matchmaking made high-level teams literally unable to practice and 2) low-level players wanted ranked 5s, too.

Now it’s back, at scheduled times only (so as to avoid the long queue times that plagued ranked 5s before). Riot has not yet announced when those scheduled times will be, so stay tuned.

2. More experience for supports!

As we mentioned in the introduction, Patch 6.13 is partly aimed to make playing support just all around a better time. One of the ways Riot is hoping to accomplish this is by making it easier for supports to gain experience, as they often lag behind the rest of the team in levels.

Starting with 6.13, wards grant experience when killed, and catch-up experience (the extra experience you gain when behind on levels compared to your teammates) has been increased -- the further behind on experience you are, the more you gain.

The last experience change may be the most important. Have you ever initiated as a support, catching one enemy out of position before dying, leading to an ace for your team? Previously, you would have only received experience for that one kill because you died before the rest. Now, champions will gain experience from nearby ally kills for around 10 seconds after death, even if they didn’t participate in the kill.

3. OP champions thankfully nerfed

Ever since Patch 6.11, League has been surprisingly balanced at most positions, especially at the competitive level, where champion diversity is currently very high. But there have still been some outliers, and the biggest offenders have been nerfed.

Vladimir’s passive has been nerfed, lowering the bonus health and AP he gets from building, well, AP and health, and the base damage on his Q has been lowered.

Kindred’s gone through a lot of changes again, this time removing the heal from their W and instead adding a new ability that reduces the attack speed and movement speed of jungle monsters attacked by Wolf.

Two of the most oppressive champions in the top lane have seen their ultimate cooldowns significantly lengthened: Swain and Irelia. Another, Trundle, received a nerf to his health regeneration.

4. Lulu support may be coming back

Lulu was originally intended as a support champion, but her incredible wave clear and lane pressure plus all the supporting tools in her kit made her an excellent choice in either solo lane. In the past, we’ve seen her as a must-pick/ban in pro play for long stretches of time.

While Riot doesn’t necessarily want to discourage people from playing Lulu in the mid lane or top lane, there is a change this patch that will likely focus her more heavily towards the support position.

Gone are the days of instant waveclear Lulu, as her Q now does 70 percent reduced damage to additional targets after the first one. But here are the days of attack speed-buffing Lulu: her W now grants bonus attack speed as well as bonus movement speed when cast on an ally.