5 things to know in League of Legends patch 8.13

Believe it or not, we’re already 13 patches into the 2018 season. As the summer months start slowly ticking by, try not to think about how close we are to Worlds we are. Anyway, there are quite a few exciting additions with patch 8.13.

Aatrox is finally ready to make his debut as a champion that doesn’t suck — although he is admittedly pretty strong at the moment. Maybe this is finally Aatrox’s moment to shine? Or maybe he’ll be the Ryze of top lane fighters? Time will tell. To go along with the Aatrox update and the shiny new Darius and Garen skins, Domination runes are getting a significant buff.

And finally, after what’s seemed like ages of very reasonable complaints, AD Carries are getting a buff. We’re not sure if it’ll be enough to truly bring the ranged damage dealers back into full swing, but it should certainly help re-build the meta — if that’s what you’re looking for.

Here are five things you need to know about patch 8.13. For a complete list of changes, check out our post.

1. The new and (improved?) Aatrox is here

The new version of The Darkin Blade is here and with a fresh kit to try out. Sure, it’s a little sad that this rework is cutting short the first time he’s been good in five years, but Aatrox will probably be better off in the long run after the changes. Top laners should be excited as his new kit makes Aatrox look something like Riven — a simple, mechanics heavy champion with plenty of potential.

2. Domination runes are getting a buff

Domination used to seem like the bee’s knees, but months of the new rune system has proven their risk/reward playstyle to be a bit much in the face of some of the more powerful rune combinations. Well, Domination is getting a stat increase to help compensate. This should make picking up a Domination rune a little more attractive. Other runes are also getting changed this patch, with Hail of Blades getting a decreased cooldown and Unsealed Spellbook having its unique summoner spell cap decreased.

Riot Games

3. Crit ADCs got a few buffs

The last couple of patches haven’t been particularly kind to ADCs that rely on critical strike for their damage, but Riot is taking some time to help them on their way back to the meta by giving a few much needed buffs. Jinx, Tristana and Twitch are the two main buff targets for this patch and all of them should be in a slightly better place after. Tristana, in particular, is getting a pretty huge ratio buff to her E, which should help her hit much harder.

4. Snowball nerfs

If one team got ahead early during patch 8.12, you were never really going to stop them thanks to the patch’s extreme snowballing. Helping the early game feel a little less decisive is another aim of patch 8.13 and riot is making some changes to the biggest offenders. For one thing, death timers in the early game are getting a little shorter, as they get moved to 16 seconds — from the scaling 10-22.5 seconds they were before. Another change, which should help opposing teams catch up will increase the bounty rewards for kills including letting them scale all the way back up to 500 gold at six kills. The final change is outer turret gold, which isn’t too exciting, it’s moving from 100 to 50 per player.

5. The God King skins have arrived

Remember that versus event last year with Yasuo and Riven? Well, great news. This year we’re getting a similar event with Darius and Garen. And these boys are coming in hot with their own fancy skins. God King Darius and God King Garen will become available in patch 8.13, along with their special event. Don’t let the bad name fool you, these skins are rad as hell.

Riot Games