LoL Arena 13.14 Micropatch Hotfixes the Most Problematic Champs in the New Game Mode

LoL Arena 13.14 Micropatch buffed some underperforming champions but mainly brought down some of the problematic ones.

League of Legends’ newest game mode, the 2v2v2v2 Arena has finally hit the live servers this Wednesday! This new mode focuses entirely on champions fighting champions without the burdens of minions, objectives, macro game and more than 2 opponents! The mode is immensely popular already, and the community has been praising the developers for the breath of fresh air that Arena provided.

While Arena is already pretty good, changes to it’s balance are always needed – which are separate from the balance updates on Summoner’s Rift, so the balance team has to pay extra care to the game mode which Riot Games wants to become permanent after a while. The release is fairly okay, with all types of champions being viable in Arena, but some picks, such as Kayn, Mordekaiser, Shaco and Taric are running rampant – and as each team only gets 2 bans, the developers need to address the OP champs. Luckily, they already released a micropatch aimed at Arena specifically, which should bring the best picks back down to earth.

Contents

1 LoL Arena 13.14 Micropatch: All the changes of the first live Arena Patch

LoL Arena 13.14 Micropatch: All the changes of the first live Arena Patch

Buffs:

Only two champions were buffed, which were supposed to be strong picks for the new mode, but failed to live up to the standard of Arena:

The two champions were Zoe and Lux, who both received increased Passive AP Ratios, which went up from 20% to 35% in Arena. This should help smoothing their damage out, which is the focus of Mages such as them.

Nerfs:

The nerfs were much more numerous than the buffs, as there were a lot more champions that were overperforming everyone else. Not only that, these picks were frustrating to face, as they offered little counterplay, but the balance team have found ways to keep the viable while also making them less annoying to play against:

Annie:
- Tibbers’s has been hit hard, as he deal reduce damage when summoned, his Attacks AP ratio and his AD is down, as well as his Aura damage
Heimerdinger:
- His Turrets now deal less damage, both the regular and the Ultimate ones. While that seems like a big hit, Heimerdinger’s whole kit was a bit overtuned, so his damage has been brought down by 5% (similar to the champion balance changes in ARAM)
Illaoi:
- Her Passsive heals missing HP%, her Q tentacles now have less Arena mode bonus damage, and she takes increased damage when played in the 2v2v2v2 mode.
Kayle:
- Her damage was a bit too high, so the Aspect of Justice now deals 10% decreased damage.
Kayn:
- Kayn has been one of the best champions in Arena thanks to his E and his Ultimate, with both Shadow Kayn and Rhaast being viable. Riot Games found a simple solution to his strength: he now takes 5% more damage while dealing 5% less.
Shaco:
- A bit surprising that Shaco is THIS strong, but if you think about his boxes, his stealth and the zone which closes in after a while, you can see that he can be a problem. The balance team gave his Q -30 Ability Haste, so he can’t disappear as frequently s before. His Jack-in-the-Box fear has also been toned down as it doesn’t scale with level anymore.

System Changes:

Some items and augments were changed as well to give them more viability – or in the case of Rageblade, less, as the Mythic item has been toned down a bit:

Rageblade now gives less Attack Speed, Attack Damage and Ability Power
The Dashing Aougment’s Ability Haste has been increased to 200 from 150
The Arena Crit Damage modifier has been increased from 1,75 to 1,9 to give crit based champions a bit more edge

Hello to all the Arena players now that we’re live! Thanks for playing!
We’ve got a micropatch coming in. This won’t solve everything, but we are looking to hit the biggest offenders here and help some struggling champions/classes. Additional context on approach in the thread.1/5 pic.twitter.com/JwOpwhUvNg

— Madness Heroo (@MadnessHeroo) July 22, 2023

Riot Games have also given some insight about the future of Arena. They will keep a close eye on frustrating champions such as Shaco and such, and as the players provide more data, they will deviate away from the ARAM balance that they took as basis for 2v2v2v2. They also talked about Assassins and Artillery Mages, which are among the weakest champion subclasses in the mode. The small maps and the lack of hiding places is not a good environment for these kinds of character, so they will think of ideas to buff these champions. Madness Heroo, the developer who shared the complete list of changes also mentioned that they are already working on the 13.15 Arena changes which will be aimed at bruisers such as Mundo and Jax, while also addressing problematic Marksman+Enchanter duos.