League of Legends Arena patch 13.15 notes: New stage mechanics added, Heimerdinger, Alistar & more nerfed

lunar beast alistar splashRiot Games

Arena will be getting its own set of patch notes for the duration of the event, starting with patch 13.15. Here’s everything you need to know about the first big balance pass for the League of Legends limited time mode.

While the League of Legends Arena mode is meant to be a casual mode that isn’t meant to be taken too seriously, that hasn’t prevented there being some serious meta standouts that have allowed players to dominate.

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Teamfight-focused champions like Alistar, Kennen, and Wukong have had an edge over the competition due to their nature as teamfight champions in a mode that is, for all intents and purposes, one big teamfight.

So, the first big balance pass for the League of Legends Arena mode aims to knock some of the strongest champions down a peg while elevating champions that needed some love. Additionally, it’s got some changes to items and augments that are sure to shake up the meta.

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When does League Arena patch 13.15 go live?

The Arena patch will be releasing alongside the 13.15 notes for both Teamfight Tactics and the core game of League of Legends, and it’s set to go live on August 2, 2023.

This is the first of what could be a few patches meant to balance the mode while it’s around. And, while it isn’t confirmed that Arena will become a permanent mode at the time of writing, the team is looking into making that possibility a reality if the mode is popular enough.

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Here are the full patch notes for the very first big Arena patch:

What’s changing on League of Legends Arena patch 13.15?

Soul Fighter Viego enters the arenaRiot Games

New Soul Fighters Enter the Arena

To add some variety to the mode, new Soul Fighters are coming alongside some new Arena stage mechanics. With the addition of 5 new champions, these effects are sure to change the way you have to play on certain maps. The new champions and their effects are as listed below.

  • Evelynn: Grants all players camouflage.
  • Gwen: Occasionally protects the lowest health player with her W, Hallowed Mist.
  • Jhin: Casts his ultimate, Curtain Call, which will alternate shots between each player.
  • Shaco: Continuously places his Jack-in-the-Boxes around the Arena.
  • Viego: The first player to die will instead become Viego for a short period of time.

Being out of the circle causes Grievous Wounds to stack on a player

Don’t miss this change just because it’s buried in the systems changes; this is huge. Before, champions who were hitting the healing plans while outside the circle or big tanks like Mundo could essentially regen their way through the ring’s damage.

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Now, with a Grievous Wounds debuff stacking on champions who are outside of the circle for an extended period of time, the way that certain champions play the game will be significantly altered.

Champions to watch out for in League Arena patch 13.15

While there are many prominent champs who got nerfed, two big buffs really stand out on this patch. Blitzcrank getting some added Ability Haste to his Q is a huge deal, sure, but the 300% AP scaling that’s been added to his ultimate’s active is sure to create some incredibly goofy one-shot clips. 300% AP is a lot of damage.

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Meanwhile, Bard’s received some additional scaling on his passive and it’s now much easier for him to stack up his Meeplings. Bard’s ability to stall out games and stack his chimes makes him incredibly unique, and now those who are creative with how they play Bard have the potential to be rewarded. If you’re looking for new Arena picks, these two are likely to be incredibly strong.

Also, Rammus’ Powerball has had its movement speed effectively doubled, which, even if it doesn’t end up making him meta, sounds incredibly funny.

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League of Legends Arena patch 13.15 full notes

Champions

Bear in mind that pet nerfs (specifically Annie and Heimerdinger) on patch 13.15 will be applied along with the nerfs in the arena patch, making those nerfs bigger than they appear.

Akshan

Q: Avengerang

  • Damage: 5-85 (+80% AD) >>> 15-135 (+100% AD)

W: Going Rogue

  • Revive Health Percentage: 33% >>> 60%

E: Heroic Swing

  • Attack speed coefficient: 30% >>> 45%

R: Comeuppance

  • AD ratio: 10% >>> 20%

Alistar

W: Headbutt

  • -30 Ability Haste

R: Unbreakable Will

  • -50 Ability Haste

Annie

R: Summon: Tibbers

  • Base HP nerfed by 50%

Bard

Passive: Traveller’s Call

  • Chimes needed per upgrade tier: 5 >>> 2
  • Meep AP ratio: 30% >>> 60%

W: Caretaker’s Shrine

  • Prep time: 10 seconds >>> 8 seconds
  • +70 Ability Haste
  • Max shrines: 3 >>> 33
  • Healing doubled

E: Magical Journey

  • +70 Ability Haste

Blitzcrank

Passive: Mana Barrier

  • Mana:Shield ratio 1:1 >>> 1:2 (essentially means shield’s scaling with mana has doubled)
  • Cooldown: 90 seconds >>> 30 seconds

Q: Rocket Grab

  • AP scaling: 120% >>> 150%
  • +40 Ability Haste

R: Static Field

  • Passive base damage: 50/100/150 (+30/40/50% AP) >>> 60/110/160 (+40/50/60% AP)
  • Active AP Ratio: 100% >>> 300%

Corki

  • Package duration: 60 seconds >>> 15 seconds

Heimerdinger

Q: H-28 Evolution Turret

  • Turret HP reduced by 30%

E: CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade

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  • -30 Ability Haste

Jax

E: Counterstrike

  • -30 Ability Haste

R: Grandmaster at Arms

  • Passive proc base damage: 60-160 >>> 40-120

K’Sante

Q: Ntofo Strikes

  • Base CD: 3.5 seconds >>> 2.75 seconds

E: Footwork

  • +20 Ability Haste

Kassadin

Q: Null Sphere

  • Base damage: 65/95/125/155/185 >>> 100/130/160/190/210

W: Nether Blade

  • Base damage: 50/75/100/125/150 >>> 75/100/125/150/175

R: Riftwalk

  • Base damage: 70/90/110 >>> 100/120/140
  • Stack damage: 35/45/55 >>> 45/55/65

Katarina

Passive: Voracity

  • AD scaling: 60% bonus AD >>> 80% bonus AD
  • Reset CDR: 15 >>> 20

Q: Bouncing Blade

  • AP scaling: 35% >>> 50%

E: Shunpo

  • Damage: 20/35/50/65/80 (+40% AD) (+25% AP) >>> 50/65/80/95/110 (+50% AD) (+35% AP)

R: Death Lotus

  • Damage per dagger: 25/37.5/50 (+19% AP) >>> 50/62.5/75 (+22% AP)

Kayle

R: Divine Judgement

  • -50 Ability Haste >>> -100 Ability Haste
  • Base damage: 200/300/400 >>> 50/100/150

Kennen

W: Electrical Surge

  • Active magic damage: 70/95/120/145/170 (+80% AP) >>> 70/90/110/130/150 (+60%)

R: Slicing Maelstrom

  • Bonus resistances: 20/40/60 >>> 20/30/40
  • Damage: 40/75/110 (+22.5% AP) >>> 30/55/80 (+18%)

Poppy

W: Steadfast Presence

  • -30 Ability Haste

E: Heroic Charge

  • -30 Ability Haste

Rammus

Q: Powerball

  • Movement speed: 25-39% >>> 50-78%
  • AP scaling: 100% >>> 125%

W: Defensive Ball Curl

  • Armor scaling: (+40/50/60/70/80% total Armor) >>> (+60/70/80/90/100% total Armor)
  • Magic Resistance scaling: (+30/35/40/45/50% total MR) >>> (+40/45/50/55/60% total MR)

E: Frenzying Taunt

  • Taunt duration: 1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8/2 seconds >>> 1.6/1.8/2/2.2/2.4 seconds
  • Attack speed duration: 1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8/2 seconds >>> 1.6/1.8/2/2.2/2.4 seconds

R: Soaring Slam

  • AP scaling: 60% >>> 100%

Wukong

Q: Crushing Blow

  • Base damage: 20-120 >>> 10-90

W: Warrior Trickster

  • -30 Ability Haste

R: Cyclone

  • Max HP damage per second: 4/6/8% >>> 3/4.5/6%

Xerath

W: Eye of Destruction

  • Base slow: 25% >>> 40% (Enhanced slow is unchanged)

R: Rite of the Arcane

  • Damage per stack: 20/25/30 >>> 30/35/40

Yorick

Passive: Shepherd of Souls

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  • Grave spawn timer: 6 seconds >>> 8 seconds
  • Ghoul HP reduced by 30%

Ziggs

W: Satchel Charge

  • +30 Ability Haste

E: Hexplosive Minefield

  • AP scaling: 30% >>> 40%
  • Slow: 10/20/30/40/50% >>> 30/40/50/60/70%

Items

Echoes of Helia

  • Shard heal: 20-80 >>> 40-160
  • Shard damage: 30-180 >>> 45-270

Guardian’s Dirk

  • Lethality: 10 >>> 15

Hextech Gunblade

  • Ability Power: 70 >>> 80
  • Omnivamp: 15% >>> 20%

Staff of Flowing Water

  • Movement speed: 10% >>> 15%
  • Passive AP granted: 45-70 >>> 60/90
  • Passive Ability Haste granted: 30 >>> 35

Augments and Systems

Earthquake (Augment)

  • Base explosion time: 1 second >>> .75 seconds
  • AoE range beyond dash end: 50 units >>> 100 units

Naafiri Cameo

  • Max HP damage: 20-60% >>> 10-20%

Perseverance (Augment)

  • Base regen: 500% >>> 600%
  • Amped regen: 1000% >>> 1200%

Windspeaker’s Blessing

  • Resistances: 45-105 >>> 30-90

Misc System Updates

  • The Ring of Fire will now apply increasing amounts of Grievous Wounds
  • Player Frame Augment Panel has been added as an additional stats panel in the UI
  • The item shop has been reordered to go from Starter, to Epic, to Mythic, and finally to Legendary.

Bugfixes

  • Fixed a bug where Trinity Force’s mythic bonus was not giving the correct amount of movement speed under certain conditions.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing the Scoped Weapons Augment to grant the incorrect amount of attack range.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing loading screen tips from TFT to appear in the loading screen.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing the End of Game screen to not display game time and ID.
  • Fixed a bug that caused Champion’s splashes to not appear if they early exited.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing Karma’s Q to stop working when she cast the Die Another Day Augment.
  • Fixed a bug that made players unable to inspect another champion by clicking on them when spectating their combat.
  • Fixed a bug that caused Fiddlesticks’ Scarecrow Effigy to not have an ability icon.
  • Fixed a bug that caused Camille’s Passive to grant a magic shield when attacking an AD champion.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing the Sonic Boom Augments to track damage dealt to target dummies during the planning phase.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the Augment Chauffeur to interfere with aiming controls when the user’s ally would move.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing Mordekaiser’s R to make the screen go completely green if Mordekaiser eliminated the last enemy with it.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing Neeko’s W clone to not move and then teleport when a directional input was made.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing Neeko’s R to show the ability VFX while she was disguised.
  • Fixed a bug that caused Kha’Zix’s R to remain on cooldown if it was used during the previous planning phase.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing attack move to prioritize plants over champions.
  • Fixed a bug where champions could apply on-hit effects to the Health Relic
  • Fixed a bug that was causing the incorrect victory/defeat screen to be shown upon losing/winning a game.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing Gwen’s W to not block damage.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing Earthquake Augment to only explode where Maokai landed after casting his W.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing Gangplank’s R Silver Serpent upgrades to not correctly display the icons.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Cameo champions to capture Skarner’s crystal spires.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing Wukong’s name to appear as MonkeyKing on the scoreboard. That’s bananas.