League of Legends 13.18 Patch Notes Rundown

Hi there ! Welcome to CDK COACHING’s second Patch Notes Rundown. The goal is to analyse every patch notes as soon as they are announced so we can see how the changes are going to affect everyone’s experience on the Summoners Rift. Every rundown will be made by a high elo player and coach to have different but also accurate opinions on the changes. Today it’s Chaddouk who’s on duty, let’s go !

If you want to look at in yourself on the side, here’s Riot’s official 13.18 patch notes link.

League of legends patch 13.18 : Champion Buffs, Nerfs and Adjustments

Briar (new)

Briar makes it’s to the live server this patch. As always for every new champion, we can expect many adjustments coming in the following patches. For now what I can tell is she seems to be a very accessible champion with a pretty straightforward/stat-checky kit, and very easy mechanics (point-and-click CC and self-taunt). We’ll follow this vampire’s career with great interest. If you want to learn more, here’s her abilities rundown.

Bard (buff)

So here’s what happened when I looked at the Bard buffs. Step 1 : Wait, that seems like a LOT no ? / Step 2 : maybe I just don’t know enough about Bard, let’s open his Wiki page / Step 3 : It DOES indeed seem like a lot, but let’s double check it on the Bard mains subreddit / Step 4 : ok everyone agrees, it’s turbo-crack-OP, Bard is VERY strong now.

Gwen (buff)

I can understand Riot buffing Gwen top, why not. BUT WHY do they want to push every single champion to the jungle. No one plays her and hopefully no-one will play her after the buff. It’s just a weaker version of any farming jungler.

Irelia (buff)

As always, Irelia looks scary in very good hands. Now she’s gonna look VERY scary in very good hands.

Jarvan IV (nerf)

They said it all. Jarvan IV can go Goredrinker into Shojin if he wants to and both items got buffed last patch, while he was already strong. It’s just normal that he gets nerfed this patch. Still he will still be a top tier jungler for this patch.

Kassadin (buff)

Kassadin is supposed to be terrifying later in the game, and he hasn’t been that scary recently. I think that buff is deserved.

Kayn (nerf)

Slight nerf to Red Kayn, why not nothing crazy to see here imo (Red Kayn pretty rare in my games at least).

Kennen (buff)

This is the absolute craziest change of this patch in my opinion. Let me put it this way, at lvl 16, with the right build, Kennen will have his ult (one of the best in the game) on a 40 SECONDS COOLDOWN, maybe even less. Looking very scary for soloQ and terrifying for pro-play. We’re gonna see a lot of Kennens in worlds if he stays this way.

Rell (nerf)

Indeed, it felt like you can not have any counterplay to Rell without the right champions, and she’s pick or ban in competitive. This nerf is deserved, it will balance her more while not killing the champion at all.

Senna (buff)

I really don’t know about this one. We will see what kind of crit build Senna mains will cook, but I think it can get pretty scary, if not REALLY scary.

Thresh (buff)

Thresh W OP anyway, a bit more shield later will not make to big of a difference I think. Best way to buff/nerf it imo is to change his W CD.

Tryndamere (nerf)

I said it in my last patch notes review “As a Tryndamere OTP I can 100% guarantee you they he is getting a nerf soon”. Another example of why Riot should listen more to their players. Tho I realised you could just “refuse” the Tryndamere nerfs by replacing attack speed rune for double adaptive. It has more value now that the base AD is lower, and it gives you more dps early. Tryndamere is still very strong.

Xayah (nerf)

Xayah is indeed a but overperforming in pro play but it’s pretty hard to make her function in SoloQ from what I’ve experienced, especially in lower elos. So now it’s going to get even harder, if you’re learning ADC I would not advise to play this champion, it’s too specific imo.

Patch 13.18 : Item Buffs, Nerfs and Adjustments

Crown of the shattered queen (buff)

Overall a buff, making it a decent purchase in more scenarios (for Syndra’s burst for example), the issue I have is that it’s still very easy to counter this item if you have range. Just on tick of damage and boom, item useless. Well at least not that useless now that it gives 85 AP.

Spear of shojin (nerf)

Everyone is building this item, it was meant for bruisers but now ADC build it (Zeri or Ezreal for example), nerf logical and deserved as it was probably the single strongest item of the patch.

Statikk Shiv (adjustment, again)

I’m not going to talk about it since it’s probably getting changed again next patch *facepalm*

Stormrazor

I legit only see Quinn building that item, hopefully it will bring it back on the rift but I don’t think 5 ad will be enough.

Patch 13.18 : Conclusion

After a really big 13.17 patch, Riot hits us with a small one a few adjustments, and 2 big buffs (maybe 3) with Kennen, Bard and maybe Senna. Briar being out is the other highlight of this one. I will see you guys in two weeks for the next patch rundown !

Much love.

Chaddouk