LoL 13.24 Patch Preview Prepares Champions for 2024 Update

League's lead gameplay designer teased a big list of champion adjustments in the LoL 13.24 Patch Preview

One of the biggest updates to League of Legends is right around the corner. With a ton of changes coming to the Rift, the developers are shifting their focus on champions that will see a lot of use amidst the major item changes in Season 14. And that's not even mentioning League's newest champion, Hwei.

The LoL 13.24 Patch drops on December 6, 2023, with its main focus being champion buffs and “feel improvements”. League of Legends' Lead Gameplay Designer Matt Leung-Harrison just gave us the first peek into 13.24. With that said, let's check out the biggest changes coming to the League of Legends 13.24 Patch.

LoL 13.24 Patch Preview

Hwei 

Hwei will make his way to Summoner's Rift in Patch 13.24 on December 6.

Hwei is a high-skill ceiling caster with tons of utility. Armed with a total of 10 skills in his kit and hundreds of possible combos, this Ionian artist weaves spells that devastate, frighten and stop foes in their tracks. Moreover, Hwei also grants his allies shields and speed buffs whenever he weaves spells with his W ability.

Impressed by Hwei's intimidating arsenal, fans have drawn comparisons to DOTA 2's Invoker, another high-skill character that possesses an array of spell combos. League players are calling League's latest virtuoso “Aphelios 2.0”, and it's easy to see why.

Champion Buffs

Azir

While the developers found success in balancing Azir via his On-Hit capabilities, his power levels took a big hit, so they're giving the Emperor of the Sands more firepower in patch 13.24.

Braum

Riot is bringing Braum back with fun changes that will make the Heart of the Frejlord more powerful in the coming weeks, mostly involving old nerfs that made him take a back seat over the years.

Gragas

The League balance team is rolling back some of the big nerfs Gragas got in latter patches to make him more viable.

K'Sante

Despite announcing a nerf to the Prince of Nazumah in 13.23, Riot is reportedly looking to give him more power before the year is through, with a focus on regular play. His level 6 power spike hasn't been the easiest thing to deal with on the Rift, so the devs need to carefully turn the dials given K'Sante's current state.

13.24 Preview!

With the game changing pretty significantly next patch, we're looking to make improvements to champions that will persist through the item changes. These include things like fixing champion role skews, QoL improvements, reshaping of power budgets and feel… pic.twitter.com/T6ycX7gByw

— Matt Leung-Harrison (@RiotPhroxzon) November 28, 2023

Leona

Riot is finally giving Leona more power on the Rift in a 13.24 buff that will aim to give her more purpose on the Rift when compared to more popular support picks like Rakan, Alistar and Nautilus.

Lucian

Lucian's success is no longer dependent on a Nami support this season. With that in mind, Riot Phroxzon announced that the team is looking for a new identity to the ex-laning phase bully, noting that “now a lot of new champs fill that niche.” With any luck, we could be seeing improvements to Lucian's survivability since Galeforce is on its way out.

Mordekaiser

The balance team is moving Mordekaiser away from AP/Tank items and will incentivize new builds. It's highly debatable whether this constitutes as a “buff”, but if anything, Mord's damage aura and movement speed passive might be the target here.

Qiyana

Leung-Harrison promised big quality-of-life (QOL)  changes to Qiyana to make her easier champion to grasp in lower tiers. According to Leung-Harrison's Twitter post, him and the rest of the balance team “want to lessen the burden of playing (Qiyana) slightly”, which could just be a graphic overhaul on her abilities.

Vel'Koz

The Eye of the Void fails to get a substantial buff yet again with LoL patch 13.24 only giving Vel'Koz a QOL improvement for ease-of-play.

Zeri

Riot Phroxzon noted that Zeri still looks weak on the Rift despite stronger champions getting banned during Draft, so in all probability, we'll most likely see big buffs for the Spark of Zaun, especially since the ADC item category will be more limited next season.

Champion Nerfs

Briar

Next on the chopping block is Briar, who will see significant adjustments between her lethality and bruiser builds. And while these changes are important, the devs promised none too drastic changes for players still learning League's latest Jungler.

Ivern

Finally we have Ivern, who according to the devs has gotten a bit stale. As such, they're taking the Green Father down a peg to keep things interesting.

Impact on Gameplay

As stated in Phroxzon's update, these changes main goal was to prepare a wide range of popular champs for next season's item meta. QOL changes aside, giving old champions like Leona and Lucian a new niche is always good to see, especially after the recent power creep. More focus on the top lane will see a more diverse champ pool for everyone (including Aatrox mains), with Mordekaiser being the most exciting.

Overall, Patch 13.24's promise off new champion identities and ease-of-play are all meant to gently introduce us to the big Rift changes in Season 2024 without shaking up the meta too much.

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