TFT Patch 13.12 Notes: Runeterra Reforged Release

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TFT Patch 13.12 Notes: Runeterra Reforged Release

Get ready to embark on an exhilarating journey through the ever-evolving world of TFT Set 9: Runeterra Reforged.


Teamfight Tactics fans rejoice as Riot Games just released the highly anticipated TFT patch 13.12 notes, introducing TFT Set 9: Runeterra Reforged. This massive update brings a plethora of new champions, traits, augments and exciting features to the newest set of the popular auto battler game.

While the main highlights of the patch are the new mechanics like Portals and Legends or the changed augments, cosmetic enthusiasts will also be delighted to discover the addition of new arenas, tacticians and a special birthday Little Legend. These cosmetic items allow players to personalize their in-game experience and showcase their style while battling it out on the Convergence.

teemo little legend
Devil Teemo Little Legend, via Riot Games

As the new ranked season kicks off with the TFT patch 13.12, players will experience a fresh start. Depending on their previous rank, players will begin the season from Iron II to Bronze IV and will climb their way up the ladder from there. For those who have climbed the ranked ladder in the previous set, the 13.12 patch brings exciting rewards. Players who achieved Gold or higher will receive exclusive ranked rewards as a token of recognition for their accomplishments.

There is of course a lot of new content added to the game itself as well with the Runeterra Reforged, namely the new champions and traits or the new set mechanics of Portals and Legends.

TFT Set 9 will see big changes to leveling, UI and the stat websites

Aside from big sweeping changes, there are multiple smaller balancing or quality-of-life adjustments in patch 13.12 as well.

If you played in PBE, you might have noticed Set 9 has a lot of augments helping players with their econ or XP, helped by the guaranteed Legend Augments. To prevent the meta to shift toward high econ level nine comps, the devs preemptively made adjustments to the XP requirements for leveling up. With the new leveling breakpoints, it is harder to go level nine for guaranteed two-star five cost carries, but it helps to keep reroll comps viable. In addition to the XP changes, Riot also increased the player damage in Stage 4 (4 ⇒ 5).

  • XP needed to reach level 6: 20 ⇒ 24 XP
  • XP needed to reach level 7: 36 ⇒ 40 XP
  • XP needed to reach level 8: 56 ⇒ 60 XP
  • XP needed to reach level 9: 80 ⇒ 84 XP

There are a couple of smaller changes like units now gaining movement speed and more increased attack damage during overtime and three-star four cost units receiving a health boost, but these changes shouldn’t affect most players in most of their games.

On the quality-of-life side, the most important change is to the inspect panel. When players right click a champion, now an improved panel opens on the right side of the screen, offering a lot more information compared to the previous panel. Players can now see access information like recommended positioning, item role tags and recommended items, which should help newcomers to TFT a lot. This inspect panel is also available during carousels as well, once players click the eye icon above units.

We are saying goodbye to a lot of familiar augments with Runeterra Reforged

This is the seventh set for augments now since Set 6, so it’s only normal that some of these started to get stale for players and a change was necessary. But the scale of this change is pretty massive with 90% of the augment roster saying goodbye with patch 13.12. Only 36 augments from previous sets remain in the game, but there are over 240 new augments getting added. Of course, not every legacy augments can stay the same and some of them are getting adjusted for game balance.

  • Ancient Archives I: Gold 4 ⇒ 2
  • Built Different II: Health 190-355 ⇒ 175-340
  • Built Different II: AS 40-70 ⇒ 35-65
  • Jeweled Lotus: Critical strike chance 15% ⇒ 10%
  • Rich Get Richer: initial Gold 12 ⇒ 11
  • Rich get Richer +: initial Gold 20 ⇒ 18
  • Ancient Archives II: Gold 8 ⇒ 3
  • Built Different III: Health 250-600 ⇒ 240-570
  • Built Different III: AS 45-80 ⇒ 40-75
  • Cruel Pact: Health to buy XP 6 ⇒ 5
  • Cruel Pact: Heal per round 3 ⇒ 2
  • Level Up!: Initial XP 11 ⇒ 4
  • March of Progress: Immediate XP 4 ⇒ 8

Augments aren’t the only aspect of the game that needed balance adjustments. Favorite items from the previous set like Guardbreaker and Shojin are also getting adjusted, along with changes to Ornn and Shimmerscale items, the latter ones are welcomed back into the game thanks to a new augment. There are also five new Ornn items in Set 9.

  • Blacksmith’s Gloves: Each round, equip two random temporary Ornn Artifacts.
  • Hullcrusher: Grants 30 armor, 30 magic resistance and 30 percent attack speed. If there are no adjacent allies at the start of combat, gain an additional 600 health.
  • Deathfire Grasp: Grants 50 ability power and 30 mana. At the start of combat, fire a blast of energy at the current target, marking them and dealing 20 percent of their maximum health as magic damage. For the next six seconds, the holder deals 50 percent increased damage to the marked enemy and 25 percent increased damage to other enemies. 
  • Sniper’s Focus: Grants 15 percent attack damage, 15 ability power, and 40 percent attack speed. Attacks and abilities deal 10 percent increased damage for each Hex between the holder and the target. 
  • Trickster’s Glass: Grants 15 armor, 15 magic resistance, 15 percent attack speed, and 15 percent critical strike chance. Summon a clone with 70 percent maximum health and 20 percent increased maximum mana. Players can’t equip items to the clone.

No more stat websites when choosing augments

Relying on external websites to look at win rates has become very commonplace in TFT for the last couple of years, but that era is coming to an end with Set 9. With the release of Runeterra Reforged, third-party sites will no longer be allowed to share data on Legend win rates. Additionally, by July 19, 2023, third-party sites will be prohibited from showing win rates for specific Augments at each stage. 

While these restrictions limit the sharing of win rate data, Riot Games will continue to provide information through their API, allowing third-party sites to showcase popular compositions, positioning guides and item or augment recommendations.

The patch notes commented on the change by saying while Riot is a big fan of community-driven guides and discussion, “…[they] feel that relying on win rates to make decisions at these crucial stages is unhealthy for TFT overall. It discourages player choice, but more importantly it causes players to inadvertently ignore potential paths to victory or an exciting new combination, and trade it off with what is statistically “the best” option.”

This approach aims to strike a balance between providing a healthy foundation for players to build upon and encouraging them to develop their own strategies or collaborate with the community.


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TFT Patch 13.12 Notes: Runeterra Reforged Release
Rohat Dicle Kılınç
Rohat is a writer mainly focused on the League of Legends esports scene, and an LCS hopeful.